A New Disney Adventure in California Begins...

A New Disney Adventure in California Begins... 

Many of you may recall that Disney opened a theme park next door to Disneyland back in 2o01 called Disney's California Adventure.

If you are one of those who remember this, I'd suggest a mind erase procedure that wipes these painful memories completely clear from your brain.

On Friday, June 15, 2012, Disney officially opened a brand new theme park experience next door to Disneyland, called Disney California Adventure, which is the most outstanding thematic sister park complimenting Disneyland in the world.

In Orlando, the Magic Kingdom has three sisters in Epcot Center, MGM Studios, and Disney's Animal Kingdom.  In Paris, Disneyland Paris's next door neighbor is the Walt Disney Studios.  And in Tokyo, Tokyo Disneyland's complimentary park would be Tokyo DisneySea.

Disney California Adventure thematically trumps all of them.

Having experienced this new park for myself just the other day, we'll take a look at the new offerings at this park, including the new Buena Vista Street and a review of the all-new E-Ticket attraction, Radiator Springs Racers at Cars Land.

There are varying degrees of spoilers and photos ahead, so be forewarned, but if you decide to keep reading, do enjoy!

Walt Disney's Prequel

The "Storytellers" statue tells the story of Walt Disney's arrival in Los Angeles in 1923.

What makes Disney California Adventure work so well is its thematic tie to the original Disneyland.  With so much expanse of the Disney brand throughout the world, what is sometimes lost on guests is the fact that Disneyland in Anaheim was the very first.  It was Walt's first true theme park vision come to life.  The very first Main Street ever built.  The first Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion.  Disneyland proper, therefore, is the most important theme park in the world because it started it all.  

Disney California Adventure honors this notion by becoming the first prequel theme park ever conceived.

The Pan Pacific Auditorium-themed entrance to Disney California Adventure.

When you walk through the main entrance turnstiles and enter Buena Vista Street, which is DCA's version of Disneyland's Main Street, you are instantly transported into a Los Angeles set in 1923.  The idea here is that this is the Los Angeles Walt Disney would have been inspired by when he stepped off the train and arrived as a young man filled with hopes and dreams, when Mickey Mouse was still an idea in his head.

Disneyland, therefore, now becomes the culmination of Walt's efforts.  We journey through the wondrous parts of Walt's California Adventure to get a feel for this glorious state that inspired his imagination, then experience Disneyland, which is that very same imagination come to life.

With Disney California Adventure now becoming a bonafide stand alone theme park experience, just as George Lucas would want you to watch the Star Wars prequels before watching the Original Trilogy, for tourists and vacationers coming to Anaheim, perhaps for the very first time, I would suggest spending Day 1 at California Adventure and Day 2 at Disneyland for the proper aesthetic and emotional effect.

Buena Vista Street

Buena Vista Street is simply wonderful.  Instead of 2-dimensional cardboard cutout cheap tacky uninspired structures that make you want to walk through as fast as humanly possible, now we have lavishly detailed shops, buildings, storefronts, attractions, restaurants, singing, dancing, magnificent landscaping, all packed into a space that technically is a smaller footprint than Main Street, but feels so much larger.

The original first impression of Disney's California Adventure taken back in 2001 by yours truly.

Today's first impression of Disney California Adventure in 2012.  Monumental difference.

Buena Vista Street is teeming with life, whether its the multitude of cast members dressed in 1920's period attire greeting you in character with a smile on their faces, or a real-working Red Car Trolley pulling into the station, and even the lush flower beds, trees everywhere, and fountains, everything just feels alive.

The authenticity and attention to detail in this first act of the park is what really makes this entire area work.  That Red Car Trolley is powered by today's modern technology, and yet we still see it run on attached overhead cables that run through the entire street, further enhancing its real world believability.

A much better use of this first impression space than lockers and pay phones.

First impression of DCA in 2001.

First impression of California Adventure in 2012.  Just a remarkable improvement.

This is Buena Vista Street!  Just hilariously classy, lush, and plain awesome.

