Disneyland

After I got back from Chicago, Mei and family drove down to check out the new digs. Mei helped me figure out my kitchen and with some unpacking. We then all hopped in cars to drive down to Disneyland for a couple of days. It was either that or more unpacking.

This was our first time to see the new Cars Land, and we all loved it. The three rides in this section of the park are so much fun! Radiator Springs is the race car ride and the lines are long. We got there around 9a or so and it was already a 60 minute wait and Fast Passes were for 8p at night. This ride is worth the wait though. You start off driving your sports car through the Cars story (or so I'm told, I've never seen the movie). The second half of the ride is the race. With the sound of revving engines coming through the car's speakers, you sit at the start line with another car (with time for some trash talk!) before taking off in a mad dash through the southwestern landscape! The second ride is Luigi's Flying Tires, which is basically like being the puck in an air hockey game (if the puck was a giant air filled pillow). The third ride is Mater's Tow Truck, which is basically a dosey-do with trucks where you're sitting in a cart being towed and tossed around slamming into your fellow riders.

Neve and Mason are getting to the age now where they are able to go on many of the adult rides. Mason even went with Mei and I on Space Mountain! Neither of us adults had been on the ride in years, and we went at night (the kids were up until about 11:30p that night) and I fully believe that the ride goes much faster after dark, because boy, it was fast! I was definitely a little scared (clearly I'm getting old) and worried that Mason might be freaking out, but he was totally psyched at the end of the ride!

We also saw Fantasmic for the first time. This is a night time show that has been going on since the 90s (how did I miss this?) and it includes a projection of videos on a sheet of water, live characters (Mickey and most of the fairy tale characters, among others), music, light and pyrotechnics, plus the pirate boat with Peter Pan and crew, and the paddle wheel with the princesses and princes. We had to save our spots on the pavement by the lagoon in New Orleans Square starting at 7p for the 9p show, but this is definitely a worthwhile show to wait for, particularly if you have a big enough group to send a few people out to get food, do rides etc while others hold your spot.

Here are a few photos from the visit.