During our trip to Orlando four years ago, we took a day off between “park days.”
Why?
Well, it can be exhausting being on your feet for 15+ hours a day. Fun, but exhausting. 😴
(I realize these are “first world problems” we're talking about here — the reality is that you can sit all you want when you aren’t on vacation!!)
We had been at it since Monday (with just a short break Wednesday afternoon and evening when we drove down to Anaheim) and you could just sense that fatigue was setting in (especially since we had just had a really long day at Disneyland).
We left our AirBNB for the Disney California Adventure Park at 7:30 a.m.
We were behind this truck that had signs that read “INHALATION HAZARD” on the way.
I’m not sure what the hazard might have been, but if you look closely, there is a Flash doll attached to the rear grate of the cargo area.
For our second morning at the Disney parking garage, we decided to take the trams to the park entrance. It was a surprisingly lengthy wait in the security line (the people in front of us had a lot of bags), and I was scolded for trying to switch to an empty line to keep things moving (“Sir, if you're with her, you have to stay with her!” — the security person said, referring to Bridget). Oops! That wasn’t exactly the magical greeting I’d been expecting... 😯
The Disney California Adventure Park is essentially the California version of Hollywood Studios at Disney World — but the attractions are different.
That said, there is a similar feel/vibe to the experience and I was excited to see what the park had to offer.
Our first destination was the Avengers Campus. And the first ride of the day was WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure. 🕷
Like a number of the “new generation” rides, this one involved shooting at digital objects as you moved around in pods.
In this ride, you didn’t have a controller or anything like that. You used your hands (pretending that you were shooting webs out like Spider-Man) in a shooting motion to take out the bad guys. It was really fun.
For our cart, these were the final scores (I was second-to-last on the scores — you’d never know I used to spend hours playing on my Super Nintendo and PlayStation consoles back in the day):
It wasn’t quite 9 a.m. yet. So attendance at the park was still fairly sparse.
We headed to Soarin’, a ride that is featured at both Disneyland and Disney World — it was a ride that we really enjoyed during our 2019 trip to Orlando.
During that 2019 trip, we hadn’t actually been planning to go on Soarin’ (read my post). We had been slated to spend the entire day at Animal Kingdom, but decided to check out both Epcot and Magic Kingdom on our final day.
Soarin’ is an indoor simulation where you are on seats that “hang” off the floor. Participants are in front of a large video screen (something akin to an IMAX screen), and you swoop and swirl around various scenic wonders — in this case, breathtaking shots of California.
All seven of us had a good time on the Cali version of Soarin’. 😊
Next we headed back to the Avengers Campus for Guardians of the Galaxy — Mission: Breakout!
This is the rebranded Tower of Terror ride (the new branding went into effect in 2017).
The ride involves an elevator-style lift that goes up and then drops you several floors in fairly quick succession — up and down and up and down.
It is (obviously) similar to the Tower of Terror ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Orlando. I went on that ride during our 2019 trip.
Bridget had not gone on that ride during our previous trip (she volunteered to stay with toddler Anson and his stroller both times we rode it in Florida), so this was her first time on one of the “tower” rides.
This is our Disney PhotoPass picture from the ride. We had discussed doing a “heart” symbol when they take the picture, so I made it happen. 🥰
Theresa, Anson, and Blaise didn’t go on the ride. I thought Blaise might go on it, since everyone had convinced him to go on Tower of Terror in 2019 (according to my 2019 blog post on that experience, he “wasn’t amused” after the ride).
If our group had gone on a second run of the ride later in the day, I’m pretty confident he would have gone with Theresa, Neil, and Scotland. Frankly, he looked pretty tired (and we hadn’t had breakfast), so I think that had an impact on him.
Bridget and I split up with the rest of the family after the Guardians ride. As I mentioned earlier, we were all tired. But Bridget and I wanted to ride the Incredicoaster at Pixar Pier. Neil, Theresa, and the kids went to Starbucks for a brief respite (and some refreshments).
The Incredicoaster is a traditional steel rollercoaster with a single “loop-de-loop” (inversion) in its track. When the ride first opened in 2001, it was called “California Screamin’.” It reaches a maximum speed of 55 miles per hour and is 122 feet high (there is a 108-foot drop in the ride).
It is the third longest steel rollercoaster in the United States. It is also the eighth longest rollercoaster in the world!
(I didn’t know any of this before going on the ride, and was surprised to learn where it ranked!)
I’ll be honest with you, in the past when we’ve gone on rollercoasters at amusement parks, I’ve tended to get nauseous from the experience.
But since I had just been on a ride that had dropped up several floors — and wasn’t any worse for the wear — I figured I’d be fine.
