The One with D.C.A.

Against our better judgment, we decided to renew our Disneyland passes. Sure, we'll only be here until August at the latest, but that's 7 months of fun. Plus, who knows if we'll ever get to go to Disneyland again? That's my story and I'm sticking to it. So yesterday morning we bundled up (we even had to scrape ice off the car, what's up with that SoCal?) and made our way to the happiest place on earth.

Squeezing together for a family photo on the tram:

 We've pretty much done the Disneyland scene over and over and over, and now that Disney California Adventure is re-vamped, we decided to see what it had to offer for us and our posterity. 

Sidenote: the Fast Pass line for Radiator Springs Racers needed a Fast Pass line! Seriously, the line just to get a Fast Pass was INSANE! One of these days we'll go on it. Somehow. Someway. Hopefully without waiting 2+ hours. 

Our first destination: A Bug's Land. We'd never done any of the rides there, believe it or not, in all our 3+ years of going to Disneyland. Since they're catered to younger tots, we thought we'd give it a whirl. First stop: Flik's Flyers.

Going around in circles is not my forte. But it was fun to try something NEW! Fox and Jane seemed to enjoy it, and that's all that matters.

I LOVE the detail Disney puts into everything - like this popsicle stick bench. It really looks stained from popsicles! Then we bopped along all the rides, I can't for the life of me remember what they're called and I'm too lazy to look them up. That kid in the bumper cars had it out for me! He followed us the entire ride and kept ramming us. I know that's the point of bumper cars, but sheesh, direct your anger towards someone else!

Then we made our way over to Paradise Pier.

 Chris was nice enough to watch the kids while I went on my favorite ride: California Screamin'. What an adrenaline rush!

We noticed the line for Toy Story Midway Mania was only 15 minutes (which is pretty much the max I'll ever wait for a ride :) and Fox, lover of all things Buzz and Toy Story, had NEVER been on it, so on it we went! I was beating Chris the entire time until the last room then he caught up and eventually beat me. Wah wah.

Jane was so thrilled by the ride that she fell asleep in my arms, haha. Of course Fox was in heaven upon exiting the ride into a Toy Story gift shop. He may or may not have had several tantrums when we told him he couldn't have everything in sight...

Since Jane was sleeping we decided to take things easy and go for a spin on the Mickey's Fun (Ferris) Wheel - the not swinging option please! Despite what their faces say, they really were excited to be on it!

I love the bird's eye views you get at the top. Hello Cars Land!

Hello Disneyland!

Jane was STILL sleeping so Chris took Fox on yet another ride that none of us have been on. It was a twirly twirly round and round ride so I took one for the team and let Chris go on it :)

We followed that ride with a jaunt through Ariel's Grotto. No photos, we've been on it before, no need to over document.
When we were at A Bug's Land earlier, a cast member told us to go on the Monster's Inc ride, so we attempted to, but it wasn't opened yet, so we headed back over to Hollywood Land to try again.

Fox has been watching Monster's Inc on repeat lately, so he was pretty excited to see so many familiar things.

So many new rides today! It was a blast!
We'd done all we wanted to do at Disney California Adventure Park, so we started to make our way over to Disneyland for lunch. We passed these fun "I SPY" mosaics.

And an orchestra was playing on our way out.

This is why we rarely go on Saturdays...

We headed straight over to Adventureland to go on the Jungle Cruise - closed.
So then we wanted to go on Pirates - closed. And actually when it eventually opened and we got in the line Fox started freaking out and screaming "NO PIRATES! NO PIRATES!!" Since when is he afraid of Pirates of the Caribbean? I guess he's becoming more aware of scary things. Sad. It was always one of my favorites to go on. Hopefully he'll grow out of this stage soon!
Okay, 0 for 2 for rides at Disneyland so far. Jane was hungry, so I found a secluded area in the closed off Fast Pass nook for the Haunted Mansion.

For lunch we went to The French Market and I got a DELICIOUS French Dip. I polished that thing off in no time. O.W.L. was on hold for the day :)

Chris wanted to try a mac and cheese hot dog topped with bacon bits over on Main Street, so he took Jane in the stroller and I took Fox on a lap around the park on the train. See if you can spot something incredibly funny/awkward in the right photo... hint: top right...

Hehe.

We met back up outside the Tiki Room which was coincidentally just about to start, so we ran on in and enjoyed the show. And that was that! We headed home.
Hopefully we'll be able to cram a lot more days at Disneyland before we go!