Disney California Adventure Park at Disneyland Resort is unique among Disney parks. It may share an attraction here and there with other parks, but so much of what makes it special you can only find at this little gem. So what makes it so unique? Put another way, what should you do if you only have a short time at Disney California Adventure Park? Keep reading, and we will share some quintessential Disney California Adventure Park experiences.
What is Disney California Adventure Park?
But first… a little history. For the first four and a half decades of its existence, Disneyland Resort had only one theme park: Disneyland Park. Then in 2001, Disneyland Resort opened a “second gate” called Disney California Adventure Park. This new park was dedicated to all things California and featured different lands dedicated to the varied regions of the Golden State (plus a lot of puns). Unfortunately, Disney California Adventure Park was not as popular with guests as Disney had hoped. So, Disney invested in an ambitious overhaul between 2007 and 2012.
This new Disney California Adventure Park adheres a bit less strictly to the California theme. But for this California native, a visit there still fills me with pride over my beautiful home state. If you visit today, you will find the foundation of the original park mixed with the redo and topped off with some newer additions that have a pretty tenuous connection to California. The newest land is Avengers Campus.
5 Quintessential Disney California Adventure Park Experiences
So what are our must-do experiences at Disney California Adventure Park? Readers, start your engines!
Cars Land
To place Radiator Springs in Disney California Adventure Park may be stretching the California theme a bit (though the Mother Road does stretch “from to Chicago to LA”). Still we are not going to quibble about thematic adherence when the land is this good.
Entering Cars Land is truly like being transported to a fantasy land with every detail somehow both surprising and on-theme. Cars Land is not only quintessential Disney California Theme Park, but we think it is Disney Imagineering at its finest. Frankly, we were not particularly big fans of the Cars franchise before visiting Cars Land, but we are now. The experience of visiting Cars Land is so wonderful that we watch the movies just to get a taste of that magic at home.
There are three attractions in Cars Land. Radiator Springs Racers in the headliner (and arguably the best ride in the park), but we also think Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree and Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters are fun, sweet and worth your time.
Cars Land has a special ambiance once night falls. Whenever we can, we visit Cars Land both during the daylight and after dark. But if we had to recommend just one time to visit, we advise you to visit Cars Land at night while the neon signs are burning. (Bonus points if you get there at Sh-Boom Time.)
Grizzly Peak and Soarin’ (Over California)
A visit to the Grizzly Peak area of Disney California Adventure Park will give you a little peek into the original concept for the park. This land pays tribute to the natural beauty of California and is particularly reminiscent of Yosemite National Park.
We recommend this area as quintessential Disney California Adventure Park because it feels so different from other areas of Disneyland Resort. There is a kind of wondrous calm here. Well… calm if you can ignore the shrieking of guests being soaked on Grizzly River Run. Still, even that gets muted by the relaxing white noise of the white water on that same ride. We are amazed by how quickly the bustle of Buena Vista Street gives way to this verdant retreat. We encourage you to take a stroll through Grizzly Peak or rest on a bench here.
Attractions in Grizzly Peak
Aside from the aforementioned Grizzly River Run, this area boasts Redwood Creek Challenge Trail and Soarin’.
Redwood Creek Challenge trail is like a retreat within a retreat. We like that it offers a chance for little guests to engage in unstructured physical play, and we praise it in our 5 Tremendous Tips for Visiting Disneyland Resort with Young Kids. Plus, we recommend the land as a whole in 5 Best Places to Relax in Disney California Adventure Park.
We also love Soarin’ as an attraction. The ride system continues to impress us all these years later, and the soundtrack is as soothing as the surrounding land. Despite the great and ambitious idea to feature world landmarks, the newer version of the attraction is, unfortunately, not as well executed as the original California themed one. We still think it is worth a visit, no matter what film is showing, but we especially encourage you to ride Soarin’ if the “Over California” version is running during your visit.
Avengers Campus
You cannot find a super land like this at Walt Disney World (for weird legal reasons), and for that reason we think Avengers Campus is worth a visit. We actually find the setting of Avengers Campus itself a little bland, but we really appreciate that there are superheroes constantly roaming the land. You can even catch them running and flipping across the rooftops! We like to grab a snack at Pym Test Kitchen and settle in to watch the Avengers at work. These colorful and talented characters bring this otherwise sterile land to life! We like In addition to the overall experience, we think there are two must-do attractions in Avengers Campus.
