Day 3 - Disney California Adventure continued
It was time for our GRR maxpass, so we headed to Grizzly Peaks to go on Grizzly River Run. This is the first ride on GRR for all of us. It was down when we were in DCA in 2012. I had brought some doller store rain ponchos, they helped keep us dry for the most part. our sleeves got a bit wet. We shook off the ponchos and i put them back in the backpack (we plan to use them again).
We wanted to ride Ariel's but the line was crazy long!! (We found this funny, because when we were there back in January 2012 this ride was "walk-on". We even were able to stay on the ride and ride a second time as there was absolutley no one waiting for the ride).
Besides Maxpass ability, The other great thing about the Disneyland App is that you can check current wait-times for attractions.
We looked at the disney app to see what had a short line, and Monsters Inc was fairly short. DD1 and DD2 didnt remember Monsters Inc from our last trip, so they chose to ride that next. We headed back to Hollywood and rode Monsters. We took some neat pics while waiting.
As we excited Monsters, we went to check on Anamation Academy, it was a short wait until the next session. So we decided to do this, as this was one of the "must do" items for the girls. We drew "Steamboat Mickey". It was fun, and the drawing is a nice souvenier.
The girls then asked to go on Goofys Sky School. This was one of their favorites from our previous trip. The line was long. It started to get dark by the time we got on the ride. We rode Goofys and then decided to leave, as all the lines would continue to be long waits for the remainder of the day. And we were all hungry. It was shortly after 6:00 pm.
On the way out we headed back into Carsland to see Carsland at night, and took a few pictures. Then we stopped to take a picture with the partners statue on Buena Vista street.
We then headed back to our car at Gardenwalk. The Gardenwalk parkade was busy, but not packed with cars. I think we paid maybe $16 or $18 for parking, but it was definatly less than $20.
DH wanted steak from Outback Steakhouse, so we looked on google maps, and found one in Garden Grove. We got seated right away. We got a Blooming Onion to share. DH got Steak dinner, DD2 got Bourbon Bacon Salmon meal, DD1 got Chicken & Shrimp Creamy Alfredo pasta and I got crab stuffed Tilapia meal. The food was all really great.
We got back to the hotel after 8:00. The girls wanted to go to the hotel pool and hottub. This is a big deal for us from Manitoba to be swimming outside on December 27th!! We had the pool area all to ourselves. This hotels pool and hottub are in a cute courtyard. it was dark with little lights, and the pool had a glow. The water was warm.
We then went back to the room. We had to get a good nights sleep as we were going to DISNEYLAND park in the morning. Soo excited.
Favorite part of Day 3 - Finally visiting Carsland and riding RSR; The Incredicoaster
Favorite food of Day 3 - The Giant Pickle and Mango slices for me and the kids. DH liked his steak
My Tips and lessons learned:
- GET MAXPASS AS SOON AS YOU GET IN THE PARK. - i wish we would have gotten maxpass as soon as we entered and gotten RSR maxpass right away.
- Go to only E-Ticket rides in the morning. - instead of waiting in line for Luigi and Maters in the morning, we really should have done E-ticket rides instead. We could have waited for Luigis and Maters later in the day.
- If a ride goes down, leave, do not "wait and see". - As soon as they said Luigis was down we should have gotten out of line instead of waiting as long as we did.
- Bring dollarstore ponchos if you plan on GRR. Kept us dry for the most part.
- Park in Gardenwalk - Getting in and out was easy, no wait, lots of spots to choose from.