Disney’s California Adventure Holiday (Part 2)

As part of the trip to Disneyland last week, I spent most of the second day at Disney’s California Adventure (and in case you missed part 1 from Disneyland proper, check it out here).  Sadly, one of the biggest attractions of the park, the California Screamin’ roller coaster, was closed for a short three day maintenance.  The higher chance of a rehab closure is the major downside of going during midweek, but there are still a some great rides at DCA.

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We started by grabbing Fastpasses for Radiator Springs Racers, definitely the most popular ride at California Adventure, and I think the ride that had the longest stand-by lines of any ride at either park the two days I was down there.  With those in had we made our way across the park to Paradise Pier to get on Toy Story Midway Mania, the ride we expected to be the second busiest ride at the park.

Iconic shot of Paradise Pier (even with Screamin' closed).

Iconic shot of Paradise Pier (even with Screamin’ closed).

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Empty CA Screamin’ Track. It’s actually kind of weird to be in that area of the park and not hear the coaster running.

Toy Story Mania is an interactive dark ride that involves riders stopping in front of five 3-D projected carnival type games featuring various Toy Story characters.  This was my first time on the ride, and it’s definitely fun.  There are apparently lots of little secret Easter eggs and bonus shots in the games, but I was too busy trying to shoot my slingshot as fast as possible to catch any.  I think it’ll require quite a few more trips to discover all the secrets.  Or you can ruin the fun and look them all up online…

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Midway Mania!

After Midway Mania we left the boardwalk part of the Pier, back to go on the Little Mermaid Dark Ride near the entrance to the Paradise Pier Area.  I should mention that I really enjoy the theming of the Pier.  It really makes it feel like a boardwalk/beach park, and it’s fun to get the feeling, even an idealized Disney feeling, of what a coastal California boardwalk parks (like my local Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk) might have felt like in its early days.  Actually, in general I really like the pre-World War 2 California theme that most of the California Adventure areas evoke.  It speaks to both the Californian and history dork in me.

Advertising and theming all in one!

Advertising and theming all in one, genius!

Sign over the exit from the boardwalk half of Paradise Pier.

Sign over the exit from the boardwalk half of Paradise Pier.

Ariel’s Undersea Adventure is one of the newer dark rides at Disneyland Resort, and had new effects added during a two month closure earlier in 2014.  It’s, not surprisingly, a really well done dark ride, with some cool digital effects mixed in with the audio animatronics.  My favorite effect is definitely the early section where the clamshell cars “go underwater,” achieved by descending backwards while lighting effects and blasts of cool air give the sensation of the environment changing.  Overall really well done ride that shows the potential of combining modern effects with traditional Disney dark ride theming.

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Scuttle starting the Little Mermaid story at the opening of the ride. I believe he is playing a concertina.

The last ride on the Pier we were interested in was Goofy’s Sky School, the second coaster at California Adventure, a well themed Wild Mouse coaster.  Rethemed in 2011 as part of the park overhaul, it was part of an overall effort to add more Disney characters to this area of California Adventure (the Little Mermaid ride was as well).  The ride is a fun little coaster, although I think my favorite part are the themed flying lesson billboards posted along the ride.  It does feel a little generic compared to the coasters at Disneyland, but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun, and the theming does make it more interesting than most Wild Mouse rides.

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With still a good amount of time before our Radiator Springs fastpasses, we headed across the park to Hollywood Land and Tower of Terror.  On the way we walked through “A Bug’s Land.”  One thins I had noticed in the park was very little in the way of Christmas decorations, especially compared to Disneyland (note the few present decorations the Pier picture above, that was about it).  Bug’s Land, though, had some of my favorite holiday decorations, giant ornaments and giant Christmas lights.  Although the rides in the area are for small children, it is still one of my favorite areas to walk through because I love the all the giant theming that makes you feel bug scale.  I think it’s one of the most cleverly themed areas I’ve seen at any park, and noticing/identifying all of the over-sized objects is pretty fun.

Giant holiday decorations, with Tower of Terror in the background.

Tower of Terror probably ranks in my top-5 favorite themed rides, and might rival Indiana Jones for the ride I most wish I could spend an hour looking at things in line.  The theme of the abandoned old Hollywood Hotel is awesome and the artifacts/decorations in the lobby and waiting areas of the ride are full of little touches that add to the atmosphere, and really they make it feel both authentic and kind of spooky.  The ride itself is fun, with great special effects and a really disorienting series of drops and lifts.  It’s really hard in the dark to know how much or how little you’ve fallen after each drop!  It might actually be my favorite ride at California Adventure, and is definitely one of my favorites at the whole Disneyland Resort.

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Detailed decorations in the lobby of the Hollywood Tower Hotel.

