Anybody been to Radiator Springs yet?

ZapBrannigan

If it ain’t a Boeing, I’m not going. No choice.
Taking little guy to Carsland at Disney's California adventure in late November. Wondering of any of you have been yet and, if so, if you have any tips or suggestions.

We're flying SWA right into SNA (LAX was a PITA last time we flew into there for Disneyland) and staying at Grand Californian.
 
Wish I could take my son. This is the bed I made for him....he loves those movies!! Have fun for us too.......
 

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The wife an I let our annual passes expire right before it opened, but I heard that it is a blast. Don't know how old your kiddo is, but in Cali Adventure I really liked Goofy's Sky School as a good rollercoaster for the small(er) tykes. California Screamin' is a lot of fun. (and the lines aren't very long - never have had to use a fastpass) Toy Story 4D - long line, but worth it. (1.5 hr. wait usually... try and hit it first thing) I love the big ferris wheel... the stationary cars usually have a very short wait, and a great view. My alltime favorite... Soarin' - just sitting there (outside) while the music from The Right Stuff plays... goosebumps every time. And the ride... awesome every time.

My friend Drew wrote a popular article for his food blog about the best eats at Disney.

I fastpass my way through the park everytime... Indiana Jones is a must. And, the wife and I usually stake out a spot for the fireworks about 1.5 hours early in front of the castle near a curb, on the right. (You have to watch the location of the trees so they -and other people - don't block your view.) I could probably go on for 10 pages on Disney tricks... but just go and have fun. Try and plan you days a bit - know what you want to ride and try and cluster them so you don't walk all over creation and back... you can kill most of a day going back and forth.

You have direct access to the park from the Grand Cali. hotel - that's a great advantage.
 
Oh, eat at the Blue Bayou - - and get there early and request a waterside table. Expensive, but totally worth it. Should be on everyone's bucket list. I did it for a 'special occasion' for the wife... we loved it.
 
Little guy is 6 so Indiana Jones and some of the other e-ticket rides are probably out of the question this trip. We did Disneyland a few years back when he was 4 and stayed offsite, had a great time. Really looking forward to Star Tours this time!

We have 4 days, hopefully that's enough time. (last time we only had 2 days but we skipped a lot)
 
Havent posted on here in ages but saw this topic and wanted to give you some advice. I was there in early August.

It gets very very busy very very fast. We got there around 8:45am or so. My best advice is go straight to the line for the fast pass for the cars ride. It will look long but the line for the ride will be even longer. Just get the fast pass and then decide if you want to wait in line. The fast pass line moves fairly quickly for such a busy line. The fast passes will also sell out within the hour or so. Also I forgot what time it occurred I think it was arou d 7pm or so, but it might depend on sunset but be sure to be in radiator springs to watch the lights turn on. It's from one of the scenes in the movie. It's pretty cool at night.

And most importantly have fun. It's a pretty cool area and the attention to detail is pretty cool. I also highly reccomend both you and your son and whoever else is going with you watch the movie again. I took part of my MIA-LAX flight to watch it on my iPad and I enjoyed the ride and land more because of it.
 
Definitely get the fast pass for the racers. You can skip lugi's tires. We had a great time. The girlfriend and I are pass holders so we go people watching every couple of weekends. All the new sights at CA adventure are really cool.
 
Definitely get the fast pass for the racers. You can skip lugi's tires. We had a great time. The girlfriend and I are pass holders so we go people watching every couple of weekends. All the new sights at CA adventure are really cool.

We were there in late September and the Radiator Springs Racers line was at least one hour or more 90% of the time and up to two hours at times. You might try going into Cali Adventure as soon as the park opens and get the fast passes. On a busy day they will sell out very quickly. You might also try going right before the park closes or during World of Color. We did and the line was about 40 minutes long. The ride is excellent, but we only went once due to the lines. The rest of Radiator Springs looks like it came right out of the movie. Most the other rides are more for the kids, but still ok. The only dissapointment was that it was very crowded most of the time. If you are there midweek, away from Thanksgiving weekend you probably won't have to wait as long.
 
Sounds like his age is almost perfect for most of the attractions there. If he is six he can probably do most of the e ticket stuff without being too freaked out. He's probably too short for Indiana Jones and the California Screamer. He could ride the Tower of Terror but I suspect would require some serious $5 dollar churros and ice creams afterwards to make up for scaring the crap out of him. That one comes from personal experience. But in my defense she, my daughter, was begging to go despite all of our warnings to the contrary. :D

The new Star Tours is fun. Same equipment, but new sets, and something like 54 different variations to the simulation. The lines were very reasonable and your little guy hopefully will want to go back for seconds and thirds. My 7 year old would have gone on that thing all day long.
 
Sounds great! Thanks everyone. We are staying on site, so hopefully the extra magic hours will make Radiator Springs a little more doable. I think as long as we ride it once, we will feel good about having done it and enjoy the rest of the trip.
 
That land is a blast, and its literally as if they put you in the movie. If it gets hot and you need some air conditioning go to the blue sky cellar near the entrance to the winery/restaurant for a short Cars movie that ties into cars land. You'll see things in that short film that you'll see in the line for the radiator springs racers. If you want to save time, there's a single riders line to the far left of the main entrance to the racers line, you may not get to sit together, but it saves a ton of time (most people don't know of this).

Goofys flight school... great as a child, but as an adult, your body (neck) will hurt later lol. I suggest letting your boy ride this solo.

For adults theres an awesome bar upstairs in the Carthay Circle Theatre...
 
Radiator Springs was a phenomenal ride, and the entire "land" was beautifully detailed. We managed to ride it 3 times. We lined up at 8:15 for the 9:30 early magic hours, were in the first twenty people to ride it. Then, my wife got into line for fast pass. So we rode again around 1pm. Finally we rode again right before the park closed. Terrific at night too!!

Great visit! Highly recommend David's vacation rentals to get Disney Vacation Club villas for reasonable cost.
 
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