Disneyland Day 3 (Part 2)

Tristan had made a run to the fastpass machines for Soarin' earlier in the day so we headed there for one of our favorite rides.  We saw a Fastpass photographer so stopped for some photos, though the sun was apparently in our eyes as almost every photo had someone's eyes closed.

This time at Soarin' we asked for a front row and were reminded why we do that.  Having nobody's shoes in your view makes all the difference!  Brian is absolutely in love with the smells on the ride, specifically the smell when you fly over the orange tree orchards.  Yummy!  He wishes they would bottle that up and sell it, as he'd buy it!  It's just such a wonderfully done ride and we enjoy it each time.

We wanted a chance to see Aladdin today so we headed that way.  We had preferred seating tickets so got in the correct queue area and just waited for time to pass so we could choose our seat in the theater.  The wait wasn't that long, maybe 15 minutes, before the preferred seating guest were allowed to enter.  We chose seats along the aisle in the orchestra section, about 10 rows from the front.  They were pretty great seats.  Brian sat next to the aisle and appreciated being able to sit down and rest his weary feet as well as stretch his legs out.  The kids really enjoyed the show and kept repeating the genie's jokes later in the day... "the dork knight" (for "the dark night"), "I found Nemo.  I found him delicious.  Nah, he was actually quite greasy" and tons of jokes about the Disney company recently paying billions of dollars for the rights to Star Wars.  I was really glad that we took time to see this show again.

As soon as the show let out we went to Tower of Terror.  It was a very short wait time and such a great ride.  Brian and I both think it's better than WDW's, in that it doesn't seem as jerky or something.  I felt soooooo ill after my last ToT ride in WDW, but I've ridden here twice now and it's been just fine for me. 

We took a stroll through Bugs Land on our way back to Cars Land.  Nobody expressed an interest in the Bugs Land rides.  I think we've just moved beyond that point in our lives.  Carnival rides are no longer fun! LOL

We were heading for Ghiradelli for the much-awaited ice cream.  On our way through Cars Land we admired how Carissa's ears started glowing and flashing to the music there.  So neat!  I didn't get a photo there but have some coming up from World of Color.  I did get this photo though... inside Cars Land looking at Grizzly River Run.

 

Our Ghiradelli ice cream was great.  We got more samples of the peppermint bark and spent a ridiculous amount of money on ice cream (It was $34 for us all!), but it was another relaxing and tasty moment.
Brian's hot fudge sundae with almonds:

 Chase's rocky road in a chocolate and sprinkled waffle cone:

 Tristan's cookie dough in a chocolate and sprinkled waffle cone:

 Carissa's cookies & cream in a cake cone:

 My rocky road in a chocolate and peanut dipped waffle cone:

Our original plan was to head to GRR next, but the wind had picked up some and we were we knew we were going to be out late, so being wet for the rest of the evening wasn't a good choice.  We decided to not go today.  Surprisingly the one who grumbled about this was the one who would have been the coldest and grumpiest had she gotten wet - miss Riss.  She really wanted to ride. 

Instead the kids took some time on the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, running around, playing on the rope bridges and huge outdoor play things.  They seemed to have fun.  Carissa was the only one who could go on the rope swing but the boys ran about playing and looking for hidden Mickey's.

 See the hidden Mickey?

By this time it was almost 5.  We had a 6:20 reservation for Goofy's Kitchen, so we started meandering our way towards that.  We left using the GK hotel exit, passing by their beautiful lobby.  If we'd had more time we probably would have gotten our picture taken with the Santa by the big tree, but there was a line and we wanted time to stroll Downtown Disney before our reservation.

The walk to GK was slow and leisurely.  We stopped at a few stores, the pin booth, the Lego store and the candy store (where we found this hidden Mickey). 

 

We didn't buy anything but just enjoyed looking around.