CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE

Did you think I was done with Disney?? I forgot to tell you I made it to Disneyland in the same month as Disney World!!! :)

For a family vacation invite/graduation present, Man-Cub's family took me with them to LA for 5 days! While we stayed on the beach and visited the piers (all for another post), we also spent a day at California Adventure- Disneyland! There are two parks there, one resembling Magic Kingdom, so they opted for California Adventure. This was also chosen because of the new Cars land. And whoa. Let me tell you. Just as I was amazed with Disney World bringing movies to life, they totally brought Radiator Springs to life in California. It was crazy!!! They had all the shops and diners and everything! And the Cars ride had about a 3-4 hour wait all day, so we did what we could first, then headed to wait in line. We opted to do the single rider line as it was going faster, and luckily Man-Cub and I got in the same car! It was so cool. 

We also saw a sweet Alladin show. I think the part that thrilled us the most was that it was inside. California wasn't quite as warm as we had expected in January and as the sun went down and the wind picked up, we were all quite chilly by dark. Luckily we warmed up during the show so we could stand outside for the water fountain show. 

To be honest, I was a little confused as to how we visited one side of the country at Disney, then hopped a plane to the other side to get to Disney too. It kind of threw off the magical feel for me for a bit, but as soon as this show started, the goosebumps sure came back with all the magic!!! I took tons of pictures because I was sad my family wasn't there for this one, but it was still awesome! Thank you to Man-Cub's family for bringing me along! 

Spoiler alert!!! There really are a lot of pictures/clips from the show so if you plan on seeing it in real life, maybe skip the end. The pictures don't nearly capture it, but it's still a good hint. 

EPCOT

Last day = the best day. 

Epcot was awesome. From Soarin', to the ride in the ball where we got to build our futures, to Ellen and Bill Nye, to the world showcase. There was nothing wrong about this day. Even though we were pretty dang tired at this point, this last day was amazing. I was told Epcot was a lot of people's favorites, and picking a favorite day on this trip is so hard, but because this park was just SO good, I'd have to say we ended the trip well. 

Before we left for this trip, some people had told Man-Cub and I about the beer around the world challenge. Epcot has the world showcase which features 10 different countries. Everyone who works in a country, is actually from that country. Most of them come for a year at a time. Part of it is for their experience in America, part of it is for us to learn more authentically about their country. It's awesome. So the beer around the world challenge consists of drinking a beer from each country throughout the day. Needless to say, we were stoked for this challenge. You will see in the video all the beers we try: Mexico, Morocco, shared one in China, Germany (with an awesome pretzel), Italy, UK, and shared one in Norway. If you kept up with me, that means we both had about 6 full beers. We only missed 3 countries, but trust me. We probably would have gotten lost if we had tried those 3 countries. Everything was more entertaining, especially the character dinner. 

Before we left for our trip, mom and I had made dinner reservations for Epcot night in Norway. The reason being, Norway does character dinners. We couldn't garuntee that on the night we were there it would be princesses, but we wished very hard that it would be instead of the Winnie the Pooh characters. Man did our wish come true! The whole week was spent in suspense wondering who would be at dinner. And from the first day of the trip, I was under the impression that Belle wouldn't be there either way because she stayed with her castle in the Magic Kingdom. But walking around the park that day, we saw Belle, we met Jasmine and Alladin, we met Alice in Wonderland...it was crazy. So seeing Belle made us wonder if she'd be at dinner. But then I started drinking my beer and was 6 countries in before we were going to dinner. As soon as we got in, Belle was standing there for the one professional picture you would get. I panicked and asked mom if I smelt like beer, and with a comforting(?) giggle she said she was sure it wasn't anything Belle hadn't smelt before. And let me tell you. This was the best Belle of the whole trip! She chatted with me for so long before taking a picture with our hands making a heart, and then she invited everyone else in too! It was awesome. Then the food was great and we got to meet all the other princesses. A-mazing. 

