I’ve always had a fascination with amusement parks.
Growing up in northeastern Ohio, Cedar Point in Sandusky was the crown jewel. I always eagerly awaited trips to that park. Still, I can remember how jealous I was the day a friend won a trip to Disneyland in an art contest, because even little kids half a continent away knew Disneyland was the dream place to visit.
Little did I know that I would someday have Disneyland as a neighbor, or that Cedar Point’s parent company, Cedar Fair LP, would buy Knott’s Berry Farm, or that I’d have the chance to watch a new theme park sprout before my eyes. And,just like that jealous 10-year-old,I could hardly wait to visit Disney’s California Adventure.
I didn’t always think the new park would hold much charm for me, now a longtime California resident typically jaded about all that people come to California to enjoy.
When the new park was announced, I thought the idea was silly. Why go to a phony California when you could see the real thing? And a phony Hollywood Boulevard? Isn’t that an oxymoron?
But after watching this thing grow and being immersed in its development, I grudgingly started to think it might work. And a recent three hour hardhat tour of the nearly complete park and neighboring Downtown Disney left me doing more than just circling the opening dates on my calendar. The little kid in me resurfaced, and I wanted to go back,now. My other half thinks I’m nuts. Maybe so, but I want to go anyway. Here’s why:
In old photos of people arriving in California by train, you can guess at the stories behind the faces frozen in time: hopes of a fresh start in life, of fame and fortune and the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The entry to California Adventure conjures up those same hopes and dreams,even if just for a day. It entices you with tiled murals of mountains and plains representing both Northern and Southern California; it invites with the Golden Gate Bridge; it beckons with a train station and town hall. It’s old-time California. The Golden State. We’re here.
The wide plazas and walkways may not seem so wide once throngs of people fill them, but even with construction crews scurrying around the unfinished park, it immediately seemed a more leisurely place to me than Disneyland. And I’ll take my time (after the thrill rides, of course),peeking into every nook and cranny, having a leisurely lunch at Avalon Cove, or watching a 25-minute film devoted to the wide array of people who make up California’s culture today.
Unescorted by Disney folks, I don’t know which way I’ll want to go first. Grizzly River Run is a “must”,a six-minute ride that’s as close as this semi-coward will ever come to running the rapids for real. And Grizzly Peak will surely become the icon for California Adventure that the Matterhorn is for Disneyland. It’s a place where you can picnic, relax, listen to the rapids. It’s almost like real parkland,and given the throngs I encountered in Yosemite last year, maybe not as crowded.
Of course, Paradise Pier, where I’ve longingly watched the empty roller coaster cars go through their test paces for months, is a pull, too. It’s an old-time amusement area similar to what I grew up with. California Screamin’,the main coaster,is a three-minute ride that catapults you from the starting gate and loops you around Mickey’s ears. I love coasters and will probably go back to this one at least a couple of times.
But then, I might need an entire morning to play in the Animation Building. