Today was our one and only day in California Adventure. I know some people recommend two day there, but I honestly don’t think we could have taken another day. Both sets of kids (and parents!) had been reasonably happy and easy-going for the first two days, but on the third day of “amusement,” we could all sense that everyone’s patience was wearing just a tad thinner. We didn’t have any major blow-ups, but we were definitely approaching the limits of what two large families can do in three days! ;)

We started with an early morning ride on Grizzly Rapids, and Zoe ended up getting doused. It was a great ride and would have been nice to save for when it was warmer, but we worried that it would only get busier later in the day. After that, we went to Soaring Over California, and that turned out to be a fantastic ride. We sat in these contraptions that mimicked hang gliders, and the seats slid up and out about 15 feet into a giant concave screen that surrounded us on all sides. A movie started that showed us “flying” over various places in California, and the effect was highly realistic! Wind rushed through our hair, and we smelled pine forests and orange groves as we flew. It definitely made us feel like we were really flying. It was an awesome ride.

Later, we wandered over to the far end of the park to have lunch and take our kids on some of the kid rides. Several of the rides turned out to be closed, and we started to wonder if it wouldn’t be better to go back over to Disneyland. Being the roller coaster junkie that I am, I was desperate to get onto California Screamin’ but I easily could have bagged the rest. We got Fast Passes to the roller coaster and got in line, but just before we were about to get our turn, the ride broke down and we were all turned away. I was SO mad! (Incidentally, last night as I was flipping through the channels in our hotel room, I came across a movie showing people on a similar roller coaster. The hydraulics failed, and people fell to their deaths. It wasn’t a good thing to have seen the night before getting on a big coaster!)

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