Disney (Part 1)

Josh was spending about a month in Yuma, so we decided to take Gray to CarsLand as a little family day away before he left. We took Gray to Disneyland in March (after Josh's deployment) but CarsLand didn't open until the summer. Gray was freaking out about the commercials every time he saw them, so we wanted to take him to see Mater and McQueen. 

Of course we hit the high points and saw lots of characters in our one day visit. We rode Midway Madness (Toy Story ride), which is maybe our favorite ride. Gray met Goofy, Donald, Buzz, Woody, and McQueen, Mater, Red, and DJ from Cars. We had to hop over from California Adventure to Disneyland to ride a few things, but we spent a large portion of our time in CarsLand. 

Next in line for Midway Madness! 

Midway Madness is a 4D arcade game. It's excellent! 

Buzz! 

We did a few random rides before heading to CarsLand because we weren't sure Gray would ever be ready to leave. We took him in the main entrance (there are several ways in) and I'm pretty sure we blew his mind. He stopped in the middle of the street and just stared, then started pointed and yelling "CARSLAND!!!"

If you have ever been to Disney, then you know that they do everything (literally everything) in the theme! The bathrooms had little cars on them to tell you boy's vs girl's restrooms. Flo's was a diner with a huge rear view mirror on one wall. The flowers made from reflectors from the movie were scattered around town. Sarge's had a flag and mail box outside. It was like walking into the movie. There is a little glass case with the three piston cups that Doc won, hidden Mickeys, lots of fun Mexican stuff in Ramone's. They really did a great job making Radiator Springs real for fans of the movies. 

However, there are only 3 rides and Gray was too short to ride on the super cool McQueen (racing through Radiator Springs) ride by about 1.5"-2". We LOVED CarsLand, but I felt that it fell short in that regard. It looks amazing, but I wanted more. More rides (at least 4, but 5 would have been great) and maybe a museum like in the last movie. It was awesome, don't get me wrong. The other major problem with CarsLand is the sheer number of people. The other parts of the park would be fairly dead, but the lines at CarsLand were crazy. There were people everywhere! 

Frozen in disbelief. 

Sarge's Surplus

Mater at the Cozy Cone. 

Inside Flo's V8 Cafe!

Waiting on lunch at Flo's.

View from Flo's.

Ramone's. 

Luigi's.

Luigi's Tire Ride. 

McQueen and Mater drive down main street to the Cozy Cone and switch out for pictures. 

Stanley. 

DJs Dance Party! 

Mater's ride. 

And maybe his favorite part of the day...
Meeting his two favorite Disney characters!