California Trip Summer 2015 part III

Disney's California Adventure & Hollywood

I had been wanting to see this park since I read about it several years ago - Soarin' with a tribute to California aviators in the waiting line, Grizzly River Rapid, and of course, the new CarsLand! 

Well, unfortunately, I got off to a bad start, as it was much more crowded than the day before, and we got stuck parking in an off-site lot in the hot sun rather than a covered garage, and had to ride a shuttle bus (I hate buses, even the Disney one's at WDW - so not what Walt envisioned).  So, I was grouchy for a while, and it was hot!  Again, the temps hit 100 that day, so staying hydrated and out of the sun was the challenge.  

We went to Radiator Springs first, but due to traffic and the parking, it was already 10:30 when we got there, and the wait time was 60 minutes.  Liz and I decided to skip it, as it is a fast car ride - reminiscent of Test Track at EPCOT.  The kids then opted for the single rider line, which had a posted 5 minute ride time.  So, they went and really liked it.  And, Radiator Springs is nice - it looks amazingly like the town in the movie, so that was really fun walking around the shops and food stands there.  I took some pictures and managed to relax and settle down.

 

 

 

Next we Headed to the Pacific Wharf area, did the bread bakery tour backwards, and got our samples of sourdough bread.  
Everybody agreed it was delicious, but that it was too early for lunch, so we moved onto the boardwalk area that contains more of the rides.  We did the Toy Story Midway Mania ride, and while waiting, we were handed mini-Etch-a-Sketches, with which everyone had fun playing.  

 

Next we looked at the California Screamin' roller coaster, and the giant ferris wheel, but decided to head for lunch.  

 

We found the place Liz had read about and wanted to try - called the Paradise Garden Grill, where we all had grilled skewers of meat or veggies.  We all decided later that lunch had probably been the high point of the day.  

 

 

 

The table area was less than half full, and it was just a very pleasant, relaxing atmosphere.  Near the end of lunch, a Dixieland style jazz band started playing, and that just capped an already terrific meal and experience.

After lunch, it was onto the Ariel/Little Mermaid ride, which was very similar to the same ride in the new Fantasy land part of WDW-MK.  Next, we decided to wait in line for Soarin', which claimed a 40 minute standbye wiat time, but took us over an hour, as they were clearly not balabncing the Fast Pass and Standby guests properly.  Grrr....but still, Soarin' and we did read about Amelia Earhart, Howard Hughes, Chuck Yeager, Northrup (Jack, maybe?) and a bunch of other early pilots from California.  That was good.  Next we Fast Passed the Grizzly River Rapids, and headed over to the Hollywood section where we did some shopping and did the Monsters Inc Ride  and the Tribute to Animation Area.  This later was very cool - a giant room with many screens, all active, and then side rooms radiating off - we did the one on animation techniques.  

 Finally, we headed back to Grizzly River Run, got in the Fast Pass line, but the ride went down.  So, we went back to Radiator Springs, were the kids did the single rider race cars again, and I split off to get Fast Passes for Soarin', one last time.  We met up, the kids had the Cars ride, and again, really liked it, and then we headed for Soarin'.  On the way, we went passed Grizzly River Run, and it was up and although expired, they still honored our fast passes......so we got on the ride, only to have it shut down again, just as we were about to go down the biggest splash ramp.  15 minutes we were stuck in the gate for that ramp, with a family from Japan that apparently did not speak English....so it was a bit frustrating, but at least the sun was down some, and it was starting cool down.  Eventually, the ride started again, and we finished without further delays.  Next we didi Soarin' one last time, and left the park, very tired.  We found a Red Robin, about a mile from Disney, that was incredibly well managed and had one of the best waitress ever.  What a great find when we were so tired.  After dinner, we headed back to the hotel, read a little and went to bed - cuz' the next day, we were doing Hollywood!


Day 6   Hollywood!!!

Yep, up early, out of the hotel, and over to Hollywood, where we parked in a big garage near the TCL Grauman Chinese Theater and bought tickets for the double decker tours of Hollywood and Santa Monica.  

Saw lots of stuff...Hollywood Blvd, Sunset Blvd, Rodeo Drive, Santa Monica Blvd, Larry King outside the Four Seasons Hotel, Santa Monica Pier, Brentwood, the LA County Musuem of Art, the La Brea Tar Pits (those were cool) and so on, and lastly, the Chinese Theater, and the Hollywood sign on the mountain.....too tired to blog it all out, just check out the pictures...

And then, after all that, back to Pasadena, where we checked back into the Hampton we had left just two days before.  One last night and yet another day in Pasadena, then a red eye home on Day 7.  What an awesome trip - can't wait to go back to California again -but next time, we are doing NorCal!!!  San Fran, Napa Wine country, etc...