Disney California Adventure Park Visit

Part of our two-week summer vacation this year was spent in California, specifically Los Angeles area. I was super excited since this was the boys and I very first visit to California. Our timing couldn’t have been better with the grand re-opening of Disney’s California Adventure Park, including it’s all new Cars Land!

Coming from Central Florida we had high expectations for Disney’s California parks especially since we’ve experienced the Orlando theme parks so many times over the years. I am thrilled to say Disney’s California Adventure Park did not disappoint!

Disney’s Adventure Park includes multiple lands with new experiences around each corner. We began our experience towards the front of the park at Condor Flats: a remote desert landing strip where daring men and women design, test and fly innovative aircraft with the goal of breaking the sound barrier — and beyond! We snagged our Disney Fast Passes for Soarin’, one of my all-time favorite rides from Orlando’s Epcot theme park. Soarin’ is a simulated hang-gliding flight over California where you visit tourist favorites like San Francisco, Yosemite National Park, Napa Valley and more. I highly recommend grabbing a Fast Pass for this ride as it quickly attracts many Disney guests.

We also caught Minnie’s Fly Girls musical show and had an opportunity to get up close and personal with Minnie herself!

We then made our way to Cars Land, the all new attraction at Disney California Adventure Park! The boys were most excited to see this attraction.

As you enter Cars Land you can’t help, but feel like you’re walking right onto the Disney Pixar movie set of Cars. As you cruise down Route 66 you get to experience all of what Radiator Springs has to offer from Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree, to Cozy Cone hotel, to Flo’s V8 Cafe and of course Radiator Springs wouldn’t be complete without Lightnening Mcqueen’s Racer ride!

As expected Cars Land was madness and within 45 minutes of entering the park all the Fast Passes for Radiator Springs Racer ride were sold out for the day along with a consistent three-hour wait for the popular ride. However we did manage to experience Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree and see both Mater and Lightening Mcqueen live in person at Cozy Cone hotel. That is definitely a must when visiting Cars Land! Honestly we would’ve spent hours visiting each part of Route 66, but it was just packed with people and we had way more park to see!

Next we headed to “a bugs land” where you can shrink down to the size of an insect and become an honorary bug for the day. There’s plenty of kid friendly activities including Flik’s Flyers, bumper cars and Princess Dot Puddle Park where the kids can take a break and play in the water for a while.

Doesn’t this sound like a blast?! It was time for lunch so we headed to Paradise Pier. My all time favorite Disney princess is Ariel so we decided to eat at Ariel’s Grotto Restaurant (where reservations are strongly recommended). Just because I have boys doesn’t mean we can’t experience girl things too! 🙂 This sit down restaurant includes a three course meal including a multi-tiered appetizer tray, several options to choose from for your main course and a to-die-for dessert tray! The meal runs you in upwards of $100 for a family of four, but is certainly worth it. Children two and under eat free!

You also get pictures with Ariel and all of her princess friends visit your table during your meal too. My four-year old was crushing on Belle with all the kisses she gave our little Prince.

Stay tuned to the blog to hear more about our Disney California Adventure Park visit and see where we visited next!

Disclosure: All opinions are my own. I received some park tickets for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received.