It turned out to be a fun rollercoaster. When you consider the rides offered at Disney World and Disneyland, a large rollercoaster such as this is something of an anomaly. So I am glad that we went on it.
In this Disney PhotoPass photo, you can see the two of us on the ride. Bridget was talking as the flashbulbs went off (saying, “this is where they take the photo”) and that’s why she has that look on her face.
PRO TIP: They have a pouch in front of your seat to hold items (hats, phones, purses) so you don’t lose them on the rollercoaster. That said, if you can limit the number of items you take with you in line, it would probably be wise.
We met up with our companions at Cars Land.
The entire “Cars”-theme land is pretty neat.
I’ve seen pictures online of the “Cars” attractions lit up at night, and the neon lights are pretty impressive looking (we weren’t there after sunset, so I couldn’t capture the experience myself).
The signature ride in Cars Land is Radiator Springs Racers. I had looked at the ride online beforehand and thought it looked like fun. Turns out it is one of the best rides in the park.
Radiator Springs Racers combines the gentle pace of a number of “group rides” with the zips and drops of a mild rollercoaster.
There are a lot of things to enjoy on this ride, including a trip through a body shop and showroom. This mirror is included to showcase the car you are in. Bridget snapped this pic as we were going by the mirror:
This PhotoPass picture of Theresa, Anson, and Blaise shows you the main drop in the ride. The look on Anson’s face is great — he LOVED this ride. He said he liked it better than Mario World at Universal — and that’s high praise from the 6-year-old boy.
Anson: “I liked it better than Mario.”
Me: “Wait…what??”
Anson (turning his head to look at me): “Yes.” 😂
Next up in Cars Land was Luigi's Rollickin’ Roadsters.
This is a ride where you sit in Frizzante roadsters as they twirl and circle around in a choreographed routine.
As we were waiting in line, I tried to get a picture in the mirror across from us. I was looking at my iPhone and Anson was playing on the bars... 🤷
The ride itself was pretty cute — not anything remarkable, but amusing.
We left Cars Land after that and went to try and go on the Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! ride.
As we made our way there, I had Bridget take my picture by one of the theaters which will be featuring “Rogers: The Musical” this summer (a limited run starting June 30, 2023).
For those who watched the Disney+ series “Hawkeye,” you'll know what it is (I wish it had been playing while we were there!):
I’m sorry to report that the Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! ride went down while we were in line. I know this seems to be a recurring theme at Disneyland and Universal on this trip — and wasn’t something we encountered on our trip to Disney World in 2019. (We’ll just blame it on the pandemic, supply chain issues, and staffing shortages.)
With that, we decided to get lunch. We headed to Smokejumpers Grill (in the Grizzly Peak area of the park).
Our group had Chipotle BBQ Bacon Double Cheeseburgers, Spicy Chicken Sandwiches, Double Cheeseburgers, Chicken Tenders, and a Grilled Chicken Salad.
Bridget also had a Blue Raspberry Lemonade to drink. (When I looked up the description, it was not currently listed on the menu at SmokeJumpers, so apparently it’s a “seasonal” drink). It was blue, and featured Swedish Fish. (I ate the Swedish Fish…Bridget doesn't like them.)
My Chipotle BBQ Bacon Double Cheeseburger was good — but NOT as good as the cheeseburgers we had at Disneyland the day before. I got the burger with onion rings (also good).
Blaise didn’t care for the chicken sandwich. He thought it tasted odd. He had me try some of the sandwich to get my opinion. I will say that it did have a unique taste. He wondered if maybe there had been pickles on it that were removed after the fact (which he didn’t want on his sandwich). It’s a definite possibility, but my taste test wasn’t quite definitive on that front.
Afterwards, we headed to the “The Little Mermaid”-themed ride Ariel’s Undersea Adventure. It is located in Paradise Gardens (which is next to Pixar Pier).
It was a fun ride — in the vein of Pirates of the Caribbean (in cars similar to the ones used on the Haunted Mansion ride).
A short distance away is Goofy’s Sky School — a small rollercoaster ride that is surprisingly fun.
I sat next to Scotland on this ride and we both enjoyed it. It turned out to be her favorite ride (of all the ones we went on) at the park. If you remember the old rollercoaster at Peony Park, you’d recognize the sharp turns on this rollercoaster.
We headed back to Avengers Campus to try and watch the “Doctor Strange”-themed Ancient Sanctum.
Unfortunately, the line was too long and the people already waiting in it would have filled the show to capacity before we made it in.
So we opted instead to go do one of the indoor shows in the Hollywood Land area. We went to the Disney Junior Dance Party!, figuring that Anson would enjoy it (based on our experience with a similar dance party at Disney World).
The theater was nice. Most of the “seating” was on the floor.