Avengers Campus Must-Dos
First, we recommend riding Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! (As long as you have a moderately strong stomach and meet the height requirement that is.) This ride was retrofitted into the previous Twilight Zone Tower of Terror attraction. We were skeptical when we heard about the plans for this new ride, but now we absolutely love it. The energy, humor and soundtrack are lifted right out of the Guardians of the Galaxy films. We laugh and scream with delight for the entire ride. We are not the only people who love this ride, so we try to visit early or late, and we think this is a good use of a Multiple Experiences Pass.
Our second recommendation may not be as obvious a choice. We recommend catching “The Amazing Spider-Man!” show that takes place on the roof of WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure. We do not want to give too much away, so we will just advise you to check the entertainment guide for the schedule and try to catch your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man at one point. If you have a kid who loves Spider-Man, be sure to hang around after the show is over for a high-five from the (Spider) man himself.
The Incredicoaster
The Incredicoaster in Pixar Pier is certainly not a highly themed feat of Imagineering ala Radiator Springs Racers and Cars Land, but we think it is just plain fun. This is a roller coaster themed to the adventures of the Parr family of the Incredibles franchise. Baby Jack-Jack has slipped away from his babysitter, and you will join his parents and siblings in trying to catch him. His incredible skills make it quite a ride.
This is a reimagining of a ride original to the park called California Screamin’. The Incredibles theming was added to the original coaster. You can still see how this roller coaster and its waterside location were originally meant to pay tribute to California’s storied beachside amusement parks like Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk or Santa Monica Pier. The ride was rethemed along with the surrounding land. Fortunately for us, the thrilling drops and loop-the-loop stayed.
We think Incredicoaster is a lot of fun, and the lines can be surprisingly short! This is another quintessential Disney California Adventure Park experience that is substantially different from day to night. We recommend either time (and both if you can manage it). However, we also acknowledge that this is yet another attraction with a height requirement and some possibly intimidating speeds. If you are looking for some alternatives to this thriller, check-out 5 Amazing All-Ages Attractions at Disney California Adventure Park.
World of Color
We think the nighttime spectacular, World of Color is, well, spectacular. There have been different iterations of this after-dark show, but they all mix water jets, mist screens, pyro-technics, projections, and other light effects into a quintessential Disney California Adventure Park experience. Oh, and the whole show is set to a central narrative enhanced with new and classic Disney tunes.
The show takes place in the park’s large body of water, and the best viewing is from the tiered waterside area near Little Mermaid – Ariel’s Undersea Adventure in Paradise Gardens Park. This viewing area has sections reserved for guests who have bought a dining package but also for guests who have reserved access to a priority viewing area using the virtual queue system.
Best Way to View World of Color at Disney California Adventure Park
The good news is the that virtual queue access is free with park admission. You just have to remember to reserve it! We recommend checking out our Disneyland Virtual Queue Guide to prepare for reserving your priority viewing. Keep in mind that, if there are two showing of World of Color on the day of your visit, you will not be able to designate your preferred show. The show slots will be filled in the order that guests join the virtual queues, with guests who join earlier getting the earlier show. You can also watch World of Color outside the priority viewing area or even outside the park.
To find out when World of Color is being shown during your visit, be sure to check the entertainment guide. The show title may have some extra words indicating a seasonal pre-show or the latest version (i.e. ONE), but all of them are great, and all of them are World of Color.
Thanks for reading this post on quintessential experiences at Disney California Adventure Park.
If you found this article helpful, we recommend its companion post Top 5 Quintessential Disneyland Park Experiences. Or, for tips on how to start your day at Disney California Adventure Park, see What to Do First at Disney California Adventure Park. If you are planning at visit Disneyland Resort, we would love to walk you through the process with our free and complete Step-by-Step Disneyland Prep. Finally, please consider subscribing to our free newsletter below, and our latest posts in your inbox. Thanks again for reading!