It all began on a regular Saturday morning at 4:00am, aka: bright and early! The sky was dark, the owls were hooting, and everything was as normal as it always is.
Everything, that is, except that the Disney Dames were up and at 'em to take advantage of the Annual Passholders Early Preview of the brand spankin’ new Cars Land at California Adventure!
Leigh had a broken toe (actual x-ray below)...
...and it was so early that our regular stop at Starbucks was a no-go, which is usually a must to begin any Disneyland day. But the mark of a true Disney fan is the one who’s still excited to get on the road, despite those circumstances – and boy were we!
When we arrived, after receiving our super-exclusive wristbands, we waited in line outside California Adventure’s entrance to be among the first inside. Well, Melody and I did. Leigh had to go rent her electronic convenience vehicle, aka: grandma cruiser, to make getting around the park with a broken toe a bit easier. But it was only moments before she came cruisin’ up in her brand new rental making it look way flyer than any grandma could. ;)
And when the gates opened, we immediately hurried over to Cars Land to discover exactly what magic awaited.
When you enter Cars Land, you are transported to a desert movie set, where oldies-but-goodies blare over the loudspeaker, there are old-fashioned gas attendants, and you’d swear you even feel a warm desert breeze graze your cheek. Imagineers did an amazing job with bringing Radiator Springs to life. Just incredibly cute on all fronts. I could have sat down cross-legged in the middle of Cars Land and just taken in it’s cuteness in ALL.DAY.LONG.
But first and foremost we were there for the main attraction: Radiator Springs Racers. So imagine our frustration when, after standing in line for it less than 5 minutes, we were informed that THE RIDE HAD BROKEN DOWN!!!
WHAT?!!!
Now, in my experience at Disneyland, many rides have broken down, some even while I’m on them – hey, it took me four rides of Roger Rabbit’s Cartoon Spin before I knew how the darn thing ended. But never have I ever heard of a ride breaking down before it even starts up. “This better be good,” I heard from the folks in line around us that decided to stay, while others migrated over to the super-cute breakfast place (Flo’s V8 Café) jamming the Supremes next-door.
We considered stepping out of line and coming back another time too – after all, there’s so much Disney to see! But in the end, the three Disney Dames decided to stay and stick it out like champs. Reason: We’re not quitters! We love Disney and we finish what we start! Real Reason: There was no way imaginable to get the grandma cruiser back through the line to exit. So we were in it to win it whether we liked it or not.
So what did we do to pass the time? What any group of girls would do when faced with an uncomfortably long wait outside at 7am on a Saturday.
We had a photo shoot.
We posed.
We posed again.
We posed alone.
We posed with photo hijackers.
And we realized that we look amazingly photogenic at 7am without coffee. :-)
And then, after an hour of watching racecars speed by, our eyes frantically searching for any bobbing heads inside, the line finally started to move. And then it was all gravy from there. Because of Leigh’s foot, we were ushered right up to the handicapped entrance, and we took off.
The first (and longest) portion of the ride is the car you’re in preparing for the Radiator Springs race. You’re washed, you socialize, your wheels are checked, you’re even warned by a very cool cop car that you’re going too fast. And after a final check in the mirror of the body shop (because there’s no use winning if you don’t look good doing it), you shoot out of the building and onto the track running through the beautiful Radiator Springs, and guess what? Another car has crept up next to you, which you quickly realize is your opponent! But before you can yell, “Oh My God, I’m in a race!”, “Where did that other car come from?”, “This is so cool!”, or more plainly, “What the F@$%?” you’re off! The wind is in your hair, the music is in your ears, and the excitement is in every twist and turn, every drop and rise.
You finally finish the race having either won or lost (we won!) and then are transported back to the platform where you started, in our case the handicapped boarding zone. I was happy to discover that this was a picture-taking ride, too.
Love those mid-ride snap-shots!
And in the end, even after an hour delay that pretty much cancelled out our early entry, we promised to return soon for more Cars Land fun, before gathering that it was only 8:30am and we still had a whole day of Disney ahead. And even better, we could finally stop for coffee. ;-)
Run, don’t walk to Disney’s California Adventure for Cars Land.
The Disney Dames are onboard. J
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