I never once set foot in any of the shops when the original park opened in 2001.  Something about a cheap "Greetings from California" storefront with a tacky sun wearing sunglasses just made me feel like my intelligence was being insulted.  In Buena Vista Street, however, I was compelled to walk into each and every store.  I wanted to soak in every inch of the area.  And I was not disappointed.

Shopping in DCA in 2001.  Just cannot wait to go into the Sunglass Shack.

A storefront on Buena Vista Street in 2012.  Never once set foot inside the Sunglass Shack.  Spent about 20 minutes inside Elias & Company.

Similar to Disneyland's Main Street, the inside of the shops give you something more than just shopping for cheap souvenirs.  Inside Elias & Company, we see mannequins dressed in period attire, as if we could purchase a brand new suit from the 1920's.  

Every bit as classy themed as anything you'll find on Main Street at Disneyland.

When this is your view from inside one of the stores, you have done something right with this park.

The stores, which appear separate and thematically different on the outside, all connect together on the inside very similar to Disneyland's Main Street, so you can walk along the inside and move through the different shop spaces, each providing a bit of a different perspective, and allows for a more natural guest flow-through.

A big hit appears to be the first-ever Starbuck's location, subtly housed within the Fiddler, Fifer, & Practical Café.  It fits just right thematically, and for a corporate tie-in, it isn't jarring at all.

A classy, appropriately themed Starbucks.

The Carthay Circle Theater

California Adventure's version of Disneyland's main icon in Cinderella's Castle is the Carthay Circle, a stunning recreation of the theater that premiered Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937.

Unlike the castle itself, which really is only used as an exterior showpiece with a nice little Cinderella walk-through, the Carthay Circle is a multipurpose space for fine dining and cocktails.

Do yourself a favor and walk into the Theater, and the new vision for this theme park becomes very clear.  The elegant interior is reminiscent of the decor of Club 33, the very exclusive and private members-only club in New Orleans Square at Disneyland, only here, the experience is available to everyone.  While there is supposedly a separate Club 33-esque members-only part of the Carthay, by providing an upscale opportunity for all guests to enjoy, you really feel something unique and special.

The classy cocktail bar inside the Carthay Circle Theater.

Authentic paintings and original photos of Walt throughout the years decorate the walls, rich colors and comfortable lighting accent the ambiance, and the overall feel is nostalgic, respectful, and inviting.  

The food, while pricey as fine dining typically is, was excellent, and their original mixology drink concoctions are excellent.

All of these thematic additions and park offerings deliver a very clear message to the guests.  For the first time in the history of this park, I felt that Disney is respecting its guests, not insulting them.

2001 was an absolute insult to park goers and their intelligence.  That original incarnation, conceived by a regime of corporate heads under the guidance of Michael Eisner, have long been removed.  Their original thought was to build a park on the cheap, slap the Disney brand on top of it, and guests would flock no matter what, pay in droves no matter what, and the money would just roll in.

That park struggled ever since.  Until now.

In 2012, we have a park that is respectful of its guests, honors its responsibility to its sister park in Disneyland next door, and stands on its own as a must-see to any visitor coming to Anaheim.

Cars Land

Yours truly on the right with friends and my brother, experiencing Cars Land for the very first time.

Buena Vista Street provides a spectacular first impression.  Cars Land is what will give you a lasting impression.

It was recommended to me that I enter Cars Land for the very first time not through its main entry point just past Buena Vista Street, but rather, from its secondary side entrance behind the wharf area of the park next to Paradise Pier.  I wholeheartedly agree with this recommendation.

This side entrance, is obscured a bit from the main thoroughfare.  Cross the bridge that leads to the wharf pavilion of restaurants and beer carts, and on a side note, on your way, stop by the all-new Ghiradelli chocolate shop and soda fountain, which replaced the ridiculous Mission Tortilla Factory Tour "attraction" from 2001.  I'll take free chocolate samples over free tortilla samples any day, and their hot chocolate was off the charts, not to mention the friendly staff and neat interior decor.

