Toy Story 3 Event

Catching up! June part 2



Another Disney event at the El Capitan Theatre! Honestly, the best part of moving back to CA... I don't have to miss them anymore!

So who has seen Toy Story 3? Who cried? Who loves it?!

April was in town when we decided to see Toy Story 3 at Disney's El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood. So, we made sure we got her a Toy Story shirt at Disneyland. After we saw the movie, we headed over to a high school football field this time. They had a ton of tents, a track, games, rides, carnival food, etc for the Toy Story "Fun Zone". Usually the events we go to our inside and have a ton of characters to take pictures with. This one had only a few characters, but a lot of games. You could race someone on a tricycle... throw balls at toy trolls.... go fishing for monkeys in a barrel... They also had little toy stations where you could play with toys- including Ken's dream house! There was an oversize chair and oversized crayons to make you feel like a toy. And of course, like every event, free digital photos! They also had a Dancing with the Toys show, ferris wheel, monkey bars, playground, maze, popcorn, snowcones, cotton candy, video games, etc. We only saw Buzz and Woody... it was a week night so we left just before Jessie came out. Aw shucks!

I think this movie is my favorite in the series =)

Tour Guide Barbie

Catching up! June part 1

Our wonderful friend April came to visit from Pennsylvania for a week! We've never had anyone stay with us that long, so we were worried we would run out of entertaining things to do... but I guess I forgot where we live! The bonus- she loves Disney =)

Disneyland
April and I went to Disneyland for a full day on a Saturday. I'm talking open to close. Whew. That kicked my butt. We also went for a half day the following afternoon. The most fun thing about this trip to Disneyland was making smashed pennies. We had a list of all the penny presses around the Disneyland Resort. I had a bag full of quarters and shiny pennies. As I pressed pennies from the various machines, we would check them off the list! The reason? Our mutual friends, Matt and Maggie, have a son who started collecting them on his first trip to Disney World. They sent me $20 to make more for his collection. It was so fun! Besides that, we had a little trouble with World of Color. As stated before, I've only ever received a ticket for World of Color by purchasing a picnic meal. I found out that picnics and restaurant reservations have a reserved area for World of Color. April and I tried getting tickets with the rest of the crowd- waiting in an hour long line and hoping the Fast Pass machine spits out the time you wanted. What we didn't know was that even though we got there an hour early, we couldn't find a place to stand. Plus, we're short girls! Because of a series of unfortunate events, we ended up walking out. However, the wonderful Guest Relations Cast Members at City Hall rose our spirits with reserved seating for Fantasmic that night and new World of Color tickets for the following day. I love guest magic! And just so everyone knows... Disneyland now sells light-up cotton candy! I know, totally amazing! We had unbelieveable spots for World of Color- check out the pictures I took (this time with my GOOD camera!)! Click Here

American Girl
I took full advantage of the fact that April grew up knowing about American Girl books and dolls and made her eat with me at the American Girl Cafe! Ok, well, I didn't make her... but it was a lot of fun! Especially since Janelle was our server! Hey! I took my 17 year old doll, Kirsten, and April got to "borrow" Rebecca. It's just all so girly, you can't help but have a good time. Even for a kids restaurant, the food is delicious.






We also took April to the City Walk, dinner at the Americana with my co-worker Mele and her husband Siaki, and a tour of the Crystal Cathedral in Anaheim.




While I was at work, Jan-Michael put the tour guide cap on. They went to Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Griffith Park. Recognize Jan's celebrity picture? That's Larry King who was shopping on Rodeo Drive!






Before April came to stay with us, she visited with her family in AZ for a week. After she stayed with us, she headed north to stay with her family in Northern CA! Man, I want to be a teacher and get that much time off! Thanks for visiting April!

A Month Behind

So, it's been a month since my last post....
It's not that there isn't anything to post about. Quite the opposite. There is SO much to post about that I just didn't post at all. I call it the busy overwhelmed lazy syndrome. Too busy and overwhelmed to post about it and too lazy to do it later.
Before I go backwards and try to recap this past month, I'll share with you my lazy weekend....
We live in a beautiful state with beautiful weather and hundreds of things to do. However, this past weekend I was excited to stay inside our little apartment and be so lazy that I only changed my PJs to put on clean PJs. The most exciting part of my weekend- cooking. I made a huge breakfast and an equal sized dinner (no lunch, we ate too much at breakfast) on Sunday. It made me wish I could do that every day- giving up the 8am-5pm routine for an apron and some ingredients. Sigh. If only the days were longer....
Anyway, give me a few days to collect my pictures and put things in order. Then this blog will be up to date again.

World of Color Opening Night

The buzz surrounding this new show has been insane. Especially for those who live in California. California Adventure has been under construction for probably a year now. When you visit, you can get a sneak peak (visit the Blue Sky Cellar) at what's to come... Cars Land, Little Mermaid Attraction, new front design, a trolley, etc. AND World of Color.

Concept construction picture- empty Paradise Bay under construction with Concept Art of World of Color on glass on the pier.



Opening night was last Friday, June 11th. Although Janelle and I both worked, we knew we had to go check it out. Luckily, Nathan, my favorite Cast Member friend, gave us a few tips or we would have missed out. Disney knows how crazy their annual passholders can be, especially for something new. We WILL camp out for something. So, in order to make it more fair AND help people have a chance to actually enjoy their day at California Adventure instead of just sitting and saving seats, they decided to make World of Color a ticketed show. Basically, you need a fast pass to go in the viewing areas. So, when California Adventure opens, fast passes are distributed for two show times until spaces are full and fast passes run out. If, like Janelle and I, you cannot get there in time to get a fast pass before they run out, you can also 1)make a dinner reservation- two restaurants in California Adventure have great balcony viewing 2)purchase a picnic meal- it comes with a fast pass for World of Color. We decided on #2! We lucked out and were able to purchase the meals before they sold out. The picnic meal was FANTASTIC! I was really impressed at how great the food tasted. We chose the Mediterranean Vegetarian meal, but there are 6 others. Plus, as a bonus, we got free World of Color totes because we booked the first showing! SWEET!!


California Adventure is still under a lot of construction, but as you can see above, they've added lots of color! Scottie, Janelle and I were taken to "the blue section" which put us on the bottom level of the viewing area. Thirty minutes prior to the show starting, they had a little pre-show. Because we were at the bottom, we couldn't see all that was going on, but I tried to get a picture of some of the character puppets. There were two Disney singers and 5 character puppets- one for each color section. Lumiere for yellow, Sebastian for red, Genie for blue, Tigger for orange, and Mike for green. I call them "puppets" because there's a cast member inside holding the character on their shoulder's. Sorry, bad picture, I know!


I was told you can get pretty wet during this show- obviously because it uses LOTS OF WATER! So I decided to bring my really old digital camera... Therefore, the pictures are pretty grainy and dark. But, you get the idea. Pictures don't really do it justice anyway! They used light and water in fascinating ways, creating huge fountains, scenes and imagery. At some points, it looked like the water was paint instead of just light and water. They also used fire! I think Pocahontas with her "Just Around the Riverbend" and "Colors of the Wind" sequence was the best part of the show. Brilliant. I was also surprised to suddenly hear Jan-Michael and my wedding song, "So Close" leading in to a beautiful sequence with my favorite, Belle and Beast =) Maybe that song will become popular again! Thanks Disney!

"Under the Sea" The Little Mermaid









The Lion King








If you're still curious as to what the show is all about or how it measures up to other Disneyland shows, here's what we decided.....
World of Color is like a symphony. It's a great symphony, it's the best symphony. At the same time, another popular show happens over in Disneyland: Fantasmic. Fantasmic is like a broadway show. The best broadway musical ever. You just have to decide if you're a symphony person or a broadway musical person.



After we watched World of Color, we actually ran over to Disneyland to catch Fantasmic's last showing. If you're not familiar with the show, here are a few pictures....

World of Color

Sparkles First Trip to the Beach!

I'm a week behind, but on Memorial Day, we took Sparkles to the beach for the very first time! At least to our knowledge, this is. It was such a nice sunny day, we decided she needed to get out and run around with other dogs. There aren't many beaches that you can actually take your dog to, but we found one in Long Beach. I actually had never been to Long Beach, so it was fun for both of us! The dog beach is only about two miles long. This dog beach also happened to be an off leash dog beach. It was really fun! Dogs and their families were all so happy and just having a good time. Everyone had their dog in control and yet the dogs got to go wild. So cute! Having never taken Sparkles to the beach and knowing her history of not liking other dogs, we opted to keep her on her leash. I didn't think she would like going in the ocean, but she had no problem jumping in! I think it helped that a another dog was happily running in! She didn't bark at any of the other dogs or try to chase after them. She was just very curious at what they were all doing. Eventually, I hope we will be able to take her off her leash and let her run free =)

New Friends

Just a post about a couple of outings with new friends.....

Mini golf- Our good friend Nathan joined Jan-Michael and I on "group date". Sorry Nathan! My new friend and co-worker, Mele and I decided we would be match makers. So, she brought along her husband, Siaki and her long time friend, Christine. Luckily, we all had a TON of fun, regardless. And now we have new friends! I didn't expect to see such a fun mini golf place in CA, but it was awesome because it was a CASTLE =) We played a round on the "medium-hard" course and then racked up lots of tickets in the arcade. We then all ate at California Pizza Kitchen and I took Nathan to CRUMBS (only my favorite cupcake places in the world!)! It was a fantastic night. Yeah for new friends!



Strawberry Festival- We had such a great time with Mele and Siaki that we invited them to join us for the Strawberry Festival! Sounds fun, right? Eh, except there weren't really any strawberries =( It was more like a carnival and flea market in one. One booth sold some strawberry shortcake and a basket of strawberries (that were more expensive than strawberries at the grocery store). So a little disappointing, but we made the most of it. We walked around the vendors, ate some carnival food and went on the $5 ferris wheel ride. Afterwards, we ate at TGIFridays and walked around the Grand Californian Hotel. Still a fun night, even without strawberries!