Part 2 of the Disney Adventures

I think that if you were to ask Darren and the girls they would all say that as great as Disneyland itself was California Adventure was where we had the most fun as a family. The crowds were smaller and the pace a little slower. At Disneyland we saw castles, went on rides, met the Fairy God Mother herself, met Mickey and Minnie, and shopped but it was very busy and crowded.

Two of our favorite rides at California were Soaring over California and The Grizzly River Run. Once again I got soaked on the river ride and I had to go on the Ferris Wheel (I'm not the best in high places) with Makenna to get her to come on with us on the River Run. Soaring over California is like a mix of Imax and handgliding. It feels like you are going to dip your feet in the river and touch the leaves on the orange trees...all while your in a seat 45 feet in the air facing the screen. I swear I could smell the ocean and oranges as we flew over the different areas.

Another silly highlight was the Tortilla factory. They show you how they make the tortillas and then you get to taste a warm one right out of the oven...yum!

It was also in California Adventure that we went to Arial's Grotto for lunch and met 5 or so princesses. The food was average for the kids...probably the most well rounded meal I had all week...but the mac'n cheese tasted like flour. Service was great - kids loved it - expensive but worth it.

In Calif. Adv. there was an area set up like the Boardwalk's of California which included amusemant games. Darren won 4 stuffies for the girls and I got Tinkerbell painted on my cheek.

Oh yeah...and The Aladdin show is a live theatre show. There are two balconies, Aladdin and Jasmine fly thru the air on a magic carpet....the show was amazing!!!!!! Definatly a must see!

One of Mickala's favorite parts was Animation School. That's where actual Disney animators taught us to draw Goofy, Mickey and _____________.

So that's part 2 I think I have enough for a part 3...I'll be blogging again.

We'll we are back! Had a wonderful time in California...a little weird coming home to leaves and cool weather but it's all good.

Here's the trip scoop...Flew into LA on Friday. Spent over an hour at Hertz...finally decided to not go for the Hummer that I thought would be fun but instead went with the practical Uplander (don't buy one...we didn't like it) - it had a DVD for the kids. Off to San Diego right in the middle of LA's rush hour...got to San Diego around 8pm - not bad considering it was suppose to be a 2 1/2 hour drive and we flew into LA at 1:30pm. Freeway driving was a little more stressful than I bargained for but it did get easier by the end of the week.

Saturday morning got up at a good time. After some driving around we found Sea World...or maybe I should say we found the exit to Sea World (We could see Sea World all of the six times we drove by it - we just had a little trouble finding the exit). Had a BLAST! Makenna got us on the Atantis ride (click on the link to see the ride) http://4adventure.com/SWC/attractions_home.aspx
and we sat in the "soak zone" for all the shows...I was the wettest of all - I would ring out my sweater and it gushed with water. The Believe show was also a huge highlight with Shamu truly winning our hearts! We got there at 8 am and we left at close (8pm). It was a great day!!!!

Sunday we went to Tijuanna. The idea was to show the girls a small piece of what Darren and I have done when we have gone to build houses and hopefully give them a little bit of a view of what goes on in the world outside of themselves and Canada. The smog was the thick (from the garbage they burn), we were approached by a little girl about 2 selling bracelets and then swarmed by kids up to 8. We picked up a very colorful hammock and then headed back for the boarder crossing...the line up was over 2 1/2 km outside of the US Crossing building. It took us over an hour to just get in the building! Then we hit a couple factory outlets for the kids back to school clothes and then headed back to Anaheim.

Monday went to Disneyland!!! After all the hype of how cool it was I was worried that I would be let down...but no such thing happened! It was truly magical. Another family from Victoria was in line behind us...and gave us another 3 days worth of tickets for Disneyland as they had miss puchased their tickets...they wouldn't take any $ for them..this is just one example of people's generosity while we were away...God so blessed us over and over again.

After the Atlantis ride in San Diego Makenna was not willing to jump on any big rollercoaster type rides...it scared her pretty good! Mickala on the other hand was pumped and ready to drag anyone she could convice to go on any wild ride she could find. I think Indiana Jones was her favorite...Space Mountain was my favorite at Disneyland but I'll tell you latter what my overall favorite was.

We'll I'll leave you hanging there with part 1 and will give you more latter...I'll also try and add some pics.