this girl's guide to disney's california adventure

here is our list of favorite rides at california adventure:

radiator springs racers. hands down my favorite ride in the entire park. your most important task for the day is to get straight into line for fast passes before the park opens! we got in line right away, yes, before the park "opened" and our fast passes were still timed at late in the afternoon. literally you snooze you lose with this ride. but such a fun ride!

your second most important task is to send someone to get a ticket for seating during the nightly world of color show. even though it is an outdoor show, you need to pick up a ticket asap for your assigned seating area. and even though you have assigned areas, you still have to stake out your spot. about an hour before. i sat and claimed our seats while the professor took the kids on a roller coaster i had no interest in. great show. we saw it twice. if you sit in the front, you will get wet.

after world of color is done, go back over to cars land. you won't want to miss being there after dark, with all the attractions lit up. the rides are closed, but you can just hang out and enjoy the ambiance.

my next favorite ride was probably soarin over california. i wasn't sure if i could handle it, with my issues with heights, but it was great. went back again for this ride.

i am not a roller coaster fan, but my kids really digged california screaming. it is tops on their list.
my daughter also couldn't get enough of the twighlight zone tower of terror; my son went once and was done. i did not participate in that ride either.

i think the muppets 3d show is highly underrated. i thoroughly enjoyed it, even though it was only on our list of things to check out if we had nothing else to do. it was a hoot. c'mon, it's the muppets!

we also saw the aladdin show, which was really good. i don't think it is always showing, and maybe even was pretty temporary so it might not be there anymore. but it was full of spectacle and humor, as all great shows are.

the redwood creek trail was a fun surprise. it's a big play area with lots to do. you can even become a wilderness explorer and earn your wilderness explorer badge {sticker}. also a good place, if your kids are at the right age, to rest your feet while they run around a bit. just make sure you have a plan to keep tabs on where the kids are, or you'll waste some time rounding them back up.

the pretty good rides were
toy story mania. this is apparently the one that was the big attraction prior to cars land opening. you wait in a long line for a long time for a pretty short ride. you sit in a car and shoot at objects on screens, and then find out your score at the end. similar to the buzz lightyear ride in disneyland, much longer line here. in my opinion, not worth the wait. i really don't know why this ride doesn't have a fast pass.

maters junkyard was pretty fun. it's a quick ride, with a fairly long line, though not ridiculously long. i would say it is worth throwing in the mix.

the monsters inc mike and sully ride was another one of those sit in a seat, look at movie pop ups ride. not so great. but short lines, so not much to lose unless you're really in a pinch for time.

and finally, the rides that were pretty much "meh"

the red trolley cars. these would be nice if they actually went somewhere. you get on at the tower of terror and get off by the main entrance. they would be cooler if they went farther around the park so they could serve a purpose.

turtle talk with crush. you watch a little cartoon on a big-ish screen. slightly clever because the turtle interacts with the kids, but not really much else to it.

luigi's flying tires. this ride has a really long line. and it was not a great ride. it might be more fun if it weren't such a short ride, but then that would make the line even longer. not worth the wait.

the grizzly river and ariel's undersea adventure were both closed while we were there. i know we would have liked grizzly river, and ariel's undersea adventure is supposed to be pretty great, though i can't say for sure.

overall, we spent 2 days at the park, and i have to say that after lunchtime on our second day we felt like we were just killing time a little until the world of color show. i would have enjoyed going back on radiator springs racers a few more times, but the lines were so stinking long.

this girl's guide to disneyland {tips i tell my friends}

here is my run-down on the rides. some of the big ones are probably obvious, but there were some that surprised me...

our favorites were:

indiana jones. this one was closed most of the week when we were there. it does have a fast pass, and you'll probably want to use it. the line is pretty long.

space mountain. this also has a fast pass. the line didn't seem crazy long, but it might be busier at other times of year.

big thunder mountain. it has a fast pass and the lines were generally long. this is probably the most tame "roller coaster" and very fun.

splash mountain. it has a fast pass. the line was either really long or really short. it was kind of weird. we got fast passes because the line was long but then when we came to use the fast pass, it was only a ten minute line. so we ran into the regular line, went on the ride, and then went in the fast pass line, since we still had time to use it. i also discovered that if you want to get wet, sit in the front. i sat in the back, but not the very back seat, and i didn't get very wet at all, which i preferred. if you sit in the very back, the water that is in the boat will end up in your seat, but generally the further back you sit the less wet you will be. easy of course sat in the front. :-) another note is to hold your feet up a bit to keep the feet from getting wet, or possibly wear flip flops for this ride.

star tours. this is a fun one, and we discovered that not all of the pods show the same show. so if you go on it more than once, try to get into a different pod and you'll see a different show.

haunted mansion. the line goes pretty fast because it's a "people eater" ride, so we did this one when we had some extra time here and there.

the matterhorn was also fun, but a very long line and no fast pass. we went there first thing on one of the days so the line was better, but actually still pretty long for first thing in the morning. probably other people had the same idea. what they do have for this ride is a "single rider" line, where you can get in a separate line if you don't care if you ride together. my advice would be to do the single rider for this ride, because the seats are basically single anyway. then just wait for each other at the end.

pirates of the carribean was closed unfortunately while we were there. i was disappointed about that. so was nemo, which was on my list of recommended rides, but i can't say for sure if it would have been worth it. mickey's magical map was on my list but it wasn't running either. small world was closed too, and i have never been on it.

the fantasmic show was really neat. i don't know if the schedule is the same all the time, but they had 2 showings when we were there with fireworks in between. the cast member we spoke with recommended doing the fireworks and then the second show of fantasmic, because people stake out their spot hours before. {why??? would you waste your time at disneyland doing that??} anyway, we headed over at the end of the fireworks and went on the bridge by pirates of the caribbean. it was a great spot.