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After Tower of Terror we walked past the new Frozen construction (discussed in our post here) to “Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!”  It was pretty empty, I think mostly because it’s entrance was almost completely hidden by the construction walls.  We had to ask an employee how to actually get to the entrance to find it.  The queue for the ride has lots of fun little promotional and advertising posters, as it’s themed as the Monsteropolis Transit Authority Building, along with a few other little gags.  It’s another well done dark ride, and roughly follows the story of the movie.  Because it’s themed after one of my favorite Pixar movies, I’ve always been a fan, and I think the “door” room towards the end is one of the more creative and impressive Disney dark ride sections (with a bunch of actual moving doors).

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Vending machine in the Mike & Sulley line, lots of amusing little Monster's jokes.

Vending machine in the Mike & Sulley line, lots of amusing little Monster’s jokes.

Following Monster’s, we finally headed to Cars Land as time approached for our fastpasses.  While most of California Adventure wasn’t very festive, Cars Land (and Bugs Land as mentioned before) was the big exception.  Wreaths, Santa hats, and decorations decked the halls of Cars Land completely.  Already one of the best themed lands in all of the Disneyland Resort, it was even more so this time of year.  Check pictures of some of the decorations below.  I imagine at night it was even more impressive, since the neon signs in Cars Land are already one of my favorite night features of the two parks.

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The Cars Land Entrance for the Holidays.

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I like the multiple attendants with the Cars characters to help make sure no kids are run over…

Before making our way to Radiator Springs Racers we hopped on Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree, a fun little flat ride that whips you around behind tow trucks moving along a figure 8 like track while listening to Mater sing songs and tell corny jokes.  Pretty thrilling for what it is, and no doubt great for kids.

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The baby tow trucks of Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree.

Finally, we made our way down to the end of Cars Land and the Racetrack.  The ride was one of the most expensive rides ever made (over $200 million!), and it’s theming shows it. It combines a dark ride first half through Radiator Springs with the exhilarating race in the second half.

The six person Cars the riders sit in are all unique vehicles, styled to look like different car models and painted different colors.  Like all the rides, the line area is well decorated as the “oldest part of Radiator Springs”, nestled under the mountains and cliffs that make up the ride and tower over Cars Land.

View of the rock formations from the start of the ride.

View of the rock formations from the start of the ride, it’s amazing how realistic it looks.

The dark ride half is beautifully done, with some gorgeous outdoor scenes and a bunch of surprises on the inside track as you head into town.  Towards the end of the dark ride, the cars split onto two parallel tracks.  We actually rode the ride twice, first with our fast passes.  On this trip we headed down the right path through the paint shop before lining up to race.  The racing half of the ride is a thrilling course with high banked turns and small hills, parallel to the car that went down the opposite track.  Each car has an onboard electric motor, and one of the two is randomly (so they claim) to finish first.  I have never lost a race on Radiator Spring Racers, and my streak continued this time.  Clearly it’s not random and I’m really aerodynamic or something.  For our second ride we used the single rider line.  While the stand-by  wait was listed as 75 minutes, the single rider line couldn’t have been more than 20 minutes, if even that.  It helps that the cars have rows of three, so there tend to be lots of open spots for singles; I highly recommend it to avoid the long wait, and there’s a chance you’ll get to race against your friends!   On the second race I took the left track, which goes through Luigi’s Tire Shop.  FYI, I won again, still perfect.  Overall it’s a great ride, both a beautifully themed dark and thrilling race course.

One of the race cars, definitely not as fast as mine.

One of the cars, definitely not as fast as mine.

With Radiator Springs Racers in the book, we headed back to the entrance.  We finished our day with a quick stop over at Disneyland (beauty of the park hopper ticket) to reride a few things and hit a few we’d missed the previous day.  Overall, despite the disappointment of California Screamin’ being closed, it was a great day at California Adventure.  It’s definitely a park you can do in a day, unlike Disneyland which really needs more than one, although we skipped a few smaller rides and didn’t catch any shows (and I should say that although we didn’t see it this time, the World of Color show is fantastic).  It makes a great addition to a trip to Disneyland, with some great rides and some really well themed areas. It’s not as awe-inspiring an atmosphere as Disneyland (although Cars Land comes pretty close), and the holiday theming wasn’t as prevalent, but it still has a lot to offer.  Essentially, I think if you’re planning a trip to Disneyland, which should probably be at least a couple of days anyway, it’s worth adding the park hopper and spending half a day or more at California Adventure.

Do you have a favorite ride from DCA?  Or any questions about it?  Or do you think I’m completely wrong in my opinions on the park and rides?  Let us know in the comments below, and Happy Holidays again from Coaster101!

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