DAY TWO - Disneyland Resort Parks - Part Two

At my arrival at the California Adventures Park, I took my picture in from of the mock Golden Gate Bridge (okay, someone else took it for me.

The lines for the rides here weren't too bad, either. I went to A Bug's Land, but didn't see "It's Tough to be a Bug" because I had already seen the show at WDW. However, I did take the picture below. I also took some pictures of the land - it had a lot of the characters from "A Bug's Life" and cute decor as where you're meant to feel the size of a bug.

After the Bug's Land I went on the Tower of Tower. The below picture is in the lobby area (in the queue for the ride). It didn't take long to get on this ride at all. After enjoying my 13 story drop on the tower, I ventured over to the Paradise Pier area of the park and had some ice cream at Cal-Freeze - a swirled vanilla soft-serve cone with a lemon twist.

The Paradise Pier area is home to the California Screamin' roller coaster. It was a rather good ride. I was able to get on quickly, despite a 30-minute wait time, because of being a single ride. Apparently coming alone to Disneyland does have it's advantages. Also in the pier area was Toy Story Mania. This is like the Buzz Lightyear ride at Disneyland I rode earlier, but much more interesting and fun. I waited a good 25 minutes for this - and will probably try to go and ride again before my trip is over. The ride is like a big arcade game where you use a gun to score points by hitting targets (but you're in a car the whole entire time that takes you to different areas to play the games). I thought I did pretty well - earning just shy of 70,000 points. However, at the end of the ride the "best scores of the day" were shown and they were upwards of 400,000. So, that put me in my place.

I went next to Soarin' - which is a great ride, and also at WDW. And then I did a short Bakery Tour that shows how the famous Boudin sourdough bread from San Francisco is made. I skipped the Grizzly River Run ride (where you're supposed to get really wet) to save for later when I felt like a water ride (maybe Monday when it's supposed to be warmer). I also took my picture with Lightning McQueen and Mater from Cars.

I headed over to the Muppet Vision 3D and watched that show, and also went through Monsters Inc., Mike and Sully to the Rescue. This is just a short ride with scenes from the film, basically. Then came my favorite area thus far for my trip. The area was in the Animation Academy Building. The picture below is of a still image of a Toy Story zoetrope. I took video as well, so I can show the full effect to people when I get home. But the point of a zoetrope is action produced as an illusion from still images (or sculptures in this case) that are shown to the human eye in rapid succession. The result is something that looks like a movie being shown when the actual sculptures remain still. You can see how the sculptures change (like when you flip through pages in a book that each have a small change, resulting in movement when flipped). It was very interesting. Also in this building was "Turtle Talk With Crush." I took video of this, too. You basically sit in a room with a giant "tank" where Crush from "Finding Nemo" comes and talks with the audience. This was probably my favorite because of the interaction. Someone (who knows how or where) is controlling the animated Crush, so he's talking to the audience and moving to what he's saying. The audience can ask questions, and he'll answer. For instance, when I was in there a little kid asked what he'd rather be if he wasn't a sea turtle, and his response included the girl's name, and that he'd like to be a human. It's a very cute interaction.

After the adventures in the Animation Building, I left California Adventure and went back to Disneyland. I hadn't really been to the Fantasyland area of the park, so I went. I went on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, The Storybook Land Canals, Alice in Wonderland Ride, and walked through the castle. I need to make it, before I leave, to Pixie Hollow (to take my picture with Tinkerbell, who doesn't come out at WDW), and to Mickey's Toon-Town. After this, I went to New Orleans Square and had dinner at Cafe Orleans. I had wanted to try the Monte Cristo sandwich (I think Jenn would like it, it's ham, turkey and swiss cheese lightly fried and served with Pomme Frites (fries with parmesan cheese)). It was pretty good, though really rich, and again my appetite had just faded away this vacation. Hmph.

After eating, I went to the Coke Corner on Main St. to have a cherry coke. They apparently have their own special cherry syrup there that's only used at that restaurant in Disneyland (nowhere else in the world). That's pretty special, and the coke was really good. I'll have to get it again, soon. It was nearing park closing (8), so I left the park and went to World of Disney (the large store in Downtown Disney). I didn't see anything there I liked. Back to the hotel I went, exhausted and falling asleep quickly. Onto Day 2 tomorrow. Until then...