Happiest (and Hottest) Place on Earth Part 1

Lastly we squeezed in a very last vacation before school started and it was to the happiest place on earth. And it was HOT!! Not only did we go down to finally check out CarsLand we got to reconnect with some old friends: Patrick and Christina and their two kids; my besties, Lisa and Lisa, along with visiting Matthew's Uncle Danny, Aunt Stella and their sons, Lemuel and Simeon along with one of Lemuel's four sons, Isaac. Plus we got the great opportunity to check out our new freshmen on campus: Jessie at Biola University and Mandy at Azuza Pacific University.

But first can I just tell you how much I LOVE LOVE flying into Long Beach Airport?

We just exited from that plane behind us, exited the gate and are a few steps away from the baggage claim.

Seriously it's always been such a smooth experience, I have to tell you all! (But of course with my luck you try what I recommend and you get a horrible experience.. but that's not my fault.)

We like to fly JetBlue or Virgin America.. which to us are always on time; you get assigned seats; and they serve you drinks and snacks for free. We fly into Long Beach, deplane out of two exits of the plane (front and rear for faster exiting); walk onto the tarmac into the building and out again in a few yards to the baggage claim and car rental building. Seriously it took less than 10 minutes to get off the plane to the rental place and that's with a stop to the bathroom in between. And the rental place rarely has a line or a long wait.

Matthew reserved a full sized sedan but it wasn't ready when we got there so they upgraded us to this huge luxury vehicle! So comfortable and HUGE!!

As we entered into the crazy So Ca freeways.. I soon spotted this!

*****STOP!! WE BREAK FOR AN IMPORTANT SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT!!********

We were following her for a few minutes and she was just texting away.. in LA traffic!!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE 

DO NOT TEXT OR 

TALK ON YOUR CELL PHONE 

WHILE DRIVING!!
IT'S SO SO VERY DANGEROUS!

No back to our regular programming..

We checked into the Paradise Pier Hotel and met our friends Patrick and Christina and their kids Nathan and Amanda (who always just come to swim with us) to hit the pool!

Hannah, Emily and Amanda

Nathan sliding...

It was a great time seeing them.

The next day we were off to CA Adventure...very very early I must say! We left our room at 6:45am to get to the park gates at 7:00am (one hour earlier for hotel guests).

And why pray tell so early?

We had to get to CARSLAND before the rest of the world gets there.

We got to the line at 7:15am and after standing in line and riding the ride it was 7:55am. Pretty 'short' considering the popularity of this new "Land'.

Radiator Springs Racers

After we got off the ride, Matthew rushed to get in line for the Fastpass so we could ride it again. The line was already really long..

Can you find Matthew in line?

...and at 8:00am McQueen and Mater escorted the rest of the guests into the area...

Mater and McQueen; you can't tell but there is a HUGE HUGE crowd behind those Disney Cast Members behind Mater

Cars Land really looks like how it was depicted in the movie.

The Stanley Statue (in front of Radiator Springs Courthouse & Fire Dept)

Casa Della Tires

Flo's V8 Cafe

Sarge's Surplus Hut

Filmore's Taste-In

Cozy Cone Motel

Funny thing is that I never watched any of the Cars movies until literally a few days before we left... never was interested in a movie about cars so I never bothered to watch it. And everyone was telling me how Cars Land's Radiator Springs looks exactly like the movie's Radiator Springs that I had to watch it so I'll know what I was looking at when I got there. Neat to see it in real life you know?

Next we met up with one of my closest friends, Lisa and her kids Jonathan and Marissa (Hannah's BFF)... that's for the next post.. this one is getting too long already!