Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Disneyland and the New Cars Land

In September I went on a training trip with my company to Disneyland.  We got to experience a lot of things, so I have broken them up in to separate blogs.  It is my plan in the next year to start a travel only blog that I can post reviews of trips that I take, so I may go in to a lot of detail, but hopefully if you are considering a trip to Disneyland you will find it helpful!  If you are just a casual follower of my blog, then hopefully you won't find my details too boring, and you can just browse the (not so great, taken from my iPhone) pictures!

The first day I got there early so I could enjoy one day of the parks without an agenda.  First up was Disneyland.  Sleeping Beauty castle is so quaint compared to Cinderella Castle, but as I have said in another blog about Disneyland, I feel like this park is so charming and magical in a totally different way than Walt Disney World.  It is smaller and more intimate, and this is where Walt walked and planned and lived.  So something about it is just enchanting.
 

One of my favorite rides at Disneyland is Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye.  It is a great thrill ride and the attention to detail starting in the queue all the way through is one of the reasons that Disney parks stand head and shoulders above other theme parks.  It is a do not miss ride for sure! 

Next up was the California Adventure theme park.  If you have not been to Disneyland, but have experienced the World, one splendid thing about Disneyland is how close everything is.  You walk out of one park gate, across a plaza for about 100 feet, and in to the gate of the other theme park.  If you take a right out of Disneyland, in about 30 seconds you are in Downtown Disney and within walking distance of the Disney hotels.  SO easy.

The big new thing at California Adventure, of course, is Cars Land.  I am sort of ashamed to say I had not seen the movie, so we had a Cars movie night at my house before I left.  It is a good thing I did, or I would never have been able to truly appreciate, once again, that Disney attention to detail!  We were told that cast members have heard more than one child ask their parent 'Mommy is this where they filmed the movie?'.  Haha, but it looks JUST like the town from the movie, Radiator Springs.  You can check in at the Cozy Cone motel...






Have lunch at Flo's V8 Diner...


Meet Tow Mater and Lightning McQueen...




Look at this amazing rock work.  Would you ever guess those are nothing but fancy backdrops?
 
  

Cars Land has three rides.  I don't have pictures of the Luigi's Flying Tire ride, but maybe that is because I didn't love it.  You are in a giant tire, on sort of a huge air hockey type floor where there is air shooting up to move the tires and you just lean which way you want to go and play bumper tires with other people.  Eh.

The next is Mater's Junk Yard Jamboree.  This one is a lot more fun that I first thought it might be.  There are these catchy square dancing type tunes playing sung by Mater, and the tractors swing you around.  I get motion sick very easily and I had no problem with this ride!
 
 

The major attraction (E Ticket in Disney-ease) is the Radiator Racers.  Try saying it three times fast, I can't even say it once.  This ride is, for lack of a better word, awesome.  I think it might be in my top 5 theme park rides ever.  It is so cleverly done with classic dark ride elements as well as thrill ride with some racing involved.  I don't want to spoil anything, so I will just say GO RIDE IT!  Here is a group from my company in their car!



Our first big night there we got to eat at the new Carthay Circle restaurant.  It is one of the two really upscale dining options at Disneyland.  The other being Napa Rose, which is absolutely delicious.  Carthay Circle had things like Firecracker Duck Wings and Goat Cheese Ravioli and it was all absolutely delicious.  I would highly recommend it. 

The next day we got to tour some of the behind the scenes stuff at Disneyland and made a pit stop for lunch at the Big Thunder Ranch.  It is a family style BBQ place, and while I don't know that my barbecue aficionado husband would put it up against Lockharts or Franklins, I still thought it was pretty tasty.  Also, when I first look at this picture I think 'oh it is outside, must be hot!', because I am used to Disney World.  However, in California the weather is awesome just about all the time.  One more perk of Disneyland!

Pam and Heather at BTR...


That night we were treated to a showing of World of Color.  We all got Glow with the Show ears to take home with us.  These are new and light up along with WOC and Fantasmic, and I think they are planning more in the future.  They change colors depending on what part of the show you see!


Lovely night shot of the Mickey Wheel...


World of Color is so neat.  I don't really even know how to describe it, but it is a lot of water screens and fountains set to music with projections on them.  The picture below doesn't really do it any kind of justice, but I wanted to give an idea...


I am putting the other parts of my Disneyland trip in other posts so you don't fall asleep reading a novel size blog post!  Stay tuned...

Driving Up to Mount Cook

After a wonderful and too short time in Wellington, the next morning we boarded a plane to Queenstown.  Now, the whole time we had either be...