we had a breakfast reservation at ariel's grotto in california adventure, so we walked as fast as we could through downtown disney, and frantically found our way to the restaurant, hurriedly taking in the sights of the new park as we wove through the crowds. i loved california adventure! it felt like a cross between old hollywood and atlantic city, with it's sunset boulevard backgrounds, trolley cars and a pier dotted with carnival rides.
i had been so excited about our breakfast at ariel's grotto since i made the reservations. the prices were a little overboard, but as i said before, since our hotel and park tickets and so much was covered by pampered chef, i didn't mind splurging on a couple of fun things for the girls. we made our way down a spiral staircase to where ariel was waiting at the bottom to meet the girls and snap a photo.
the restaurant was decked out in an ocean theme, and around the room we spotted several princesses, making their way to each table. the girls couldn't wait to meet each one and have them sign their autograph books! we ate a delicious breakfast, drank coffee (chocolate milk for the girls) and took pictures as each came by our table.
after breakfast, we went straight for the giant mickey mouse ferris wheel and then went on several rides; goofy's flying school roller coaster (somehow we got bella to ride with us! emmy was too small...), the golden zephyr (a giant swing with silver rockets) and the little mermaid ride, which turned out to be one of our favorites. because of us causing bella a case of post-traumatic stress disorder by making her ride splash mountain, she literally ran from the line of the little mermaid ride screaming for her life (not even joking)... but we were able to calm her down and assure her that there would not be a fifty two foot drop, nor would she be getting splashed (i know, we are horrible parents).
we made our way over to hollywood land for the disney junior live show, which was absolutely adorable. the girls LOVED it, and so did we just watching their little faces (and yes, we know all of the words to sofia the first AND doc mcstuffins).
after a couple stops for photos and purchasing christmas ornaments from a gift shop, we were ready to head back to the hotel. some friends of ours from texas had moved out to san diego and just happened to be at california adventure for the afternoon... nick stayed to have lunch with them while i took our tired girlies back to the hotel to rest up to get ready for our big (and very late!) evening: pampered chef was putting on a celebration dinner AND shutting down the entire park just for us!
after a restful afternoon, we got ready for our dinner. pampered chef gave us all tshirts to wear for the evening, and the girls came down to their knees :) here they are in the hallway... every time we were walking back to our room, no matter how late it was or how tired they were, they'd follow those ribbons on the carpet and yell "we're following the MAGIC!!!!!"
we made our way to one of the ballrooms at the hotel, and dined with other pampered chef-ers on a delicious dinner and dessert and then made our way with the PC crowd to california adventure. i'll never forget that feeling of knowing that they were closing down the entire park JUST FOR US. as we entered that evening, there were signs all along the front entrance: "park closing at 9 pm for a special event" :)
we rode a few rides in bugsland and then headed to a theatre in hollywood land to a special frozen singalong. we sat and watched the characters on stage, belted out the songs, danced and caught falling snow on our tongues (okay, that was just emmy).
as we walked out of the theatre, we bumped into a couple special friends:
as we walked out of the theatre, we bumped into a couple special friends:
after the photo ops, we made our way to our own private viewing of "the world of color". it was pretty amazing! thousands of lit up fountains, projections into the water, lights and music. i still loved the disneyland fireworks the best, but the world of color was quite a show.
once it was finished, we made our way to carsland... come to find out, the pampered chef crowd filled the park and everything was still pretty busy! but we were able to ride a couple of rides and definitely stop for a dance party at flo's cafe.
after getting our free ice cream treats (thank you, pampered chef!) we decided to ride the mickey ferris wheel one last time. it was nearing midnight and we were losing our girls fast. turns out, the ferris wheel is MUCH scarier to ride at night. yikes. i'm typically not afraid of heights but it definitely freaked me out a bit! my mom had volunteered to sit with the girls so nick & i could ride the giant "california screamin'" roller coaster, but the line was pretty long and the girls were tired... so we decided to call it a night. we left the gates of california adventure and took turns carrying two tired girls back through the streets of downtown disney to our hotel. it was a wonderful day full of memories, and our last one at the parks.
I was excited to read your Day Four adventure! I love DCA.
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