Day 5 Part 1.
The day prior we went to Catalina. I shared with you some, actually very few, of the pictures I took on the boat ride over and of the island itself. It was a fun day but it started with a little bit of a miscalculation on our part. We almost missed the boat ride over as we got a little lost in the Newport area. We had been down there two or three times before on other trips so we thought there was no need to mapquest or use my wife's I-phone. Big mistake. We made the boat ride just by the hair of my chinny chin chin.
It was a long day and we decided to hit
Disneyland that night and just take in a few rides and enjoy it! We got to see the 4th of July fireworks twice on this trip. It was so much fun! It's nice to say you have seen just about every fireworks show there is and it was nice to knock another one off the list.
So the next day which is actually Day 5 we slept in just a little. It was getting late in our trip and we needed to start deciding on what souvenirs everybody wanted. We had failed to visit Downtown Disney the entire time and knew we had better head over. So that's how we started our day. My wife picked up a knick knack of some sort and the kids got a few things. I decided to splurge and get the Disney camera strap. We then headed over to La Brea Bakery and sat and had some water and put the strap on. From there it was on to DCA. If I haven't mentioned this before I have to say it now. I love the new DCA. It had me coming back for more everytime. We went straight for Radiator Springs Racers again and on to the single rider line. I love this ride. The perfect combination of animatronics, storytelling, and a Disney E ticket ride. We then hit up Luigi's Tires and Mater's Junkyard Jamboree. I love these small rides. They are both great. I figured out what made them great... the music. On Luigi's Flying Tires they were playing old Italian songs like Rosemary Clooney's Mambo Itliano and the music at Mater's were songs recorded by Larry the Cable Guy. These were hilarious and so spot on for this ride. If you haven't heard them yet you need to
youtube the ride and give it a listen. I as so bummed that there was a soundtrack for this that I missed. There is one hidden track that was actually a track where Larry the Cable Guy messes up the song but they continue on. It is hilarious! This extra track isn't on the cd and I'm having a hard time finding a good quality version of it. All the CM's just get so excited when this song comes on. It only plays about once every hour or so. Again I can't say enough of how well Carsland turned out. Kudos to the imagineers and John Lassetter. After he put out that crap called Cars 2 I thought maybe he lost his touch but he got this right.
Here are a few random shots:
Across the way is my wife and youngest daughter
Waterfall of RSR
The butte
Imagine a huge air hockey rink
From here it was back towards the paradise pier area. Now my youngest daughter told me she was going to ride Matterhorn and Screamin' this year. She rode her first rollercoaster in KC earlier in the year. It was tame and she was very proud that she finally conquered her fears. Still it really wasn't a big one. She didn't ride some of the scarier ones we have here in KC yet. So we made it to Screamin and she did it! She rode with my wife and in the other car was my son and I. Nervous jitters. Do you remember your first roller coaster? I have to say how proud I am of her. When she got off the ride she was so excited. The first words out of her mouth was "let's do it again!". My son and her raced back to the entrance and within minutes were back on again. I pulled out the telephoto lens and turned it on sports mode to start snapping away. Here is one of the shots I got of her just as train cars propel you forward at a rapid rate.
Once we were done there it was off to Toy Story Mania. Right as we were walking we witnessed Goofy come out to direct music to the water fountain show in the daytime. Here is a shot of the water shooting towards the sky.
So we rode TSM, Silly Symphony Swings, Little Mermaid, and walked down towards Grizzly River Run. By that time it was getting lunch time and the everyone was tiring down. Everyone went back to the hotel but I powered through and went back and forth for about and hour and a half between Disneyland and DCA just picture taking to my heart's delight. Here are some more random shots of DCA.
The streetmosphere at DCA is great. They did a wondeful job of adding extra entertainment to the park. Something it definitely was lacking before.
I really like the GRR area. It made me a little sad that we weren't staying at the Grand Californian but hey I stayed at the Hotel Del just days before so I can be too sad about it right?
DCA sidewalk. The stores were elegantly done inside and out.
Alright I'm getting tired as its almost 10pm local time. I will conclude this day hopefully tomorrow. Up next will be Steakhouse 55, World of Color, and a trip through the refurbished Disneyland Hotel area.
