Mauricio decided that he was going to ah, call in sick on Saturday morning so we could stay in Disneyville longer. So, we did. Which means we got a full day and night at California Adventure on Friday.

Honestly, I wasn't too excited about going to California Adventure. And I wasn't all that into the park in general. I don't know why, really. I think I just like Disneyland more. It has more of a theme (or themes), which are more interesting than "Golden State" or "Condor Flats" (this is basically the "Soaring Over California" ride and accompanying shopping/food, period) or whatever. Maybe this is more exciting if you are not a native Californian, I dunno.

But that said, I think the Hollywood/show/film-related things were REALLY well done here. Mom went around at Disneyland asking people what they recommended at California Adventure, and the two things that came up the most were "Soaring Over California" and "Turtle Talk With Crush."

"Soaring Over California" is basically you sitting in a chair with your feet off the ground, looking into a big movie screen of shots of flying over parts of California. It's quick but pretty. Unfortunately, Mom (who gets nauseous easily and claimed to not be over going on rides from yesterday) got sick off of it and refused to go on anything but the easiest kid rides for the rest of the day after that. She hated being "the wuss" that day.

Ride-wise, I finally got to go on a water ride without a long line, and wasn't freaked out by going down a slide backwards- surprise! I even went on a mini-coaster- Mulholland Madness- all by myself. I told the kid next to me that I liked to scream and he said I was really good at it. Heh. Dad would have been proud of my non-chicken-ness.

As for shows, "Turtle Talk With Crush" is the biggest "How'd They Do That?!?!" thing I've ever seen in my life. I can figure out how they'd have someone backstage with a camera and a mike talking for Crush, but how the hell they do the live animation?! (Apparently, this is how?) I even got picked out of the audience to get talked to, which was cool. Yay for sitting on the aisle with glasses! I would have figured he'd just talk to kids, you know?

They also have a 5-minute "how to draw a Disney character" show that I went to, and learned how to draw Pooh. Mom was sorry she didn't go with me to that, but she went back to the hotel for an hour mid-day.

3-D movie technology has REALLY improved since I last saw a movie. Out of the three shows I saw- "Honey, I Shrunk The Audience," "Muppet Vision 3-D", and "It's Tough To Be A Bug", the third one was THE BEST. Oh my god, the special effects on that one. I don't know how the hell they make your seat feel like bugs and stuff is crawling on your body, but somehow they do it. Whoa.

We also went to the Aladdin musical, which was surprisingly cool, all things considered. They have some amazing stuff done, such as the elephant and how they have the bottle. And they actually have the flying carpet (with doubles) going across the top of the huge theater. And I have to give props to the genie, who has great pop culture dialogue still.

The coolest souvenir shopping to be done in the Disney area, however, was at the make-your-own-Potato-Head station at the toy store in CA. Oh, that was fun. They give you a box, a potato, and a large supply of various toys. Whatever you fit in the box, you keep. AWESOME.

After CA closed (two hours before Disneyland), we went back to Disneyland again one last time and saw the fireworks show and went on a few rides in Tomorrowland . And Pirates again at the last minute.

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