Bring on CarsLand! A Fun-Filled Mother-Daughter Birthday Trip! FINAL UPDATES 9/8!!!!

[RGirl]

A Little Break at California Adventure​

So it was about 2:30, and we had decided to hop over to CA from DL. So we exited DL, and hey, look! There’s CA over there!

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Yep, park-hopping here takes approximately 60 seconds.

We both felt like a little break and some time to sit down, so we headed into Clarabelle’s to get Willow an ice cream treat.

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Willow decided to try one of the hand-dipped ice cream bars. Pretty sure she chose chocolate ice cream covered in chocolate with pop rocks on top. This is a REALLY nice treat! Once that had been made for her, we carried it next door to the Fiddler, Fifer and Practical Cafe, or as I like to call it, “Starbucks.” Lines were pretty long in here, so Willow sat down at a table to enjoy her treat before it melted.

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Here’s her treat.

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After I got my beverage, we were going to sit down at a table outside for a bit and just people watch. However, Willow spotted Hollywood Mickey making his way out to greet guests and just had to see him, of course!

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After that, we did sit down for a few minutes and relax. Once we got moving again, we had to stop for a PP pic with Walt and Mickey.

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After getting our pics with Walt, we headed off towards ToT.

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These folks had been performing some musical numbers down where we had enjoyed a little rest. As they drove by, they were still singing and performing away.

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Up Next: We Just Couldn’t Wait!

 

[RGirl]

We Just Couldn’t Wait!​

As we were on our way to ToT, we spotted Sofia up ahead. Of course, we couldn’t NOT stop! Willow had never managed to meet Sofia before. This was a great meet. As you can see, Sofia bowed to Queen Elsa.

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These royals made hearts for each other (although I didn’t manage to capture Willow’s very well).

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Shortly after meeting Sofia, we arrived at ToT.

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What’s that? A 20-minute wait?

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We really weren’t feeling that, so we went and got some FPs instead. Yeah, that's just how spoiled you get when you go during low-crowd times . . . or . . . just how sick of lines you get when you wait for Anna and Elsa.....

At this point, we had been at DLR since the preceding afternoon and hadn’t gotten our first glimpse of CarsLand, so we wanted to head there and just look at everything. We made our way through Bug’s Land.

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The rides in here are geared more towards younger kids, but the theming is amazing. I love looking around at all the bug-perspective details.

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As soon as we arrived at CarsLand, we immediately spotted a character of sorts - of course!

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Up Next: We Just Couldn’t Wait! (cont.)

 

[RGirl]

We Just Couldn’t Wait! (cont.)​

CarsLand is as good as you have read and then better. It is themed beautifully - you forget that it is in CA because it seems like a world of its own. My pictures from this first visit aren’t the best - the lighting was kind of off for my camera at this time of day, I guess.

This is kind of a side view of the Cozy Cone Motel CS location - there are several Cones all selling different items (like flavored popcorn, churro bites, breakfast for part of the day, pretzel bites).

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This is a view from the main street going through the area towards Radiator Springs Racers (RSR) the big-ticket ride featured in CarsLand.

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These next two are Flo’s V8 Cafe, another CS option.

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The “waitresses” in the above pic were on their way out for a song and dance show with this guy.

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Next, we had to wander down towards RSR just to get a glimpse of what all the fuss was about. We knew we wouldn’t be riding this evening - the line for this ride is almost always over an hour, sometimes over two hours, at least according to the wait-time apps I had been studying prior to the trip. So when we got down there and saw a 45-minute wait, well, we just couldn’t help ourselves! We were DYING to see what this attraction was like. So the girls who wouldn’t wait in a 20-minute line not long before we entered CarsLand hopped into this line. I took a few pics of the queue - in the first one, you can glimpse the cars during the racing portion of the ride.

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This is one of those awful deceptive switch-back queues that just keep going and going and going and switching back and switching back and switching back. But we were so excited that the long wait went by pretty quickly.

Finally, we were waiting to board!

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And soon we were in our car!

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So what did we think about this new attraction? Honestly? It is one of the best Disney attractions I have ever experienced. It was an amazing ride. The theming is the best I have seen in a long time - some of the best ever, I would say. The ride itself is fantastic because it is so varied - you ride through Ornament Valley, enjoying the beautiful view; you go through a hectic adventure inside; and then you get to race another carload of guests at the end. I have tons of photos of the whole experience to show you later in the TR - for the first ride, I just wanted to enjoy it! Do you think Willow liked it????

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On the way out, we were still enjoying the wonderful theming of CarsLand.