Back on track, behind the pavilion is a massive rockface entrance to Cars Land.  Entering the land from this part of the park for the first time provides just an incredibly dramatic and spectacular first impression.  The photos don't do it justice.  The size, scope, and scale of the mountain range containing the new E-Ticket ride, Radiator Springs Racers, along with the brilliant thematic wonder of the other rides, shops, and attractions in this land are just absolutely astonishing.

I literally just stood there and stared in amazement at that mountain range as race cars whizzed by along the track in the foreground.  I've never seen anything like it.  Just imagine Thunder Mountain, only 4 or 5 times larger, so rich in detail, so expansive in its illusion with its forced perspectives.  This truly is an epic addition to the park.

I mean, when you look at this, can you tell if this is a theme park or an actual California desert terrain along Route 66?

Because of the lines, we didn't get to experience the smaller typical Fantasyland-esque "spinner" rides ala Dumbo.  Here, we have Luigi's Flying Tires, which is a nod to the flying saucer attraction that briefly had an appearance at Disneyland in the early 1960's, I believe.  Pretend you're sitting in a mini 2-person hovercraft on top of an air hockey table, with the ability to steer and spin your vehicle and bump into other vehicles in a bumper car kind of way and you'll get a sense of this ride.  

Louigi's Flying Tires.

Mater's Junkyard Jamboree would be the other more traditional "spinner", which appears to be a more hilarious experience than the Tires.  The kids seemed to get a real kick out of this one.

Mater's Junkyard Jamboree.  Image (c) Copyright Disney.

The shops and restaurants go all-out with their design and attention to detail.  There's just so much to look at everywhere in this land.  Maybe you catch a glimpse at a tongue-in-cheek sign painted on a wall in the distance, or you see Lightning McQueen himself cruising along the main road saying hello to everyone.  

The true power and wonder of this new land comes at night when the sun sets and the neon lights power up.  Cars Land becomes every bit as visually dazzling as Tomorrowland at Disneyland.  At night, you want to be here, soaking in the atmosphere, marveling at the richness of the colors and the glowing neon, with that breathtaking Cadillac mountain range looming more ominously and dramatically in the distance.  Just awesome.

Radiator Springs Racers Review

Ah, the Racers.   This one isn't necessarily going to be all praise on my end despite what seems to be a love-fest on my part towards this new park.

In my view, Radiator Springs Racers is the first TRUE mega E-Ticket ride built for California Adventure with the size, scale, scope, and spectacle that you'd come to expect from an experience at Disneyland.

"Now wait a second," some of you might be thinking.  "What about Soarin' over California, Grizzly River Run, the California Screamin' roller coaster, and Tower of Terror?"

I'll make this quick...

Soarin' over California.  No story.  Minimal theming.  Passive ride experience.  No need to go on this over and over again.  This wants to call itself an E-ticket, but really, it's more of a "D."

Grizzly River Run.  Good theming, no story, don't want to ride on this unless its a hot summer day.

California Screamin'.  Minimal theming, no story.  A good coaster for the teens like something you would find at Knott's Berry Farm, but not a true immersive E-Ticket coaster experience ala Space Mountain or Thunder Mountain.

Tower of Terror is probably the closest true E-Ticket addition to the park, but even here I always felt that this version was an inferior copy of the original at MGM Studios in Orlando, which in itself provides a more enhanced ride experience than the one in Anaheim, which did cut some corners as a result of that original Eisner-era regime.  It is also a duplicate, not an original, and so when a tourist who has been on the Tower in Orlando asks themselves if DCA is worth the price of admission, this ride in itself isn't a necessarily a motivator.

Radiator Springs Racers, on the other hand, for the first time at California Adventure, delivers a true one-of-a-kind ride experience that you can't find anywhere else in the world.  It is thematically rich, technologically amazing, attempts to execute a story with characters, and is an experience that the entire family can ride without alienating the extremely young or the extremely old.  Its a ride similar to Pirates of the Caribbean that everyone will want to go on every time they visit the park.  I haven't been on Soarin' in probably 5 years, but I will go on the Racers every time I come to DCA.  That says something.

