The MouseBear Family Trip to Disney's California Adventure
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Salutations From Disney's California Adventure
Lee is a longtime LaughingPlace.com reader and a regular contributor to the LaughingPlace.com Discussion Boards. In July Lee, his wife and two children traveled to the Disneyland Resort on vacation. Below is a trip report from one day of their visit - a trip to Disney's California Adventure. During the day the family met up with other LaughingPlace.com readers and the owners, Doobie and Rebekah.
My family (Lee, Elaine, Susie, and Sam) had a great visit at California Adventure. I want to share one of our typical days there in hopes that it will help other families to enjoy the new Park. Our typical day starts with:
The Golden Gateway and Sunshine
Plaza
Susie (6) and Sam (5) ran up to the Golden Gate Bridge and waited for a Monorail to pass
over it. Fortunately one quickly did, and after jumping up and down about it, they rushed
over to the Sun Icon. While the kids watched the Sun Icon’s wave, I got fast passes
for Soarin’ Over California. When I had the passes we let the kids look through the
Greeting from California Store. We let the kids buy three things during the trip,
but we made them wait until the last two days to make any actual purchases. So they were
always very excited to see what the shops had to offer. Minnie was landing in Condor Flats
soon so we hustled over there. Sam did want to look at the California Zephyr Train as we
passed by.
We Enter DCA
Condor Flats
We saw the Minnie "Earhart" Mouse show which was a cute way to set-up a
character greeting. The kids got picked to help with the show, (jumping up and down and
yelling "We love Minnie" helps with this) so they got to see Minnie first. The
kids next ran around in the jet engine’s spray and then danced around while Jondo (a
very cool R&B a cappella group) sang. By now it was time to ride Soarin’, so we
got in the Fast Pass line. Susie balked, so Elaine took her to The Redwood Creek Challenge
Trail. Sam and I loved the ride. Sam especially liked the orange smell.
Helping Greet Minnie "Earhart"
Grizzly Peak Recreation Area
I met Elaine at the Trail and she took Sam to ride Soarin’ again. Susie and I went to
get fast passes for Grizzly River Run. We then went back to the Trail to wait for Sam and
Elaine. The Redwood Creek Challenge Trail is a wonderful wooden playground with high net
walkways, slides, tunnels, a cave, a stream, zip lines, and a climbing wall.
("whew"!) The kids had a great time running about. When it was time to ride GRR
Susie again balked. So I went on the ride with Sam. It is a great ride, and Sam’s
favorite part was when we went in the bear’s stomach, and he could heard that the
bear was hungry. He also thought my getting VERY wet was great fun. Elaine and
Sam rode GRR while I took Susie to the Ahwahnee Camp Circle Story Theater. The Native
American Storyteller was quite entertaining, and Susie loved the story. (Be warned that
this area gets HOT, it has no shade.) When Sam and Elaine got back they wanted to check
out the Rushin’ River Outfitters. This is a store for anyone who loves bears. The
kids rushed about looking at all the versions of the DCA mascot. Sam then decided he
wanted to see the "Bugs"
Dr. Footloop, LuLu, Sam, and Elaine ride GRR