Downtown Disney & California Adventure Park

We were lucky enough to go to Disneyland while in California, and it did not disappoint. Before we even got to Disneyland's gates, we explored the neighboring shopping center Downtown Disney.

One of the best finds was the Lego store; it's a wonderland for anything male, or at least it was for the 3 boys that were with me (yes, I'm including my husband). They built these fantastic structures of famous scenes from Disney movies entirely out of Lego's. See below-

 so cute

So Disneyland is definitely something to do over a span of a few days, but we tried to do as much as possible with our 1 day. We opted to go to California Adventure Park, Disney's adjacent theme park to Disneyland, since it featured the Cars Land exhibit. It was seriously as if you had stepped straight into the movie, and the town Radiator Springs.

 Lightning McQueen and Mater drove by a few times...loved it

 Our first ride there was Luigi's Tires, where you floated on air from the below vents and bumped into the other tires. It was entertaining enough for a little kids' ride, but way too short. Of course, that could have something to do with the fact that we waited well over an hour to get on the ride, after they had to shut it down for repairs for 15 minutes. And Jason barely got on with the minimum height requirement...lucky he had his shoes on!

 Jason enjoying Daddy's shoulders, while Jack lounged in the rented stroller. Main complaint for Disneyland? They don't rent out anything other than single strollers. I mean, seriously, with all the children they get there, you'd think they'd have double strollers available.

 Jon and Jack rode this ride together, I think it's called the Jellyfish, or something like that.

 ...view from the top

 Jack & I rode this high-flying ride together

 Mid-day we took a break from Cars Land, and got some lunch by Paradise Pier. Kudos to the park for providing delicious food at reasonable prices. That was shocking to us. We got restaurant quality pizza, penne pasta, mac 'n' cheese, and kids' food for pretty cheap. No corn dogs or nachos for us. Jason napped thru lunch in the stroller, while the rest of us ate; Jon & Jack even rode the Jellyfish ride while Jason was napping, and I was sneaking in bites of the snoozing kid's mac 'n' cheese. I'm a bad mommy.

Other things we did while there included a TON of walking, catching the parades and dance shows they put on in the streets. We saw a trolley car of newsie-type kids get out and sing and dance, Phineas & Ferb's dance show, and dancing fountains spurting to Goofy's conducted orchestra. We also stumbled upon a super-fun dance club, where Disney characters got on the dance floor and partied with all the kids to trendy pop music; Jason and I danced together and it was awesome! He loved it, especially when countless bubbles were released from the ceiling, surrounding us. I took Jack out on the dance floor, but he's not big on dancing, and just sort of stood there. I tried!

One of the coolest sections of the park was Grizzly Park. It was like a ropes course on speed. They had roped ladders connecting and zig-zagging up multiple levels. Slides, log crawls, pathways, tree-houses and lookouts. Very cool. Only problem was Jon and Jack left us to explore, while Jason and I stayed by the smaller children's area to play....and we couldn't find each other for like 45 minutes! I probably decided to climb up looking for him, right as they decided to come down....and kept missing each other. I think I burned a couple hundred calories looking for him.

 another section of the park- A Bug's Land

 

By the late afternoon, we were done walking around the park. We went back to Downtown Disney and visited a few more shops. Ridemakerz was a favorite of Jack's. They had different basic cars and trucks you could choose from, then customize to your liking with rims, spoilers, and other testosterone-fueled things like that.

 Jack & Jon playing a racing game-

 We then ate dinner at the Rainforest Cafe, a first for all of us. Jason, in particular, enjoyed the jungle surroundings, and kept pointing to the elephant and monkeys. Every 30 minutes they had a "thunderstorm" with the lights out and thunder clapping; it worked to keep my kids in line and too scared to move. I need to initiate a similar system at home. And then, to spoil our kids rotten, we stopped at Haagen Daz for our last stop and got chocolate ice cream for them, and hot chocolate for me since it was dark and now getting cold outside.

And this was our view of Downtown Disney's streets as we left (except less blurry)-

What a long and tiring, but mostly fun and memorable day! We definitely need to do Disneyland again in the future, and spend a few days there to soak it in.