That being said, the group I was with was very mixed in our opinions on the ride itself.  Most of us, by now, are aware that Universal raised the bar on the theme park experience when they introduced the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Islands of Adventure in Orlando, and with the announcement of a duplicate version soon to come to Hollywood.  In Hollywood, this summer Universal opened their new "Transformers the Ride" to much acclaim.

These are game-changing additions that offer a healthy dose of competition that incentivizes Disney to up their ante as well.  Cars Land becomes the obvious comparison to the Wizarding World, with Radiator Springs Racers being measured against the Wizarding World's epic mega-ride, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.

The entrance to Hogwart's Castle at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Islands of Adventure in Orlando.

Here's the problem, and this is what the more adult guests do need to realize before experiencing Cars Land.  Comparing Harry Potter as a franchise to Cars really is apples and oranges.  The demographics, and the cult followings, are completely different, and so the intent of the experiences in both parks are very, very different.

The Wizarding World reaches out to more of a teen-adult audience, and so as an adult, I instinctively can't help but feel much more compelled by this experience than Cars Land.  Indeed, in venturing into Ollivander's Wand Shop, I was compelled to purchase a wand of my own whereas in walking into one of the shops at Cars Land, I personally wasn't really interested in buying any memorabilia.

Similarly, I couldn't help but feel more engaged by Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey as a ride experience than Radiator Springs Racers.  Forbidden Journey is much darker and much more thrilling in its tone.  The ride whips and pounds and twists you through the castle, into scary forests where creepy things jump out at you, then whooshes you up into the sky for a thrilling Quidditch match, an encounter with a fire-breathing dragon, and more.  I was thrilled.

The Racers, in comparison, from the standpoint of an adult, felt like a much more passive experience, and while I've seen all the Potter films several times over the years, I've only seen the movie, Cars, once, and so the characters and story within the ride weren't nearly as relatable to me personally and as a result, didn't quite resonate for me.

At Epcot Center in Orlando, there is a ride called Test Track which is the original incarnation of the ride system for the Racers, which places you in an open-air convertible six-person "race car" with the ability to speed up and slow down, traverse uphill and down, which can rocket you up to speeds in excess of 60 miles per hour then stop on a dime.  

Test Track at Epcot Center.  Notice the demographic.  5 adults and one teenager.

Here, the theming is essentially a racing simulator, where you are put through a series of racing tests - experiencing heat rooms, cold rooms, traverse over different road conditions such as rocky terrain or a slippery road that tests your brakes, culminating in an exciting run along an actual race track that takes you outside, gets you up into the 50 mph range, really lets you feel that rush and that wind in your face, and then takes you back into the station.  Test Track in itself, in my view, was built for the teens.

Another reason why I think a few in our group experienced a bit of a letdown with the Racers (besides the build up of a 3-hour wait), was because we had already experienced Test Track, knew what the technology was capable of, and expected a similar level of thrill.  The Racers have the ability to take you up into that thrill level of speed, but never go for it.  Sure, the racing portion has you speed up, slow down, over and down hills, and whip around banked turns, but none of it even comes close to being of any extreme degree.  There's a hint of a rush, but before you know it, the race is over and you never quite have the feeling of, "Oh wow now THAT was crazy exciting!"

Now check out this promotional photo from Disney in comparison to Test Track.
Two parents and four young kids per car.  A different target, a more family-friendly message.

Now, all of this is written from the perspective of an adult.  But Radiator Springs Racers wasn't built for the adult.  It was constructed for the 8-year-old to be thrilled, with just enough of a hint of excitement for mom and dad to be entertained as well.  To really appreciate the Racers as an adult, therefore, you really have to channel the big kid in you and put yourself in the point of view of the wide-eyed 8-year-old.

I kept thinking about my good friends and their two young sons, Orion (age 6) and Kai (age 4).  These two, who love the movie Cars and have the action figures and toys at home, are absolutely going to love, love, love the Racers.  If the mountain range seems massive to me, imagine just how larger than life it will feel to them at their age.  It took me 30 minutes to get to the park from my place, but to them, this will be another world.  As mesmerized as I was by Space Mountain when I was 8, so too will they be completely captivated by the Racers, and as much as I point to Pirates of the Caribbean as such a source of childhood-stemming creative inspiration for me, so, too, will they remember the Racers when they are adults.

