A Very Disney Day

California Adventure Entrance

With all the activities we've had going on lately, we decided it was time to take a break and head to Disneyland.  Woke up yesterday morning to unforcasted showers, so we had to take extra supplies with us to deal with what seemed a mixed bag of weather possibilities.  And we definately had that!
It went from cloudy and cool, to suddenly bright, hazy and warm, then back to breezy, cool and late in the day quite rainy!  Didn't stop our fun though and with it being a Thursday plus the weather the crowd was quite thin, so zipping around the two parks was easy and just the way we (especially mom) like it.

Started at Disney's California Adventure.  This has recently undergone a major facelift and had the addition of Carsland.  All the Halloween stuff is down that Kevin and I saw 2 weeks ago when we were there for our anniversary supper at Napa Rose restaurant.  Instead we had Christmas!!
Christmas music was already playing at this park and their decorations were up everywhere. I'll do another post with pictures of these.  Decorating at the main park is still in process, beginning with exhibits at the back, so Christmas music wasn't playing here yet.

We tried a new ride, Luigi's Flying Tires.  Your tire inflates and you ride on streams of air.  To move these giant tires you have to lean.  Kevin and Lauren were in one and Cameron and Hannah another. They had a lot of fun.  Lauren's squeals of delight could be heard even over the noise of the ride.  The sun came out in a major way at this point and I'm trying to take photos at the only observation point that happened to be facing directly into the sun, so the pictures are a bit washed out, but you can still get an idea from the smiles on their faces.

We enjoyed lunch at a new pizza place and were serenaded by a great little Irish band.

Hannah's quite toothless, but happy smile with Dad

Ariel's Grotto is a favorite of the girls to ride on.  You sit in your clamshell and travel through scenes of the movie and listen to its songs.  Managed to get a couple of photos of us on this.  It's dark in there so the flash is a bit of a surprise to your vision : )

We then walked over to and around the Main Disney Park.  After going on several rides we were in Tomorrowland waiting for the Nemo ride when the sky darkened and the sprinkles of rain began.  By the time we got off this ride it had turned to full on showers.  So we boarded the monorail to sit it out.

Downtown Disney from the Monorail window

It's A Small World through a now rain covered Monorail window

As the day progressed and sun began to go down we were cold and damp, so it was time for a coffee and hot chocolate break.  After walking a bit so I could get some pictures of the decorations that were up in New Orleans Square, it was time to get a little dinner then call it a day.

Truly enjoyed our Disney day out and the break from school and projects.  Having the annual passes makes it nice to just be able to schedule a quick hop over to the parks.  Even nicer are the weekday visits when the crowds are smaller, it makes the day is so much more enjoyable.

Bye - Good thing my camera battery died shortly after this

So today, back to our regularly scheduled program.  Have a great day.