Disney's California Adventure and other Anaheim, CA Things to Do Tips

This park was so much quieter and less crowded than Disneyland. It was so relaxing after 2 days in Disneyland!

The rides here are primarily for older kids and adults. One ride which is an absolute DO NOT MISS here is Soaring Over California. This ride is amazing, I don't know how else to describe it. Get your Fast Pass for it as soon as you enter the park, then wander down and do the rides with shorter (or non-existent) lines until your Fast Pass is ready. I guarantee you will love this ride, but I'm not going to give it away. Just do it. You'll be glad you did.

Other favorites of ours were the Grizzly River Run & Tower of Terror. Our kids loved GRR so much, we had to go twice. Try to do this ride while the sun is up, as you WILL get wet. The "splash" is very refreshing in the heat of the day, but left us a little chilled on our last time through, at nine in the evening! Tower of Terror is so much fun. I never would have went on it if I'd realized in advance what it was all about, but once I tried it once, I went on it twice a day for 5 days. lol.

Before you go on the ferris wheel, check it out closely. It has both "stationary" and "rolling" seats on it! The rolling ones give you quite a ride, as my kids can attest!

The Maliboomer launches you upwards at a breathtaking pace. Mulholland Madness is a fun mini roller coaster. The big roller coaster was broken down when we were there, so we never got to try it.

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Address: South Harbor Boulevard, Anaheim
Website: http://disneyland.disney.go.com

On this ride, you have to steer a mini car around a course. The cars are not on tracks, so you will bump and crash into and off of the center curb which the tires straddle. You can't veer too far because of that center curb, but the little kids don't know that, and it thrills them to no end. For some reason our teenagers just loved this ride.

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Address: Tomorrowland
Website: http://disneyland.disney.go.com

You ride in a jungle boat around a river course, filled with elephants, hippos, cobras, savage cannibals and more. The boat's tour driver kept us all entertained with a hilarious commentary along the way. And the best part was it was out of the sun and you got to sit down!

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Address: Adventureland
Website: http://disneyland.disney.go.com

Our absolute favorite ride in Disneyland was Pirates of the Caribbean. It was so cool. Definitely worth the wait in line. Plus, you get to sit down and get inside out of the heat! Indiana Jones was our second favorite. We also loved the Haunted Mansion, very amusing. Splash Mountain was so much fun, but we didn't get to finish the ride. The ride broke down, when we were about forty feet from the top of the final descent. Yes, we got stuck in Splash Mountain. lol. But after we were escorted off the ride and through the back alleys of DL, the Disney folks gave us all a re-admit pass, good for any other ride in the park, which got us right to the front of the line of any ride we wanted, except Indiana Jones. Splash Mountain is a great ride, make it a must do while you're there. Try to get there by 10:00 am, after that, the line-ups are insane!

In Tomorrowland, our kids (and my silly husband!) just loved the Buzz Lightyear ride - did it 3 times! Space Tours is really funny. The Thunder Mountain Railroad (roller coaster) was another really popular one with our kids.

In Mickey's Toon Town, everyone loved the Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin. My husband still talks about it.

It's a Small World is hokey, for sure, but I think it is still such a neat ride (one of the original ones). Our 14 year old daughter rolled her eyes and looked bored through the whole ride, but our 11 year olds were still young enough to find it all quite entertaining. Just do it. lol.

There are lots and lots of rides at Disneyland. We only had 2 days and b/c of the huge line-ups, we never made it to the Matterhorn or Space Mountain. But we had so much fun there anyways. Next time we go, we'll plan for a quieter time of year so there are less people there and we will definitely spend more time there.

I can't wait till next time!

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Website: http://disneyland.disney.go.com

The best time for autographs with famous Disneyland characters is early in the morning. You want to get to the park when it opens. As soon as you enter the park, there is a small souvenir shop which sells autograph books and pens. I'd recommend you buy these for your kids right away. Then, watch as you walk a little further along, right at the top of Main Street USA, to your right. There is a Madhatter store and past that there is a big wall. At the far end of this wall is a small door. Many characters come and go thru this door, so it is a good spot to catch Mickey and others for autographs and pics.

