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Single Day at Disney’s California Adventure
So, the day begins at 6:00 A.M., when I stumble out of bed and put on my favorite Disney t-shirt. It has a picture of Donald looking
panicked the caption, "suddenly, Donald realized he never wears pants."
We drive to the Portfino Inn and Suites, where my good friend Ronni is staying. It's a pretty hotel done up in Mediterranean yellows and
tans, and she stayed in room 2227, in the Venice Tower, which was very convenient.
We drove to the Mickey & Friends parking structure and then took the tram to Downtown Disney. We had breakfast at the Rainforest Cafe,
where Ronni and I both had the Tonga Toast and Husband had the eggs benedict. I can't tell you how much it was because Ronni insisted on
paying. (We did get her a free park ticket!)
We lingered over breakfast until 9:30, when we walked to CA. They were already letting people in the park, although official opening
time was 10:00.
Both Husband and I were too chicken to ride TOT, but I let my friend use the online voucher. We headed for Soarin' Over California, my
favorite!
Then we went to see Playhouse Disney Live on Stage, because Ronni has two small kids who love it, and she wanted to take pictures to bring
back to them.
We went to Muppet*Vision 3D, which is pretty much an exact replica of the same attraction at MGM. I had already found out that Who Wants
to Be A Millionaire - Play It would not be operating that day, which bummed me out.
We headed over to the Animation Building, where we went to Drawn to Animation, The Art of Animation and the Sorcerer's Workshop. Then we
caught the Aladdin show, which is just fantastic.
We stopped in the shop Off the Page and browsed but didn't buy anything. Then we went to have lunch at Pacific Wharf, where Ronni
and I went to Pacific Wharf Cafe, Husband went to Cocina Cucamonga, and we all grabbed a table together. Ronni and I each got a Sonoma
Chicken and Apple salad, which was delicious. Ronni commented that she didn't expect to go to a theme park and eat something so good.
It cost $8.61 with tax. Husband got the chicken nachos, which he says he liked.
We then bought beer and sat and relaxed for a while. We haven't seen Ronni in seven years, so rather than go to It's Tough to Be a Bug and
walk through Flik's Fun Fair, or see the California film or do the factory tours, or ride Mulholland Madness, we sat for an hour and 45
minutes just catching up, reminiscing about old times, drinking beer, and enjoying each other's company.
We suddenly realized what time it was and raced over to Grizzly River Run. The line was so short and the ride so much fun (and we were SO
hot!) that we went on a second time.
We then went to ride the Orange Stinger, which Husband didn't ride because he doesn't like swing rides. After that it was time for
California Screamin'.
We only had a few minutes before park closing so we walked right on the Sun Wheel. The park officially closed while we were on that
ride, so when we were done, we stopped at the shop called Everything Under the Sun and bought souvenirs. Between Ronni and me, we spent
over $50, so we pooled our resources and used one of the coupons that Tammy sent us.
We headed out the exit, and noticed that some people were using the Grand Californian exit into the hotel. A lot more people were going
to Downtown Disney.
Some people went to the tram station, but the majority of people went across the plaza and into Disneyland Park. I envied them! I really
wish we could have spent a second day at Disneyland. Oh well, I've got one free ticket left and we live only 45 minutes away!
We went to Naples Ristorante at Downtown Disney for dinner. It was pricey but delicious. I got the vegetable calzone, Husband got the
salmone farfalle, Ronni got the chicken parmesan, and we split the gargatuan three layer chocolate cake and Ronni and I each had a
Chocalatetini, while Husband stuck to good old fashioned lemonade. We bought dinner since Ronni bought breakfast and it came to about
$96.00 total for the three of us.
Bottom line - if we really pushed ourselves, we could have seen everything in the park worth seeing. But I don't regret taking that
leisurely lunch. It's not every day that we get to see our friend, and we relished every minute of it.
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