The secret door to Cars Land
Though Cars Land, the new
attraction at Disney California Adventure (DCA), doesn’t officially open
until next Friday, June 15, we got to sneak-preview it twice: last
weekend as Disney “cast members” and yesterday with D23. Plus we got to see—and
more importantly, go shopping at!—the new Buena Vista Street, California
Adventure’s completely renovated entrance. YAY!!
A line of waiting cast
members had already formed by the time we arrived at 8:30AM last Sunday. We
quickly made friends with the woman in front of us, who had been inside the day
before. She told us what to expect and which rides to go on first. But once the
gates opened at 8:50AM—10 minutes early!—it was suddenly every man, woman and
child for his/herself.
Because DCA doesn’t open until 10AM, we were escorted to
our destination: a secret door, at the far back of the park, that led into Cars
Land. I overheard a young boy tell his father, “My heart is pounding!,” and
thought, “Mine is, too!”
Our first view of Ornament Valley
As soon as we passed
through the door, I yelled, “OH MY GOD! IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL!!” and started to
cry. Cheers erupted behind us as we entered Ornament Valley. If I didn’t know
better, I could have sworn we had been transported to Zion National
Park—except, of course, all the landforms were in the shape of car fins and
hood ornaments! Disney’s imagineers had certainly outdone themselves this time.
Welcome to Radiator Springs!
We followed the crowds
inside. Now, it’s not required that you watch the movie Cars before entering Cars
Land. But it wouldn’t hurt because, there, right before our very eyes, stood
the small town of Radiator Springs in complete three-dimensional detail:
Luigi’s Casa della Tires, Ramon’s House of Body Art, Flo’s V8 Café (yummy BBQ pork!), Sarge’s
Quonset hut, Sally’s Cozy Cone Motel (now a snack bar), and even the statue of
Radiator Springs’s founder, Stanley, a Ford model-T. I would have cried all
over again, but by now we were practically running to the first—and,
hands-down, the best—Cars Land ride, Radiator Springs Racers.
Luigi's Casa della Tires
Flo's V8 Café
Cozy Cone Motel
Stanley
If you’re going to create enormously popular rides, why not entertain guests as they’re waiting on line for more than an hour? Thus Walt Disney invented “line technology.” The Racers ride is one of the best examples of this philosophy we’ve ever seen.
Not only are there displays explaining the history of Ornament Valley, but you
get to walk through cactus gardens, a garage decorated in gas tank caps, and a
bottle house—not as glorious as, but still very reminiscent of the old Simi Valley bottle house Tim and I knew as kids. By the time you get to the
head of the line, you are thoroughly convinced Radiator Springs really exists.
The ride itself is huge
fun. Again, it’s not required that you know the movie Cars, but it does help if you’re familiar with the story before
hopping into your racer, an open-topped sports car that looks a lot like
Lightning McQueen, the film’s main character. After a short cruise through Ornament Valley, you're then thrust into a dark tunnel, barely missing
oncoming traffic and driving past other adventures, until you finally arrive at
a nighttime version of Radiator Springs. There you either get new tires, or a
new paint job, in preparation for “the big race.” And before you know it,
you’re once again outside, racing another car filled with screaming passengers!
Everyone agreed that this is one of the best Disney rides ever.
Unfortunately, Cars Land’s
other two rides—Luigi’s Flying Tires and Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree—pale in
comparison, but should be popular nonetheless. I especially liked the Jamboree,
where you’re towed behind a miniature Mater truck that tosses you back and
forth. Not as good as the Mad Tea Party,
but pretty close. On the other hand, Luigi’s Flying Tires, based on
the old Flying Saucers—one
of my favorite Disneyland rides as a kid—was a disappointment. Just like the
Flying Saucers, which floated on a cushion of air, Luigi’s tires are self-propelled
and hard to navigate. I'm crossing my fingers the kinks will be worked
out soon or the tires, just like the flying saucers, may quickly become a
distant memory.
Inside the trolley
The real-life Disney
Studios is located on Buena Vista Street in Burbank, not too far from where I
grew-up. So the idea of incorporating Buena Vista Street into DCA is very
special, at least for me. However, instead of embodying images of old Burbank,
the new entrance is designed to look like a conflation of the various
neighborhoods Walt would have encountered when he moved to L.A. in 1923. The
buildings, which combine Spanish architecture and art deco elements of the
period, beautifully evoke the overall historical feel of the “new” California
Adventure.
Carthay Circle
The centerpiece of the
fictional Buena Vista Street is a slightly smaller replica of the magnificent,
but long-since-demolished Carthay Circle theater,
where Snow White premiered in 1937. In
addition, a battery-powered reproduction of the electric red car,
that used to carry folks from one end of L.A. county to the other, now takes
visitors through DCA’s Hollywood Land and back. It’s a wonderful piece of
nostalgia that literally carries riders back in time.
It’s no secret that California Adventure has never quite lived up to Disney’s expectations. In
fact, we’ve been there many times when you could have shot a cannon and not hit
a single person. But with these two new destinations—Cars Land and Buena Vista
Street—DCA seems ready to, at last, fully compete with its older sibling,
Disneyland. We look forward to returning some rainy weekday in February when
the excitement—and the crowds—have finally died down.
