California dreaming, screaming and still beaming :) Day 15

[Cyclospora]

07/08/08

It was Early Magic Hour in MK today so we decided to go to California Adventure which opened at 10am today. Caught the 9:30am shuttle which got quite full! The park was just opening when we got there.



(See what I mean about being able to see rides from the road? It's not right! lol)




The first thing we did was get a fast pass for Soarin' and then we went on a river rapid ride wich was really themed well



We then went on a lot of the smaller rides and got a fast pass for Screamin' as our Soarin one was nearly ready to use.





When we walked to Soarin' it was closed for tech probs but we could return when it was back up running asnd use the fast passes then.
California Screamin' is now one of my top 5 rollercoasters! Loved it! It looked like a wooden one but was steel and had music playing from your headrests like Rock'n'roller coaster. It was fast but really smooth too - a lovely ride! We went on a further twice during the day using single rider.



Toy Story Mania was a good shooting ride - virtual paintballs. We used single rider here too as the queue was huge.

(If you need any more info on the rides etc., Wicksey wrote a really good Trippy called "Way Out West" and he has some excellent descriptions of these rides and parks.)

They also have a big wheel. Which looks harmless enough... unless you don't like heights. We went in a swinging gondola. As you can see from the pic there are oval shaped tracks which the gondolas swing about on. Give me a fast rollercoaster anyday - but put me on a slow big wheel - or ask me to walk across a log and I go to jelly! There are no pics because I was clutching on for grim death!



Monsters Inc was a nice family ride and we went to the Bugs life Show - as you can see I was Dibbed up! (Wish the lanyard was a bit longer though!)



We had food that day in Pacific Wharf where there are also demonstrations of tortilla making and sour dough bread making. There wasn't much escape from the heat in this park. A lot of the food was takeaway with outside seating areas but parasols aren't much use with the baking heat.

We started flagging late afternoon and the kids wanted to go back to the hotel! (Lightweights!)

DH and I spotted a big marquee which was set up in the area between the parks. It was for the US post office. They were releasing some new stamps and were franking stamps and first day covers. Uh oh... I could see DH wanting to spend ages here (in baking heat!) so we sent the kids off to the hotel on the shuttle bus and I stayed with him to make sure he didn't blow the rest of our dollars!

He used to collect these World of Disney stamps and first day covers when DS was born and we have a big collection of them somewhere in the attic!

Finally dragged him away after only buying 1 set and we went back to the hotel to catch the end of happy hour.

Went next door to outback for a lovely meal - no dessert again! and crashed out! Early start planned for Disneyland tomorrow!

[tracyh]

Looks a good park actually, but again not planning to visit. We'll be back to Orlando after this trip and will get our fix of Soarin and other faves there.

So did you do 3 weeks then? Your days are growing on your report and as you've got to day 15 I'm presuming your trip was 3 weeks.

Thanks again for a good report, good to see even if were not visiting this park.

[Guest]

Another fantastic report.

California Screamin' is one of my favourite rollercoasters too.

[Strommie]

Brilliant day. We went on the Sun Wheel too, we weren't in one of the swinging gondolas, but even so, I wasn't keen on it at all. DBF went a very funny colour, and I was trying to get photos without much success as I just wanted to hold on to my seat

[Cyclospora]

Originally Posted by tracyh

Looks a good park actually, but again not planning to visit. We'll be back to Orlando after this trip and will get our fix of Soarin and other faves there.

So did you do 3 weeks then? Your days are growing on your report and as you've got to day 15 I'm presuming your trip was 3 weeks.

Thanks again for a good report, good to see even if were not visiting this park.

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No - not 21 - nearly done - 18 nights altogether. Just have Disneyland, Knott's Berry farm and the last day shopping at the Block at Orange/ Crystal Cathedral and DTD left to do. Oh and Santa Monica and Venice beach on the way back to the airport!

[Sarah84]

What a great day, seems like a nice park. The weather looks lovely, what kind of temps did you have? Your report has me really excited for my trip next year.

[LizzyBear]

I'm sad that the sun wheel will be down when we visit, it certainly looks unique! I've heard they're totally overhauling DCA soon so it'll be interesting to visit again in the future i'm sure

[Guest]

Great photos!

[Guest]

We drove up to Universal from San Diego a few weeks ago and as we entered Los Angeles we looked to our left we saw TOT and Space Mountain in the middle of all these other buildings , as you say it does not seem right!

[Cyclospora]

Originally Posted by Sarah84

What a great day, seems like a nice park. The weather looks lovely, what kind of temps did you have? Your report has me really excited for my trip next year.

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It was in the high 80s to mid 90s!