Disneyland has been well and truly done and dusted. We arrived Tuesday afternoon and after a small clusterfuck at the hotel (and further clusters booking stuff for the next few days), I tried hard to put my frustrations aside and take the kid into the park with a ‘we are going to have fun if it kills me’ attitude.
For someone who wasn’t too excited when we first said we were going to bring him over for this, the Small Child knew exactly where he wanted to go – straight to the Radiator Springs Racing ride in Cars Land (apparently he and Dad had been doing their research before he left). It was mid afternoon and not too hot but the line up was over 60mins and we had done a 5 hr drive that morning so I was getting ready to grin and bear it, when we saw the ‘Single Riders Only’ queue. Cool. We didn’t care if we were sitting together and definitely didn’t care enough to wait an hour for the privilege, so in we went. In less than 10 minutes we were on the ride! And wow, what a ride…
Disney has obviously changed a lot since my last visit in 1998. The ride puts you in a race car and takes you through the town from the movie cars with all the familiar characters leading you through the ride and next thing you’re on a race track with some other riders beside you. The countdown begins and then you’re off and racing. And shit this thing flies. It speeds you through a desert landscape like the movie and the two vehicles race at breakneck speed along a track to the finish line where one vehicle will have pulled ahead. It was fast and smooth and awesome fun. When I got off this ride I thought, ‘This is why Californians won’t allow mandatory helmet laws!’ It was so much fun we lined up and did it again straight away.
Most of the rides in the California Adventure Park
seem well targeted at both older and younger attendees – the
characters appeal to the kids and the rides are a bit more exciting
and grown up for the adults, when you compare them to Disneyland
proper.
That evening we managed to go on the Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree (fun, swings around a lot, but a bit jerky , the Luigis Floating Tyre thing (not so great, leave it to the little ones), Flik’s Flyers (you can see one four leaf clover in Bugs Land from up there), the Golden Zephyr (good plan to get off the pavement and cool down a bit in the fresh air), Goofy’s Flying School roller coaster (fast, lots of drops, sharp turns and VERY jerky…ouch), the Swinging Symphony chair-o-plane thing (not for those afraid of heights), and the Little Mermaid adventure ride (definitely for the kids, but lots of fun – found myself singing along with all the songs). We didn’t wait in line for anything for more than five minutes which was a huge bonus, and I’m pretty sure we doubled back in there somewhere for another go at the singles queue on the Cars. 🙂
We were still there at 9pm when the ‘World of Color’ night time spectacular thing was on. We found ourselves a spot and watched the fountains, and lights, and animation projections and fireworks and flames over the Paradise Bay area in front of the huge Ferris Wheel. I don’t know if it’s because I have OD’d on the incredibly sophisticated, skilled and nuanced Cirque du Soleil performances lately, but as a visual/theatrical presentation, I found the whole thing rather unimpressive and too long by half. Must he getting to that point in my travels where spectacular ancient ruins become affectionately referred to as ‘more crumblies’… jaded traveller syndrome obviously kicking in.
We had a great afternoon/evening and even found something nice to have for dinner that didn’t feel like someone had extracted your wallet without the courtesy of lube!