Attractions at Disney California Adventure

Continuing on from my last couple of posts, here are my thoughts on the attractions at Disney California Adventure. There are not quite so many attractions here as at Disneyland Park, so I will keep it all in one post.

Hollywood Land

Animation Academy - I found the Disney Animation building to be very confusing. Most people inside seemed to be either meeting Anna & Elsa or just enjoying the air-conditioning, so there was no flow of people to follow, and I never figured out where the Sorcerer's Workshop exhibits were. But I did learn how to draw Jack Skellington (or more accurately, I learnt that I can't draw Jack Skellington).

Monsters Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! - This was a fun dark ride but I expected something more given it is a relatively new ride. I think it is partly that a lot of dark rides are held together by the music and I don't have an emotional connection to the Monsters Inc. music. I think the Tokyo Disney Monsters Inc ride is much better because it adds an interactive component.

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror - This is not quite as good as the Disney World version because the drop sequence isn't randomised and it doesn't have the fifth dimension sequence. But I think the cast members were better overall here (especially since the same CM did both the loading and unloading). In the morning it was possible to get fast passes with a return time less than an hour away so it was easy to fill in the time with nearby attractions. The standby and fastpass lines merge before the library pre-show, though, so there is still a short wait even with fastpass. I rode it once in the standby line and the wait was not too bad - about 25 minutes including the pre-show.

a bug's land

It's Tough To be a Bug - I think the special effects here are the best of the "4D" movies but it's definitely on the scary side for kids. A plus is that it's inside and air-conditioned.

Francis' Ladybug Boogie - I didn't actually realise until I was on this ride that it's a teacup-style ride which I would normally avoid. But it wasn't actually as bad as I would have expected.

Flik's Flyers - This was not a very exciting ride but the theming was fun. I wish I had paid attention to which way the ride went moved while I was in line, as I ended up facing backwards.

Tuck and Roll's Drive 'Em Buggies - These are basically dodgem cars. A lot of kids seemed to be having trouble manoeuvring their cars and some ended up turning in tiny circles for the entire duration. This was my longest wait in a bug's land - about 10 minutes.

Heimlich's Chew Chew Train - This was quite cute but I felt like it could have lasted longer.

Cars Land

Mater's Junkyard Jamboree - No description I read prepared me for how painful this ride was going to be. My main issue was the heavy vibrations throughout the ride, which gave me a bit of a headache. I also found that because I was riding alone, I was sliding from one side of the trailer to the other every time it changed direction. I can imagine that this ride might be fun for kids but I wouldn't recommend it for adults.

Radiator Springs Racers - This ride is fairly new and it's awesome. The actual ride component is somewhat similar to Test Track at Epcot, but there is also scenery and Cars characters to rival any dark ride. Even three years after opening the waits are pretty insane, but the single rider line is manageable (plus it is a separate line rather than having to enter through the exit as for many rides).

Pacific Wharf

The Bakery Tour - This walkthrough exhibit was about how sourdough bread is made and felt a little out of place in a Disney park. There were free samples of bread but I'm not a huge fan of sourdough, especially eating it plain. I much preferred the chocolate sample given out at Ghirardelli.

Paradise Pier

California Screamin' - This is one of my favourite thrill rides. There isn't really any theming but at least it is introduced by NPH. This is the only Disneyland ride where I felt it was really necessary to wear a strap on my glasses, although I wore it on a couple of other rides too just to be safe. The first time I rode the posted wait was 5 minutes so I got in the regular line, but I actually waited 10-15 minutes so for subsequent rides I used the Single Rider line. The Single Rider entrance is up towards Pacific Wharf from the main entrance - it required using elevators to cross the ride track but wasn't as complicated as Indiana Jones.

Toy Story Midway Mania! - The actual ride here is very similar to the Disney World version - 3D shooting games - and it's quite fun. The wait is not nearly as long but the queue is not nearly as interesting (the only decent part is Mr Potato Head, who is actually easier to see from outside the queue) and entirely outside. There is also no fastpass or single rider here, so the only option is to wait in line. I won a beaver.

Mickey's Fun Wheel - I rode the swinging version. The view from the top is pretty nice, and the brief sections where the swinging component was actually sliding/swinging were fun, but otherwise it was a slow and not very interesting ride that seemed to spend most of its time loading and unloading.

Silly Symphony Swings - The actual ride component of this is just a Wave Swinger. But they play William Tell, which earns it bonus points.

Goofy's Sky School - This is basically a Wild Mouse with a small amount of theming via some signs up around the track. I'm starting to get to the age where this kind of ride is a little too jerky for me to enjoy. There is a Single Rider line but the regular line was a walk-on when I rode early in the morning.

Golden Zephyr - I hadn't originally planned to go on this, but when I got to Paradise Pier and everything was a walk-on I decided I could fit it in. Could easily have been a ride at the Royal Show but I enjoyed the feeling of the air rushing past.

The Little Mermaid - I found this dark ride much more satisfying than Monster's Inc, I think because I like the music more.

Grizzly Peak

Redwood Creek Challenge Trail - This has some things in common with Tom Sawyer Island over at Disneyland Park but I felt more out of place here as an adult. I realised later that there was supposed to be a map but I was never offered one.

Grizzly River Run - This is my favourite raft ride (better than the Popeye ride at Universal and much better than Kali River Rapids at Disney World). You get enjoyably wet without getting unpleasantly soaked (although it might have been a good idea to bring dry socks) and there are two decent size drops. The standby line was always long but the single rider line was very short (get a card at the entrance and then go up the exit).

Soarin' Over California - I think it is the scents that are my favourite part of this ride. The video here was notably clearer than in Disney World. I used fastpass once and the single rider line once here. Fastpass more reliably saves time; in my case the single rider wait was also short but I was warned that the wait could be longer than the standby line. One big advantage of the single rider line over the standby line though is that it is entirely inside the air-conditioned building.