Another spot we saw several characters coming and going was in Mickey's Toon Town.

The map you get when you enter the park also shows you where each character's "house" is located in the park. After about 9:00 am, all characters proceed to their houses and do pics and autographs there. We waited in line for about 30 minutes to get to see Mickey at his house, but we weren't interested enough to do this at each character's house. The other autographs and pictures we obtained as we roamed throughout the park.

These autograph books make a great souvenir (about $6.50 each) for the kids and will be one thing they will probably keep all of their lives. Plus, if you go back to visit another year, they can take the same book with them - there's plenty of pages in the book.

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Address: Throughout the Park
Website: http://disneyland.disney.go.com

I realize that Universal is in Hollywood, not Anaheim, but it is a common side trip while visiting Disneyland.

Universal can easily be done in a day - it closes at 6:00 pm & the stores in the shopping area are open later so save your shopping for after the park closes. When you arrive at Universal, head straight for the lower level. Get the rides & demonstrations on this level out of the way early & you will find that the line ups are fairly short, since most people work their way through the upper level first. When you're done at the lower level, you can head back "up" & do the tram tour & rides in this area.

Don't let the line ups for the tram tour discourage you when you arrive. They can put a lot of people onto one tram, so the lines move very quickly. I think the longest we waited was 10 minutes. Make sure you take little ones for a restroom break before doing the tram tour. It is about 45 minutes long and they don't let you get off anywhere along the way. You will find restrooms near the entrance to the tour.

At Water World, seat yourself in the areas marked "dry" unless you want to get completely soaking wet.

Our favorite things at Universal were Jurassic Park, the Mummy, Shrek, Terminator and the tram tour. A lot of the rides at Universal are actually 3D movies, rather than thrill rides, so it is a good place for folks who don't like the kinds of rides you'll find at Disney. But if you're not into thrill rides, stay off the Mummy! It is the wildest ride you'll find at Universal.

if you are planning on walking through the shopping area at the end of the day, don't bother paying for the preferred parking at Universal. The cheaper parking is at the far end of the shopping area and so you will walk right to the parking if you walk through the mall area.

The mexican restaurant in the Studio Walk is awesome!

While in this area, you may want to take a detour to Hollywood Blvd and see Grauman's Chinese Theater, the stars on the Blvd, and the Kodak Theater. You can get to Hollywood Blvd from the 101.

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Address: Hollywood, California
Directions: From Anaheim, take the I-5 freeway to the 101 freeway. Take the 101 through LA into Hollywood. Watch for the exit signs for Universal.

This ride is much too wild for me, but our teenagers loved it. You sit in a chair and the machine basically "sling shots" you straight up this column about 200 feet, then you drop, then you go back up a bit, drop again, go back up, and finally come down to rest. This is a popular ride with the younger crowd (think under 30!) and the line ups reflect this.

There is a single rider line, which will get you on much faster than waiting in the line up.

No fast pass for this ride.

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Address: South Harbor Boulevard, Anaheim
Website: http://disneyland.disney.go.com

This is a roller coaster, and its the fastest and wildest one in the park. You won't get me on this. The kids love roller coasters and had fun on it when we were there the second visit. It seems to break down a lot.

This one has loops that take you upside down. They have added a music element to it, but from what I've heard the music part is a flop.

This ride does offer fast pass.

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Address: South Harbor Boulevard, Anaheim
Website: http://disneyland.disney.go.com

This is a smaller roller coaster, I even rode this one! It was actually pretty fun. I am not a roller coaster person at all, but this one isn't scary. Even still, once was enough for me. lol. It is like a wild drive on a freeway - lots of unexpected dips and turns. I actually twisted my back on this one, which is why I only rode it once.

The line ups for this one are long, but there is a single rider line which my son put to great use.

Fast pass is available but we never used it.

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Address: South Harbor Boulevard, Anaheim
Website: http://disneyland.disney.go.com

This is a popular ride with the younger kids - our teenagers rode it once, and then weren't interested in it anymore.

It is a swing ride, inside a giant orange.

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Address: South Harbor Boulevard, Anaheim
Website: http://disneyland.disney.go.com