Today we spent almost 15hrs at the House of Mouse. Even though our hotel is directly across the road from the Disney parking, we still had to drive there so we could get the shuttle bus to the park gates.
We arrived just after 8am & headed straight for Adventureland to go on the Indiana Jones ride as it has been years since we had been on it. There was no more than a15min wait on the first 5 or so rides. We went on Splash Mountain & have never got so wet before. Luckily it wasn't cold and a t-shirt was all that was needed. But, my jacket got soaked & I needed it for the evening. Thankfully it almost dried by then.
After we got off Splash Mountain, I went into a shop to buy a bag. Robyn came in a bit later & was so excited because she had seen Santa. He just appeared and went up to her to ask if she would like to take a selfie. He looked just like the real Santa so we lined up & had a proper photo with him.
The longest we had to wait was at Its A Small World which was about 50mins. It had a holiday/Christmas theme which was different to the usual theme.
The parade was on at 1.30pm & we were lucky enough to get an outdoor table at a cafe so we could see some of it.
About 2.15pm we went across to California Adventure. Our favourite ride, Soaring, is there. It was about a 45min wait but worth it as it has changed from soaring over California to soaring around the world. Our own Sydney Harbour is featured!!
We stayed at California Adventure for the rest of the afternoon. Robyn had booked us into a a World of Colour package which was a 3 course dinner at a restaurant & then a reserved area for the World of Colour spectacular. Dinner was delicious - a fine dining experience in a casual setting. The waiter then gave us our tickets & we walked around to the specified spot on the pier. The show started at 9pm & went for about 20mins. It was a combination of water, music & colour. Jets of water swirled & danced around while colours & images of Disney characters were projected onto it. This was also a holiday theme so it was mostly Christmas music with a couple of Disney tunes. The whole show was visually spectacular. Towards the end, the song played was 'Let There be Peace on Earth' and hearts made of tightly packed bubbles began riding from random points. It looked beautiful.
Once the show had finished, we headed back towards Disneyland & came across Mickey again. After the obligatory photos we went back into Disneyland where the parade & fireworks had just finished. We took some pics of Sleeping Beauty's castle under lights, went in the Dumbo rude and went to look at It's A Small World all lit up.
By then it was nearly 11pm so we headed for the shuttle buses & found our way back to the hotel. We certainly got our money's worth today!