This is my fourth post about our visit to Southern California. I recommend reading the first, second, and third posts before this one.
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Disney California Adventure
One of the best things about staying at the Grand Californian is the easy access to California Adventure. We were there right when the park opened and barely paused to take a quick snapshot of the iconic ferris wheel....
... before walking onto Midway Mania. We didn't even have to pause!
There was no line when our ride ended, so we asked if we could just stay on. Nope - we had to walk around and get back on. Which we did. Such a fun ride! And since the line is regularly 45+ minutes, it was a treat to ride it back-to-back without waiting.
Our strategy was to hit the most popular rides we were interested in early, so Web Slingers (the Spider-Man ride) was next. It's new since the last time we were there. It's similar to Midway Mania, but you flail your arms to fight spider-bots instead of a blaster to shoot plates and whatnot.
It was fun, but nowhere near as good as Midway Mania.
Next, Soarin' Around the World. It was Soarin' Over California during our last visit. We enjoyed it, but no more than the California version.
Monsters Inc doesn't usually have a big line, but it's my favorite ride so we went there next.
Mickey's PhilharMagic was starting, so we stopped to see that. We'd seen a version of it at Disney World in 2013, but this was updated to include the newer Disney movies. It was a lot of fun.
More glasses!
We learned to draw Olaf at the Animation Academy.
Then we walked onto Ariel's Undersea Adventure.
Ursula is one of my favorite Disney villains. I might color her next...
It was a happy surprise that California Adventure goes all out for Lunar New Year. There were decorations all over the place...
... a LOT of themed souvenirs....
... a special parade...
... as well as a dedicated area with Lunar New Year themed activities and decor. It was really neat.
Steve was born in the Year of the Dragon. I was born in the year of the... Mouse?
There was also a Sip and Savor Pass available for the dozens of special dishes inspired by Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese cuisine that were for sale. It was really tempting to buy it because everything looked so good, but we skipped it so as not to overeat.
It's a little weird traveling 350 miles away to learn about Boudin's sourdough when it's so close to home, but I'm never going to skip anything that has to do with sourdough.
I love Cars Land.
Headbands were big at California Adventure, too.
I love the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail.
At this point, we popped back to the Grand Californian for a bit of peace and quiet. It's so convenient to take an hour or two to rest before returning to the park refreshed.
The whole audience was cracking up when a college-age girl misunderstood Crush's question about her phone and she thought he was talking about her friend. Crush kept coming back to that and it was funnier each time.
The trolley was making its last-ever run the day after we were there, so I had to snap a final picture.
Cars Land at night is even better than Cars Land during the day.
There was a special Lunar New Year Celebration pre-show before World of Color, so we camped out early to get a good spot.
The pre-show ended with fireworks, then it went straight into the main show.
It was gorgeous and my pictures don't begin to capture it.
I actually made a Photo Scavenger Hunt for California Adventure too, but didn't focus on it like I did the previous day at Disneyland. I think I ended up taking pictures of everything on the list at some point though, except the shortest line. Too busy hopping directly onto rides to do that!
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We left Anaheim the following morning for more adventures in Southern California. I'll tell you about it tomorrow.
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