If you noticed in many pictures yesterday, Cheyenne was squinting. She had left her glasses at home so before heading to DCA we bought a cheap pair at the mini-mart near the hotel. (There is more to the family sunglass story, just start counting....this is #1 pair). #4 pairs of sunglasses shown below.
We started out at Condor Flats and rode Soarin' Over California. Love this ride! Then we headed over to A Bug's Land and did the 3D It's Tough to be a Bug! And then all the fun attractions - Francis' Ladybug Boogie, Flik's Flyers, Heimlich's Chew Chew Train. I love the attention to detail in this area of DCA.
We went from Bug's Land to Hollywood Land and got in the Hollywood Tower of Terror line. This is probably Audrey's favorite ride in DCA. Cheyenne did not know what to expect, but she was not terribly thrilled with us when she got off the ride. This was the one and only time she said she did not like a ride. See picture below where she is attached to John's arm?
As soon as I got off that ride, I was extremely sick. Probably a combination of motion sickness and a little dehydration. Did I mention it was in the 90's while we were here? I was planning on cooler weather so had only packed jeans. I tried laying down on a cement bench while John went to get me something to eat. Unfortunately, what originally sounded good did not when he brought it back. So... Audrey escorted me back to the hotel and John and Cheyenne stayed in the park. (So now, besides feeling like I was going to throw up, now I was feeling guilty that I was making Audrey miss time in the park. She was wonderful though and got me settled in the hotel and then ran to the mini-mart and brought me back saltine crackers. When I was ready to take a nap, she did get a chance to return to the park).
I know that John and Cheyenne spent some time at the Animation Studio area as they brought back artwork to the hotel that night. They had lunch at the Taste Pilot Grill. When Audrey was able to join them, the three of them got to spend time in other areas of Hollywood Land and also Grizzly Peak (and the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail) as I have photo evidence. Sorry to have missed this, but glad that they got to enjoy the park.
Follow up to the sunglasses story. Cheyenne's glasses went missing sometime between the picture above and the picture below. Uncle John lent her his during the day. Down to #3 pairs.
I woke up around 4pm and decided I was feeling well enough to head back. In our effort to keep our luggage to carry-on only, we decided to have only one cell phone - Audrey's. I was going to try calling her cell phone from the hotel, but remembered too many times when I've gotten an incredibly high phone bill at a hotel so my "cheap" kicked in and I figured I could walk around and find them. I got to the entrance of DCA and worked my way around the entire park, ending back where I had started and not having "run into them" at all. This is when I decided my original "cheap" plan was not such a good one. I should have spent a couple bucks and made plans with Audrey prior to leaving the hotel. I decided to look for a phone. First found out that this is not a normal question to customer service, as most people carry cell phones. I walked around and found one set and started making the call. It was one where you put in your credit card and accept the charges right before the call goes through. They wanted $19 for the call so I hung up. Then I walked toward the entrance and found some coin operated phones. Got change from one of the shops nearby and tried plugging in the coins. One phone did not work at all. The next one had coins stuck in so you could not even try to use it. At this point I was getting a little frustrated but saw the guest services area. I went to them and mentioned the issue with the phones not working. At that time the clerk asked if I would just want to use his phone? Bless you! He dialed, but then Audrey did not pick up. I'm sure she was on a ride or in a noisy section at the time. He dialed again, but right then - all 3 of my family members were walking by the guest services window. Yay! (As I was quite nearly in tears at this moment.)
We had heard so much about Cars Land that we knew we had to get in line for the Radiator Springs Racers. The line was HUGE and very slow moving. We were in line for nearly an hour when we realized we would not get to the front and out of the ride before the deadline to pick up our World of Color dinner & tickets. So John and Audrey sacrificed and got out of line while Cheyenne and I continued. By the way - it was beyond AWESOME!!
We had pre-purchased the World of Color Picnic with viewing area ticket. I picked the Taste of Asia (chilled salmon, cucumber/radish slaw, soba noodle salad, mandarin orange cake, beverage); Audrey & John picked the All American (fried chicken, coleslaw, potato salad, apple pie, beverage); and Cheyenne chose the Junior All-American Box (chicken leg, goldfish crackers, apple, vanilla cupcake, beverage). All came with a glow-in-the dark bracelet. Besides being non-refundable (thus the reason for John & Audrey to get out of line), they had specific window of time to pick up tickets/meals and the tickets were only valid for specific show (8:15pm) and a specific area to stand to watch.
We sat down and had our meal and then made our way to the designated viewing area. By the time we found a spot to stand in our section, we actually ended up being quite close to the water. There were all sorts of signs warning us that we would get wet, but we were OK with that. Remember it was in the 90's!
The World of Color is described as "Disney's most innovative and immersive water spectacular combines water, color, fire, music, and animation in a kaleidoscope of fantasy and imagination". Well, all I can tell you was as soon as it was over we just looked at each other and said "WOW". It was amazing! And yes, we did get wet and we did feel the "fire" too. So cool!!
We had just a little time before the park closed to walk around Cars Land and take some pictures. I love the neon lights at night. Again, I'm amazed at all the details they put into the park.
What an adventuresome day at Disney's California Adventure!!
