the happiest playdate on earth

during opening weekend of pixar pier at california adventure, the bean and i got to meet up with our friends lilcee, dailygluttony and their minis for a fun playdate.  while we weren't able to get there at rope drop with them, we still managed to get there somewhere around noon.  and when we pulled into the parking garage, i noticed that the $35 preferred parking option wasn't posted on the board anymore.

interesting.  maybe they realized that no one really wanted to cough up that much cash for a parking spot and bagged the whole idea.  who knows.

when we finally got inside the park, the others were in line for a ride and so i decided to take the bean to the animation academy for a drawing session.  we've been trying to get in there for awhile and either the timing is bad or we're with the old lady and she isn't in the mood to draw.

we got to draw dug, the dog from "up."  i think we've drawn him before, but it was fun to do it again.

in the sorcerer's academy, the bean decided to do some drawings of jack jack from the incredibles.

at schmoozies, we finally got a chance to try out one of the pixarfest's special food offerings - a monster mint shake that was pretty darn delicious even though it wasn't anything more special than a mint chocolate chip milkshake.  it was hot, and it hit the spot.

in the guardians of the galaxy store, the bean picked up this super throwback electronic basketball game.  i told her those were the kinds of toys we had when i was younger.

like i said, it was hot.  and so while we were browsing in another one of the shops, i let her talk me into buying this portable mickey fan.

snack time!  the mint julep bar's seasonal offering was a strawberry beignet, flavored with pulverized freeze-dried strawberries.  they were really tasty, especially washed down with one of those refreshing mint juleps.

big thunder mountain is always a good time.

i forgot to mention that mini DG recently suffered a broken toe and was enjoying being pushed around the parks in a rented wheelchair.  this, of course, also got us access to the handicapped entrances to a handful of the rides on the disneyland side.  and it was funny to listen to the girls bicker playfully as they argued over who got to push him.

we had fun walking through the park with them and enjoying a few rides before they decided that they'd had enough for the day and grabbed an ice cream as we said goodbye and went back over to the DCA side.  we wanted to check out pixar pier even though we knew it was too crowded for us to actually experience any of the attractions.

the poultry palace is made to look like a giant kids' meal, and their main attraction is a box with 3 chicken drumsticks and a serving of homemade coleslaw.  lilcee and dailygluttony said they'd had it for lunch and that it was pretty darn good.  maybe next time.

a couple more pixar re-themed snack stops.

all of the boardwalk games had been rethemed as well, using pixar full-length movies as well as the popular shorts.

the bean cooled off a little at the giant pixar ball fountain.

and here's what started off as the sun wheel, then became mickey's fun wheel and is now the pixar pal-a-round.

we'd just missed a performance here:

and on our way out, we stopped to grab some fresh sourdough bread.  while the mike wazowski looked super fun, we ended up with the mickey-shaped bread instead.  it was bigger and cheaper.

i can't wait till we can go back and actually get to ride the newly reopened "incredicoaster" and really enjoy the new offerings on the pier.  i'm pretty sure it'll be awhile before that happens, but that's okay.  we can wait.