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Disney California Adventure was great fun! We enjoyed a combination of old favorites from 8 years ago and new additions. Joel was especially excited to experience Avengers Campus, and it did not disappoint. We both loved the two major rides, Guardians of the Galaxy:Mission Breakout and Web Slingers, and we were able to ride them 2 and 3 times respectively over our 4 days of park attendance. I was skeptical about the changes theming from Tower of Terror, but it was great fun, and the drop feature was mostly in small bursts. Web Slingers is Toy Story Mania in a bigger vehicle and using only your hands as “slingers.” This was easy to play and tons of fun!
The other new theming was the changed overlay from Paradise Pier to Pixar Pier. As Pixar film fans, we loved this, too. The change from California Screamin’ to the Incredicoaster was fantastic and fitting for that ride. We didn’t ride the Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind attraction, essentially a Dumbo type circular route with baskets, because the line was always 40 minutes or more. We found that even with Genie+ and an additional DAS for Joel, it was just impossible to do everything. It’s the same reason we never got around to Splash Mountain or Big Thunder Mountain on the Disneyland side. However, without Genie+, we would literally have only been able to do a handful of attractions each day. Most of our time would have been spent standing in 40-90 minute lines. Throughout our 4 park days, we consistently chose things that we couldn’t get on Orlando and repeated those, instead of hitting everything one time only. We skipped Dumbo for the same reason.
Back to DCA…Nothing much else had changed in Pixar Pier/Pacific Wharf, except character greetings. Joel saw Elastigirl, Frozone, Buzz Lightyear, Bo Peep, and Sully. Which reminds me, back over in Avengers Campus, he saw a bunch; Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, Miss Marvel, Captain Marvel (yes, two different characters), Iron-Man, Scarlet Witch, Captain America (Steve Rogers version), Captain America (Sam Wilson version), the Black Panther female warrior Okoye, and Black Widow. Those were just the actual posed photos. We saw probably 10 others but couldn’t get to them in time, or they were just doing shows. Avengers Campus is a hotbed of character opportunities. Plus, these aren’t available east of the Mississippi at Disney, so we seized every opportunity to get those photos.
We had so much trouble pinning down Mickey for a photo. We tried and tried, but never got one. It was the same story. He was coming back later or done for the day. This is obviously one area where World excels. Those wandering characters at Disneyland Resort are always a joy to see pop up, but they don’t stop, and those who do might pause for a few moments in a doorway, but then they are moving again. The princesses have their own hall on the Disneyland side, but again lines were often 80-90 minutes, and there was no Genie+ available for that. We got there one morning at opening for the greetings and got right in, but we saw only 2 princesses, instead of the 4 that the hall will hold.
Back again to DCA…we do love the atmosphere of this park. Carsland is still so thrilling. The new Luigi car ride is excellent, a great improvement over the inflated tire sort of gliding around the arena that was there 8 years ago. Radiator Springs Racers was as good as ever. Flo's V-8 Diner provided us a better than average CS lunch, with a table in the shade!
I know I’ve missed some details here. Let me know if you have questions.
The other new theming was the changed overlay from Paradise Pier to Pixar Pier. As Pixar film fans, we loved this, too. The change from California Screamin’ to the Incredicoaster was fantastic and fitting for that ride. We didn’t ride the Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind attraction, essentially a Dumbo type circular route with baskets, because the line was always 40 minutes or more. We found that even with Genie+ and an additional DAS for Joel, it was just impossible to do everything. It’s the same reason we never got around to Splash Mountain or Big Thunder Mountain on the Disneyland side. However, without Genie+, we would literally have only been able to do a handful of attractions each day. Most of our time would have been spent standing in 40-90 minute lines. Throughout our 4 park days, we consistently chose things that we couldn’t get on Orlando and repeated those, instead of hitting everything one time only. We skipped Dumbo for the same reason.
Back to DCA…Nothing much else had changed in Pixar Pier/Pacific Wharf, except character greetings. Joel saw Elastigirl, Frozone, Buzz Lightyear, Bo Peep, and Sully. Which reminds me, back over in Avengers Campus, he saw a bunch; Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, Miss Marvel, Captain Marvel (yes, two different characters), Iron-Man, Scarlet Witch, Captain America (Steve Rogers version), Captain America (Sam Wilson version), the Black Panther female warrior Okoye, and Black Widow. Those were just the actual posed photos. We saw probably 10 others but couldn’t get to them in time, or they were just doing shows. Avengers Campus is a hotbed of character opportunities. Plus, these aren’t available east of the Mississippi at Disney, so we seized every opportunity to get those photos.
We had so much trouble pinning down Mickey for a photo. We tried and tried, but never got one. It was the same story. He was coming back later or done for the day. This is obviously one area where World excels. Those wandering characters at Disneyland Resort are always a joy to see pop up, but they don’t stop, and those who do might pause for a few moments in a doorway, but then they are moving again. The princesses have their own hall on the Disneyland side, but again lines were often 80-90 minutes, and there was no Genie+ available for that. We got there one morning at opening for the greetings and got right in, but we saw only 2 princesses, instead of the 4 that the hall will hold.
Back again to DCA…we do love the atmosphere of this park. Carsland is still so thrilling. The new Luigi car ride is excellent, a great improvement over the inflated tire sort of gliding around the arena that was there 8 years ago. Radiator Springs Racers was as good as ever. Flo's V-8 Diner provided us a better than average CS lunch, with a table in the shade!
I know I’ve missed some details here. Let me know if you have questions.
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