an afternoon of Princesses and bears

The second 'part' of our 3rd day in the parks came this time before we headed back to the hotel. This time we went over to Disney's California Adventure to have lunch at Ariel's Disney Princess Celebration in Ariel's Grotto. On the way there we stopped off in the Golden State area at the Grizzly River Run to pick up a set of FastPasses for later. As we still had a little time to kill before our reservation, the kids played in the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail.


Next came Cinderella.


And then was Princess Aurora (better known as Sleeping Beauty).


And, of course, when Belle showed up she absolutely doted on Kayl in her 'matching' dress.


Our last visitor was the Princess Snow White.


We ended the meal with a little 'Happy Birthday' song and cake by the wait staff. Again, there are far cheaper ways to get lunch, but for the Disney Princesses to come by and spend time with our little 'princess' was priceless.

Mary & the kids walked through the rest of Paradise Pier while Robb ran to get another set of FastPasses (this time for Soarin' Over California) for later. The kids were too small for California Screamin' and the Maliboomer, but did ride King Triton's Carousel and look at all of the Games of the Boardwalk. Several of the other attractions are closed temporarily, as they re-build some of Paradise Pier into a new ride and nighttime attraction.

Now, I apologise for not taking pictures, but the next couple of rides didn't really work well with a camera. On our way back through the Golden State area, we used our FastPasses to ride the Grizzly River Run (a white water rafting trip), and then the Soarin' Over California (like para-gliding over various California scenes, but in front of a Omnimax screen).