Day Three: Disney's California Adventure!

Whew, Day Three was a rough one! Since it was a Friday, the park opened at 8 a.m., which meant our Magic Hour began at, yep, 7 a.m. Hypothetically, we were going to wake up at 5:30 a.m. and get ready, eat breakfast, pack the car, check out and head to the "secret entrance" through the Grand Californian Hotel by 6:45. Well... we were there by 7:30. Oh, well, that still left 15 1/2 hours to spend in the park before closing! Heeding much advice, we headed STRAIGHT to Cars Land, the newest addition to DCA (Disney's California Adventure). Chris parked his butt in a line for Fastpasses to Radiator Springs Racers, the most amazing (and therefore popular) ride at DCA!

See Chris?

While he waited, Jamie and Noah hopped on Mater's Junkyard Jamboree while I watched a talking, roaring, driving Lightning McQueen and Tow-Mater pass right by us on the road! Wow!

Lightning McQueen drove by, but Noah refused to get out of line!

We got a few pictures with them, and then Noah, Drew and I rode Luigi's Flying Tires, which was tons of fun. And we really enjoyed a gorgeous morning!

We then moved on to some other rides in other lands, such as A Bug's Land and Hollywood Land, where Chris and I walked right on to The Tower of Terror and later coerced Drew and Jamie to ride.

Because we have Disney credit cards, we were able to participate in an "exclusive" character meet & greet, and were lucky enough to get pictures with Minnie Mouse!

Noah was thrilled, and Audrey really liked her. We also collected our World of Color Fastpasses for the 9 p.m. show, then headed back to the Racers in Radiator Springs. It was seriously the most incredible ride--Disney pulled out all the stops!

View of Radiator Springs Racers ride from Mickey's Fun Wheel!

In addition to riding tons of rides, we got to see the Aladdin musical production that's an abridged version of the full-on Broadway show--spectacular! Even Audrey enjoyed it immensely, blabbering and gabbing all the way through the hour-long show.

Mamie took Audrey for a bit while Chris and I rode California Screamin'

Paradise Pier

By evening, we were definitely dragging, but so glad we stayed to see Radiator Springs in neon lights... and World of Color, a fantastic light and water show (plus some fire!).

World of Color consisted of water jets and mist and fountains with light projected onto them--pictures, words, colors--amazing!

After the show, we grabbed some last-minute treats and coffees and headed to our van for the long drive to Temecula to spend the rest of the week with family. Click HERE to see the album!