California...finale!

So, it has finally come. My last post about our wonderful trip to California has come. Sad, I know. So without further ado...!






I'm really not a huge fan of this picture (and Michael probably won't either), but it was the only one I had on our last trip to the park on the tram. I couldn't write without putting it in!










Since we got kind of a late start, we ended up eating lunch right when we got the park. We had gotten a coupon for "Wetzels Pretzels", which is in downtown disney, so we went there. The Pretzels were absolutely delicious! I got this really got pizza pretzel (pepperonis and cheese on the pretzel), and then they had some really good lemonade! As you might have guessed, Michael got the delicious"Sinful Cinnamon" pretzel. hehe






On our last day, we decided we'd spend the majority of it at California Adventure. Right after lunch, we headed over to the Grizzly River Run to get fast passes. To our dismay, the return for the fast passes wasn't until 430, which was when we had to leave the park! We stood there, trying to decide if the 40 minute wait was worth it, when a man came up to us and told us he fast passes for right then that he couldn't use..and there was four of them! Talk about a nice person! So we right away got in the fast pass line, and got on a raft! We got soaking wet, which was very much appreciated since it was still hot! I'm definitely grateful for that nice man :)


This picture doesn't really have anything to do with California Adventure, but it has my dad wearing his hat. You see, he had lost it earlier on the trip, and he thought it was gone forever! We looked at a bunch of different places around Disneyland and our hotel room, and it wasn't too bad found! Luckily, my mom found it in a closet at the hotel. Awesome right?! Well, it was until he left it at the Airport in Orange Country when we left! He almost lost it on the rollercoaster a few days before. This hat sure did cause lots of problems. Unfortunately, its probably gone forever now :(





After grizzly, we went over to get in line for the swinging gondola. Now, there are two types of carts on this ride...ones that move, and ones that don't. Me, thinking I'm so brave, felt that we needed to go on the swinging ones. Bad idea! I never get scared on rides really...but this one, I was fearing for my life!! Now, as my niece Tori said when she heard this story, Ferris Wheels aren't scary! Well, they aren't, unless your on this one, where, when you hit the topish area, the cart your in flies forward, and when your facing the open air, and it looks like your just flying into nothing and that your just going to fly off the ride all together, a person gets scared. A person, being me. If you look at these pictures of me, they
are totally not posed at all! That was a face of pure terror that my dad caught on tape. Now, would I go on this ride again? Absolutely! But man...was I scared!
















The maliboomer. I had been wanting to go on this ride since our home teachers told us about it. It shoots you up about 800 feet in 2 seconds and then drops you, and does it again...Boy, it was a rush. I definitely left my stomach at the top when the dropped us. My parents didn't want to go on this ride, so it was just me and Michael. It was such a fun ride though! It goes by so fast though, you don't have time to really take in whats going on. The picture of me is afterwards...I was kind of disoriented! (haha..okay maybe it was posed..but its how i was feeling!)





It was getting to the hottest part of the day, and look what we found! A little kid cool off area. Well, we didn't care if it was meant for little kids...it was hot! So we went in and put our heads under the fountains and what not. Very nice cool down!





One of the last things we did in California Adventure was go to a 3D thing called "It's Tough Being a Bug". Cindy and AJ told us not to miss this one, and I'm sure glad we didn't! It was SO cool and seemed to real! Even though parts of it were kind of creepy, I loved it! We all wanted to go to it again..but my mom didn't want too. Bummer :( We wore this cool 3D glasses though! Very stylish, I only wish we got to keep them.


















We walked around the bugs life area for awhile before heading over to Disneyland...who could resist getting a picture with this giant bug?! I never really liked A Bugs Life, the movie, so I can't recall the name of this bug, but I can tell you it was the bad guy (at least..i think)!

















One last photo op in Cali Adventure! Such a sad moment :( lol. There was this really pretty area that had waterfalls and rocks...It reminded me of the good ol' Rocky Mountains. I love the mountains! (and yes, I realize I have kind of a strange outfit on, and that it doesn't really match..but oh well..its not like I'll ever see anybody there again!)






Right as we were leaving the park, we saw that a High School Musical performance going on. Well, I sure do love High School Musical..as does everyone else in my family (though I'm feeling a bit iffy about the newest one thats coming out), we decided to stop and watch. It just wasn't that great. Nothing can replace the real actors...sigh...











After we were done in california adventure, we still had a bit of time to kill, so we went back over to disneyland for a few last attractions. We had been wanting to see this movie they put on "The First 50 Years", and since we didn't probably have enough time to wait in line for rides, we decided to go see this now. It was hosted by Steve Martin and Donald Duck...it was really funny, and definitely made me admire Walt Disney even more. I can't believe how Disneyland came to be, and how fast it came together. I wonder if he ever knew how huge it would become. This was definitely really cool to see :)



Dumbo! I was so excited to see this statue! Many of you probably know how much I loved elephants and Dumbo when i was little (i.e. the elephant song I used to sing), so seeing this statue was so exciting! As you can tell :)










Dad and his girlfriend Minnie Mouse :-D









Right before we left, we looked around Sleeping Beautys castle :)













Leaving for the parking lot :( We were so sad!






Going to Disneyland was definitely a wonderful experience. It really is the happiest place on earth, and I'm so grateful that we were able to go this summer. I will definitely never forget it, and I really hope I'll be able to come back again before another 14 years goes by!

So thanks to all those (if there are any left!), who read my whole account of our vacation! I enjoyed writing it, and I hope some of you all out there enjoyed reading it!

To end this blog, I thought it would be fun to put this picture I found of me when I went to Disneyland when I was four...I believe it was taken in Mickey's Toon Town. I was planning on taking a picture at the same location, but we didn't really ever have time (or I kept forgetting when we did have the time!). Since I don't have that, I thought i'd post a picture of me wearing the minnie mouse hat I bought, since I'm wearing one in the picture from 14 years ago (well, i was wearing the girl version of the mickey mouse hat that they had back then..notice the bow on top :-D). I love Disneyland!