California Adventure Park

Last week, we traveled to California for soccer & since we had known about it for a while, we booked our flights a day early to surprise the girls. Most of her team flew in on Thursday, but we flew in on Wednesday. We went to the Disney District in Anaheim to meet one of Bryan's co-workers for dinner. She is actually on maternity leave so we had fun meeting her, her husband & their new 7 week old baby:

The weather was perfect, so we enjoyed eating on the patio & after we ate, the girls had fun running around:

I promise I won't post all of my food pictures, but can I just say that I have not had enchiladas at a restaurant since I went gluten free? We chose this restaurant on purpose because it had so many gf options, including all of their enchiladas:

We headed in early that morning because our surprise for the girls was Disneyland the next day! We have actually been to Disneyland once but we had never done California Adventure Park so we decided to go there instead:

I wanted to buy the park hopper, but she had her first soccer game early Friday morning so I knew we couldn't stay too late. The park opened at 8:00 so by 7:45 we had already gone through the gate & walked to the back of the park & were ready for the rope drop so we could run straight to:

We decided to go big & ride the roller coaster first & we were literally riding by 8:05!

Sophie did not want to ride so she was on the sides taking pictures. I guess Sadie was too small so it's hard to spot her back there behind us:

It started fast, had a couple of good drops & a loop. Loved it!

Next stop, the ferris wheel because that is Sophie's favorite:

Instead of the normal ferris wheel on the outside, we rode the one on the inside that swung back & forth. For some reason, for a girl who doesn't like adventure, she sure liked this:

You know who didn't like it?

Isn't that hilarious?! She does not like that picture but I think it's so funny because she literally just rode the biggest roller coaster in the park but she is scared of the ferris wheel. She really does not like heights! Eventually she warmed up & we calmed her down:

For those who are wondering, we did purchase the genie plus so as soon as we got there, we started pulling lightening passes. Honestly, I did not plan a single thing except for buying our tickets ahead of time but spent the entire day using our passes & riding every other ride in between:

The only ride we didn't get to ride was Radiator Springs Racers & we were so disappointed! It is the number one attraction there but it was closed for refurbishment. We did get to walk by it though & it looked amazing:

In fact, we ate lunch at Flo's V8 Cafe right by it & you know what else I love about Disney? Their allergen friendly menu! Sadie & I were able to get gf hamburgers with fries from a dedicated fryer:

Before we left Cars Land, we stopped & took a few pictures:

Gotta love that photo pass!  

Finally, we saved our favorite ride of the day for last - in fact, it was the very last lightening pass we could pull & we barely got it:

Guardians of the Galaxy!

Last time we were at Disney World (which has been a while!) Sadie's favorite ride was Tower of Terror & that's basically what this was. We got smart, pulled 4 lightening lane passes, but since Sophie didn't want to go, I went first with Sadie & then she ran off, got back in line & did with Bryan:

Without a doubt, that is still her favorite! We had basically rode every single ride in the park by 3:00 so we let the girls choose a few more to ride again & then we grabbed dessert before we left:

By 5:30 we were leaving the park & driving to Oceanside to meet her team. We literally had the best day together! The weather was perfect - not hot, but not cold. It was actually overcast so it wasn't too sunny. It was still crowded but I think we were able to conquer it so successfully because we went early. These girls are troopers & I so enjoyed doing Disney with them now that they are older & we are past the princess/character/autograph phase!