Today at Disney's California Adventure: Summertime Fun!

We spent a wonderful few hours today at the Grand Californian Hotel and then Disney's California Adventure.

We celebrated my birthday with a special breakfast in the gorgeous Storytellers Cafe in the Grand Californian:

Since we had a receipt from eating in the hotel, we were allowed to use the special hotel entrance directly into Disney's California Adventure. We entered shortly before the park opened and immediately were able to ride the new Little Mermaid ride without standing in line. Nice!

From there we went to check out Goofy's Sky School, the former Mulholland Madness.

The detailed new theming of both the queue area and the ride itself is a real winner, and I loved the new sky blue paint theme! The Imagineers did a great job turning this "off the shelf" "wild mouse" ride into a "Disney" ride.

We took a ride on Toy Story Midway Mania and then checked out the beautiful new restaurant area, including Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta:

We got one order of the new flatbread pizza to split among us and sample. I liked it very much.

Grizzly Creek looks very appealing on a hot afternoon:

And the mister next to California Soarin' was popular as well:

Before we called it a day we also checked out the cute new characters and Wilderness Explorer badge ceremony in the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail area.

We left by early afternoon, just as it was really getting hot. I'm looking forward to returning soon to see the new Soundsational Parade!