Disneyland with a Two-Year Old - Part 2

Part 1 here.

By Mid-afternoon we headed over to California Adventure. E-ver-y-one had the same idea. It was packed and hot.

The minute you stepped into the park, you can tell it was pumpkin season. Candy corn ws everywhere.

Candy corn stalks and candy corn cactus!

First Stop - Hollywood

Playhouse Disney
What's more fun this standing in line in the hot sun for 20 minutes? My thoughts exactly. But it was well worth it, the minute we walked into the playhouse, settled on the floor in a massive room full of kids and parents, we knew this was up Cristian's alley. What's better that tool puppets and tigger? It was so cute and the quality of the show was incredible.

Disney Animation Building
I can spend hours in here. When you walk in, the main room is massive, dark and cool and covered with huge screens playing still shots from the Disney animated movies. In the center are plush sofas for sitting.

There are different rooms with interactive attractions that take you behind the scenes of Disney's animation. Our feet needed some rest so the first thing we did was see Turtle Talk with Crush. Crush, the turtle dude from Finding Nemo, interacted with the audience. How Disney does it is a mystery.

In Animation Academy they show how to draw Disney characters with real Disney Animators. Below is a showing of how animation is achieved. This Toy Story setup shows characters that are slightly different than the others. The setup begins to spin super fast... and magic happens.

We headed back to get the stroller and this is what we came upon... not an easy task, trying to figure out which one is yours and how to get it out. We ran into country fall Mickey and Minney as they ran away from the crowd.

Second Stop - Bug's Land

By this time, the weather was beautiful. The sky's were picture perfect!
Cristian is a water kid. He loves showers and baths, he's already in the middle of swimming lessons. The minute I saw the water zone, I knew we had to stop... As you can see below, he l-o-v-e-d it! We continued onto Bug Land and went on a few kiddie rides. Cristian was now almost over the screaming fear of Disneyland.

As we waited for my aunt and cousin to get off the roller coaster I took some pictures of the California sunset. It was the perfect day to be at Disney.

We headed back to Disneyland for the night, along with the other multi-trillion people.

Third Stop - The French Market and Fireworks

The French Market is my favorite restaurant in Disneyland. My parents would always take us to The Blue Bayou or the French Market. Both are located in New Orleans Square. The food is scrumptious and the atmosphere is priceless. The Blue Bayou is a swankier restaurant compared to the other dining places in Disneyland. The inside makes you feel like you are outside. Tables overlook the swamp that is the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. The French Market is located next to the train station with dimly lit lanterns and iron gating all the way around. You stand in line for your food and then sit down to a serenade of Jazz. I ordered Clam Chowder in a sourdough bowl and a Salad with their famous blue cheese dressing. My family is big on blue cheese. We love it! We split this chocolate cake with a white chocolate castle on top.

After a long long dinner we headed over to the castle to get seats for the firework show. By this time, my feet hurt so bad, I didn't care of there was bird poo on the floor, I was going to sit! I sat under this massive flower bulb...

We waited a good hour for the show to start. I took pictures of the crowd all around the circular square that didn't come out very well. The mass of people was overwhelming. No walking space, barely room to sit on the floor and tuck your feet and hands in.

If you haven't seen the firework show at Disneyland you are missing out. This was my favorite part of the whole day. Incredible! I took a long video to post here... It is worth watching!

Part one - Disneyland Fireworks


Part two - Disneyland Fireworks


All in all, it was a fun Disney day with my favorite kid!