Disneyland Trip – Day 3

We tried to take it easier on Wednesday but that never seems to happen. We started the day out with breakfast at White Water Snacks at the Grand Californian Resort. It was a simple quick breakfast. Have I mentioned how much I love this resort? I love it! We have had no problems whatsoever and it is a very beautiful and comfortable hotel. The staff has also been very kind and friendly.

After breakfast we went to see The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. Yes I am a girl and yes I had to see it. Team Edward! Ok moving along…it was a nice rest because our feet were killing us from the previous two days. By the way the theater at Downtown Disney is an AMC and probably the most empty theater you could have watched Eclipse in on Wednesday. There were like 12 people. It must be mostly a tourist theater. Plus it was not the nicest theater. It certainly looked pretty worn and they had trouble getting the sound to work, thankfully this was resolved during the trailers.

After the movie the movie we headed over to California Adventure to have our World of Color picnic meal. Your only way into the show that I am aware of is with a Fast Pass ticket or a ticket that comes with the Picnic Meals or one of the other World of Color dining plans at Ariel’s Grotto or Wine Country Trattoria. Fast Passes are available next to Grizzly River Run.

I ordered them online before we got here and then we picked up the meal next to Wine Country Trattoria. I do believe you can just walk up and buy the meals because we saw some people doing it. The meals cost $14.99 and ours came with a bottled soda. They have lots of different choices. We chose the Mediterranean Vegetarian Meal which we picked because it came with a Lemon Layer Cake. We love dessert and that cake was yummy. The food was good and it is a good option for wanting to see World of Color and getting a good spot. You can pick your meal up starting at around 11 a.m., at least that is what we were told by the cast member who checked us in and we got there at noon and everything was ready. With each meal you get a special World of Color reusable bag made from plastic bottles. Now I don’t have to buy a World of Color souvenir. We were given our tickets for the show when we picked up the meal. We got the yellow section and all the dinner plan tickets are for the 9 p.m. show only.

After lunch we wandered around and took some photos. Then we headed over and watched Aladdin which was probably the best stage show I have ever seen in either Disneyland or in Walt Disney World. I would say it was almost Broadway quality and it is about a 45 minute show. I highly recommend it if you are planning to visit California Adventure. I have read rumors of it being replaced with something else and what a shame because it is such a good show. The Genie was awesome and a real crowd pleaser. Loved his Twilight dig at a sparkly Edward.

We had dinner at Taste Pilots’ Grill. It was quick place but the food was good. I had the chicken sandwich and Bobby had a burger. I have found the quick eateries to have slightly better tasting food than those that are Disney World but Disney World wins when it comes to table service dining. I was disappointed with The Blue Bayou so maybe I am being unfair since it has been the only table service restaurant we have eaten at.

We came back to the room and rested a bit. Then we walked a little around Downtown Disney but it was getting crowded so we headed back to California Adventure to get ready for World of Color.

World of Color. A really beautiful show. We both really enjoyed it but the two hours of standing was killer. On our ticket it says to show up at 7:30 p.m. but we decided to go on over earlier and boy are we glad we did because when we arrived there was a wall of people just standing in front of the area waiting to be let in. They really should have organized it better. No lines or anything just a huge group waiting to run through at the first opportunity. People were confused and a couple of ladies almost got into an argument. It was really crazy.

So of course when they finally moved the gates away and let people through, they ran and pushed. People were desperate for the perfect spot. I mean good grief people, there is no reason to push others and run while nearly knocking someone down in the process just to see a show. I was worried for this elderly couple and they told me they were worried as well. I hope they were ok and not stampeded. So after they let everyone through people ran to their color sections. We survived and made it to our yellow section. We were lucky and found the very last spot at the railing next to a light post. There was a guy there saving space for three other people who were not yet there but he let us have the one small part on the end. It was nice of him.

So there are no benches other than some in the small handicap section and then there are not that many even for the handicap. It really is standing room only. Of course everyone plopped down on the ground as soon as they had claimed their spot. I was going to sit but people were lounging and sitting so close there was no room left to sit and they don’t let you sit for long. They want to fit as many people as they can in the section so they will eventually tell you to get up and move forward to make way for others. At least they told us that in the yellow section. The center section which I think was blue sat the whole time until showtime. Weird. They could have paid for the more expensive dinners. Who knows. So yea we stood for 2 hours. Our feet were killing us. So keep that in mind when planning to see this show, take it easy earlier on in the day if you don’t want sore feet.

At 830 they put on a very weak attempt to entertain people before the actual show got started at 9. They brought a couple of performers out to pump the crowd up and had some large lighted Disney character puppets to represent each section. Not much to it really. Finally the actual show started. I really liked the show. Was it super duper awesome? No, but it was good and I enjoyed that is was different. It is a nice celebration of some classic Disney films. You will get wet if you are right on the water and we were a little ways back and we still got a good bit of water blown our way which can impede video and picture taking.

Would we do it again? Sure but maybe wait awhile and hope they can learn to organize the crowds better. I am glad that we did it. I recommend it. We did hear a cast member telling someone who was a local that the 11 p.m. show was not as crowded as the earlier ones. I can not confirm this though but he might be right. Our show still had some room and was not completely packed and we got in a timely manner but we didn’t have far to go to the resort. After all that it was time for bed and to ask our feet to forgive us for the pain we inflicted on them. Note: all World of Color photos were taken with my iPhone 4. It is awesome.