Vacation day #2

Well, we decided to start early again on day two. It was a Sunday, and to start things off, it really wasn't that bad. A bit overcast, but a nice day overall.

We returned to Disneyland, and ran to a few of the attractions that we hadn't gotten to in our last visit. This also allowed us to kill some time as California Adventure (the Disney park right across from Disneyland) didn't open until 10:00..

So we ran around a bit more, dealing with minor crowds, but nothing even approaching the massive spawn of humanity that we had to deal with the previous day.

We went in and did the Jungle cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, and then we took on Splash Mountain. I have to admit, I got SOAKED. There were six of us in the boat, as my youngest son didn't want to go on the ride. So my dad stayed down with him, and they did some more tame rides while the rest of us went on the water ride. My son and niece sat up in front, then my daughter and mom in the middle, and my wife and I took the back seats.

Big. Mistake.

Putting the adults in the back three seats only begged for the boat to swap with water each and every time we turned a corner. Not to mention how much water slopped over the sides when we went down any kind of incline.

At the end of the ride, I waddled out to try to find some dry spot on my clothing, and decided it was best to find a place to camp out for a while, and drip-dry.

So, we had lunch, and then proceeded to cross over to California Adventure!

This park reminds me more of a carnival-type of place, and not really much of a theme park.

Sure, there are themed areas, but for the most part, it's an attempt to combine the fun of Disneyland and the thrill of a carnival ride. I liked the "Soaring over California" ride, the "Tower of Terror" Twilight Zone elevator drop, California Screamin' rollercoaster, and the Mali-Boomer jet ride. These rides more than made up for the line waits, and the pablem of kiddie rides dispersed all through the park.

However, my downfall again on this visit was to be water.

The favorite ride of our family group turned out to be one of my serious nemesis-type rides of the vacation. Namely, the Grizzly River Rapids Run.

Yes, another water ride.

The first time, we found that each "inner tube" raft was capable of fitting all 8 of us in one cart. So we piled in, and I noticed that my wife and my dad were sitting close to me. This became noteworthy in that I got drenched during the ride. This is when I also made the discovery about the drains in the rafts, and that these said drains not only drain water from the ride, but they allow water to shoot into the ride as well!

Yeah. I was soaked.

But it was so much fun that we went again.

Two more times, in fact.

I think I got more water from those three rides than all of the rainstorms I've ever been in combined. And that's saying something coming from a lifetime resident of the Pacific Northwest!

Anyway, at the end of the day I was able to drop dry sufficiently for us to leave, grab a shuttle bus to our hotel, and call it a grand adventure. We topped it off with a view of the Disney Park, and watched the fireworks presentation from our balcony.

We slept good that night, if only because of the sheer exhaustion from being in the parks from open until nearly close two nights in a row.

More about day 3 tomorrow!




Now, a different note:

Veronica (am I the only one who pictures the Archies comic of the spoiled little rich girl??) better known as ASM (Another Suburban Mom) awarded me my very first prize for my blog!

I don't know all of the details, but I'm going to read up on it more, and see about posting it later today or tomorrow!