Chapter 7: "And the baby is gone"
After a refreshing swim and relaxing nap back at the hotel, we set off for California Adventure around 5 PM. Our goal for the night was to finish off the rest of the rides at DCA we had not experienced yet, as well as to repeat some of our favorites from the day before. We started off by fighting our way through the Food & Wine bottleneck and going to Cars Land. Our first stop was Mater's Junkyard Jamboree (
ride #33).
It's the same as Alien Swirling Saucers at DHS, except with tow trucks and out in the open rather than under cover. A really fun ride that we both enjoyed. Next we stayed in Radiator Springs for Luigi's Rollicking Roadsters (
ride #34).
This one looked cool while we were on line, but we found it sort of boring and needlessly jerky during the ride. A thumbs down from both of us. No need to return.
Our next destination was Radiator Springs Racers, our first FP of the night and our first DCA repeat ride. This time we would be riding while the sun was still out, so would get a slightly different experience. My daughter remained convinced that the car whose riders cheered loudest would win the race, so we encouraged the others in our car to root us to victory.
Yet again, our car won! My daughter was now even more sure of her theory. After RSR, we left Cars Land and headed over to Pixar Pier. My daughter loved Incredicoaster, so I had snagged us a FP for it while we were hanging by the hotel pool earlier that afternoon. We breezed through the FP line and were soon off in hot pursuit of the missing and elusive Baby Jack Jack.
Our ride photo did not come through, and my daughter really wanted to ride again that night to get the "after dark" experience, so I immediately went to MP and booked us another FP for later in the evening. But our next FP was nearby at Toy Story Midway Mania. After that, we were off to Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout, with another FP that I had stacked earlier in the day. It was nice to leisurely stroll through Hollywood Land this time, rather than our flat out sprint the night before.
We really enjoyed the ride, yet again. By now we were hungry for dinner, and my daughter was begging to go back to her new favorite restaurant: Flo's V8. I quickly put in our mobile order and we walked back to Cars Land. She again got the burger, and I got the Blue Plate Special (chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, and veggies). We both had a great, hearty meal and then made our way to Pixar Pier for another ride on Incredicoaster using the FP I had grabbed earlier that night. We again requested the front row, and soon were launching into the night.
Next my daughter reminded me that she had been deprived of her promised Adorable Snowman Pixar Pier Parfait the night before, and was looking to collect on her raincheck immediately. A deal is a deal, so I gladly complied.
It was now close to 9 PM, giving us an hour (or so I thought) to finish our last four rides at DCA. First up was the newest ride at DLR, Jessie's Critter Carousel (
ride #35), which had just opened the week before.
It's just a standard carousel ride, but it's well themed and the animals are really cute. Next we tried to go to the Pixar Pal-A-Round, but were told that it was already closed for the night due to World of Color. We were surprised since it was wasn't even 9:30 yet and WOC didn't start until 10, but whatever. We would now need to return the next day in order to complete all the rides at DCA.
So we continued around to Paradise Gardens Park for our last two rides of the night, Jumpin' Jellyfish (
ride #36) and Golden Zephyr (
ride #37). Both are standard amusement park fare, but it was cool to be riding them while the fireworks were going off over at
Disneyland. We had a great view, though I didn't manage to snap any good pictures that captured the fireworks.
We finished the rides a little before 10 PM and considered hopping over to DL for a few more rides, but decided that we were tired and just wanted to call it a night so we could rest up to RD the next morning. We exited DCA before WOC began and were back at the Anaheim Desert Inn a few minutes later.
Stay tuned for Chapter 8, where we continue our march towards riding all 48 rides at DLR with another early morning at Disneyland.
Day 2 Statistics
Parks visited: DL and DCA
Rides: 26 (19 new, 7 repeats)
Progress towards goal of riding every ride at DLR: 37/48
Miles walked (according to my Fitbit): 12.18