Disneyland Day 2

Day 2 was SO much fun. Luckily I was able to sleep through the night, but we still woke up early so that we could attend Mickey's Toontown Madness (another Costco perk!) Mickey's Toontown Madness allows special ticketholders to go into Mickey's Toontown an hour early, meet all the characters, see a song/dance number and become honorary citizens of Toontown. It was adorable.

 T and Goofy meet again! Talmage was more than excited to see him!

 T gave both Chip and Dale lots of love!

Mickey Mouse and Talmage-boy. Umm...T in heaven? Yup. 

 

Their song and dance was so cute. I seriously had to pinch myself multiple times during this trip because it was so perfect...exactly what we needed after a crazy summer. The mayor had us all raise our hands and become honorary citizens of Toontown.

 

The boys really enjoyed "driving" these stationary cars...especially Evie. He felt so big and kept saying "Whoa!" and laughing.

 I love the attention to detail in Disneyland...check out this cute water fountain.

 James showing us his muscles muscles by lifting this weight (or attempting!)

 Me and the boys. In Toontown Jail. Sad.

Another ride on It's a Small World for Evie and a ride on the train for Talmage and we left Disneyland for...

California Adventure!!!

We spent the second half of our day enjoying all things CA. It was so much fun and so exciting. 

We walked right into a performance by Mickey Mouse and some "newsies." The singing and dancing was fantastic. One things for sure, California Adventure really knows how to do shows--there were tons to see (on the street and in the theater) and they were all amazing.

We made a small stop in It's a Bug Life World. This might be the only thing I wasn't impressed with on our whole trip. It just wasn't that great, period. The rides seemed really cheap and there wasn't that feeling of an experience you get in other parks. T thought the rides were ok but I don't think he was thrilled either.

You want to be thrilled? Radiator Springs (Cars Land) is the place to be. I had read EVERYTHING there was to know about Cars Land and watched countless videos on youtube (more than you want to know) and I was still totally blown away by it's ability to transport you right onto Route 66. It feels so real and that place was magical for the whole family. We ended up spending a good majority of the next day and a half doing everything we could in Cars Land. The highlight for T--meeting Lightning McQueen!

We splurged and got T a Lightning McQueen lunchbox filled with popcorn. He played with that car ALL DAY LONG and wanted to sleep with it that night so I would say it was worth it! He was so happy about the car that he almost forgot about the food--and for T, that's saying something!

We also got a drink in a Cozy Cone Cup. I saw these and I just couldn't resist. I have a bit of a cup obsession and this baby screamed my name with cuteness! It's a cone with a straw--ahh!!!

We met Red and rode on Mater's Junkyard Jamboree (Evie is 32 inches tall with shoes on and could ride this ride) and then decided to go see some shows and eat some linner/lupper!

 We ran into Jake (from Jake and the Neverland Pirates).

We saw Mater (as well as all of our other favorite Pixar pals) in the Play Parade and it was awesome...especially since it was a wet parade and it was really hot! We also saw the Disney Junior show and Talking with Crush. Memorable Moment--When we were in with Crush Evie started screaming. Crush said, "Dude, did you guys hear that dolphin? He's going, 'waaa! wahh!' Don't worry dudes, I can translate. He's saying, 'I'm really tired, and I want a churro!'" It was so funny.

I think Evie's favorite ride at California Adventure was the carousel. He loved holding on all by himself and he was being such a big boy!

 In Paradise Pier we rode all sorts of boardwalk-ish rides and then ate the yummiest churro ever, Crush's suggestion.

 And then we went back to Cars Land...it was too cool not to! Talmage posing with Stanley.

We couldn't stop staring at Radiator Springs Racers. How beautiful is that? And doesn't it look totally real? Amazing, right?

A few times a day DJ comes out onto the street for a dance party. Luckily we were there to rock out with him.

We got ice cream cones from the Cozy Cone Motel (where they ask "How cone I help you?") and waited for dusk and the city lighting ceremony.

 Does it surprise any of you that I cried when the signs started lighting up? It probably shouldn't! It was so magical. They played the song Life Can Be a Dream from the movie Cars and then one by one the signs lit up. Loved it.

 We ended our night with a picture with Mater. We thought about staying in the park late again, but our kids were screaming and clawing at each other so we figured they needed some rest before we woke them up early for day 3!