US Trip Part 1 - California Adventure Park

Recently I was away for 3 weeks on my first ever trip to the US.  I took almost 1,800 photos, and although I certainly won't post them all, I will make a few different posts about my trip.  I have been meaning to write these posts for ages, but life has been very busy since I got back! 

After flying into LA (after a 4 hour delay in Sydney due to Sydney International Airport losing power!) I went straight to Anaheim for what else by Disneyland!  I have been to Hong Kong Disneyland before (and was rather dissapointed) and Tokyo Disney (which I loved).  But I have been wanting to go to the "real" Disneyland since I was about 4 - ever since I knew there was one.

I had purchased a 3-day pass while I was still in Australia, and I did spend 3 days there.  You can certainly see a lot in 1-day, but it really isn't enough, particularly if you have kids with you (I was on my own).  Disneyland in Anaheim has two parks - California Adventure Park and Disneyland.  I spent 1 day in California Adventure Park and 2 in Disneyland, although with the pass I have I was able to swap between them. 

California Advenure Park is always quieter than Disneyland, and there are still Disney characters floating around, just not as many. 

Some thoughts/hints/highlights:

• I loved the Grizzly Falls Ride, but either do it just before leaving the park, or take a rain poncho, or buy one at the store near the ride (although they are overpriced).  I got drenched, and it had been my first ride of the day!  
• The live action Aladdin show is well worth watching, the actor who played the Genie when I saw it was hilarious.

• Since June this year, there has been a night-time show at California Advenutre Park called World of Color, which was wonderful.  There is no seating available, it is all standing, and to get access to the "preferred" standing area, you have a few options: either get a Fastpass that will give you access(available near Grizzly Falls) - you will need to do this in the morning as they will run out; buy a "picnic" lunch that you can collect during the day and you will get a preferred area ticket; have dinner at eitehr Ariel's Grotto of the restaurants (you will need to make a reservation).  I went for the last option, and went to Ariel's Grotto.  It was more expensive than I usually like to pay for dinner while I'm on holidays.  As I've been travelling on my own, I tend to go low-key and will often try to find a supermarket to stock up on things.  But in my mind, it was worth it because of the show, and the food was really nice.  The desert was a "desert plate", which was meant to be shared, but as I was on my own it was all for me.  There was no possible way I was eating all of it (pic below), but the waitress kindly boxed most of it up for me to take-away, and I had a fridge in my hotel.

Overall, it was a great "first day" in the US (since it was my first full day), and the Park is really pretty at night when you look across at Paradise Pier and the Ferris Wheel.