Disneyland: Day Two

Day two of our Disney trip was spend inside California Adventure and Radiator Springs Racers was definitely a huge hit with the entire family.  Our strategy for getting on this ride first thing in the morning worked well and then we rode again a few hours later using the fast pass system. 

Disney spent a lot of money on this ride and you can tell.  The scenery is amazingly realistic!

We did a last check on seat belts and then it was off to the races.

 

 

 

 

Here we are after getting new white wall tires.  Our car is looking pretty good!

After we rode the ride, we saw Mater and Lightning McQueen out front.

 

Next up was the Bug's Life area.  That was fun too.  Natalie liked these tractor seats.

But even better was driving the bumper car with dad!

Will thought it was great fun too!  He could barely see over the top of the car!

Amanda was very excited to take off up into the sky in this ride.

Mom and Natalie were waiting with anticipation, too.

After Bug's Life, we headed back to the Radiator Springs Racers as our time was up on our fast pass.  We were in a blue car this go around.  Dad and Amanda were excited to ride again.

 

 

 

We moved right from Cars to princesses.  Next up was the Ariel ride, where we were whisked away under the sea in a clam shell.

 

 

When we came out, we saw Phineas and Ferb.

And then we finally got a ride on a Ferris wheel.  The kids were SO excited as they wanted to ride the Ferris wheel at the Sacramento County Fair several weeks before our trip and they were all too short to do so.  They all qualified for this ride, and it was a ton of fun as we rode on a sliding/swinging gondola, so it was definitely more exciting than the traditional Ferris wheel. 

 

We spent a few minutes in the the Wilderness Camp where Natalie and Amanda got to do this fun tire ride.

 

 

And then we raced off to our lunch reservation at Ariel's Grotto with the one and only Princess Ariel.  The girls decided they wanted to get fancy so they wore their princess costumes to lunch.  We met Ariel right away.

Prince Will was a fan of this place too.  How could you not like being treated like royalty?

While we were eating, we got to meet several additional princesses.  First up was Belle, who is Amanda's favorite!

And then Cinderella.

Snow White.

And Sleeping Beauty.  The girls were in heaven!

After lunch, we watched a very fun parade with characters from many of our favorite movies.

 

 

 

 

Soon thereafter, we decided to take a break for the day.  We headed back to our room for a little while and then returned to the park once it was dark to watch Color of Wonder.  It was amazing.  We did not get any photos of the show as it was extremely crowded.  But here is an illuminated version of Mickey's Ferris Wheel.

And a shot of our gang as we got ready to watch the show.  The kids were already in the PJs so they could fall right into bed once we returned.

And they did just that!  All three of them passed our instantly after this fun-filled day of adventure!