Southwest Holiday Adventure Part 3 of 6

Check out part 2 of our adventure if you haven’t, yet.

Time to leave Arizona.  A pretty sunrise as we stop at one of our favorite places to fuel up in western Arizona.

On the road again!  This time we’re off to southern California!

You go through an agriculture station when you enter California.  I’m not sure what it’s for but there was only a single agent scanning traffic as it went through.

Yay!  California and another new state for us to visit in the RV.

Heading through the mountains on the way to the coast.

And we’re here at our home for the next four days.  Anaheim Resort RV Park had a friendly staff and was conveniently located near Disneyland.  The sites were a little more crowded than I like but all were paved, level, and well maintained.

The weather was absolutely beautiful for our visit.

After getting setup, my daughter and I ran up (an hour drive north to Valencia) to Six Flags Magic Mountain.  I will just give some brief highlights of this trip.

Due to time constraints allowing us only about four hours at this park, we opted to buy flash passes.  After the fact we were thankful we did this.  The crowds were heavy this evening and while we still only got in 10 of their 19 coasters, we would have likely only gotten 3 in without the flash pass.

Some of the crowds.

Our first coaster was the flying coaster, Tatsu.  It was good but we enjoyed Manta at Sea World Orlando more.

Apocalypse is a wooden coaster and a surprise to me.  I really enjoyed this more than I thought I would.  I will certainly make a point to ride it again during my next visit.

Green Lantern was also a surprise to me.  I knew it was  the only 4th dimension coaster of its type in the US but I was surprised how much I liked it.  The ejector air time you get is absolutely insane!

I really wanted to do Superman:  Escape from Krypton, this launched coaster that barrels you backwards up the 400′ tower from the station, but we were unable to get it in this trip.  I will certainly be making another trip out here to ride this.

The new coaster for 2013 was Full Throttle.   While it opened with much fanfare earlier in the year I was disappointed.  The ride was good but when it was over I was wondering where the second half of the ride was.  It seemed really short to me.  It was still a lot of fun although the lines for it were insane.

Six Flags Magic Mountain was decked out for the holidays… or at least their entry plaza was.

I thought this was a nice touch.  If you can’t tell, the RV parking has a canopy over it.  A friend of mine let me know that this used to be a gas station and they never tore down the canopy.  Regardless it is nice to keep the sun off of your RV while in the park to make it easier to keep cool.

Our first ride of the day was Radiator Springs Racers.  This is the big attraction at the highly regarded new Cars Land area that opened recently.

Nerd shot!

You race the other car on a fast paced track.  It’s almost like a family coaster.

The streets really bring you in to the movie story line.

We decided on a snack and some Starbucks coffee.  You can see from the panorama shot that the line went around and out the building.  Since it was after Christmas and everyone was out of school, all the Southern California amusement parks were insanely busy.  We knew that before our trip so we were prepared and determined to have a good time regardless.

After our snack we headed over to our favorite ride,  The Hollywood Tower of Terror.  While it wasn’t quite as good as the one in Orlando we still enjoyed it immensely.

Even Santa was here.

We’re headed to the back of the park and came across this gorgeous tree.

We walked past California Screamin’ but that wasn’t on our radar yet.

Next was Toy Story Midway Mania.  This ride was awesome!  We love shooting dark rides and this one is so well done.

Next we headed off to California Screamin’.  I don’t think this ride gets enough credit as it’s a great family coaster.  I really enjoyed it and hopefully we can make it back when the crowds are lighter.

Sherri said I needed this shirt.  I don’t know what she’s talking about.

During the holidays Disney’s Paradise Gardens is transformed into Viva Navidad! complete with a mariachi band.

Here’s a shot of Paradise Pier that I bet has never been taken before.

We also rode the only other coaster in Disney’s California Adventure, Goofy’s Flight School.  Despite the name and some theming it is a standard mouse coaster that you will find in many other parks.

Grizzly River Run has a lot of theming in the area in true Disney fashion.

Despite the warm weather we didn’t ride it this time.

We were more interested in Soarin’ Over California.  As always this ride is enjoyable.

If you did get wet on Grizzly River Run you might be able to dry out with this… or not.

Who’s that hot woman with that nerdy unshaven guy?

After a brief break at the campground we returned for more fun.  It is always a good idea to take a picture of the sign closest to where you parked to help you find your way back at the end of the day.

Since we had park hopper passes, we headed over to Disneyland for a little bit.

That was a mistake as we got there as the parade was going on.  We usually know better but didn’t check the schedule this time.  There were mobs of people everywhere.

Off to Space Mountain!  While I liked the ride better than the one in Orlando because of the two wide seating, neither one of them is anywhere near the top of my list for great coasters.

There was some awful heavy metal band blaring and ruining the atmosphere that I associate with Disney.  I guess that’s the difference between Disneyland and Walt Disney World.  We quickly moved on to get away from the noise (and I like rock music).

Here’s a night shot of the castle.  While it is smaller than the one at Magic Kingdom it is still impressive.

We ended the night with Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters.  While it’s not as good as Toy Story Mania, it was still a dark ride which we all love.

Here’s a passing shot of Disney California Adventure’s main gate at night as we head out.  Until tomorrow!

Click here to continue on to part 4.