A slower than anticipated start today, plus the fact that it was Early Entry in California Adventure, meant that when we finally entered the park at 9.30am there were already long queues. First stop was the Radiator Springs Racers FastPass machine (the return time was already showing 1.55-2.55pm), the second was Flo's Cafe for some breakfast.
The theming of the restaurant is fabulous, and the food was good. The American breakfast comprised of plenty of crispy bacon, tasty scrambled eggs, potatoes and a biscuit (or, what we would class as a scone - which was suprisingly light).
The Seasonal Fruit Plate was very well received. It consisted of 2 different types of melon slices, a bunch of grapes, one whole strawberry, a small pot of yoghurt and an Oat Bran muffin.
Fuelled up and now more awake, we walked over to Paradise Pier to ride California Screamin’ - it was brilliant and quickly became one of our all time favourite rides. Tempted to re-ride it immediately, as it only had a 15 minute wait at 10.15am, instead we decided to move on to some other attractions. Toy Story Midway Mania had a 35 minute wait time, so we settled on Mickey’s Fun Wheel, which had a shorter queue. This was not a favourite of Eloise’s, whose petrified screams made for some hilarious video!
Grizzly River Run was next on the list and, as usual, Zachary got absolutely soaked. By now, the sun in the almost clear blue sky was hot enough to quickly dry his clothes, so we bought some ice-creams and sat in the sun to enjoy them.
As 2 hours had now passed since we’d pulled our Radiator Springs Racers FastPass, we collected some for Soarin’ as the wait time was showing 25 minutes. At 11.55am, we received a return time of 12.40-1.40pm. While waiting for the FastPass window to open, we walked down Hollywood Land, rode Tower of Terror (the displayed wait time was only 13 minutes), then we went on the Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the rescue ride, before returning to Soarin’ to use our earlier acquired FastPasses.
We chose Paradise Garden Grill, at the edge of Paradise Pier, for lunch. 3 of us ordered the Lemon-Oregano Chicken Skewers with tzatziki, which were really tasty. There were 5-6 big pieces of moist chicken, plenty of rice, salad (cucumber, red and green peppers in a vinaigrette), plus a large pitta bread - which was rather like a naan bread. Zachary had the children’s slider, which came with some carrots and applesauce. We sat at the tables in the shade of the trees and enjoyed the entertainment provided by the live band.
One aspect of dining at Disneyland that we were really impressed with, was the counter service restaurants. Unlike Walt Disney World, the whole experience seemed so much more civilised. Food at Disneyland was served on reusable plates, you eat with proper silverware, rather than throwing everything away at the end of your meal. This is obviously why there were plenty of really friendly Cast Members who insisted on clearing up after you once you’d finished. This, plus the great food on offer, really added to the enjoyment of the whole experience.
After lunch, the children decided they wanted to ride the nearby Goofy’s Sky School, but it had a 20 minute wait so we decided to pull a FastPass, and in the meantime, head over to Cars Land to use our FastPass and explore the area a little more.
When he was younger, Zachary was a huge Disney Cars fan. The movie, numerous cars, play sets, towels, bags, caps, soft toys and various other merchandise are safely stored in our loft. They were such a big part of his younger life, I can’t bring myself to throw them away, so it was something special to see him actually walking through Radiator Springs.
The main attraction, Radiator Springs Racers, was fantastic. It’s very similar to Test Track in Epcot, but the theming and other special effects, make it so much better. We loved it! We then moved on to Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree. It’s a relatively tame ride, but actually really good fun.
Whilst here, we flukily arrived in time to watch a street performance with one of the hot rods and had our photograph taken with Red. The Cars characters available for photo opportunities switched between Red, Mater and Lightning McQueen. The main area for photographs is at the front of Cozy Cone Motel area, however, we spotted Red hidden just across from Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters. There was no line and some fun, friendly Cast Members encouraged us all to get in the photograph!
After exiting Cars Land, we used our FastPasses to ride Goofy’s Sky School - once was enough! We all love Primeval Whirl in Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World, but this was most definitely it’s poor relation. Another ride on California Screamin’ made up for it, then it was time to head back to the hotel for a pool break. It was even hot enough for Albert to do a spot of sunbathing.
For our evening meal, we decided to eat at the restaurant located right next to the hotel, Mimi’s Cafe. The restaurant was busy, but we were seated within 10 minutes, even without a reservation. The restaurant is French inspired, so complimentary mini baguettes and madeleine shaped cinnamon cakes were served first. It was unusual to have such a sweet offering as a starter, but they were absolutely delicious.
Simon and I opted to order a bottle of the house wine. Apparently, it’s happy hour all day - every day, so the wine was $20 a bottle. We should have known better, and we’ve certainly had much better. The food, however, was extremely good. The roast turkey dinner came with plenty of moist turkey, delicious mashed potato, broccoli and something that resembled stuffing, but tasted more vegetable based. The French Pot Roast was very similar to a beef bourguignon and very enjoyable, as were the fish and chips.
As we had an early start planned for tomorrow, we ended the evening by watching the Disneyland fireworks from our hotel room balcony - wearing our pyjamas!
