Day 3 of Vacation, 2nd day at parks

We had a lot planned for this day so we made sure to all be up early and ready for entry into California Adventure at 7:00.  The kids woke pretty easily and we were able to get out the door fairly quickly.  We first went to the entrance into California Adventure that is at a neighboring hotel, but the line was really long and the people still had to go through bag checks so we went to the front of the park where we had our bags checked and then waited for the gates to open to be let in.

ready to go!

Our plan was to get fastpasses to meet Anna and Elsa, then Olaf and then Radiator Springs Racers.  From what I had read, if you can get to Anna and Elsa first thing you can usually walk right in to see them without getting a fastpass.  Luckily that worked for us and we waited just a couple minutes to see them.  They were so nice and even Eva liked meeting them until it was time for a picture...  The girls talked to Eva about her Frozen dress and talked to Hunter about Olaf.

Eva checking out Anna and Elsa

Why is Hunter crawling on the floor?

and the whole family is in the picture...sure, why not.
Someday it will just be the kids in pictures with the characters.

We passed the rest of the family after we saw Anna and Elsa and told them our plan was to get Olaf fastpasses and then we could wait in line for RSR.  I had seen on facebook that most of the time you can't pull fastpasses for RSR until close to 8:00 but the line starts forming when the park opens.  I wasn't aware that the Olaf fp did the same.  So, we didn't get the Olaf fp and sadly the way the day went, we never made it back to Hollywood Land to see him or a few other things that was on our list (Disney Jr. Live and the Monsters, Inc ride).

While standing in line for the RSR fastpass, Jeremy and Hunter rode Mater's Junkyard Jamboree.  By then the rest of the family was done seeing Anna and Elsa and we stood inline together.  Diane had breakfast reservations for us back at the hotel at 8:00 so, Shannon stayed in line and pulled everyones fastpass while we all walked back to the hotel for breakfast.

G-ma with her granddaughters 

I thought the breakfast was great.  It was a buffet with a lot to choose from for all to enjoy.  A lot of different characters came to the table and all the kids enjoyed that except Eva.  Again, she liked them from across the room but when they got closer she threw her head down (which wasn't so good when she was in her highchair and her head hit the table)

Why is Eva smiling?  I placed her without her knowing what was behind her.  She never saw Mickey...

Until it was time for a group photo.  Then Eva was back to hiding.

Minnie Mouse

Pluto

Diane with her birthday ears!

After breakfast everyone headed back to the parks to ride Radiator Springs Racers.  While we were walking there, I pulled fastpasses for Jeremy and Hunter to ride Soarin' Over California together.  While we rode RSR, Jeremy's dad sat with Eva while she slept in the stroller.  He had rode the ride the night before so he didn't mind sitting it out.

Hunter sat in the front middle seat between Jeremy and me.  He was having fun on the ride, pointing out everything he saw.  There was a point at the end of the ride, when you race and go fast that Hunter had his head down, both Jeremy and I thought "uh, oh".  But he was fine, I just think that was the first time he had ever experienced his stomach dropping and didn't know what to do;-)

Getting ready to ride

Tip from the the photo person...put the smallest person in the back middle to be seen...

Waving at the cars zooming by

Next up, Jeremy and Hunter went to ride Soarin' but for some reason at the last minute Hunter told Jeremy he didn't want to.  I have no clue where that came from because he LOVED it the night before.  So we went back and waited to meet up with the rest of the family.  We rode a few rides and met Woody and Buzz Lightyear.

Eva walking with her harness

Buzz came out right after we had our visit with Woody.
Would have been awesome to have gotten a picture of both of them.  But at least Hunter was able to say hi :-)

Drew and Jeremy riding Screamin

Second ride and they were ready to have their picture taken

By this time, it was close to 1:00 and we needed to get back to the hotel so the kids could eat lunch/rest/run around because there was a dinner reservation at 3:15 in Disneyland.  They both ate well and did their bathroom business (which worked out everyday and I'm thankful for that!)  Hunter rested a few minutes with Jeremy but then we needed to get back to meet up with everyone.

While walking to Aladdin's Oasis in Adventureland Hunter and Eva both fell asleep.  Once everyone met up, Diane was able to change the reservations to 6:30.  While the kids slept Jeremy and I went to the Haunted Mansion with his dad, Shannon and Wyatt.  The wait was a little long but it seemed to go quickly.  After Haunted Mansion we met back up with Diane.  Eva was awake and then Hunter woke a few minutes later.  We rode the Jungle Cruise next.  Eva loved seeing the animals and Hunter thought it was pretty cool we were in a boat:-)

Sleepy Kiddos

and a very sleepy kiddo

Next up was Tiki Room.  It was on my list of to do's but I had no clue how much Eva was going to LOVE it.  She was starting to get restless being out of her stroller and wanting to walk around but once the show started all she could do was look/point at the birds, dance and squeal with excitement.  I had tears because it was one of the sweetest things to see her enjoy it so much.  And of course Hunter was dancing along to the music and enjoyed it as well.  Wish I had video of the both of them.

For dinner we ate at Aladdin's Oasis.  It was part of a fastpass plan for Fantasmic.  When we were getting our food, one of the workers said hi to me and asked if I remembered who she was.  I was blank, no clue.  Then she said she sat next to Hunter on Soarin' last night.  Oh yes, then I remembered!  I then told her how he wouldn't ride it again today and she was surprised to hear that b/c of how much fun he had on it.  But so fun, that she remembered Hunter and me.  The cast members are so nice:-)

Fantasmic! started at 9:00 so we figured out where we needed to be.  The fastpasses gives you a color code and based on the color is where you are seated.  Though it is kind of mess to figure out b/c so many people are trying to figure it out at the same time, we did get a good seat.  We waited for a while for the show to start but once it started, it didn't disappoint.  Pretty cool to watch, though the fireworks and some of the music was too loud for Hunter.  This is the first time we really noticed it bothering him.  It was pretty loud.

One cool thing about where we were sitting is that we could watch the Disneyland Forever fireworks show right after Fantastic!.  The not so cool thing was a few minutes after the fireworks started, it stopped and couldn't continue due to technical difficulties.  Bummer.  We then made our way to Fantasyland to get seats for the Paint the Night parade.  Since there was some time before the parade was to start, Jeremy and I went to ride Matterhorn but we decided not too because the line was really long so we went to Buzz Lightyears Astro Blasters.  Then we went back to our parade seats and since there still was some time, Jeremy took Hunter to the Buzz Lightyear ride.  Again, Hunter loved it and Jeremy said he actually did really well with his blaster.

Once the parade started both kids were loving it!  Just dancing away and waving as the floats went by.  Hunter was very excited to see Mack and Lighting McQueen and then to see Buzz and Woody.  Eva loved seeing the princesses and really lit up when she saw Anna and Elsa.  If Disney releases a soundtrack to any of the parades, I will be sure to buy it because of how much the kids loved the music.

waiting for the parade to start.

After the parade we rode a few more rides.  Jeremy and Hunter ended the night on the Star Wars ride.  Jeremy said that when the ride started, Hunter asked if they were in outer space:-)  While they were doing that, Sleeping Eva and I took pictures in front of the castle.  We started walking back to the hotel around 12:30.  It was a late night but so much fun.

Just sleeping