Disneyland & California Adventure - Day 6

This was are final day at Disneyland and California Adventure. The weather warmed up and it was around 80 degrees. A GREAT day to be in the happiest place on earth!! We used our hour early pass and got to Disneyland at 9:00. We directly went to the rides with the long lines that would have taken 45 min plus later in the day. My mom, dad, Kaiya and I went on Peter Pan's Flight. It is a classic that always had a huge line. It was an alright ride...you soar through different scenes of London and Neverland.

Then my parents and Cirdan went on the Matterhorn . Kaiya and I were bored while we waited and took some pictures.

Ella and I waited while my parents, Cirdan and Kaiya went on the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. I opted out since I am claustrophobic. I guess it was a really cool ride and we probably should have taken Ella on it since she loves fish.

We then decided to go over to California Adventure...got a quick bite to eat...

and went to Disney's Aladdin - A Musical Spectacular.

The acting was great, they came out in the audience a bunch of times.... We sat in the 2nd row and it was fantastic!!

We really wanted to make reservations and eat dinner at Ariel's Grotto so after Aladdin we headed over and made some reservations. We had a few hours before dinner so Kaiya and I went over to one of the shops to buy her a princess dress. It was kind of spendy but she had to dress up for the dinner!

We then headed back over to the California Screamin roller coaster so Cirdan could ride a couple more times with my mom. My parents also went to the Toy Story Midway Mania ride.

It was time to head to dinner. After we got the okay from the front desk we walked down the staircase where Kaiya got a picture (and autograph) with Ariel.

We had a 3 course meal. Kaiya ate steak, Cirdan had the chicken and I also had steak. They first brought out antipasto and bread....not to mention a great pesto...... Then came the main course. While we were eating they would introduce a princess who would come out and go from table to table to talk to the kids and take pictures.

Kaiya had so much fun. She said that she felt really happy and excited, and a very lucky girl. She said she is also thankful that Cirdan and I took her to the dinner. The 3rd course they brought out a delicious array of dessert! It was soooooo good.

Cirdan and my mom went back on the California Screamin roller one last time.... and we took more pics (on the pier by the roller coaster)... the sunset was beautiful.

California Adventure was closing so we walked over to Disneyland. We walked through the shops, took even more pictures and enjoyed the atmosphere. I loved just sitting there watching people and looking at all the magical things.

We were sad to leave but will be saving our money for a trip back soon!!! Anyone want to come with?? :)

More pictures from our day...

Universal Studios - Day 5

So...finally to day 5. We decided to go to Universal Studios. I was the only one who actually really wanted to go here. I had always wanted to take the studio tour...what I have really always wanted to do was take the tour and see some big movie star but that didn't happen.

We started our day with taking a bunch of pictures in front of the Universal Studios globe. As soon as we walked inside the park we saw started seeing a bunch of Characters. So just like all the other days we had to get their autographs for Kaiya's book and some pictures with them. Curious George was quite the character and drew a heart on my mom's face and then played peek-a- boo with Ella.

My dad wanted to get a picture with Frankenstein he then got down on Ella's level. Not a good thing. She wasn't too sure about him.

Then we saw Shrek and Fiona. Fiona was a very nice lady and played the part well.

Then Spongebob!

We then went and watched a Dodger's baseball game. Just kidding. Cirdan and Kaiya took a picture in the seats that looked like it was a stadium.

After that we went over to The Simpsons area.

We had to check out the famous Kwik-E-Mart of course and then Kaiya and Cirdan went on the Simpsons ride. Kaiya came out of the ride freaked out and Cirdan told me I HAD to ride on it. We then met up with my parents and they watched the girls while Cirdan and I went on the studio tour. It wasn't as cool as I had expected...maybe my expectations were too high?

The best parts of the tour was...

Where we witness the explosive special effects of the Fast and the Furious...

The still-smoldering movie set from War of the Worlds...this was actually amazing to see. I couldnt choose which picture to post so I posted them all!!






Norman at the Bates Motel...

and my favorite...Wisteria Lane (Desperate Housewives). It looked small in person!

Bree's house...

Gabrielle's house...

When we got off the tour Billy Bush and Nancy O'Dell were there to interview us...I WISH!!!


We met back with my parents and the girls and Kaiya had gotten her face painted like a cat.

One funny story - when we were on our way back to meet my parents my dad and Kaiya were playing up in the Curious George toys. At one point the alarms go off and there are 2 big buckets of water that pour on top of your head if you are standing underneath. My dad had no clue. The alarms went off and Kaiya and him were standing under the buckets. They got soaked!!

Here is a picture of the toy with the bucket and Kaiya running back mad that she got wet.

The rest of the day we just walked around, ate at a restaurant with yummy hamburgers, saw some shows (a short 10 min or so 4D Shrek movie), and went on some fun rides....

Cirdan finally convinced me to go on the Simpsons ride with him...a little bit scary for me because I'm a big chicken.... but super fun! You ride with 7 other people in a car in an enclosed room. It's a virtual roller coaster. One part Maggy spits out her binkie and you get wet...you really feel like you are there! It ended up being my favorite ride of the week.

Donkey from Shrek was at a waffle stand...he had the Eddie Murphy, donkey voice but there was a person talking and interacting....and the guy was absolutely hilarious!

Cirdan was pretty entertained and went back 3 times to chat with Donkey.

The last big thing we did was go walk through haunted house. It was insane! There were live people hiding and jumping out and reaching out at you....it was wild. If you go there, its a must.

Here are some more character pictures we took...

Here are some more pictures from the day...

After Universal Studios we drove around Hollywood and then drove out to Rodeo Drive to see the shops. I would have liked to just walk down that side walk to just pretend...