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Cars Land and The Grand Re-Opening of DCA

Part 3: The Grand Re-Opening of DCA on 06-15-2012 posted!
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Re: Cars Land and The Grand Re-Opening of DCA

Postby Moose » Tue Jun 19, 2012 5:18 am

The ears look really cool. It's too bad that the World of Color will never be as epic as you experienced! It looks awesome.

I'm a Mythbusters and Tory fan, very cool how friendly he, and actually everyone you met, was.
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Re: Cars Land and The Grand Re-Opening of DCA

Postby printersdevil78 » Tue Jun 19, 2012 6:59 am

Wow, this all looks amazing! Thanks for sharing it with us.

I booked tickets last week for a Disneyland visit in November, and this is making me want it to hurry up and get here! I thought the inaugural version of DCA was OK, but what they've done just blows the original park out of the water! I told Kelly it will be like visiting a brand new Disney park for me. The picture of the monorail crossing the bridge just confirms that more--if you had shown me that photo and I didn't know it was California Adventure, I never would have guessed that was the former Golden Gate Bridge area. And Cars Land just looks insane!

I'm starting to worry now that the three days I booked won't be enough for us to fully cover both parks (Kelly and Lauryn have never been to Disneyland, so we'll need to place a large focus there, as well).
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Re: Cars Land and The Grand Re-Opening of DCA

Postby coasterfreak101 » Tue Jun 19, 2012 7:02 am

^I fully agree with you on the monrail bridge. I stared at it for a long time and just couldn't for the life of me figure out how that used to be the Golden Gate Bridge backed by a mountain mural. Amazing how they completely transformed the entire area, can't wait to see all the differences for myself in August!
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Re: Cars Land and The Grand Re-Opening of DCA

Postby STR8FXXXINEDGE » Tue Jun 19, 2012 8:20 am

^ Huh, I had no idea that's where it even was, haha. What an amazing transformation!
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Re: Cars Land and The Grand Re-Opening of DCA

Postby mcjaco » Tue Jun 19, 2012 8:57 am

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Love the Polytechnic Institute reference!
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Re: Cars Land and The Grand Re-Opening of DCA

Postby chemical_echo » Tue Jun 19, 2012 9:15 am

Loved the pictures; although I skipped most of the on ride pictures and haven't watched the POV. I'd rather it be all new to me when I do eventually visit the parks.

Anyone else wondering what myths exactly the Mythbusters would be doing at Cars Land? I haven't watched the show in awhile so I don't know if they're still doing actual myths or just cool science experiments. Either way I'll find a way to watch it online (no cable since moving out).
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Re: Cars Land and The Grand Re-Opening of DCA

Postby Mrlittle » Tue Jun 19, 2012 9:54 am

I went to DCA a few years ago and we thought it was missing something. So when I found out they were going to re-do basically the whole park, I got excited. But this is just beyond what I was thinking. It all just looks more Disney. It looks so good that I now have to start planning another trip out to Cali. They really have done a great job with this. Oh and the ear thing with World of Color looked amazing. I wish I could of been there to see that.
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Re: Cars Land and The Grand Re-Opening of DCA

Postby Simipour'sTrainer » Tue Jun 19, 2012 2:20 pm

It's times like this that make me wish I was still an annual passholder.

Cars Land and Buena Vista look absolutely amazing! I wish I would have been there for the "Glow with the Show" World of Color. Just watching the videos made me awe in amazement!

