a few big changes that i noticed were: - the entrance to the park. the giant letters spelling out california weren't there anymore & the shops right as you walked in were different. - they took out the maliboomer. (if you've been to lagoon, that ride is similar to the rocket) i was pretty sad about that one, i loved that ride. - CARS LAND. i could probably write an entire post on cars land. it was definitely our favorite part of california adventure. it is incredibly well done & so cute!
but california adventure still had my other favorite rides such as: tower of terror, soarin over california, california screamin, and grizzly rapids (which was closed down for refurbishment, so we were sad about that). 
while we were in disneyland we didn't use the FastPass system at all because we only wanted to go on those rides one time & we didn't have a ton of time to go back and forth, because we had something else to do outside of the park in the middle of the day AND the lines weren't bad at all. we basically walked on to every ride we wanted to go on (except for Space Mountain... that ride ALWAYS has long lines...). but things were different in california adventure. we utilized the FastPass system like crazy! we rode our favorite rides two or three times and still had time to wander around the park (but mostly cars land) and just enjoy the experience.
we also met up with two of my cousins who were at disneyland and california adventure for part of their choir tour. we went on one ride with them and then let them go back to their friends. it was fun to run into them there!
we spent an hour or so just wandering around cars land. and then we spent another hour or so waiting in line for the new cars ride. it was totally worth the wait! the new cars ride is a nice little drive through radiator springs and then has a few little surprises and fun references to the movie. and my favorite part-- right before the ride ends, you race another car back to the end of the ride! it was so much fun, even though our car didn't win... after the cars ride, we grabbed one last churro from the cozy cone (churros are why people go to disneyland, right?) and headed off to explore other parts of the park.
however, we must be getting a little older because we were completely beat and ready to go back to our hotel around 7:30. we wanted to stay for the world of color light show at 9:45, but we were just too tired. plus that gives us a reason to go back!
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we continued our game with my family in california adventure as well! can you win the game?
