Captain’s Log: Monday, 28 July 2014.
9:32 a.m.—Let’s take the walk into Radiator Springs. You might recognize a few locations from the movie. There’s Fillmore’s Taste-In:
Sarge’s Surplus Hut:
The Cozy Cone Motel:
Ramone’s:
Flo’s:
Honestly, we are blown away by Cars Land. It feels as though Radiator Springs has been re-created down to the last coat of paint directly from the film and transplanted here in Southern California.
9:42 a.m.—We’ve reached the entrance to Radiator Springs Racers, and our FastPass window is now open. Time for the main event. The title card. The Big Enchilada. The Whole Nine Yards. The Crème de la Crème. The Phantasmagorical Salami.
Ok, now I’m just making stuff up. Needless to say, we’re all excited about riding the headliner. With the baby, we have to do a child swap. Because I am an amazing, devoted, incredibly thoughtful husband, I let Julie take the first ride with the kids. Baby Drew is still dozing in the stroller, so we find a place near the entrance to sit and wait. Julie takes a few hasty photos as they make their way through the FastPass line. Don’t worry, we’ll have a few better shots later on.
Looks pretty amazing, right? You can actually see the back of those peaks from the road outside the park, and…well, it’s a little less magical on that side. So let’s just concentrate on what’s in front of us.
Meanwhile, I sit and twiddle my thumbs as time passes.
9:48 a.m.—Baby Drew is drooling out of the corner of his mouth. Julie would probably think it was cute.
9:49 a.m.—Of course, when I do it, she says it’s “gross.”
9:49:30 a.m.—I hate double standards.
9:54 a.m.—Baby Drew wakes up. He’s a little fussy, so I take him out of the stroller. Now he drools on my shirt. Julie would probably think that was cute, too.
10:05 a.m.—I can see Julie and the kids making their way through the exit. Everyone is grinning from ear to ear. When they finally reach me, everyone is just raving about how “cool” and “awesome” the ride is. The kids are practically dragging me back to the FastPass line. That’s one nice thing about the child swap—the other kids get 2 rides out of the deal! It doesn’t take me long to hand off the baby and hop in line.
10:12 a.m.—Still in line. Even with a FastPass, it’s so popular that you’ll have to wait a bit before getting on. Later on in the day, I’ll realize that this is a downside of the child swap process—yes, it’s great that your kids get to ride twice, but it also turns out be a bit of a time suck. It’s basically doubling our wait time for every ride. I hadn’t quite considered that in my planning…remember that for later.
10:21 a.m.—We’re getting in our car. The kids were hoping for a nice red one, or purple for Sarah, but instead we got the pukey green model. Oh well. Beggars can’t be choosers. One final seat belt check later and we’re off…
10:23 a.m.—The Imagineers hit a home run with this one. Part Test Track, Part dark ride, complete and total Cars immersion. We got the Ramone scene inside, and had fun making faces and giving thumbs-down to the other car as we lined up to race them. We may or may not have informed them that they were, and I quote, “going down.” I don’t know if the car quite reaches the same top speed as Test Track, but the outdoor portion has a lot more curves, twists and hills, so it’s a blast to ride. And yeah—we won the race! I manage to get a redneck ride photo as we exit.
Yes, I know, we all look constipated in this one, but trust me—we’re all having a blast.
We’re all basking in the glow of a great ride. Except Baby Drew, who I presume is upset that he didn’t get to ride.
10:25 a.m.—California Adventure goals accomplished. Time to head to Disneyland Park. But we can stop in a couple of shops on the way out.
10:30 a.m.—Watch where you’re going here.
Looking back at Grizzly Peak on the way out.
10:37 a.m.—We make a quick pit stop between the parks and then head for the Disneyland gate. The crowds are noticeably much, much larger than they were first thing in the morning. Not a good sign. Also not a good sign:
10:45 a.m.—We are now inside the gates of Walt Disney’s original theme park. It still feels different than walking into the Magic Kingdom in Florida. Everything here feels like it’s on a smaller scale (which, of course, it is by necessity). It’s still Disney, but a little more intimate.
We wade through the crowds and wait patiently for a PhotoPass worker who does the best she can to crop 98% of the other people around out of the picture.
And then we’re moving inside.
We enter the Town Square, basically the same setup as the Magic Kingdom. We’re moving fairly quickly now, eager to round the bend, look down Main Street, and get that first majestic view of Sleeping Beauty Castle.
When we had started planning this trip, Disneyland hadn’t even been on the radar. We didn’t even know if we could travel across the country with a baby in tow. Now, after traveling thousands of miles, being blessed with the kindness of friends to allow us even to enter the gates, we finally receive our first full view of the park that started it all.
“That’s it?!” Sarah asks. “It’s so…tiny.”
Ok, so maybe we’re just jaded East Coast people. But Cinderella Castle is definitely a more impressive sight looming over Main St. +1 for Disney World.
Still, Sleeping Beauty Castle is a work of art in its own right.
10:48 a.m.—You know how everyone raves about Southern California weather, that it’s practically the perfect climate, year-round, etc.? Well, today it’s 92 degrees outside. And we’re feeling every single one of them.
Where to next? Well, the ride the kids want to be on the most is the Matterhorn Bobsleds. So, that’s the first stop.
The posted wait time is 30 minutes. I’d been checking wait times in the weeks leading up to the trip, and it seemed like that was about the best we were going to get on this one. Unfortunately, there’s no FastPass or child swap line here, so we have to make a decision. There is a Single Rider line, but our kids aren’t quite old enough to feel ok with doing that. They still want to ride as a group. So that option is out, too.
Once again, Julie’s incredibly thoughtful and sacrificial husband comes through for her. I take the baby, and she hops in the line with the kids.
Meanwhile, Baby Drew and I set out to see if we can get Space Mountain FastPasses. However, when I check the return time, it’s not until 2:30 p.m. Uh oh.
If I pull Fastpasses there now, I’ll be restricted from getting any more until 2:30. I don’t think that’s going to work. I look to my right, and see that the Star Tours return time is 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. I know the kids really want to ride that too, so I call an audible to Plan B and grab FP’s there instead. I have to say, trying to strategize on the fly is stressing me out.
The park is, in a word, PACKED. All of the wait times I’m seeing are longer than what I’d seen in the prior weeks. I’m really getting worried that we’ll be severely limited as to what we’re able to see and do in one day.
Well, at least the kids and Julie will be able to experience the Matterhorn. As we’d planned our day, I had asked if anyone wanted to ride Indiana Jones with me, and only Sarah seemed really keen on trying it. So I figure if Julie gets to do the Matterhorn and I get Indiana Jones, it’s a fair trade-off.
So, with the Star Tours FP’s in hand, I head back to the Matterhorn just in time to hear the announcement: it’s broken down and will be offline for at least an hour.
Um…do we have a Plan C?
Coming Up Next: No, really. What’s Plan C?
I can't imagine trying to pack both parks into one day, especially with a baby along for the ride. 
Sounds like things were off to a good start, though.
It is pretty awesome.
Little punk.
Okay, that traffic is
. You prepared me before I scrolled down to see the picture, but I still was a little surprised.
And what is it with Julie and serving ice cream???
Note to self……….plan trip sometime other than summer.
for another burger place!
I had never heard about the Navajo Bridge before, what a great view and perspective to walk out over the Colorado River like that. I agree, the Grand Canyon is a very majestic view and sight to behold!
I'll be back to read!
Tammie! It's great to have you here!
