Disney California Adventure

Posted on June 20, 2012 By Joe Hardenbrook

The theme park visits continue. Monday was Disneyland. Tuesday was Disney California Adventure.

We did the same strategy we used with Disneyland: got up early, had breakfast, and then walked from our hotel on Katella Avenue to Downtown Disney, and got to the park gate right at opening. Again, it was a breeze…no line (because all the lines were inside for each ride, hah!).

Disney California Adventure is located right across from Disneyland. After several years of low attendance, it was remodeled. Just last week, Cars Land opened here.

The park is spectacular. I actually enjoyed it more than Disneyland (but I had been to Disneyland and Disney World as child and teenager).

Because the newness of Cars Land, the place was packed. Long lines for everything. But we persevered.

Our favorite rides were the Grizzly River Run (whitewater rafting), Mickey’s Fun Wheel (ferris wheel with spinning cars), Toy Story Midway Mania, Tower of Terror, Luigi’s Flying Tires, and Radiator Springs Racers (more on that in a sec).

Disney California Adventure

We also enjoyed the parades with the Pixar characters (did they happen every hour?), the Muppets show, and the Aladdin musical.

The highlight of the park is Radiator Springs Racers in Cars Land. We made a mistake here. When we got to the park in the morning, the wait time for the ride was one hour. We should have waited.

We decided to try for the evening instead. We got in line at 8:30pm. We waited three-and-a-half hours. The ride even broke down while we were waiting. To Disney’s credit, everybody in line got to ride even though it was time for the park to close!