Excitement Is Building at the Disneyland Resort!

Excitement Is Building at the Disneyland Resort!

 

Disneyland Resort is opening two new areas on Friday, June 15^th! Disney California is expanding by a fun filled 12 acres! Add to that the new entrance area, Buena Vista Street is being opened and the park rededicated and California Disney Fans are going CRAZY!!

Cars Land

Cars Land will have three new exciting rides. Radiator Springs Racers, Luigi’s Flying Tires and Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree. There are also several gift shops and restaurants such as Flo’s V8 Dinner and Sarges Surplus Hut. From the pictures I’ve seen it looks like you are walking right into Radiator Springs from Cars!

Radiator Springs Racers is a fun and exciting ride through the Cars Land movies. You will meet some of your favorite characters as you race down Route 66. This ride works on the same idea as EPCOT’s Test Track but it is a totally different ride.

Luigi’s Flying Tires is an updated version of a ride that lasted a very short time at Disneyland. Luigi has his tires out and filled with air so you can jump in and flip, slide around. Beach balls are provided for tossing around. You direct your tire by leaning in the direction you wish to go. This ride is a reworking of the Flying Saucers. Flying Saucers was a fun ride I do remember riding as a young child. Luigi’s Flying Tires is a lot like the Flying Saucers but the ride vehicles look bigger and there is more air to push them around. Hopefully they will not break down as much often as the Saucers did.

Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree is a whip type ride. Mater has gathered baby tractors and hooked up carts. Guests get into the carts and Mater calls out square dancing moves for the tractors to do. You are pulled around and whip all over the place as the “dance” goes on.

All three rides are handicapped accessible. You will need to transfer out of your wheelchair and back again for all the rides. They have special loading locations and/or vehicles to make it easier for those in wheelchairs to load.

Buena Vista Street

Buena Vista Street is the new entrance area to DCA. The entire area harkens back to 1920’s Hollywood, California. When you walk into DCA you will be taken into Hollywood at the time Walt Disney came to California and started the Disney Brother’s Studio. From the Art Deco style buildings to the Spanish tile roofs the area really pulls you back into time.

Central to Buena Vista Street will be the Storytellers Statue. This is a beautiful statue of a young and excited Walt Disney with Mickey Mouse standing next to him. It shows Walt’s enthusiasm for the future when he reached Hollywood.

There is the new Carthay Circle Theater Restaurant. In the same building as the Carthay Circle Restaurant there is Club 1901 sister club to Disneyland’s Club 33.

Around the area you will find period characters such as Molly the Messenger. They will be glad to stop and take a picture with you or just chat for a moment. All the shops and restaurants have been reimagined.

The Red Car Street Car will once again roll down the street. It will run down Buena Vista Street and into Hollywood Land giving you an easy way to get from the entrance area to Tower of Terror.

With the opening of these two areas I think Disney California Adventure will finally come into its own. It will no longer be “that other park” you go to when you go to as an “and also” or you are forced to go because Disneyland is closed due to crowds.

As I’ve said before I think the changes made over the last five years with the retheming of some rides and areas and the addition of the Little Mermaid along with the two new areas the entire park is more closely tied together.

The entire feel of the park is 1920-40s. This era was some of the biggest and most exciting for Disney. From the opening of the Disney Brothers Studio and the creation of Mickey Mouse in the 20’s to Snow White in the 30’s with the heady days of the 40’s and even more feature length animated movies and the Silly Symphony shorts. Yes, Cars Land is more modern with “New” cars but once again it takes you back to the old Route 66 and a look at the life of a little town there frozen in time.

The one concern I have about all of the fantastic changes being completed right now is crowds. It is possible to be too successful and do too good of a job. If the new areas are even half as exciting and popular as I think they will be the park may draw more people than it can hold. Disneyland, the Granddame of the parks may well become the “and also” park. There could be more days than not that both parks reach capacity and the gates must close effectively shutting down the entire Disneyland Resort for those not already in the parks. It would eliminate park hopping because the “other park” may well be closed by the time you wish to hop.

If I am right about the entire resort reaching capacity most if not every day during peak seasons people will stop trying to come. The annual vacation to Disneyland will become a thing of the past because you cannot make sure, even if you are at one of the Disney Hotels you will be able to enter one of the parks let alone the park of your choice.