California Adventure changes
 

Unless you've been sleeping under a rock (or just don't care that much about California's 'other' Disney park, lol), Disney has been making some major changes to Disney California Adventure. While some of these changes have already been unveiled (e.g. World of Color, Ariel's Undersea Adventure, Goofy's Sky School), there are two major additions on the way: Buena Vista Street and Cars Land. I personally am looking forward to seeing these ideas come to life - Buena Vista Street will give the park a more appropriate entrance than it had before (while paying respect to Walt and Los Angeles during the 1920's), and there are a number of new innovations we'll see with Cars Land. I think a lot of mistakes were made with the initial design of DCA and I'm optimistic that these two new areas will help. The other day I caught a glimpse of the top of the (darkened) Carthay Circle Theater, and I can visualize how it will look all lit up - I think it will look very nice. There are other Disney fan sites which follow the progress very closely (check out MiceChat.com), and I know any info we'd post here would pale in comparison. But Disney is surely going to be advertising more and more about the grand opening (which is slated for June, if I understand correctly). So I thought we could keep a thread going for those who come across any interesting summaries about the changes/opening or have any questions about these areas.

Here is one article that was posted today on Disney.com: http://disney.go.com/disneyinsider/i...ReadMore__Extl

Cool!! Maybe I will get to see some of this in October when we go out there for the cruise!! :)

I can't wait to see this! Now to figure out how to "do" the park!

And do you know if the Ghirardelli shop will be open this summer?

I am so excited for the new changes!! But not excited for the crowds it will bring. lol. I love DCA because it is always pretty empty =)

I am also VERY excited for the Earl of Sandwich to open at DTD too!!

I agree about the crowds... It's going to be a mess back in Cars Land!

Yeah I just read about the Earl of Sandwich. I loved eating there (FL) in November - it's a shame they are taking out the bookstore though. I'm glad I was able to get the book I wanted last week.

http://media.disneywebcontent.com/DT...A_DL-4c521.jpg

The official opening day is June 15th. Make sure you don't plan to go to DCA on June 14th as it will be closed to the public "To accommodate a media preview and make final preparations"

I just saw a very nice preview here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG6bnsty02s

Looks like things are coming to life just as they designed them. I look forward to seeing these new areas and attractions!

If Cars Land is going to be anything like the Toy Story Land in Hong Kong, I'm really excited. They did such a great job with that. It's been AGES since we've been to the parks in CA. Hopefully when we do go back, it'll be after the mass hysteria.

We are all scheduled to go for the opening. I think that it will be a circus since the DL hotels are all sold out.

We are very excited

Anyone else going??

Has anyone heard what the "plan" is for the 15th? When we booked our hotel, she made it sound like we would want to go through the front gate early due to the festivities.

Just got back from the Grand Opening of Cars Land, Buena Vista and DCA! It was a mad-house, but of couse, Disney handled it well.
People started standing in line at 11 pm last night and the gates were not scheduled to open until 9 this morning.
The line was LONG, but it actually went quick. They ended up opening 30 minutes early and were able to snag Fast Passes for Radiator Springs Racers for later this afternoon. I have never seen so many executives and Cast Members. They stood down the pathway and all said "Hello", "We're Glad You're Here", "Welcome", etc
We looked around, checked out the shops, and then ate at Flo's V8 Cafe. They're French Toast was amazing with Caramel sauce drizzed and banana on top.
The regular lines are really long, but everyone was having a great time and just going with the flow. I should know more later.
We took a picture with Red the Fire Engine - sometimes he squirts you. All the cars actually drive down the streets. Red drives to the rescue, Mater went down the street. Mater & Lightning talk to you while you are posing with them.
The Animation Studio was taken over with shopping. All of the Limited Release/Park Opening stuff was in there. They had quite a few neat items up for offering.
We are going back here in a little bit after we are rested and hope to ride some of the rides and grab a Soda "Cone".

How exciting! We're hoping to head there next year - so awesome you got to be there for the opening. I'm jealous. :)

Thanks for the 'insider' news, Meagan! You are so lucky to have gotten a Fastpass! I heard the line for Radiator Springs Racers approached 6 hours.... That's just crazy! The photos I've seen of both Cars Land and Buena Vista Street are fantastic.... I can't wait to see them. How did the rest of your day go?

I can't wait to go - we'll be there in about 3 weeks!

I saw video of the new Brave segment that is part of World of Color and the new color changing mouse ears they are selling. How cool are they?! I sure hope they add those to the FL parks as well, because I would definitely grab a pair.

Sorry that I never came back to finish my review. We went from park opening to closing each day for 5 days and I am just now recovering.
Cars Land Park Favs -
Radiator Springs Racers (worth it - and yes, some waited up to 7 hours)
Flo's V-8 Cafe - good food with great ambiance
All the details - it's just perfectly done
Cadillac Canyon - amazing that they created that entire thing from scratch

Park misses -
Luigi's Flying Tires - Way too long to load and unload for a mediochre ride
Cozy Cone - Again long lines for expensive snack food. Paid $88 for 3 popcorns and 5 drinks and it took 45 minutes in line. We got the souvenir Cone drinks which now I don't know what to do with and my hubby said the popcorn was not as good as their regular

Buena Vista - it does for Ca Adv what Main Street does for DL - gives it a beginning. Of special interest is the new partners statue which is purposely placed on the ground since this area represents when Walt was first trying to get "off the ground" level and set up his art studio. It has a great feel to it.
The Carthay is a really nice restaurant with memorbilia from the Snow White opening at the real Carthay Circle Theater. We missed out riding the Red Car :(

Materhorn - looks nice, but my husband said that the track felt the same even though that was one of the things that we "upgraded". The wait was pretty long during our whole trip.

Mad T Party - we never checked out. It looks like another version of the Electronica dancing night event.

I saw the new things on Monday. I was very impressed, especially with Buena Vista Street... It is 1000 times better than what it was before. Beautiful ceilings, chandeliers, rich woods, even details like tiles on the walls inside the stores. They really put a lot of effort into it and it shows. I think the Streetmosphere adds a lot of warmth that was missing before, as well. Cars Land was amazing, too, though very crowded so we will need to go back again to see more details. We rode single rider line for Radiator Springs Racers and Matterhorn... Both saved a ton of time (except when RSR broke down, which it did at least 3 times that we saw that day). Very nice ride... The animatronics is amazing, seriously. I think the outside portion is a little slower than Test Track, but the banked turns and 'hills' are fun. We will do Luigi and Mater another time. Matterhorn is rough! It must be because of the new cars. The strobe on one of the snowmen is annoying (can you say seizure?). We rode both sides in less than ten minutes thanks to single rider line... People must not know about it yet.

My husband and I went in August for our "mini-moon" so we finally got to see Cars Land.

Meagan – I agree that RSRacers was amazing! The animatronics are INSANE!!!

They've changed the loading procedure so that it takes a lot less time. We never saw a wait more than 40 minutes for it. It wasn't may favorite ride, but I think everyone should do it at least once :)

Also, the pretzel bites at the Cozy Cone are DELICIOUS!!!!!

Oh! You got me so curious! Haven't been there for such a long time...I just hope, I'll get the same feeling I had when I was there the last time :woohoo: