Disneyland 2018 Day 2!

Our first day in the parks began at California Adventure! When you stay at the Grand Californian, you have your own entrance into the park. The crowd is much smaller, security is much quicker, and the employees walked us nearly to the Paradise Pier (now Pixar Pier)  before rope drop. It was awesome! Definitely a highlight of the trip on our California Adventure days. 

Killing some time with the sillies!

We beelined straight for Toy Story Mania, our favorite ride! We rode it back to back and then headed to Carsland. 

After a few more rides, we stopped for breakfast at Flo's V8 cafe. We love their breakfast and always get a table outside with a few of Radiator Springs! This upcoming trip we are going to try a lunch or dinner there. 

I have a lot of pictures waiting in line. There's always a lot to see and music playing to help pass the time. Liam was helping Elias see the cars at Luigis Rollickin' Roadsters. 

Then it was off to Bugsland! I'm SO sad that this was our last trip to Bugsland as they have closed it and are transforming it into Marvel land. But it was a great last run. We loved Flicks Flying 

While the big boys went to do Guardians of the Galaxy, Liesl met Anna and Elsa! 

The boys actually just missed waiting in line and arrived right when it was our turn. The boys weren't into meeting the princesses, but we all jumped in for a photo with Olaf! 

And then the kids suckered us into face painting. Elias wasn't into it but Liesl became a kitty and Liam was spiderman! 

We caught the cutest performance with the Toy Story soldiers! 

We rode some more rides like Ariel, the Zephyrs, Radiator Springs Racers and grabbed a quick service dinner somewhere. 

And then the best moment happened! Towards the end of the night, we decided to head over to Disneyland (we had park hopper tickets) to end the night, so we were heading to the front of the park. Liam had been asking a few weeks before the trip if the characters were "real" or just "actors." We asked him what he thought they were and just left it open for him to decide. Admittedly, I was super bummed for him to be even asking but he's getting older, blah blah blah. (Give me back my baby forEVER!) Anyways, just as we were heading out, Mickey comes walking out. Liam was the first to spot him, shouts "Mickey!!" and starts sprinting after him. Liesl follows so then I follow because hello, it's crowded. I also got the whole thing on video and it makes my heart so happy with how excited he got to see Mickey. Whether he believes they are real or not, the magic is still there! 

After our Mickey sighting, we made it over to Disney and headed to Autopia. Autopia was closed the last time we went, so this was the first time Liam had ridden since he was 2.5! He was so excited to drive! I rode with him while Will drove Liesl and Elias. 

My favorite classic -- teacups!!! Everyone thinks it's hilarious to try and make mom throw up so we were going fast! 

I *think* this was Thunder Mountain Railroad. Liesl is such a little daredevil! She was game for any and all rides she was tall enough for, and actually enjoyed  them all!

We "borrowed" someone blue Mickey balloon for a photo shoot with Elias. We took a picture with a blue Mickey balloon during our last trip to announce that he was a boy :) 

 We ended the night with ice cream, of course! It was a fantastic first day in the parks!