After spending a whole Saturday at Disneyland Park, we were ready to have another fun filled day the next day at Disney California Adventure Park.  We didn’t get to start our day as early because we slept a little bit in and had some morning care to do.  We also had Round 2, Game 2 of Anaheim Ducks against Calgary Flames playoff game at 7 PM at Honda Center to get to.

Getting There

The entrance to Disney California Adventure Park is literally right beside Disneyland Park so we took the same route from our hotel to Downtown Disney to the park.  Since we already bought our multi-day park pass the previous day, we didn’t have to bother getting tickets at the booth.

Disney California Adventure Park

Disney California Adventure Park opened in 2001 and didn’t have huge attendance numbers until a major overhaul happened in 2012 with additional themed lands.  There is 7 themed lands when we went in 2015: Buena Vista Street, Hollywood Land, “a bug’s land” (closed in 2018 to make room for Avengers Campus opening sometime in 2020), Cars Land, Pacific Wharf, Paradise Pier and Grizzly Peak.

Attractions

We started with Buena Vista Street since that was where the entrance was.  This land is set in a modern-day California city with shops, restaurants and is similar to Main Street USA at Disneyland Park.  It is also a central hub that features entrances to the other lands.  We even got to see live music here complete with dancers here.

The Hub

(Buena Vista Street)

Lucky Fortune Cookery

(Pacific Wharf)

At Pacific Wharf, they had a food court style area with lots of food options so we got some Asian food at Lucky Fortune Cookery and a wicked ice cream sundae at Ghiradelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop.

Ghiradelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop

(Pacific Wharf)

“It’s Tough To Be A Bug!”

( “a bug’s land”)

After lunch, we went to “a bug’s land” to watch “It’s Tough To Be A Bug!”, which is a 3D short film based on the Pixar movie, A Bug”s Life.  The rest of this land was filled with lots of rides for younger children and was decorated with giant oversized human items.

Cars Land

We visited Cars Land next and it is literally the exact replica of the town Radiator Springs.  We actually felt like we were in the Pixar movie Cars.  The desert back drop looked amazingly real.  After buying some merchandise at the shops in Cars Land, we then headed to Paradise Pier to go on a few rides (it was renamed Pixar Pier in 2018).

Toy Story Midway Mania!

(Paradise Pier)

For Toy Story Midway Mania!, we get to wear 3D glasses while inside a spinning vehicle.  Just like Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, there was a ramp to get into this ride and an empty spot for my wheelchair.  My buddy just had to help me position inside this ride.

We then travel through virtual environments based on classic carnival midway games.  Again, there are gun blasters which are a bit hard for me to use, but I still enjoyed watching my buddy play mini games like pie throw, shooting gallery and more.

Mickey’s Fun Wheel

(Paradise Pier)

Ferris Wheels are always a great option as a ride at any amusement park because it is always a low thrill ride with a spectacular view.  Mickey’s Fun Wheel even had accessible gondolas with the option of a swinging gondola or a fixed one.  We chose a swinging gondola and it was easy to get in one with help from a staff member and a portable removable ramp.

The swinging gondola was never scary but did add a slight thrill to the ride,  As expected, we got a great chance to relax on this ride as we got to see a great view of the entire park.  As of 2018, the Ferris wheel has been renamed Pixar Pal-A-Round when the land was renamed Pixar Pier.

Grizzly Peak

The last land we checked out was Grizzly Peak, which is themed around California’s wilderness and national parks.  We had fun taking pics with the beautiful waterfalls here and my buddy got to explore with some of the wooden structures here.  This land contains elements from Disney’s Brother Bear and Pixar’s Up.

Pixar Play Parade

The last thing we had time to do before we left for the hockey game was the Pixar Play Parade.  It also started around 5:30 PM, and staff directed us to an accessible seating area with a great view.  Pixar Play Parade premiered March 2008 and concluded November 2018 and is about 18 minutes long.

This parade obviously centered around all the Pixar characters including Monsters INC, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, Toy Story and more.  Some of the floats even featured small jets that shoot water to the crowd.  It was fun, colorful and features songs from the Pixar movies.  

We probably spent about 5 hours and could easily have doubled our stay to 10 hours (like what we did a day earlier at Disneyland Park), if we didn’t have to leave for the hockey game.  It was another great visit to an amusement park and Disney continued to be very wheelchair accessible.  I would definitely come back to see the World Of Color night time show and see the new Avengers Campus sometime really soon.