Great coverage!
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Re: Cars Land and The Grand Re-Opening of DCA

Postby packfanlv » Tue Jun 19, 2012 4:08 pm

Thanks for covering this David. Buena Vista Street and Carsland both look amazing. I am really taken aback by the amount of detail in both lands. I can't wait to visit! Those ears at World of Color also look fantastic. Like Jon said, too bad there will probably never be as many people with the ears given that they cost $25!
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Re: Cars Land and The Grand Re-Opening of DCA

Postby ILoveRides » Wed Jun 20, 2012 5:29 am

Here is part 3, the final update:
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Welcome to part 3! This part covers the grand re-opening of DCA on Friday, June 15th 2012!
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Outside the park thousands of guests had slept overnight to be among the first to experience the new DCA.
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With only about an hour more to go before the grand re-opening, you could feel the excitement in the air.
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Just before the re-opening ceremony, the guests were allowed to queue up on Buena Vista Street.
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The guests were held at this location until after the opening ceremony.
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It was finally time! The Red Car Trolley News Boys took to the stage and began performing.
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They danced...
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They flipped...
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And they all had custom papers announcing the grand re-opening!
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Let The Adventure Begin!
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After the performance, Bob Iger took to the stage.
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He gave an eloquent and touching speech, talking about Walt Disney's trip to California with little more than a suitcase and a dream, and how that dream came true beyond even Walt's wildest imagination.
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Iger then welcome a special guest, Mickey Mouse.
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Mickey asked if he could invite a few friends, and of course Mr. Iger agreed.
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From all around, cast members from all facets of the park surrounded the stage, and joined in singing "California Here I Come."
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It was neat seeing the eclectic mix of costumes and personalities all performing together.
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It was also a nice way to honor all the cast members who help make the park great.
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Mickey turned to Mr. Iger and said, "Alright Bob, that's your cue!" And with that, Iger announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the new Disney California Adventure!"
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The crowd went wild!
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The large collection of cast members all waved goodbye and ran off into the distance.
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Flamingos, trolleys, and cars dispersed as quickly as they had arrived.
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With only minutes to go until 9am, the public was allowed to line up in front of the Carthay Circle Theater.
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At 9am the Cars Land employees holding a velvet rope began walking guests into the park.
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The massive crowd made their way towards Cars Land.
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The crowd entered Cars Land and began walking down Route 66.
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They made their way towards Radiator Springs Racers.
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The 13 hour overnight wait was finally about to pay off for everyone!
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I bet all the residents of Radiator Springs are ecstatic that people are finally coming in droves to their town.
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While the crowd all funneled in to Radiator Springs Racers, we decided to check out the one place in Cars Land we hadn't stopped in at yet, Flo's V8 Cafe.
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Everyone was heading for the rides, so it was still empty.
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Just inside the door is a fancy chandelier.
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They offer more (s)miles per gallon.
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Here's a look at the breakfast menu.
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And here's a look at the standard menu.
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The view from Flo's is incredible.
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There's a giant rear view mirror hanging on the wall.
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Plenty of records hang on the walls, all with some sort of pun.
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That's punny!
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If you've already ridden the rides, this would be a nice place to come first thing in the morning to enjoy breakfast in a relatively peaceful atmosphere. The first 30 minutes of the day it was pretty empty.
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It's equally pretty inside and out.
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There's plenty of outdoor seating.
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Bob Iger and Tom Staggs were wandering through the land this morning. When it looked like they had a moment, we introduced ourselves and took a quick picture with them. I would've dressed nicer if I had known! Still, this was a total Disney geek moment for me.
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When Spears was taking a picture of me with Tom Staggs, he interrupted and said, "Wait, the pretty girl needs to get in this picture, and she needs to be in the middle!" So we had someone else take the picture with the two of us, and this is how it turned out! Tom was a really nice guy. I wish we could've talked longer!
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The Goodyear Blimp was back this morning. I think the bear wants to eat it.
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Here's a look at the Fastpass line for Racers. They extended the queue with tape on the ground.
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Speaking of Fastpasses, while I was photographing the crowd walking in, Spears made a point to grab one. We kept it as a souvenir. It's one of the first, if not the first Radiator Springs Racers Fastpass ever issued. It says 8:55am and the park didn't even open until 9am.
