Las Vegas/Disneyland Trip - Day 4: Disney California Adventure
Woke up in the wee hours to a horrible noise coming from the bathtub drain. I ended up closing the drain and the bathroom door. It was sort of funny actually - Todd took this video later:
While this is an annual event at Disney's Epcot Center in Orlando, the last time California Adventure held the festival was 6 years prior, so this was quite a treat. Although the major events like workshops, demonstrations and guest appearances only happen on the weekends (meaning we would miss them), all of the food marketplaces are open during the week.
As usual, I got up first so I got ready and headed down to The Coffee House on site at the hotel to grab us breakfast. I brought a croissant and cinnamon roll back to the room with a couple of orange juices.
Once Todd got ready and we had eaten, we walked through Downtown Disney to the park. Today was early entry to California Adventure for guests staying at one of the Disney hotels (or for guests not staying on property but who had bought 3-day or more tickets). We got in the park around 8:15am, and it would open to the general public at 9.
Like our last trip here, we thought we'd buck the trend and head to Tower of Terror first instead of Radiator Springs Racers. We walked there and got in line with about 15 other people, but after 5 minutes of waiting it was announced that they were having technical difficulties. We could have stayed and waited, but we (and most everyone else) reversed course and exited the line.
Instead we walked over to the FastPass distribution line for Radiator Springs Racers. The FastPass machines don't operate until the park is open to the public at 9am, so a lot of early access folks get in line for FastPasses before the park opens - the idea being that waiting 10-30 minutes now for a FastPass is better than waiting 40-60 minutes in line for the ride itself. Disney staff were attempting to do crowd control by assuring everyone queuing up for a FastPass that the ride was open right now and we could all just go get in line and ride it, but no one was budging - including us. Since it was only 10 minutes until 9am when we walked up, it was worth it to wait as the line for the Racers was 30 minutes long. If we had gotten there earlier we would have just gone and rode the ride.
There's our room - top right
Todd had a birthday coming up, and while it wouldn't officially be until after we got home, it was close enough that I surprised him with an "It's my birthday!" pin that I forced him to wear for the day. As a result, he had several Disney cast members and park goers wishing him a happy birthday throughout the day - plus he was given a free dessert at dinner!
I forget exactly where these were, but aren't they amazing?
Let's go to Cars Land! We rode Mater's Junkyard Jamboree first, then we rode Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters, which is the newest ride at the park.
Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters opened in March and replaced Luigi's Flying Tires, which was a beleaguered hovercraft bumper car ride
In Rollickin' Roadsters, Luigi's cousins have arrived from Carsoli, Italy, and you're invited to the party as they kick up their tires on the dance floor. The self-driving cars "dance" to different tunes, with each ride being a different dance pattern.
Someone's excited
It's a fun, unassuming little ride
Next up: Radiator Springs Racers. We used our FastPass and bypassed the now 40-minute line, waiting less than 10 minutes before boarding.
The theming/scenery is unbelievable
Who's gonna win?
Oh my gosh it's Mater! That kid is really excited.
Grizzly Peak
Grizzly River Run (rapids ride) was closed for refurbishment. Todd took this great picture with Grizzly Peak "bearing" it's teeth over the trees - nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.
We rode The Little Mermaid - Ariel's Undersea Adventure, then took a Food & Wine Festival lunch break. First up was the By the Bay stall with white cheddar ale and bacon soup in a Boudin sourdough mini-boule bread bowl. Then, from the Gold Rush stand we had triple cheese (fontina, cheddar, gouda) mac with smoked chicken, artichoke chips with a spicy aioli, and apple bacon whoopie pie with maple cream cheese icing and bacon brittle. Lastly came The Farm with thai vegetable curry with jasmine rice. It was all so incredibly good, and they were small plates so we were just the right amount of full when we were done.
At some point during the day we also stopped at the Cozy Cone Motel for soft-serve ice cream
After lunch we rode the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (which according to rumor might be re-themed to a Guardians of the Galaxy ride), and Soarin' (which this summer will change from "Soarin' Over California" to "Soarin' Around the World"). Then we rode the California Screamin' roller coaster (California Adventure sure has a lot of attractions with apostrophe'd names due to dropped last letters: Rollickin' Roadsters, Soarin', California Screamin', Jumpin' Jellyfish), walked through the Boudin Bakery bread tour and got our free sample of sourdough bread, and then walked back to the hotel for a break.
After a rest at the hotel, we went back to the park for our dinner reservation at Carthay Circle restaurant. We rode something before going to the restaurant, but I'll be damned if I know what it was. Anyway, dinner was wonderful, and we were once again seated in the main dining room.
This mess is the World of Color show machinery. During the day it's submerged, then it rises up for inspection and maintenance before the show.
See? Inspection and maintenance.
The view from our table at the Carthay Circle
I could live here just for the double pear martinis - Todd's enjoying his.
Found the recipe online:
1oz Double Cross vodka
1oz Absolut Pears vodka
1oz Kern's pear nectar
1/2oz fresh lime juice
1/4oz Monin agave nectar
Garnish: 1 Chilean baby pear
Pour all ingredients into a mixing glass, add ice and shake for 10 seconds. Strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with Chilean baby pear
After an appetizer of the "Carthay Signature Fried Biscuits", which were hushpuppy-like and stuffed with white cheddar, bacon, and jalapeño and served with apricot honey butter, my entree was a thick-cut pork chop with some sort of pea, potato and cocaine side - I'm not big on peas but whatever was in it was so rich, buttery and savory I could have eaten a whole plate just of that. Was this the umami taste? If so, I'm in love.
Todd had the artichoke crepes with eggplant, portobello mushrooms, parmesan cheese, tomato confit and basil
Todd received a free cookies n' cream cake on account of his birthday button!
Yum
I ordered the dulce de leche marshmallow turnover with popcorn ice cream - sounds weird, but it was good
After dinner, we waddled out into the park and rode Tower of Terror again then walked around for a bit. After that, even though the park was closing in about 10 minutes, we were allowed to queue as single riders for Radiator Springs Racers. The normal line had a 50-minute wait (they let were just about to stop letting people in line, but those already in line when the park closed would still get to ride), but going as single riders got us on in about 5 minutes - we just didn't get to sit next to other on the ride which was not a problem.
You are about to enter....The Twilight Zone
Going down, then up, then up again, then down and back up....
Cars Land neon
Racers at night
The Tower of Terror is definitely not part of Flik's Fun Fair
No comments:
Post a Comment