Adventures in Public Transport:The Return - Day Twelve - Disney's California Adventure

[Disney Wishing]

The start of this morning didn’t quite go to plan as we ended up oversleeping not waking till 8.18am. By the time we got ready and had grabbed a quick breakfast of coffee and a bagel from the Disneyland Coffee Shop it was 9.40am. We quickly past through security and walked through DTD to the entrance gates of DCA. We firstly headed to pick up a Radiator Springs Racers FP. At 10.13am we got a return time of 1.25 to 2.25pm. Soarin’ had a big queue so we started to make our way to the Paradise Pier area instead stopping for a photo at one of my favourite viewpoints.

We were just about to carry on to the Pier when I remembered we needed World Of Colour FP’s. The picked up point for these had been moved to San Francisco Street instead of by Grizzy River Run so we didn’t have far to go. It was at this point some Disney Magic Happen. By the machines a cast member wished DS Happy Birthday as he was wearing his birthday button they had given him at check in. He asked what we were planning to ride to ride today and we cheerily replied ‘Everything’. He than ask if we were planning to ride Guardian and we said ‘Yes’, so he said ‘wait there a second’. Puzzled I quickly grabbed the World OF Colour FP’s as they were for blue zone that I wanted and once I was finished he came back and said ‘Come with me’. Still a little unsure what was about to happen we followed him and he started explaining he was going to take us to the front of queue. He walked along chatting away with him and before we knew it we were walking past the 60 minute queue, past the FP people at straight to the library. We thanked him massively. I have also sent in a cast member compliment to DL since then to thank him further.

(The Awesome Travis)

DS had never rode tower of terror as he didn’t like the twilight zone music but now it was Guardians he was excited to try it. Unfortunately they have made the ride much more intense and he didn’t end up liking it but he was still really pleased to have been chosen like that. DH and myself still loved the ride. I was doubtful as TOT was one of my favourite rides but the theming of the ride is really fun. It must drop you at least eight times now, at least twice bouncing you from top to bottom. I lost count by the end!

As we were now down the opposite end of the park we decided to ride Monsters Inc. It was about a 20 minute wait but it would save us from backtracking later. From here we headed back towards the pier riding the Little Mermaid Along the Way. We had reached the time where we could hold another fastness so we picked one up for Toy Story Mania (Collected 12.14pm for a 1.20-2.20pm return) before heading into the queue for the Fun Wheel. I know we are in the minority but we all love this ride. The wait for the swinging carriages was around 25 minutes. Great fun as always and even managed to snap a couple of shots of the view.

After this we decided to grab some lunch whilst waiting for our Fast pass slots to open up. We decided on Paradise Garden Grill as we had loved our food there last year. DH chose the steak skewer dish and I went for the Lemon Chicken Skewer dish. DS decided instead to go for a corn dog from the corn dog castle that nearby. I sadly didn’t take a photo but the food was really good again. I also love this seating area with the bandstand and all the little tables under the trees.

By the time we had finished it was just after one so we headed towards Toy Story Mania to use our FP. Our scores were way off the best of the day but still fun. From here we headed to Carsland as our FP time was open for RSR.

This ride is really Disney at its best. Once this was done we had a quick dance at Lugias before grabbing a couple of shakes from Flo’s and sitting down for a rest and a cool down.

We discussed are plans for the rest of the day and decided do the couple of thing we wanted to in bugsland before headed out of the park for a rest and then come back ready for World Of Colour. So we rode Francis Ladybug Boogie and then Tough to be a bug before heading out. We bumped into Nick Wilde on the way.

We got hotel around 4.30pm and rested up for a while. Just after 6pm we headed back into downtown disney and decided to get Tacos for dinner from Tortilla Joe Quick Service. As it was a Tuesday they were doing a Taco Tuesday offer of $2.99 per taco so we went with that and got two tacos each. Once we had finished we headed back into DCA. I seem to have no notes from this night but I do know that at 7.30pm DS & DH headed off to grab some drink and dessert while I got in line for World Of Colour as I really wanted to make a sure we got a good spot this year. They started letting everyone into the fast pass area at 7.45pm and whilst most people seemed to head to the lower zones I grab a spot on the bridge. There was only a couple of other families there so I could easily save a place. DS and DH came back a little while later and we settled down to wait.

The area stayed really quiet right up until 5 minutes before the show when the usual last minute people turned up and started to try and push their way to the front. They didn’t succeed and we got a perfect view for the show. I love this version. So much better than the 60th version last year. I totally teared up at the lion king part.

I wanted to make sure we were not to late leaving the park tonight as I wanted to make EMH at DCA tomorrow so we had a quick ride on Maters before heading out the park. We were back in the hotel and heading for bed somewhere around 10.30-11pm, with a play of the magical headboard of course.

[Melbatb]

How lovely of the CM - even if your DS didn't like it he was brave to try it!

Love the WOC photos! Such fabulous colours!

[mrsdjh]

Very nice of the cast member.

Carsland looks great.

[Animagus]

I'm enjoying reading your trippie. We are hoping to get to the West coast in a couple of years, so I'm picking up lots of tips! How lovely to be singled out for some extra magic? California looks amazing. Thanks for sharing.

[summersun]

great day x

[mrmoo123]

Wow great day, I can't wait to see world of color! And what a result getting to the front of the Guardians!

[Disney Wishing]

Originally Posted by mrmoo123

Wow great day, I can't wait to see world of color! And what a result getting to the front of the Guardians!

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Yes World of Colour was amazing. I much prefer this version to the 60th Anniversary version we'd seen the year before.