Read about Day 4 here. Our final park day was 50 percent awesome, 50 percent aggravating. There aren't many pictures because I was not in a photo taking mood! But here is a recap. The plan was to be at California Adventure when it opened, ride Soarin' and then explore the Pixar Pier area. The first part of the day went according to plan, we got fast passes for Soarin' and went to ride Radiator Springs Racers since the stand-by line was relatively short. RSR was fun, although we lost again. Then it was time for our fast passes, so we walked over and rode Soarin', which is the same as the one in EPCOT but still a favorite. After that, we headed to Pixar Pier. This is an area of California Adventure that is themed to the Pixar movies and looks like an old-fashioned boardwalk carnival. They have a lot of rides for little kids, a Ferris wheel, a roller coaster (which A&R were not tall enough for), and the best ride ever, Toy Story Midway Mania. Our plan was to let Anne and Ryan ride some of the carnival rides while Rob went to get fast passes for Toy Story. He was able to do his side of the plan, but it was a rather windy day, so most of the kiddie rides were closed. We were only able to ride 1 of the 4, Jumpin' Jellyfish. Fast Passes in hand, we met Rob outside the Inside Out Emotional Whirl-Wind. The kids and I stood in this really long line, the ride was ok, but offered great views of the park. When we got off, Rob realized he hadn't taken his reflux medication that morning, so he needed to go back to the room and get it. I took the kids to the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail while he did that. The Redwood Creek Challenge Trail is a great area to let kids run around and burn off their energy. There are climbing nets, zip lines, and slides, plus plenty of sidewalks where they can just run and not worry about people. It was 20 minutes well spent waiting for Daddy. Then I noticed there was no line for The Little Mermaid- Ariel's Undersea Adventure. I texted Rob that we would meet him outside the ride and we headed over. The Little Mermaid ride is exactly the same as the one in Florida, cute but not a headline attraction. It was great to ride it with no line and get out of the cold wind for a few minutes. Finally we met up with Rob and headed to ride the Pixar Pal-A-Round. This is the giant Pixar themed Ferris wheel that is the park's icon. The ride has 2 vehicle types, non-moving, which are typical Ferris wheel cars; and moving cars, which slide around on a round track as the wheel moves. The Schneiders tend towards motion sickness, so of course we rode the non-moving cars. Even that is almost too much for me. I hate Ferris wheels, but the kids love them so I soldiered on like a good mother. The wait for the ride was about 30 minutes, but the churros made that pass quickly. ;) When we got off the ride, I noticed a serious up tick in the crowd level in the pier area. I checked the app and both the Incredicoaster and the Toy Story ride were down. That left a lot of people with nothing to ride! We thought we would just grab lunch and hope that the ride was back on line by the time of our Fast Passes. Apparently every one else had the same idea. I used the app to do mobile ordering for lunch, but there was no where to sit! We started out eating on top of a trash can then we saw some people leave and swooped in on their table. Turns out they were leaving because the sun was blinding them. The hot dogs staved off the hanger, but it wasn't a very magical day. Luck was on our side and Toy Story was up just in time for our Fast Passes. This ride is so much fun. You use a little blast cannon to play these midway style games. Everything is digital and the ride keeps track of your score. I'm never very good but I still love it! Ride accomplished, we were kinda done. It was only 12:30, but it felt like we were just pushing a boulder up a hill. The park was crowded, rides kept going down, so there was no where for people to go. We had ridden what we could and the only rides we wanted to ride again all had lines of over an hour. I checked the app and the same thing was true over in the Magic Kingdom. Thus ended our time in the California parks! It kinda ended on a low note, but that doesn't damper our overall opinion of Disneyland. We went back to the hotel to swim, but after about an hour of swimming there was a code brown at the water slides, which meant everyone was in the other pool, which then felt over crowded. Sigh. I think it's time to pack up this vacation and head home!
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