Disney's California Adventure (part of our adventure in California)- Sunday, July 16, 2006

We went to the new Disney park, Disney's California Adventure. We had seen it being built back in 2000, back when Julie and I came, but we have not had the opportunity to visit it until now.

The weather was hot, but not unbearable. The crowds were surprisingly small, and we usually didn't have much of a wait.

I won't blog about each of the rides and things we did, but a few stand out.

The first thing that we went on was the Monsters Inc. ride with Mike and Sulley. I don't think there was much unusual about it, but I wish Disney was doing more rides like this one. It's the kind of ride that I associated with Disney World after visitinig it as a child. The girls liked it, of course, although Emma was a little frightened by the lighting.

The biggest event of the day was lunch. We had "character dining" in Ariel's Grotto, meaning that as we ate our meal, five of the princesses came around and talked to Anna and Emma. The got to meet Snow White, Belle (from Beauty and the Beast), Ariel (from the Little Mermaid), Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), and Cinderella. We all loved the experience. Each princess signed Anna's autograph book and talked with the girls one on one before posing for a picture at our table. We were all so excited we could hardly eat.

Another attraction we really liked was Soarin'. By showing an Imax sized movie and moving your seat, it mimics filghts over famous sights in California, some of which we have just visited. Because of height restrictions, I went with Anna while Julie sat with a napping Emma, and then we switched.

I liked the movie called Golden Dreams. It's a history of California and reminded me alot of the American Experience at Epcot, as far as its themes and presentation.

We rode the Sun Wheel which is a new generation of Ferris wheel. The cars are set on tracks, so as the wheel rotates, gravity causes them to slide around and rock quite a bit. Anna and Emma both liked it, but Julie hated it.

Julie got to enjoy the Electrical Parade again. It was one of her favorites when she was little, but has not been used in America until recently. The girls loved it too, of course, and got to see many characters that we hadn't seen yet.

Over all, while there were some things that I certainly liked, this park won't be one of my favorites. Most of the park seems to have a very amusement park atmosphere. Of course, it IS and amusement park, but Disney parks usually have a different sort of feel about them. There were more rides here that Emma (and sometimes Anna) couldn't go on because of height restrictions, and more rides that seemed geared only geared to children(though adults usually fit in the cars too, unlike at other parks). It didn't seem unusual to see things like this, but we've come to expect more from Disney parks.

Monday is Anna's birthday, of course, and we will be going to Disneyland. Julie bought the four of us matching shirts for today.

Mom and Dad- we got your phone call, but the girls were still sleeping. We'll call you when they wake up, if we haven't yet.