Thursday, August 2, 2007- Disney’s California Adventure

We spent our second day at the Disney Parks today, and this time we concentrated on the California Adventure side of the parks. We correctly figured that it wouldn’t be that busy on a Thursday, so there weren’t any real lines to speak of. For the couple of rides that would have been a bit of a wait, we got Fast Passes, which assign you a certain time when you can skip ahead of everyone else in line. I don’t think we’ve ever used the Fast Pass system as smartly and efficiently as we did today. There were a few rides that we skipped entirely and kept busy somewhere else, but we probably covered 90% of the park this way. It was great weather too-- overcast this morning, but bright and sunny this afternoon and evening, never really getting too hot.

We started the day on the “Hollywood Studios” side of the park, and went to the live Playhouse Disney show, featuring “Bear in the Big Blue House.” Anna was picked as a volunteer to help warm-up the crowd. She held the sign that said “Big” as the audience cheered “Big… Blue.. House…” Then we returned to Emma’s favorite- the Monster’s Inc. ride, with Mike and Sulley. In fact, she probably ended up riding that one five times today. Anna and Daddy had two sets of Fast Passes for Soarin’ Over California, one of their favorites, and went on it while Emma and Mommy cycled through Monsters Inc. a few times. We all went to the Muppets 3-D movie together.

As the morning passed, the girls got their picture with Pocahontas, among others, and came close to filling up their autograph book. So, when Mommy and Anna used Fast Passes to get on the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, Daddy and Emma went to get a new autograph book, just in case. After that, we saw a show that was new for us-- a live performance of Aladdin, featuring songs from the movie and a very funny Genie. “If your name was Peppershakers,” he said to Jafar, “then you’d be Sultan Peppershakers… Don’t laugh. We’re in-sultan him.” The three girls loved it as the flying carpet took Aladdin and Jasmine on a ride floating over the audience during the song “A Whole New World.”

The girls went on to “It’s A Bug’s Land,” which is mainly kiddy rides based on the movie, “It’s A Bug’s Life.” They both liked getting wet in the splash areas. We had ridden some of these rides the other day when we were here, but the girls liked them enough to do them again. Anna was excited that she was big enough to drive her own bumper car, although in the end, it was hard for her to get the car going much at all. Bumper cars can be difficult like that sometimes.

We then went to Golden Dreams, which is one of Scott’s favorites here. It is a movie that traces the history of California in much the same way that the American Adventure at Epcot celebrates the history of the United States.

We made our way to Paradise Pier, which features “old-fashioned” amusement park rides. Anna loved the Orange Stinger, which she rode twice today with Dad. It is basically the old-style swing ride built inside of a giant orange. She also rode Mulholland Madness with Mom, which is a lot like the Wild Mouse ride at other parks. Emma was napping for some of this but she woke up to enjoy King Triton’s Carrousel.

Anna’s big excitement was on the California Screamer, which is the big roller coaster. She has been wanting to ride a roller coaster all trip, and she was amazed that it turned you upside down. We had gotten Fast Passes for this ride too, but the first time we went to it, it had stopped working for some reason. She and Mom were brave enough to try it later anyway. They also had Fast Passes to the Grizzly River Run, where they ride in huge tubes down a flume ride.

The day ended with one of Julie’s old favorites, the Electrical Parade that she originally saw when on Main Street, USA, when she was younger. We sat in the same spot we did last year, although the crowds of people were really rather small. Both girls were excited to see it. Anna kept trying to say “the Main Street Electrical Parade” in the funny synthesized voice that they use to introduce it. Emma was bouncing up and down when she saw the pirate ship coming in with Peter Pan on it. After the parade, the park closes, and the mobs of people move towards the gates, but we were able to make it to the World of Disney Store for a little shopping.