California Adventure on Day 2

Yesterday was the ninth anniversary of the opening of Disney's California Adventure. We were passholders at the time and didn't brave the first day but thought we'd try and see the park on Day 2, nine years ago today. It was a Friday and rain had fallen most of the day. Given the crowds that had shown up on Day 1 I warned the kids that we'd probably just walk around - if we could get in - but expected the lines to be way too long to try and go on any of the rides.

We got there about 5pm and there was nobody around. Got in without any delay and walked into the open avenues of California Adventure. I knew right then that park was in trouble. Day 2 and there wasn't anybody there. Even with the rain I would have expected much more.

During the next seven hours we ate dinner and walked onto every ride in the place except the roller coaster (my kids weren't fans of such things then). Soaring Over California was amazing and I still get a thrill on that ride, but the rest of the park was...well, pretty ordinary. A lot of the early rides were basically off-the-shelf theme park rides you could find anywhere, such as a Wild Mouse, a swing ride, and Ferris wheel. There wasn't a lot of Disney magic on those things.

The Golden Dreams "history" of California featuring Whoopi Goldberg was basically politically correct revisionist agitprop which we immediately renamed the "We Hate White People" movie. That has thankfully closed.

We did enjoy The Muppet Show attraction and we all got wet on the Grizzly Rapids ride, though my wife swore she'd never ride it again (and didn't). By the time the park closed at midnight we'd seen everything they had to offer.

Since then, and since the attendance started out so anemic, they've added quite a few things. The Tower of Terror, It's a Bug's Land for the kids, the Toy Story attraction, and right now they're undergoing a big renovation to add some new reasons for people to pay the same money to get in they pay for Disneyland. We'll see how that works out.