Universal Studios/California Adventure

It’s definitely been an action packed few days here, and as I sit down to write this, there are two rooms of people, young and old, still sleeping hard.  We started our first full day (after changing rooms for a second time, but I’ll skip that story) with a trip to Universal Studios.  We weren’t too sure what the kids would think since there really aren’t too many rides there, but with the City Pass tickets we bought a day at Universal was included, so we figured we’d give it a try.

Overall, the kids seemed to have a pretty good time.  They all loved the SImpson’s ride, which was a virtual roller coaster that let them feel like they were in the cartoon.  Nick tried the Jurassic Park water ride and thought it was fun, but even with his encouragement (and the offer of a cash bribe) we couldn’t get Sam or Joey to go (which is too bad, as I think Sam would have really liked it).  Nick also went on the Mummy ride, and while he liked the roller coaster part of it, he wasn’t quite sure about the special effects, so I didn’t have much luck getting him to go a second time with Mom (it was both Ang’s and my favorite though).

As it was Universal Studios, we also took in a few of the show-type attractions including the studio tour, which had a little something for everyone.  We finished up close to closing time and hit the road back to the hotel, where the kids opened up the door to their room to find Granny and Grandpa all moved in.  They arrived today from a few weeks in New York and are staying with us for the rest of the trip.

On Monday, we headed over to Disney, and decided to visit the California Adventure park first.  The last time we were here, Nick was just a little too short to ride the big roller coaster, and he has talked about coming back to ride it ever since.  Our first stop though is Soaring Over California followed by the river rafting.  The kids liked them both, but the latter was such a hit that we had to ride it three times straight.  It was good we did it early though as we all got pretty wet (Mom got soaked all three times) and needed some time in the sun to dry out.

For most of the rest of the day we split up as the smaller kids weren’t that interested in some of things that Nick wanted to do.  They went with Mom and Granny to ride the small roller coaster and the jellyfish while Grandpa and I finally took Nick to California Screamin’.  He absolutely loved it, and using all 7 tickets that we had to get Fast Passes, we were able to ride it five times before we moved on to the rest of the park.  We finished up with some time in Bug’s Life, with a small detour over to the Tower or Terror for Nick, and then watched to parade.  California Adventure closes a couple of hours before Disneyland does, so by 6pm we were on our way out the door.

The shuttle back to the hotel runs every 30 minutes, and as we got close to the pick up spot, were could see it driving away, leaving us with a bit of a wait for the next one.  We dedcided to use the time to find some dinner across the street from the park.  The nearest places we saw weren’t that appealing (Denny’s and IHOP), and we opted to try out Captain Kidd’s buffet where the kids could just pick whatever they wanted.  Sammy said it smelled weird when we walked in, which should have been a giant red flag to turn around a walk back out, but we pressed on to experience what may be the worst restaurant meal ever.  Everything aout it was bad, even the soft serve machine (which is hard for me to say given how much I like ice cream). Back on the shuttle, Sam was sure to clarify that we weren’t going to have to eat at the "place with the terrible ketchup" tomorrow.

Tomorrow we are going to Disneyland, and with our tickets we get in one hour early so have a full day planned.  The kids have a bit of pool time and then head to bead where it surprisingly doesn’t take long for them to fall asleep.