Disneyland

Thanks to my uncle, who is a "cast member" at Disneyland, we were able to score some free Disneyland and California Adventure tickets yesterday. My mom was visiting us from Vegas and Lediya's mom was already here, so we decided to take both of our moms to the Happiest Place on Earth.

We haven't been there in years, so everything seemed new again. The new parking structure, which can hold 10,000 vehicles, is the largest of its kind in the West Coast. This enabled Disney to add Downtown Disney and California Adventure.

We started our day in Disneyland, and worried that the most popular attractions would be the most crowded, got a Fast Pass for Space Mountain. This system works by assigning a pre-set time range to visit the ride, with little or no waiting at all. Whoever invented it is pure genius. It enabled us to go on the less crowded rides while waiting for the more popular ones, maximizing our time and effort at the park.

After Space Mountain and Indiana Jones we made our way to California Adventure. We had lunch there and got Fast Passes for Soaring over California and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. We also saw the Aladdin Musical and A Bug's Life. At the end of the day they also had a Block Party, which featured lots of trampoline fun.

Right after the Block Party we returned to Disneyland again to secure our spots for the Main Street Parade. The parade featured marching bands and floats featuring Disney characters dancing to popular Disney songs. After the parade we made our way to the Rivers of America to watch Fantasmic and the 50th Anniversary fireworks spectacular.

While it was a tiring day, it was certainly a very fun day also. For the most part we just took it easy and slow and didn't rush at all, which is great. We had absolutely no wait at all for the rides thanks to Fast Pass, and we were able to visit California Adventure, which is a fun park in its own right. Finally, it was great to be able to spend the beautiful Southern California day with our moms.

Top attractions for us yesterday:

1. Twilight Zone Tower of Terror - a free-falling elevator
2. A Bug's Life - a 3D show with lots of sensory surprises
3. Space Mountain - a dark and very fast roller coaster

More pictures on our website here.