It had been a while since we went to Disneyland, so we made that part of our trip to Palm Springs. We got three nights at the Grand Californian resort in a studio room. We had a great view of California Adventure. When we arrived at Disneyland, our room wasn’t ready, so we went right into California Adventure. Our goal was to hit all the rides that didn’t exist, or changed the last time we were on site. We also wanted to go on the attractions that weren’t in Florida, or that were somehow different than Florida on either the queue or the ride itself. We also had a great meal in the park.

California Adventure

After an early morning flight that took us into LAX, we picked up a car and drove to Anaheim. After checking in, we went into California Adventure.

Our first ride was Guardians of the Galaxy. This was the revamped Tower of Terror ride in the new Avengers Campus area of the park.

Avengers Campus area also included characters, the fascinating Web Slingers interactive attraction, and the Amazing Spider-Man stunt show that included a flying animatronic.

We went to Pixar Pier and rode Emotional Whirlwind. It was then time to get into our room, so we walked over to the Grand Californian and then up to the 5th floor. The view was pretty nice. We unpacked and then went to dinner at Downtown Disney, where our view was nice again. It was a chilly night and we had gotten up at about 1am California time, so we watched World of Color from our balcony and went to bed.

After spending most of the day across the street, we came into CA to have dinner at Lamplight Lounge. We enjoyed the quick visit into San Fransokyo, but the dinner was delicious. They even had a secret drink menu that Dana told us about, and we enjoyed our Fun Wheel and Melrose Place. In addition to great drinks and food, they had a vegan dessert that we both enjoyed very much. When we left the Lounge, there was a rocket launch sighting.

Next was Cars Land, which is always gorgeous at night. We rode Radiator Springs, which is probably the best attraction in the park.

The final event of the evening was World of Color. It was outright cold out, but we waited on the pier by Lamplight Lounge, ensuring we had a good view without the chance of getting wet. The show was great, and the fire effects felt good.

Although we closed the park the night before, we were back in California Adventure for Early Entry on the chilly Sunday. We went back to Cars Land and rode Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree, and then found Lightning McQueen sitting around. We even video chatted with Myles, showing him all the Cars stuff. We then went on a new ride for us: Luigi’s Rollicking’ Roadsters, which was really cute. The cars danced around. We finished our time in Cars Land with another spin on Radiator Springs Racers.

Next we moved over to Pixar Pier and rode Incredicoaster. It was the first time we had been on the coaster since they re-themed it. The ride was kind of rough, though, so Madeline took a rest while I photographed some of the areas in Pixar Pier. When she felt better, we went on the mild Pixar Pal-A-Round. The Ferris Wheel gave us a good view of our resort, a bunch of different mountains, and a number of other things. Finally in Pixar Pier, we rode Silly Symphony Swings.

Our final rides at California Adventure were the Little Mermaid and Soarin’ Over California.

04/05/24—04/13/24