Fun Water Day at California Adventure

For all you passholder parents who want to do something fun for the kids in the hot summer that includes water, I have an idea for you. This weekend we had a yard sale and we were hot afterward, my husband wanted to go to California Adventure in the evening for The Glow Fest, my daughter really enjoys the music and the dancing. This was my idea...I remembered that Bug's Land has a water area and then of course there is the Grizzly rapid ride that you can potentially get soaked on! So we put on our bathing suits, packed an extra pair of clothes and headed out. We checked the wait time on the rapids and it was an hour so we got a fast pass for 2 hours later and headed over to Bug's Land to play in the water while the waiting time went by. We got soaked there. But we were finished early with nothing to do so we went through the tortilla factory and then realized the parade was going to go by soon, so we waited for that and watched it as well before we headed to the rapids. By the way, the current California Adventure parade sprays water, this kept with our water fun day theme. ;) Finally we headed to the rapids where, yes, we did get a bit of water but not the soaking we were anticipating, thank goodness. That ended our water fun play.

We then headed back to the car, got changed into our dry clothes, headed to Downtown Disney for dinner at Tortilla Jo's outside diner. Tip here is, it is less expensive and faster so you can save money and head back to your next destination more quickly. Make sure to show your pass for an extra discount off your meal, you will be pleasantly surprised how much you can save!

Lastly, we made our way back to California Adventure just in time for Glow Fest, it starts at 8:15. We stumbled upon a fake tattoo stand where they do really great face painting and tattoos made of glitter that last for up to 7 days. The tattoos range in price from $10 to $17 depending on design and how many colors, and there are 60 different art pieces to choose from. We had Tisha do one for our daughter, she was great and it turned out beautifully! It was a shooting star!!!

One more thing we did for the evening that we have never experienced before is the Muppets 3d show. It was fantastic! I can't believe in all my years of patronage to the park that I have never seen it! It was hysterical to see my daughter jumping out of her chair trying to grab stuff, it was that realistic. I had to keep telling her it wasn't real. It was so funny!

I hope this helps you enjoy a fun-filled, relaxing, water day at Disneyland's California Adventure! :)

World of Color in California Adventure Disneyland

So recently we took my husband to Disneyland for Father's Day. We actually went to California Adventure to see the World of Color, he is a tech finatic. Anyway, we made reservations at Ariel's Grotto with the Disney Dining phone line and had our reservations for dinner at 6:30. When we got seated, they handed us a special menu. There were 2 appetizers to choose from, they are mostly cheeses and grilled veggies with a salad. Then I believe there are 4 entrees to choose from, and my daughter had a few meals of her own to choose. It was delicious, if you go, I highly recommend the tri tip. At the end you get a very decadent dessert. Then we got our bill and it was $103. Wow, I was in shock. You see, when I made the reservations, they said it came with preferred seating at the World of Color show but said it was included in the dinner, they did not say, the prices were way more than usual. Even if you want to sit in the bar at Ariel's Grotto, there is a $10 per person cover charge now, Yikes! Use your pass though to get a discount on your dinner, we did and it saved us about $14. Which was about the tip. It's scary when kid's mac and cheese ends up being $21. I also suggest to get your reservation before 6:00 so you can get done and over to the preffered diner area for the show a little before or right at 7:30 if you want front row. It was already filling up fast when we got there about 7:45 for the 9:00 show. Also, you won't be waiting there the whole time, they do a cute little pre-show so the crowd doesn't get restless. A good tip is bring a blanket and maybe a deck of cards to keep you and the kiddos busy playing go-fish or any game you'd like :).

After that, we headed over to the Hollywood Blvd Backlot where there is a great GLOW PARTY going on where we danced the rest of the night away in the florescent streets! There are even a few bars up and down the street that sell cosmos and even a nonalcoholic drink in glow glasses! It was a blast, you should definately check it out!!! Enjoy your night of lights in California Adventure!

Dance Studio

My daughter is part of the Dance Studio... Tracy Dee Academy. They are a great studio. i have dance training myself and they are one of the best studios around. They teach the basics CORRECTLY to our children to set them up for a chance at a future if the parents and children decide to do so. One of the owners, Tracy, is an actual professional ballet dancer and her daughter as well teaches there and she currently dances professionally for the Nevada Ballet Company. Brenda, the teacher for the younger children is acceptional with them! She has so much patience to have a classroom of 10-15 little ones at a time, it's amazing. And then there's the shows that they put on twice a year. The only word I can find to describe them is "GORGEOUS". They have themed performances every year and they surprise all the parents with such beautiful costumes and sets and dance performances that it would bring a tear to your eye. It has braught quite a few to mine... If you are looking for a dance studio, look no further, this is the one!