A Christmas Weekend in Disneyland 22nd December

Before I get started, just wanted to warn this is a photo heavy post

California Adventure!

On the morning of 22nd December we left Ventura at around 9am and drove down to Anaheim. We arrived at the Hilton Hotel at around 11am and checked in straight away even though our room wasn't ready. We dropped the bags off at the bell desk and walked to the marriot just opposite to get the shuttle to Disney. We decided to do California Adventure today because it is the smaller park. The shuttle took about 10 minutes maximum.

We bought our tickets from the AAA place back in Ventura so got a discount on tickets, they ended up being $165 each for a 2 day 2 park ticket with free parking for both days. I thought this was a pretty good price.

As soon as I entered the park I knew I wanted to go straight to Oswalds gas station to buy some new Oswald ears! I heard these sold out a few months back and they don't sell them in the main park so was really happy I got these. I'm glad that Disney decided to start selling them here after seeing how popular they were at the E3 convention. I decided not to get my name stitched on the back but changed my mind overnight and ended up taking them to Disneyland to have stitched.

Next we quickly stopped off at guest services and picked up a copy of the Buena Vista Bugle. I thought this was such a nice way to inform guests of what's going on in the park on the day and at the same time fitting in with the theme of Buena Vista Street.

After this we walked towards the new cars land.
Stopped for a churro, and as it was a 5 minute wait we went on the new little mermaid ride. I thought this was amazing, I'm loving all the new animatronics. 

The radiator springs racers was a 3 hour wait and all fast passes were gone for the day :( I'm not surprised really, the same thing happened last year when the new star tours opened. It was just so busy in cars land you literally couldn't move, we took some photos and had a look around and then got out of there. 

Packed!

We then walked over to paradise pier and stopped to meet Duffy the Disney bear! 

I spotted a squished penny machine inside the store behind and get my first one of the trip.

We decide to have a quick break and get a drink in the cove bar, I really enjoyed it here. A really nice place to relax and just watch the park over the water. It was such a hot day too. I ordered the glow tini and Jayme got a mai thai. Both drinks were really nice.

Just outside the cove bar we see Donald so get in line for some photos. 

The first ride we get on in paradise pier is toy story mid-way mania. Neither of us have been on this before but we both thought it was really good. Wait time was about 45 minutes but after seeing times for 180 I didn't think this was so bad and the wait went pretty fast. 

We took a walk along the boardwalk and played some games, I didn't win though :( Maybe next time.

While in the queue for TSMM I spotted a place called Corndog Castle, so this is where we went after. Jayme doesn't eat meat so he got the cheese stick, it was okay but nothing amazing. My corn dog was really nice though, best one I've had in a while. 

We walk back to Buena Vista Street and take it all in as we didn't when we first entered the park. I'd have to say this was my favourite part of California Adventure, everything is so well put together and the details are amazing. I could spend forever photographing this place.

We then had some pictures taken with the story tellers statue.
 

And then head over to meet Santa at Elias & Co. I absolutely loved this little part of the store, it's the kind of classic department store you always see in those warm Christmas movies. I was loving the elf outfits too. 

We had a look around the various stores, I bought a photo frame, 2 magnets and some kettle corn.

We stopped off at the Fiddler, Fifer and Practical cafe for some starbucks! While we were sitting down I geeked off on Disney trivia explaining what all the shop names mean and how fiddler fifer and practical are the names of the names of the three little pigs and Julius Katz and sons was named after the black cat in the Alice comedies.

After we'd finished our coffee we walk over to Hollywood Land and do Mike and Sully to the rescue and then Turtle talk with Crush, the technology they use for this is so good.

Our next stop was the Hollywood tower of terror. Jayme isn't the biggest fan of thrill rides but I told him he'd enjoy this one and the queue is worse than the ride. Just as the doors close I ask him "Are you scared yet?" haha His answer was yes. He ended up really liking it.

Next stop was a bug's land and did it's tough to be a bug. It's been quite a few years since I'd seen this so had forgotten a lot of it but I it was still a really nice show to see.

We decide to walk back to Hollywood Land and wait for the red car trolley, I knew I had to ride it before I left. We got off at Carthay Circle and walked over to the waiting area for World Of Color, this show was so much more amazing to watch then I thought it would be. I'd seen parts on youtube but you never really get the full effect until you are actually there. Our feet were aching so badly but we stayed for the whole thing and I was so glad we did. 

We then took the shuttle back to the hotel and ordered in room service as nowhere close was open. The price came to around $50 but was really nice.

Our room: