I am finally getting around to documenting the last part of our trip to Southern California in December 2022!
In between my last post, and this one, I have been working on giving the blog a bit of a “face lift” – I added an About Me section on the home page, and also created a new cover photo collage. Let me know what you think ツ!
Since my last post covered my favourite moments in Disneyland Park, this one will focus on the California Adventure side of Disneyland Resort. I would definitely recommend reading my Disneyland post first, otherwise some of the details below might not make sense!
For those who have not been to Disneyland Resort, the two parks – Disneyland and California Adventure – are literally side-by-side; you can walk from one part to the other in probably one minute… but I guess that depends on how fast you walk. Disneyland is definitely the more popular of the two, but my favourite rides are in California Adventure. This might be a good place to start!
Rides
Here is a list of the rides we did while in California Adventure:
Goofy’s Sky School: I have to be honest; I did not like this ride. Goofy’s Sky School reminded me of the Wild Mouse ride that used to be at the P.N.E in Vancouver – does anyone remember this ride? Every time it (Wild Mouse) went around a corner, I felt the car was going to fly right off the tracks, and that is exactly what Goofy’s Sky School was like! Needless to say, my happiest moment on the ride was when it was over.
Guardian’s of the Galaxy – Mission Breakout: Okay, while it is a super close call, this has to be my favourite ride at Disneyland Resort (sorry, Justin – his favourite is the Incredicoaster). I love the introduction to the ride (how Rocket explains the “mission”) and when the elevator drops, you get the weirdest feeling in your stomach… kind of like you are fluttering or floating. The music is always really good, too! I could not believe I convinced Justin to do this ride four times while we were at the park, given that we only did it once on our previous trip. We even got pretty good at the photo ops with our “rock on” poses!
Incredicoaster: This is my second favourite ride at Disneyland Resort! But as I said, it is a very close call between this one and Guardian’s of the Galaxy. The drops on this coaster, and the part where you go upside down, always have me screaming at the top of my lungs!
The Little Mermaid – Ariel’s Undersea Adventure: A relaxing ride “under the sea” (my puns are on point lately).
Mater’s Jingle Jamboree: This ride is kind of like the teacups – you spin around the junkyard in a tractor, and the tractors also have springs that will send you in the other direction. It was fun!
Pixar Pal-A-Round – Swinging: I feel this is the iconic ride of California Adventure – the giant Ferris wheel with Mickey Mouse’s face on it. You can choose between two line-ups on this ride – swinging and non-swinging gondolas. If you go on a swinging gondola, it will also slide back and forth when you come to a stop. It was a bit scary being so high up, swingin’ and slidin’! This ride was Justin’s equivalent of Goofy’s Sky School for me – his favourite moment was when it ended.
Radiator Springs Racers: This ride is definitely another favourite of mine. While the ride itself is pretty basic, the animations/display are my favourite part. Radiator Springs Racers will have a line-up before the park even opens, and the Lighting Lane for this ride comes at an additional cost (just like Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance in Disneyland). This ride also went down several times during our visit, but we managed to fit it in a handful of times by using the Single Riders line-up. Through this option, Justin and I still managed to get on the same car a couple of times (one of us was in the front row, the other in the back row), and only waited about 15 to 20 minutes. The Single Rider line-up is definitely worth it, as long as you are not hell-bent on sitting next to each other.
Silly Symphony Swings: This was a quick, classic ride. If you are afraid of heights, definitely do not look down!
Soarin’ Around the World: This ride is essentially a giant TV screen that you fly into/over, as it shows video footage from different places around the world, hence the name of the attraction. I think it would be helpful if you were told what region you were flying over as it was happening – I was able to guess most of them, but not all!
Toy Story Midway Mania: I would not consider this to be your typical theme park ride, as it is interactive. You are seated in a car, while wearing 3D glasses, and you approach multiple different screens where you need to shoot at various targets (such as the little green men aliens from Toy Story). This game keeps score, and well, Justin won this one.
Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure: This ride has the same concept as Toy Story Mania, except this time you are imitating Spider-Man and shooting webs out of your wrists at robot spider targets. This ride actually gives you a bit of a workout, as you are constantly moving your arms and pointing them at targets. While Justin may have won at Toy Story Midway Mania, I was the ultimate Web Slinger ツ.
Food:
We had a look at the different sit-down restaurant options in both parks prior to our trip and ultimately decided to stick with grab and go options. We did not start looking into reservations far enough in advance, and unfortunately, the restaurants with the more appealing plant-based options were already booked.
Here are the grab-and-go options we tried:
Shawarma Palace: We tried both the Impossible Breakfast Sha-warm-up and Impossible Victory Falafel. We both thought the falafel Shawarma was okay – nothing special – but the breakfast Shawarma was delicious! The only downside was that the wraps were quite small, and as a result, not very filling.
Ghirardelli Soda Fountain & Chocolate Shop: I was so excited to find out Ghirardelli’s offered a Non-Dairy Hot Fudge option! I will start by saying this is a huge serving – it was too much for Justin and I to finish. Part of the reason why we could not finish it though was because there was a lot of hot fudge, and it was very rich. It was definitely a nice treat, but make sure you have one or two people to share with!
Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta: At this grab-and-go spot, they have spaghetti, salads and pizza that have already been plated, and you literally grab your option and checkout. Fortunately, at the spaghetti counter, you can request Impossible meatballs and plant-based parmesan. You can also put in an order for a plant-based personal-sized pizza. The pizza came with assorted vegetables and Daiya cheese as toppings, and was hand delivered by the chef! Justin and I each got our own pizza and shared a bowl of spaghetti, and it definitely satisfied our hunger.
Ice Cream Stand: I am not sure if the ice cream stands have a name, but one of their plant-based options is a frozen banana, covered in chocolate and peanuts. This treat was delicious, but you definitely need to wait at least ten minutes for it to thaw, otherwise you will not be able to take a bite (and I say this from experience)!
Overall, I am very pleased with how many plant-based options Disneyland Resort offers. I know it probably does not seem like we ate very much over our three day visit, but Disneyland Resort can get pretty expensive if you are not careful with how you spend your money, especially if you add another 30 to 35% for the exchange rate.
One way we got around not having to eat every meal at the Parks was bringing snacks that we picked up from Trader Joe’s. We usually ate lunch at the Resort, and then had ready made overnight oats, wraps and salads for breakfast and dinner, which we also picked up from Trader Joe’s and kept in the mini fridge at our hotel.
Other Favourite Moments
Other than going on rides and eating, here are some other memorable moments from California Adventure:
Characters Meet N’ Greets: While we did not see many characters in Disneyland, we got to meet Mickey Mouse, Pluto, Goofy and Mater (from Cars) in California Adventure. And yes, we got photos with all of them!
The Amazing Spider-Man: A couple times each day, Spiderman does some crazy flips and jumps on top of the buildings in the Spider-Man area of the Park. We only watched a couple minutes of the show, but Spider-Man definitely gets some airtime.
World of Colour – Season of Light: This is a really amazing show that California Adventure puts on every night. Water shoots into the sky and acts as a “projector screen” for watching quick clips of Disney footage. There are also a lot of colourful lights throughout the show, music and even some smoke for extra effect! I would definitely recommend lining up early (after you have reserved your spot through Genie+), otherwise people standing in front of you can really obstruct your view.
Overall, Justin and I had an amazing time at Disneyland Resort, and we cannot wait for our next visit!
Always grateful,
Michelle
Exploring With Gratitude 