PRO TIP: If you are relatively close to the front of the line, and of the “older” generation that has a hard time sitting on the ground (or getting up!), grab one of the benches lining the dance floor. You’ll be glad you did!
Anson had a great time.
I put together this video from clips taken by Bridget during the dance party of Anson and Scotland enjoying the festivities:
I went and sat on a bench outside during the show. Sitting on the floor was uncomfortable and I wanted to take a break. Neil and Blaise joined me few minutes later.
Next up was Mickey’s PhilharMagic. This was a theater-based show with 12 minutes of 3D footage projected on a movie screen.
Of note was the fact that Anson let me hold him before the show (a rarity these days…he’s getting big).
Outside of the theater were entries in the Environmental Art Challenge — Disney-related pieces of art made from trash.
After perusing the art, we decided to look at the Avengers Campus Super Store.
They had some nice merchandise. I ultimately ended up getting this Captain America t-shirt (but at another store later in the evening):
Scotland had Bridget take pictures of her while I looked around with the others. She wanted to surprise me when I put together this series of blog posts. She sure did!
Here they are:
Next we hit up the Monsters, Inc. ride (the one that had broken down in the morning) again.
We were successful this time. The ride involves riding in these cars (that look like taxi cabs) through a series of sets set up to look like they stepped out of Pixar’s “Monsters, Inc.” movie.
It was a nice ride (similar to the Mickey’s Runaway Railway at Disneyland).
Then we returned to Cars Land and rode the Radiator Springs Racers ride for the second time.
It was still fun the second time (and Anson still liked it better than Super Nintendo World at Universal).
We stopped for a snack after the ride at the Cozy Cone Motel (which features quick snacks). Bridget used the mobile app again to order the desserts, saving us from standing in line in the sun.
Anson had an ice cream cone. I had a root beer float (which I didn’t get a picture of).
We stopped for some PhotoPass pictures after our snacks (the best of those photos is featured at the top of this post).
At this point is was almost 6 p.m.
Dusk at the Disney California Adventure Park — on a Friday night in spring — has a pretty nice vibe. I have to admit, I was starting to feel somewhat wistful that our time at Disneyland was almost done.
I also thought about how we’d probably spend a lot of Fridays at Disneyland if we lived in SoCal, using our annual passes to enjoy some aspect of the park during frequent visits.
Our group wanted to go on the Goofy’s Sky School ride again. I decided to wait with the stroller while everyone else went on the ride — I wasn’t sure about going on a rollercoaster (regardless of how small/mild it was) after having just consumed a root beer float.
That was all right, because it gave me time to listen to some of the music being performed nearby by the Standard Mel Quartet (along with people chatting as they walked by).
Scotland wanted to look at some of the shops near the entrance, so we headed that way after Goofy’s Sky School.
Bridget and I wanted to go on the Red Car Trolley (the park’s streetcar). So we waited at this fountain for it to make its way toward us:
I put together this video of clips from the ride:
We hopped off near the entrance and met up with Neil, Theresa, and the kids at one of the stores.
We decided to look at some more of the stores in Downtown Disney (which is located outside the park).
As we left, I had Neil take this picture of Bridge and me with one of the Disney 100 banners:
I also took this picture of the kids with a Disney 100 medallion at a fountain outside of the World of Disney store:
PRO TIP: If you have a MagicBand+, it will light up around the silver Disney 100 medallion behind the fountain.
We had a good time looking around Downtown Disney.
Blaise got a corn dog from Blue Ribbon Corn Dog. He had the Golden Dragon Panko-Crusted Corn Dog (which sounded similar to the one he was unable to procure at Universal Studios).
He let me try the corn dog after he was finished with it, and I’d have to say that it was good. I liked the coating on the corn dog.
We had hoped to maybe get something to eat for dinner in Downtown Disney, but the eating establishments were packed. It was, after all, a beautiful night.
So, we decided to eat at NORMS Restaurant — and it was a good diner (with excellent service). It was a little before 9 p.m. when we arrived.
I had the SoCal Breakfast (two eggs, two hotcakes, two bacon strips, and hashbrowns):
The SoCal Breakfast was a popular menu choice with our group. They also offered some specialty lemonades. So some in our group had the Cotton Candy option seen below (I had Pomegranate):
As good as the breakfast-for-dinner was, I could sense that everyone was on edge. Our group was tired. We needed some rest. 😴
The good news is that our next excursion would be to Laguna Beach. After having visited most of the states on the eastern seaboard of the United States, this would be my first visit to the Pacific Ocean. I was looking forward to seeing what the day had to bring — Stay Tuned for Part 6! 😎
Read the Entire "California Trip" Blog Series!
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