Part 4: California Adventure

The day after our beach trip we went to California Adventure, which is the amusement park right next to Disneyland. It's basically an extension of Disneyland, without all the fancy, themed rides. The rides at California Adventure are more run-of-the-mill, but still really fun.

We saw an awful lot of company issued culottes that day! At Disneyland, many of the female ride operators sported rib-hugging, slenderizing, "mom- fit" trousers. I guess culottes are the go-to look for the Cal-Adv group.


Sadly, the male employees didn't get any culottes...


More and more culottes! Surprisingly, I couldn't find any at the in-park gift shops. And believe me, I did a lot of rummaging!


My "Grandma knows best" face. =/


Check out the awesome roller coaster behind the Mickey Ferris Wheel.



Here's the view from way up inside the Ferris Wheel.



Megan looking hip in her shades.


Some of my hair acting like half of a handlebar mustache.


Meg and me on the "backlot".


Erin and me. I really liked the painted scenery.


One of the first rides we went on involved a spinning, circular raft, rapids, drop-offs, and lots of water.

We got hosed! I was pretty ticked. So much for the time I spent fixing my hair that morning! I try not to be overly vain, but I don't like how my hair looks when it dries on its own. The day was young, and my mane had been mauled... Not to mention dealing with the feeling of wet denim for the next couple of hours.



My favorite ride there was the Tower of Terror. It's an elevator (and so much more!) that goes up and down in unpredictable spurts, alternating the view from pitch black to broad daylight. I LOVED IT!

On this ride I look genuinely happy (in a grandma sort of way), unlike the photos snapped on the roller coasters. I really like coasters, but for some reason I always look sick in the candids.

Here we are in front of the ride, looking terrified. Well, at least Megan looks the part.


I love Erin's expression in this one! I can't get over it! She looks more chagrined than terrified.


Megan really got into it. I wish I would have let go of my inhibitions a bit more. I just get self conscious when I think people are watching me.








Here we are on the huge roller coaster, appropriately named California Screamin'.

When my brother saw this picture, he suggested we entitle it "Four Best Friends". =) I think it's especially funny that the old guy looks like he's so happy and at ease, when we "youngsters" look half dead.


We had purchased 2-day park-hopper passes so we could enter either amusement park on both days.

We hadn't taken the chance to get pictures of us at the gates of Disneyland until our second day there.

Whoever is responsible for growing that Mickey flower patch deserves a pat on the back!


We wanted to go back inside Disneyland in search of some characters to get pictures with, but it turned out that the big parade was about to start. It was our lucky day! We sat down on the sidewalk to watch.




I'm still in awe over all the fine Disney craftsmanship!





I loved the puffy princess dresses! I wish I could try one on and take it for a spin.


Rapunzel with her long and winding braid.



I was excited to see a Mary Poppins float. One of my favorite Disney movies.




I can't remember what this float was, but isn't it cool??


Aladdin... on a drum.







Tinkerbell... on a drum.



Donald... on a drum...

I would have killed for one of these costumes the year I was a pinata for Halloween!






I thought the Princess and the Frog float was really neat. So elaborate!




And what Disney parade would be complete without a little Ariel?


We were noticing how strikingly pretty all the parading princesses' faces were, and we figured that, probably, the number one rule for potential princesses is: "NO UGLIES".



Some funky, feathery fellas on stilts. Also, the "smelltrack" for the parade was the grease from the head of the guy directly in front of me. Ick! I could almost taste it!





After the parade, we went back into California Adventure for a while longer. Later that evening, we walked over to Downtown Disney for dinner and shopping.

We ate at a really cool place called Rainforest Cafe. I would recommend it to anyone. The whole interior is totally decked out to look like a rainforest. The food was really good, too.

These were the bar stools in there. Very cute! (Not sure any of those particular animals live in rainforests, but, hey! I bet they saw these stools and simply could not pass them up.)


We went into the big Lego store, and they had lots of sculptures made out of Legos, conveniently enough. This giraffe was huge!

And so the sun set on our second to last full day in California. My next (and last, I promise) post about the trip will cover the main event, and then some!