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Coming Up: Terror and a Parade

 

[STLMickeyMom]

I love all the pictures of carsland! it's like you walked right into the movie! so cute! flo's café looks exactly right!

how precious are the pictures from meeting Sophia? adorable--love that she curtsied to princess elsa/willow. so sweet!

and I love Hollywood mickey! all the characters in their Hollywood gear are too cute!

 

[jedijill]

Isn't RSR amazing? One if my favorite rides ever!

Jill in CO

 

[shan23877]

I'm pretty sure that a LOT of the time I comment in my head and forget to actually type them...

I would like to have a create-your-own ice cream bar, and I must meet Hollywood Mickey some day!!! So cute!

How cute is that Sophia meet? Love it!

You know Carsland is the main reason I'd like to visit DLR someday, it looks so incredible! thank you for describing RSR, I always hear how amazing it is, but no one ever says what the ride is like!

Spoiled rotten by those low waits!

 

[DisneyJo]

Your day sounds so great and it's so interesting seeing what the California parks look like

 

[dizneeat]

What a great day it was! I just love following you around.

So sorry for the lack of comments, but it is pretty hectic here at the moment. SORRY!!!!!!

 

[hsquared]

My DH and I are taking our twin daughters for the first time in January and your trip report keeps making me so excited! Can't wait to read more!

 

[Luvchefmic]

I am slinking back ..shame on me for not being here for so long I'm sorry

I apparently picked a great time to check in RSR, meeting Sofia for the first time, very very nice and Birthday wishes of course

Ruthie

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

Very impressive!!

 

[amandaw]

I am soooooooo glad my child doesn't like meeting characters. I can not imagine waiting 2 hours!! And what is it with Elsa? Every Elsa I see is just not cute or pretty. I think it's the wig they use. But Anna is always cute. Anyway, I'm glad she met them and I hope (for your sake) she won't feel like waiting in line again this summer.

I can't get over how quick it is to hop from park to park there. And your pics are great! The Bug's Land looks adorable! Cars Land just seems amazing. I am really wanting to go just to ride RSR. I have even considered canceling our cruise next summer and going to DLR in the fall instead. But, I don't know if I'm ready to commit to that just yet.

 

[RGirl]

I love all the pictures of carsland! it's like you walked right into the movie! so cute! flo's café looks exactly right!

It is truly amazing to see - they did a fantastic job with this area!

how precious are the pictures from meeting Sophia? adorable--love that she curtsied to princess elsa/willow. so sweet!

It was a great meet-and-greet - and a first for us as well.

and I love Hollywood mickey! all the characters in their Hollywood gear are too cute!

I love the Hollywood attire - so cute!!!

Isn't RSR amazing? One if my favorite rides ever!

It exceeded all expectations - I think it ranks up there as one of the best Disney rides at any park.

I'm pretty sure that a LOT of the time I comment in my head and forget to actually type them...

I do the same thing.

I would like to have a create-your-own ice cream bar, and I must meet Hollywood Mickey some day!!! So cute!

I'm totally getting one of those bars myself this summer.

How cute is that Sophia meet? Love it!

Willow had a great time with Sophia!

You know Carsland is the main reason I'd like to visit DLR someday, it looks so incredible! thank you for describing RSR, I always hear how amazing it is, but no one ever says what the ride is like!

CarsLand and RSR both exceeded my expectations, which is notable because I had HIGH expectations. I have ride-through pictures of RSR coming up in later updates.

Spoiled rotten by those low waits!

Right???? Ugh - it is going to be very hard to adapt this summer.....

Your day sounds so great and it's so interesting seeing what the California parks look like

We really were having a GREAT first full day at DLR!

 

[RGirl]

What a great day it was! I just love following you around.

Hi Karin! We really were having a wonderful first full day.

So sorry for the lack of comments, but it is pretty hectic here at the moment. SORRY!!!!!!

No worries, Karin. I completely understand. I hope everything is okay.

My DH and I are taking our twin daughters for the first time in January and your trip report keeps making me so excited! Can't wait to read more!

I'm so glad you are enjoying it! You are going to LOVE DLR in January - It is such a great time to visit. I'm thinking we may be going back January 2015 as well to use those APs one last time.

I am slinking back ..shame on me for not being here for so long I'm sorry

Hi Ruthie! No problem - I know how life gets in the way of TRs. I hope you are well!

I apparently picked a great time to check in RSR, meeting Sofia for the first time, very very nice and Birthday wishes of course

It was definitely a fun time at CA!

Very impressive!!

