Family Vacation: Disney California Adventure (Day 2)

I thought that California Adventure was a lot of fun: it had way more rides (especially dangerous rides that brought joy to my older kids' hearts) than Disneyland, and offered a myriad of activities and festivities for older ages.  Gillian and Jefferson went to every single ride that looked as dangerous to me as death itself.  Not to them; they thought it was heaven. 

 The highlight of this resort was its perfect replica of Radiator Springs, and the fun rides for my younger kids and me, very doable and enjoyable, nothing extreme.  We even sat town at Flo's Cafe and ate lunch there (the food wasn't that great, but the kids thought it awesome that we were "inside" a movie set :)

Just like at Disneyland, this resort offered plenty of cultural entertainment, as well as a lot of my favorite - parades.  While the older kids went on finding their own perilous enjoyment, Charlton and I had a blast checking out all the latest movie characters, with our special friends, the Incredibles leading most of the parades.  Right there and then I knew Charlton and I belonged to that family, not because we had any special superpowers, but just because we loved being called the Incredible Melita and Charlton. After all as a snobby European I was able to stop complaining about this over-the-top place, and try to enjoy myself, and even be entertained by people with masks and costumes on. That in itself was a feat!  So from now on when you see Mrs. Incredible think of me and how I used every ounce of power and strength I possessed to halt my aversion to silly American entertainment. But I digress...

 

 

Besides Radiator Springs and the parades, Charlton and I went on a lot of rides, just the two of us.  He is such a sweet boy and I was happy just seeing him happy, enumerating to me all of the movies that those characters were in.  I would ask him where next, and he would say that it was my turn to choose.  So whether I wanted or not, I had to get excited, if not for me, but for this fellow of mine who is as smart as he is adorable.  Monsters Inc. ride was my choice and he kept thanking me for choosing such an awesome ride.  So, of course, we went on that ride twice; a mother's heart was touched.

 

At the risk of repeating myself, and all of the fun we had at both places, let me just finish with this one event that differed my Disneyland experience with that of California Adventure.  At Disneyland, my kids were just happy to have fun and be on their own; well at California Adventure they must have missed the constant presence of their mother, so they kept begging me to accompany them to various crazy rides.  And I did, as long as I had a say in which ones.  Being a beach girl has made me have this forged connection with water, because most of the "dangerous" rides I went on, had something to do with water.  Not all of them; the following three pictures show that in the air, even in a simple wave swinger where Charlton felt as comfortable as the older ones, I thought I was going to die.  But I did it for my kids, even twice!

We ended our night by attending the World of Color, a 28 minute spectacular show, where 1200 fountains shoot water 200 feet high making a projection screen of 19,000 square feet big!  Music and characters from various Disney movies showed up on the screen, and this time Olaf from Frozen was the MC for the evening.  Even my skeptical self couldn't say anything to the magic that this show brought!

Southern California Family Vacation - Day 1: Disneyland

Let me just start by saying that Disneyland isn't my kind of fun, even family fun.  It's the same thing for me with Las Vegas; why would you want to see fake things when you can actually have an experience in a beautiful island of Greece, or climb the Eiffel tower, or visit Troy, all possible even with little kids.  I understand Disneyland is an American experience, and since we live in America, I thought I might as well see what this is all about.

As I was making this kind of observations to my kids inside the walls of Disneyland, while watching a very fun parade with characters from all of the books and movies that Disney has produced throughout the years, Gillian turned toward me and said: "Goodness, mom, enough with the complaints.  Just enjoy Disneyland for what it is - a magical place where imagination and fun are combined!" Well, that was that.  To be scolded by my own daughter at that.  I guess I had to change my attitude and enjoy Disneyland for what it was!

So, folks, that's what I'm going to do - share with you a few of the magical moments we experienced as a family - at Disneyland!

Magical Experience #1 - Parades

For a book worm like myself, seeing characters from books I grew up reading, and then in turn read to my kids, parading in front of my eyes, was a transcendent moment.  I felt like a little girl, back in my room devouring stories about Pinocchio, or Swiss Family Robinson, or Alice in Wonderland, and so many others.  Of course, these books were adapted by Disney into marvelous movies later, and brought to the masses through his very ingenious way of storytelling.

There were parades in every corner and at any moment of the day.  If you didn't see or meet Mickey or Goofy, no worries, there were plenty of opportunities to do just that.  My favorite parade was the Christmas parade in the end of the day.  Every character that you had seen throughout the day, every princess you had wanted to meet but mom told you it was a waste of time, and even a plump Santa with a sleigh full of toys, paraded in front of your eyes with music blasting from all sides and fairy snowflakes falling upon your heads.  Magical!

 

 

 

Magical Experience # 2 - A place for all ages
What made our experience great, was the fact that our kids were perfect age for this adventure, not too old and not too young, and they were all able to go in most of the rides. Oh, the rides were fantastic, and scary, and exhilarating - at least that's what Gillian and Jefferson kept saying as they went on every single terrifying roller-coasters they could find.  There were times when Elijah would accompany the older ones, and I would take the younger ones in various fun and less scary rides; other times we would switch, and he would take James and Charlton, and I would attempt to do some kind of ride that looked not too scary with the older kids.  I hate roller-coasters; the very fact that you have no control over your life scares me to death, plus I don't do well high up.  There were some rides that neither Elijah nor I wanted to even consider riding, so our two brave explorers would take off on their own, and Elijah would take James on another ride, and I would take Charlton to meet a character or two.  His favorites were Woody and Buzz; mine was Tinkerbell.  I loved it that everyone of us was able to find something that we each loved and could do.

 

Magical Experience #3 - Star Wars

You knew that was coming!  Of course with three boys who love anything Star wars, a daughter who thinks she is Princess Leah, brave and smart, and with a husband who grew up reading and watching Sci-fi movies with his family, it is no wonder this was their favorite and longest stop of the day.  We all decided to experience the flight simulator, and we all agreed that although the ride was a ton of fun, going through the "airport" and meeting all sorts of Star War characters on the way to our space ship, was awesome!

The next thing that made our family's Star War experience even more fun was the fact that both of our older boys were chosen to attend the Jedi Academy.  They both had a chance to fight against Darth Vader and Darth Maul, and their valor earned them high scores that placed them on top of their graduating class.

 The Sci- fi area of the resort was full of fun space rides, shooting aliens, and riding cool cars.  The kids had a blast!

Magical Experience #4 - The trimmings:  the glorious castles, the Christmas decorations, the festive mood, the perfect weather, the numerous details in each building, the bright colors, the fireworks.