one secret we discovered from a lady standing behind us in one line who easy told her life story to {imagine that} is that on the big mark twain river boat, you can ask to go up to the top with the driver. i believe it is called the wheel room. that was really fun. the kids got to ring the bell and blow the whistle and sign the super secret guest book and get a certificate. that seems to be a pretty well-kept secret, so i would definitely ask them for that.

another surprise was the pirate's lair on tom sawyer island. you take a little raft over and there are all these caves to go through and explore. the warning here is that you can easily lose children. we didn't realize this and the kids quickly got away from us and finding them again in the tunnels took quite a while, so be aware of that. but my kids could have stayed there all day.

these rides were kind of in the middle:

the jungle cruise...this is a tricky one. i like the jungle cruise. the kids loved the jungle cruise and laughed and laughed at their corny jokes even after the ride was over. but i kid you not, that line goes for miles and the ride is pretty short. i wouldn't say don't do the jungle cruise, but somehow try and hit it with a shorter line. if that's even possible. i don't know.

the buzz lightyear ride was ok. the line goes pretty fast. so we just squeezed it in when we had extra time. 

the disneyland railroad is nice for getting you to another side of the park. it stops at the main entrance, and in the new orleans area and over by fantasyland/toon town. the monorail is not helpful for getting you from place to place. it only stops in tomorrowland and in downtown disney outside of the park. but the fun thing we learned is that you can ask to ride in the very front. it fits 4 people, which was perfect for us, but if your group is more than 4 people you will have to split up. and apparently it's not really a big secret, so you might have to wait longer if that is something you want to do.

similarly, toon town was a little crazy with the kids and the wandering off, because there is one ride, or maybe two, but its mostly just a lot of "stuff" in cartoon style to wander through etc. cuddles loved it, but i wasn't very excited about trying to keep track of where my kids were in there. by the way, the ride is roger rabbit, which has a fast pass, but it is a pretty lame ride, especially since my kids have no idea whatsoever who roger rabbit even is. so that was a weird ride actually. i would skip it if i had to.

these were the rides that were a little less worth a wait in line:

pretty much everything in fantasyland. :-) although preschool aged girls might disagree. for us, these are the rides where they basically send you through a diorama of scenes from the movie. if i were going to choose just one, i would say peter pan, because you are flying around in the pirate ship so it's a little more fun. but in general the lines in fantasyland were way too long for the enjoyment factor of the ride, for my kids at least who don't care about princesses. the other thing i learned was that the storyland canal boats and the casey junior train take you through the same area, so i would just choose one or the other and call it good.

the tiki room. my kids gave it a big thumbs down, but i was so curious about what it even was, i just wanted to know. but here is the thing we figured out after the fact: apparently everyone on the planet wants a dole whip and the only place to get them is by the tiki room. there is a pretty long line to get them. if you go in to the tiki room show, you can get on the inside line to get your dole whips, and then eat them while you watch the show. i wish i would have known that, and especially if time is an issue i'm sure you will appreciate that tidbit. also my kids would have enjoyed the show more if they were eating ice cream during it. and for what it's worth, we didn't think the dole whips were that amazing.

you know what? disneyland really is a lot of fun! i knew it was, but even i was surprised with how truly magical it feels to be there. they really do a great job. i honestly had planned this to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip, but they really have me thinking about how we can go back.  

disneyland delish {what we ate}

i really have to devote a separate post to the food at disneyland.

we were rather deliberate with our food choices on our trip. we didn't buy a lot of food in the park; we ate our hotel breakfast each morning and ran across the street to grab burgers from the dollar menu for most other meals. we decided on two sit-down meals and a few special treats.

my very most favorite things that we ate were at cafe orleans on our first day. we really wanted to try the monte cristo sandwich and the pommes frites. we were not disappointed. it was literally one of the most pleasant dining experiences we have had as a family. ever. we ordered one monte cristo and split it between 3 of us. and then we shared one order of the pommes frites. those were delicious themselves, but when you add in their special sauce--heavenly.

source

we spent about $30 for our meal. the waiter was so nice and even brought free drinks for the kids. we also ate in the afternoon, sort of a late lunch/early dinner to avoid the busy eating times. this meal was a win on every level.

{cuddles brought in a fruit tray from a snack cart}

our other sit-down meal was not quite as much of a win. we decided to try the buffet at big thunder ranch barbeque. we went for lunch rather than dinner to save a little money, because it runs pretty high. i was expecting it to be a little more enjoyable for the price. the chicken was pretty dry, though the ribs were ok. the beans were fine and the corn was too. it was nice that they bring the food to you, rather than having to go get it like most buffets. but, i probably wouldn't spend the money on it again. 

the treats we tried were dole whips, chocolate peanut butter sandwich, and cake pops. the dole whips weren't my favorite, and the peanut butter sandwich was fine, but just an overpriced treat. the kids enjoyed their cake pops, which i thought tasted more like cookie dough. they were nice and big so they lasted a while. 

we got sundaes from gibson girl ice cream parlor one night and took them with us while we waited in line for the big thunder mountain railroad. i was pleasantly surprised by the ice cream. i was hesitant to spend that much money on it, after all, they were just scoops of dreyers. but it turned out to be a pretty great treat, and i gotta say having a sundae to split while standing in line at disneyland on a warm spring night just after dark makes for a pretty darn good memory. 

i was even able to step on the scale when i got home and see the same number i had seen before leaving for our trip. i definitely felt like that was a success.