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Since everyone was exploring Cars Land in the morning, the rest of the park was pretty empty. Tower of Terror had no line so we took a ride.
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We used our time on the elevator to catch up on the latest news in The Buena Vista Bugle.
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After Tower of Terror, we decided to ride a Red Car Trolley.
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Here comes our trolley.
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A picture from our first ride on the trolleys.
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If you ask nicely, you may get to blow the whistle!
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The trolleys seat 20 people at a time.
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The ads advertise real places on Buena Vista Street. That was a neat little touch.
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Spears and the rest of the trolley riders waved to passersby during our entire ride.
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One of the conductors talks about the sights you're passing as you ride.
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And the other conductor drives the trolley.
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Small side story: As a special bonus for any train fans out there, we made our way out to the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, CA this weekend for their Pacific Electric Red Car day!
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This is the actual red car trolley that the Imagineers based the California Adventure version off of.
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We arrived just before the museum closed, but they were really nice and allowed us to take a spin on the cars as they put them away for the night. Here's the inside of the real red car that inspired the DCA version.
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The DCA version has ads just like this!
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The employee we talked to told us about how the Imagineers came out and rode the cars and took measurements and pictures of them to create the replicas.
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While this is the style of car that inspired the DCA version, apparently the color of red they used on the DCA version is actually from a newer red car trolley model, which is why the shade of red on the DCA cars isn't quite the same as what's pictured here.
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If you look closely, you can see that Disney actually numbered one of their red cars 717 as a tribute to the actual car that inspired their design.
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Back over to Cars Land, after just 40 minutes Radiator Springs Racers Fastpasses were sold out.
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The land was now filled to the brim with guests.
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I'm guessing this sight makes Disney management very happy.
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There was a huge turnout for the first day.
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Cars Land is really cool to experience as an adult, but I can only image how fascinating it must be for a child.
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One last shot of the traffic jam on Route 66.
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On the topic of souvenirs, over the 3 media days Spears and I looked in every shop and saw everything they had to offer. There are a lot of neat custom Cars Land items, but in our opinion this one takes the cake. Music is the unsung hero of Cars Land, and this CD has every major song from the land, including all the Mater's Junkyard Jamboree songs, as well as a Radiator Springs Racers full attraction ride through. If you're looking for an item to remember Cars Land by, this one is a great choice!
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Lets check out the line for Radiator Springs Racers.
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Yep, it's long!
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Like the Energizer Bunny it keeps going and going and going.
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At its maximum length the line stretched all the way to the entrance of Paradise Pier, and had an estimated wait time of 5-7 hours. The ride is good, but I'm not sure if I would wait that long for it!
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On our way out we decided to make one quick stop at The Blue Sky Cellar. I asked what would happen to the cellar now that all of the changes to DCA were complete. The cast members said that they plan to keep it open, using it to show off any future changes to DCA as well as changes to their other amusement parks. It was nice to hear that the cellar will continue to be updated and won't be closing now that DCA's construction is complete. Looking at the Cars Land model in the cellar brought back memories of all the times I came in there to see the latest progress on all of DCA's projects. I remember dreaming about riding Radiator Springs Racers since the first renderings and models were shown, and it's so surreal looking back at a model now that the real land is complete right next door. It has been an amazing 5 years watching DCA get transformed, and I'm so happy that for me at least the changes completely lived up to my expectations.
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Spears and I want to give a huge thank you to Disney for throwing such an incredible event and for inviting TPR to attend. It's hard to put into words how amazing these 3 days were. They really added up to more than the sum of their parts. We had many once-in-a-lifetime experiences, and will never forget the fun times we had. In our opinion, the new additions to California Adventure have truly transformed the park. Buena Vista Street inspires by telling the story of Walt Disney when he first arrived in California to pursue his dreams - with little more than a suitcase and a dream he changed the lives of billions of people. Cars Land thrills and adds to DCA one of the most immersive themed environments ever created. And all of the other changes over the last 5 years have rounded out the lineup of the park, making it feel much more complete and giving it the "soul" that it lacked when it first opened. If the past 5 years are any indication, the future of DCA is very, very bright. We can't wait to see what surprises that future holds! Thanks for checking out our report.
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Last edited by ILoveRides on Wed Jun 20, 2012 7:02 am.
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