THEN there was the best Disney show ever with awesome fireworks...crazy! 

THEN we got back to the hotel room and there was a package waiting for me. I burst into tears reading the card because apparently Belle had come looking for me. She signed a very sweet card and left some movie/concession passes for me with some chocolate and a Beauty and the Beast t-shirt...too many emotions. 

This was a fantastic trip and I wouldn't have changed anything about it....except maybe having Selah and Andy there. But either way, at least I got to share my memories. Thank you so much, mom and dad!!!

And Disney...I'll be back just as soon as I can. You really are magical!

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

That's right fokes. We didn't just party it up at Disney. We took full advantage of Orlando and hit up Universal!! Unfortunately, this was day 4 and at this point mom and dad needed a vacation from vacation. Although I'm sure all of our bodies wished we had given them the day off too, there was no time to waste! Kaylah, Ryan, Collin, and I took a cab from Disney to Universal and partied it up the ENTIRE day. Upon our arrival. We quickly went to the Harry Potter world as the rides there would have very long waits for the rest of the day. It was incredible. I thought the Beauty and the Beast ballroom took my breath away (which it totally did), but this was a whole new "real." It was like the movies took my brain's idea from the book and put it on screen. Then the park took the screen and made it real life. The details were crazy!!! 

After we rode all the HP rides and tried our first butter-beer, we headed to explore the rest of the park. Of course we rode the Jurassic Park ride, and the guy put us in the front saying we wouldn't get wet, which was a total lie!! But it was super fun. Then we rode some super hero rides and water rides and watched the Dr. Seuss's Grinch play. It was another very full day! But we returned to the Harry Potter world for one last time on the rides, as the lines had shortened by evening. We ate in the Three Broomsticks for dinner, and continued to be amazed by the details. Because we were sad to have left two men behind, we got some butter-beer to go and carried them all the way out the park, in the taxi ride, and through the resort all the way to our special travelers. How sad would it have been for them to get so close, and not be able to try it. I also took pictures like a mad man trying to help them feel a bit of the experience, as you will see below. Now this is a longer video than some of the others, so feel free to skip around some. But remember to look at the details, like reading the wand boxes (hint hint). 

HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

Day 3! This day was scheduled for the entire day in the park, so we gave ourselves a break to sleep in a little bit. There seemed to be more shows than rides in this park, so it was a bit of challenge fitting everything in around the show times, but we did pretty good! Beauty and the Beast, Indiana Jones, the parade! Who can complain? 

This was also a big day because mom did her first roller coaster that went upside down. Should have grabbed a picture of her with the Aerosmith themed awesomeness, but alas. Too many moments to capture. She loved it though. Don't let her deny it. This day was interesting because the park had a very different feel to it. But the parade, let me tell you. Those catchy "I don't want to work, I just want to bang on the drum all day!" and "Count down to fun!" songs brought back all the magic. It's amazing how a person dressed up can make you feel 3 again. Then dinner. As you will see, it wasn't the most glamorous meal we had, but it was definitely the most fun. The 50's themed home style restaurant was the best thing ever. It started when our waiter, Devante, first approached our table and yelled at us all for having our elbows on the table. Then he threw the dishes and silverware down and told us to set the table before he got back. He also said I must have been fishing with grandpa that day because the hook (my nose ring) seemed to be stuck in my nose still. The jokes were endless and the entertainment was amazing. He picked on all of us and it was great. Unfortunately, the picture we got with him wasn't on either of my cameras, so you won't see him here. 

And this night was our first real Disney light show extravaganza. Oh. My. Gosh. The pictures can't even capture it. Thanks to our lovely parents waiting in line a little longer so we didn't have to, we had some of the best seats in the house. The whole show was based off of Fantasia when Mickey falls asleep. There are some characters, some pyrotechnics, some water fountains, and even some projected images on the water fountains. It was crazy!! Took my breath away. And that was just the first...