Meeting Disney Characters

First stop was Disneyland today. We headed straight for Space Mountain because that's one of my favorite rides. When we got there it was roped off so nobody could get in. It had broken down and the cast members didn't know when it was going to be back up again so we left and went to Fantasy Land because my sister wanted to see if she could meet some Disney Characters. Tangled, the theater version, was showing at the Fantasy Faire Royal Theater near by so I watched that. The actress that played Rapunzel was spot on! She looked, moved, spoke and sung just like the Rapunzel in the film! While we were in Fantasy Land we did a little shopping and found the salon that turns children into Disney Princesses! I've heard of this before but I've never seen it. There was two rows of Disney Princess themed salon stations along the out side walls and a row of seats in the middle. After shopping we went out to the wishing well to see if Alice and the Mad Hatter were there.No such luck! They were out doing a gig with the Disneyland Marching Band. My mom got us fast passes for the Indiana Jones ride while we watched the performance. We caught the part where they sung the Un-Birthday song at the end of their performance. Alice, the Mad Hatter and the rest of the characters that participated in the performance left on a retro firetruck.
Later that afternoon we headed back to the Indiana Jones ride to use our fast passes. They changed a lot of things in that ride. The Idol had been updated and so have a bunch of other things. After, we left for musical chairs with the Mad Hatter at the Coca-Cola Corner again. This time the Mad Hatter was a lot more enthusiastic and funny. It was a different Hatter. It was a bit of a challenge but we were able to get some photos with them as they were leaving.
My sister found out about this Long Lost Friends event online and wanted to see if some of her favorite characters was there. The event is like a mass meet and greet. They set up a few stations around Big Thunder Ranch and you can come take picture and interact with a few random characters. Lady Tremaine and the Tremaine Sisters from Cinderella were there! They aren't my favorite Disney Characters but they rarely come out and they were hilarious! My sister got them to sing, "Sing Sweet Nightingale," for her! It was so bad that it was good! Just like in the film. We got a bunch of shots with them because it was so rare to see them out and about interacting with people.
Later that evening we went through Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. My gun must have been broken because I didn't get that great of a score. We spent the rest of the night riding Space Mountain, Autopia and shopping.

Don't forget about the dogs!

The parking situation at the Disneyland parking lot was the same as the parking situation at Downtown Disney. More cars than parking spots! It also took forever to get to the main gate. They have some new security measures in place since the last time I've been there. Disney had always put a signature line on their tickets but now they're actually making us use them. They also take your picture, which pops up when your ticket is scanned.
We started out at California Adventure today. Went straight to cars to Cars Land to grab some Radiator Springs Racers fast track passes. We got there early and still had to wait until 8:45pm to use them. The wait was about an hour and my dad was still parking the car so we waited in line to ride the ride. Radiator Springs Racers was a lot of fun. You start out going through a bunch of scenery then Mater takes you to a garage to either get a new paint job or new tires. After you get fixed up you head out to the race track. They set you up with another car next to you, initiate the race and off you go! There's a few small drops on the ride, nothing too intense but it's still fun. We met up with my dad and headed off to Disneyland.

We spent some time in Fantasy Land, then headed out to musical chairs with mad hatter. It wasn't as funny as the ones that I've seen on YouTube but still fun. After musical chairs we went to Tony Roma's for a late lunch. I ordered a rack of beef ribs and they were amazing!
The Soundsational parade was going on when we got back to Disneyland so we watched that. It was pretty cool. Mickey, his friends and a few Disney princesses were in it.

Later that day we headed off to California Adventure and hung out at the Mad Tea Party while we waited for our fast pass time to come up. It started off as a rock concert hosted by Alice and the Mad Hatter then a D.J. took over. While all of this was going on we found time to ride the Monsters Inc. ride. Before we got on the ride we got a phone call from my uncle, who was trying to feed our dogs on his way home from Walnut Creek. We had given him the wrong keys so he couldn't get in to feed the pets! He had to get dog food, get a ladder,  jump our fence, open the gate and feed our dogs. We'll mail them the right keys when the post office opens on Monday.
After that fiasco we used our fast passes and road the Radiator Springs Racers again and headed back to Disneyland for a few more rides before heading back to the hotel. What a long evening!

An evening in Downtown Disney

Today was a travel day mostly-- made a stop at Arby's on the way in. We got into Anaheim at about 7pm and headed off to Downtown Disney. The weather here is pretty warm.
Normally we get a hotel within walking distance from Disneyland but this time our hotel is about 2 miles away. Parking at Downtown Disney is insane! The line to get in was super long and once you get in you have to drive around forever before you find a spot. I don't think they monitor how many people they let in, how many people leave and how many spots they have. There was obviously more cars than spots. My sister and I got dropped off near the entrance and headed off to the shops while my parents parked. They had cars packed in the lot and parked any which way they could fit. The parking attendants directed non handicapped cars park in handicapped spaces and they put cars in sections with lines through them. Luckily they opened up another section or else we wouldn't have a parking spot.
The shops at Downtown Disney are pretty ordinary. They have a few specialty Disney shops and some shops carry special Disney products. World of Disney, Disney Vault, Studio Disney 365 and D Street are some of the Disney stores. The Build-A-Bear here has Disney clothes and accessories for your bear and the Lego store has Disney stuff too.
My parents went through the Grand Californian Hotel to get to Downtown Disney and my sister and I went through the parking lot entrance. We didn't know where my parents parked and we were closer to the parking lot entrance so we left through there. We ended up walking through the whole parking lot, getting lost and then some on the way to the car. It was then that I realized how big the parking lot was. We stopped by Taco Bell on the way back to the hotel.

Weigh the anchor! Cast the Sails! We're going on an adventure!

If you didn't know already I'm heading off to L.A. for a few days and then a cruise to Mexico. I'll be posting updates here from time to time. Internet is a little pricy when you're out at sea so I'll be posting those when I get back.