Thus, Radiator Springs Racers is no disappointment, does deliver in its intent, and from the perspective of a child, is something to behold.

The animatronics and animations contained within the interior "dark ride" portion of the experience are state-of-the-art.  You will see Lightning McQueen, Tow Mater, and the rest of the gang come to life in convincing fashion.

The world depicted within the mountain is much more "cartoony" than I would have expected, given the more grounded real-world thematic impression from the outside.  Just as an example, seeing the level of detail on the exterior of the mountain with real waterfalls crashing down, etc., I was expecting a similar interior feel like a Pirates of the Caribbean or a Thunder Mountain.  On Pirates, on the inside, practical effects sell the "realism" of the ride with actual waterfalls cascading along the river, real canons blasting whips of water up into the air.  The fake animatronics do real things, and this is important to sell the illusion better.  Its having the 2-dimensional animated penguins in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? carrying actual cocktails to real tables in the Ink and Paint Club to enhance the believability of the world.

The interior of the Racers, however, unfortunately feel less like Pirates and more like a Fantasyland dark ride, just on a more massive scale.  Water effects, for example, are fake and animated as opposed to being real.  Its a similar issue that I have with one of the other newer attractions at California Adventure in The Little Mermaid:  Ariel's Undersea Adventure.  Here we have a dark ride that is supposed to take you into an underwater world, and yet all the water effects are fabricated, not real.  From an aesthetic standpoint, and an emotional standpoint, we're much more visually drawn into tangible effects that we can actually touch.

There's just something so astonishing and mesmerizing by the construction of a waterfall inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride experience.  They had to construct that ride, underground, mind you, and coordinate the physics of the river flow through with those waterfalls.  Its so impressive.

But because everything is fabricated on the Racers, the inside experience feels a bit more hollow and empty.  I'll have to go on the ride again to see if there's something I missed, but from what I recall, even the fabricated nighttime skyline inside the Racers lacked the authenticity of the moving clouds along the ceiling inside the Pirates show building.  Maybe this is a bit nit-picky, but I've always felt that any new ride experience at a theme park that mimics an idea from a pre-existing ride should offer an enhancement to the effect.  If a 50-year old Pirates of the Caribbean can offer a believable nighttime skyline effect, surely the Racers with today's technology can deliver something even more believable.

Don't get me wrong - I don't believe these oversights were budget-related or because they cut corners.  Not in the slightest.  And the great thing about Disney, as we've seen with Pirates, is that they always enhance their attractions when they can.  As such, I really think there is a whole unexplored layer of enhancement that can improve the overall experience of this ride and take it to an even greater place.

But again, from the perspective of my buddy's kids, they themselves won't even notice.  I'm just the old school Disney purist who notices this level of detail.

Thus, in every sense of the word, from the target audience 8-year old, the Racers is every bit a success, and is joyous fun for the whole family to enjoy.  Despite some of my purist criticisms above, I really did enjoy the ride, and it is a definite game changer for California Adventure, without a doubt.

Final Park Thoughts...

Disney has pulled out all the stops with their relaunch of Disney California Adventure.  I have never seen so many cast members doing so many different things throughout a theme park at any one time.  I remember sitting on a bench in a nice park setting having some fresh pasta for dinner, listening to the pleasant music from a live band, noticing four custodians in our area alone picking up trash, watching cast members in authentic costumes pleasantly interacting with guests, asking them how they were, if there was anything they themselves could do to assist with the day or make it more pleasant, etc.

I found the entire new experience of this theme park to be thoughtful, respectful, and really, to my surprise, it was just a wonderful, wonderful day.

A new Disney Adventure in California has begun.

- Jeremy

Jeremy Howard is the Broker & President of Hpremiere Properties, (www.Hpremiere.com) a successful, progressive, modern real estate brokerage located in Southern California.  With a separate background in the Film/Television industry, Jeremy has always had a passion for screenwriting, cinema, sports, and the arts, and finds a particular enjoyment and love in the escapism of theme parks.