January 18, 2014 –
Doug and Ashley gave us a ride home on Friday
night. I was a little worried what shape
TJ would be in heading into day two.
I thought the previous day of non-stop walking and
doing would render the little guy “exhausted” on day two.
I forgot day two was also his birthday. By the time 9 am rolled around he was ready
and raring to go.
Day Two at California Adventure
Parking was a nightmare to say the least. That’s why I walked. The So Cal Martin clan met Daddy at the gate
and we quickly entered California Adventure and got in the Cars Racers Fastpass
Line. It was only around 10 am, but the
Fast Pass was giving out times around 5:30 and later. I was able to secure 6 Fast Pass tickets for
later that night. This would prove to be
a very wise decision. But I’ll get to
that later.
By the time I had gone through the Fast Pass line
twice, Rory and I were ready to meet up with the rest o our family. TJ, Mommy, Frankie and Grandpa and Grandma
were a little on edge from the parking delay.
Thankfully the Disney/Pixar dream team had something to cure their
“ails.”
Carsland
Uhh… in writing this I am still speechless how the
designers of Carsland pull it off. If
you ever imagined walking into Radiator Springs, this was everything you could
have imagined. Flo’s, Luigi’s, Mater’s,
etc., etc. It was all there and very
impressive.
The first ride of Carsland was Luigi’s Flying
Tires. TJ was so excited to go inside
Luigi’s shop, and when he saw the white wall tires, he couldn’t contain his
excitement!
I’d like to think the site of walking into
Carburator County will never fade from TJ’s mind. But if it does, we do have the greatest
picture ever to commemorate the moment.
Almost immediately after Luigi’s ride, we noticed Lightning McQueen was
taking pictures. Mater does this as well
throughout the day.
TJ got in line and when it was his turn, snapped off
this classic. Unlike his photo with
Mater, he didn’t want it to be a family photo, but just a pic of him and
Lightning. He walked up to him, said, “Nice
paint job,” and was so cool as he propped his hand on the race car.
Much of the day was a blur. Seems like we could have stayed there for
days.
We rode the Mater Ride – Tire Ride, Little Mermaid
ride, and the Toy Story Midway ride.
All the while finding time to dance in the street
with Phineas and Ferb themselves.
All the kids were having a ball.
It was glorious.
When the So Cal Martin’s left for a group nap, we
decided to grab some lunch at Flo’s C8 Cafe.
Les ordered a liter of their finest chocolate milkshake and TJ happily sucked
it down in record time.
How times flies when you are having fun. We decided to split up after lunch and kill
time in different parts of the park.
Grandma and Grandpa watched Frankie while Les and I took TJ on the
Monsters Inc ride.
A shout out to Roz for providing one of the best
moments of day two. At the end of the
ride, Roz made it a point to mention that we had a cute little monster with us
in the back row. TJ ate it up. It was a nice touch.
By that time it was getting later in the evening. Right about the time TJ’s nap time. It was
also the time for our Fast Pass tickets on the Carsland Racers Ride. Before we could do it though, TJ needed to
pass one more test. Our little man of
four, need to break the 40 inch threshold.
That was the height limit for the ride.
Were we worried he wouldn’t get on?
You betcha, in fact, if it wasn’t for generous park staff we might not
have ridden the ride. TJ was exactly 40
inches. It could have gone either
way. But, they let him on. Thank the heavens for that. And thank the heavens for the Fast Pass as
well. We were able to walk right up to
the gate and get on in a relatively short period of time. I’d say no more than 10 minutes which is
considerably shorter than the half hour it takes without a FP.
The ride was worth all the tests and wait. Having seen the movie Cars 237 times, let me
tell you it’s pretty much like being in the movie. TJ was a little short, so he couldn’t see
everything. But from what I saw of his
face, I can tell you he had a blast.
When we got off, Grandpa and Grandma took TJ for
another turn on the Racers. Easily the
best ride of the day.
That’s Frank!
After the ride, we headed back toward the center
strip and set up in a prime spot to catch the Pixar Pals Parade. TJ had about had enough an was fighting off
sleep by that point. Les, Grandma and
Grandpa were troopers though. They had a
good time watching the parade and TJ woke up just enough to enjoy it too.
I had had my “this is the best day of my life”
moment a little earlier so it was safe to say everyone was happy.
My brother called and said the kids wanted to ride
Small World and show TJ some other stuff, so we bid adieu to Grandma, Grandpa
and Frankie and took TJ back into Disneyland.
By that time it was getting late, so we rode the
train to It’s a Small World and rode the ride with Mary, Joseph and Rory.
We told TJ he could pick two more rides and he chose
the Tea Cups and Buzz Lightyear.
Conquering The Tea Cups
So earlier I told you that the tea cups weren’t my
favorite. I had ridden them once when I
was really young. Since it was my son’s
4th birthday, I decide to break my boycott.
Never say I don’t love those kids.
Ha
We made it off the Tea Cups without incident, said
good bye to Joey and the kids and headed for Buzz Lightyear. Once again, the ride did not disappoint. TJ and Les had a blast (pun intended) and
when the ride emptied into the Store Command toy shop it was time to get TJ his
birthday toy.
The trip was coming to an end, an while it was sad I
will always remember the final few minutes.
I have to give it up to the Imagineers at Disney.
The fireworks were starting to go off over Sleeping
Beauty’s castle and Tinkerbell was flying through the air. Tj was sleeping in the red umbrella stroller
gripping his toys, smile on his face.
The song, “When you wish upon a star…” started to play. And at that moment, I thought to myself… it’s almost like this was all meant for just
my family. Thank You.
And we all left happily ever after.
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