About a month ago, I was invited to join my S.I.L. for her 28th birthday celebration in Disneyland. Technically, it was a 10 year anniversary of her 18th birthday and we sure did celebrate!
The parks were jam-packed with families on Spring Break, but we still managed to fit in several rides.
We munched on ice cream, corn dogs, and had a scrumptious birthday dinner at Ariel's Grotto. Because of our dinner reservations, we also had a special reserved viewing area for the new World of Color show in California Adventure. It was fantastic! I took several videos on my camera and my iPhone, just so I could show Timmy when I got home!
The changes they're making to the California Adventure park are impressive...and expansive. The entire entrance is partitioned off, but they've set up a small gallery with blueprints and miniature displays of what is happening. Plans include a "Hollywood Land" and a "Cars Land," which should include several new rides. It looks like another trip needs to be planned in a few years when this is all finished! :-)
You may know that Tower of Terror is my favorite ride...well...it used to be. That title now belongs to Francis Ladybug Boogie. I imagine everyone is thinking "What is that?!" This requires a bit of a backstory...back when Tim and I were living in Japan, Laurie came to visit. We spent one day at the DisneySea park in Tokyo and it was one of the best Disney Park experience I've ever had. Mostly it was because we went on a weekday, so the park was empty! Due to a lack of other guests, we were able to go on every ride SEVERAL times. This was Tim and my third trip to the park, but there was one section that we had never been to, Tim had deemed it "kids only." Seeing as how he was outnumbered 2-1, Laurie and I were able to push him down into the depths of "Mermaid's Lagoon," an underwater playground of...kid's rides. Most of them were pretty tame, but we found one ride that deserved several spins. It used centrifugal force to spin a seashell. We had never seen this ride before. Ever. After about six times, we finally figured out the best method and had that shell spinning like crazy. Flash forward to this trip, they've created a new pathway in CA Adventure that leads through the Bug Land. We were walking through this and in the corner of my eye I spotted some spinning lady bugs. My heart jumped a little, but I didn't want to get my hopes too high. I stopped and turned enough to watch the ride a little while the others discussed our next stop. As soon as I was sure, I yelled at Laurie and ran towards the line. Seriously. And...it was still awesome. And the best part? The ride operator spoke English and gave us tips on how to make it go faster. A luxury we did not have the first time.
I guess Tower of Terror still has to be my favorite, considering that it was because of that ride that I even found the Ladybug Boogie. In three trips to CA Adventure, I had never even stepped foot in Bug Land, seeing as how it was "kids only" and a dead end. Thank you CA Adventure for actually connecting your park and making it more accessible! I appreciate it.
So, despite pinching a nerve in my foot and waiting in the slowest, most painstaking line EVER (Space Mountain...I'm looking at you), it was a GREAT trip. The birthday girl got several good wishes from other guests and Disney cast members (personalized birthday t-shirts helped with that) and we even discovered new (to us) areas of the park.
I'm sorry I couldn't post pictures in the blog, but I wanted to post this before it was too late and the Flickr slideshow is still pretty sweet.
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