Thanks!

I am soooooooo glad my child doesn't like meeting characters. I can not imagine waiting 2 hours!! And what is it with Elsa? Every Elsa I see is just not cute or pretty. I think it's the wig they use. But Anna is always cute. Anyway, I'm glad she met them and I hope (for your sake) she won't feel like waiting in line again this summer.

It was a painfully long wait, but it was worth it because it was so important to Willow. I'm not a fan of the wig they're using for Elsa either - seems like they could shave done a better job with it.

I can't get over how quick it is to hop from park to park there. And your pics are great! The Bug's Land looks adorable! Cars Land just seems amazing. I am really wanting to go just to ride RSR. I have even considered canceling our cruise next summer and going to DLR in the fall instead. But, I don't know if I'm ready to commit to that just yet.

CarsLand is AMAZING, and RSR is one of the best rides Disney has ever created. You MUST go!!!

 

[RGirl]

Terror and a Parade​

After our unplanned and phenomenal experience on RSR, it was about 4:45, so we headed over to ToT to use our FPs. Miss Willow was in quite a hurry to visit what used to be her absolute favorite ride (recall that it was surpassed by EE at AK, and just may have been surpassed by a new attraction or two at DLR in this trip ). Although it may no longer be her number one favorite, it is still very highly ranked.

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We were there in no time.

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And quickly belted into our terrifying elevator.

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We obviously had a good ride!

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When we exited ToT, we were just in time for the parade, which was going to start at 5:15. As we were making our way to the bathroom prior to the parade, we spotted a fun PP spot and had to stop.

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When we finished our photos and made our bathroom stop, it was just about parade time. Miss Willow did NOT want to stop and got a little sassy about it. I reminded her that she never wants to stop for these things but then loves them when we do, so we were grabbing some sidewalk and watching the parade this time whether she liked it or not! And so we did find a bit of curb (it was very easy to find a front row spot - the park was not crowded at all). We were located right by the hollywood movie backdrop thing. It looked really cool.

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And very soon the parade started. It was a lot of fun! And, yes, Miss Willow did enjoy it very much - Mommy is right again! I am going to post more pics than I might otherwise because I know that many of you WDW readers have not been to CA and have not seen a DLR parade. For any DLR readers who have seen it a million times, I apologize - feel free to scroll by!

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Up Next: Terror and a Parade (cont.)

 

[RGirl]

Terror and a Parade (cont.)​

The Incredibles were clearly having the most fun - I’m sure everyone else in the parade was jealous of their fun transportation. They were spinning around and having a great time.

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Phew! Sorry - that was a LOT!!!

After the fun parade, it was about 5:40, and we decided to hit up the Monsters, Inc. ride before dinner. We both really enjoy this attraction, and it never seems to have much of a line.

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Another great ride vehicle!

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I didn’t try to get any pictures during the ride this time. If you haven’t seen this attraction before and want to see what it’s like, there are a ton of pics of it in my last TR, which includes a surprise DLR 5th birthday trip after the WDW TR.

Up Next: A Fancy Dinner

 

[emmysmommy]

Hi Roni! I'm slowly getting caught up with your TRs/DR... so sorry for falling so far behind.

I'd say that Willow enjoyed RSR! Disney did a fantastic job simply judging by the huge popularity, it hit a home run. I love the soundtrack for the ride as well. This ride actually prompted me to watch Cars for the first time. It is just awesome!

For the DCA parade did you notice if Jack's (Incredibles) head flames? I loved the whole Incredibles sequence of the parade with those futuristic hovercraft-ish things. Sometimes you just have to exercise mommy judgment! Glad Willow enjoyed the parade as well.

 

[shan23877]

Poor girl, when will she learn that mom is always right?

That parade looks adorable! I want to have one of those scooters that the Incredibles are riding!

 

[Luvchefmic]

Love a parade ! WDW only has regularly scheduled MK parades now DHS has SWW parades but I really miss the Pixar parade they had there and the Jingle Jungle parade at AK Thanks for showing us eastcoasters how DL does a parade Slinky dog was my favorite part of this one I would LOVE to be able to go out there for a visit

 

[STLMickeyMom]

oh my gosh! those parade pictures are awesome!! it's so colorful and pretty. I love all the Pixar movies. i'm so sad they got rid of the Pixar parade at HS since we never got to see it. this one looks like so much fun!

you guys are super brave on ToT with your hands in the air! I can't talk myself into loosening my death grip....

the monsters, inc PP is so cute! love the teeth above the door but willow is way too cute to be scary!