West coast trip 2009 - Part 18 - California Park

[Guest]

Get up late so skip breakfast, the traffic noise is become less intrusive as we get used to it and head to the California Park.

We are unsure of this park as we expected it just to be an add-on to the main park, but we were in for a suprise.

This is actually a really good park in its own right, compact and easy to navigate in much the same way as Disneyland is.

Soarin and Screamin were really good, although DD & DW didnt go on the latter, they are scared of coasters.

The really good ride was Toy Story Midway Mania, this was excellent, for those that havent done it yet, imagine the Buzz Ride with 4D effects, forgot the number of times I ducked when I got a hoop over a rocket and it shot off towards me. There is no FP for this so you have to go on standby, took about 40 mins, the longest we have waited for a ride but worth it.

Take the big wheel in Paradise Pier, they are doing a lot of work where there used to be a lake. It has been drained and a new light show is being built and the lake refilled. Sould be good in 2010/11 when its done.

Watch the Playhouse Disney show, good for DD.

Catch the afternnon parade which was excellent and then retire back to the hotel to get changed as we have a dinner reservation at with the Princesses.

Our reservation at Ariels Grotto was for 6PM so get there nice and early, we had made the reservation a while back from the UK which I was glad we did as it fully booked a lot of people were trying to get walkins with no luck.

Go down the stairway and get the first photo opportunity with Cinderella then onto the dining area.
Staters were a 3 tier antipasta selection with lots of salad, strawberries in Jelly, turned Veg etc. The bread selection was good too.
Main course is your choice from a selection, I take the Red Fish on wild rice, DW has the Chicken breast, DD has the Kids chicken skewer.
The food was cooked perfectly and really tasty.

During the meal the variuos princesses come out and you get a photo opportunity with each of them, DD was amazed.

Dessert was a shared selection, Strawberries, white chocolate shell, mini chocolate cakes, by the time we had finished we could hardly move. The bill for this $124 inc tax & Gratuity (already added to the bill) with couple of beers.

Take a walk for a while to work off some of the food and do a spot of shopping then head back to the hotel.

[Guest]

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[Cyclospora]

Really enjoying all your reports! Bringing back lots of lovely memories

[donnakirby]

Another great day - i am going to try and book a meal at Ariel's grotto too - it looks really nice x

[tracyh]

We are looking forward to this park more than Disneyland to be honest, the wooden coaster looks fab. Your food sounds delicious too mmm mmm I can almost taste our food from our character meal at Epcot!

[Guest]

Another great report.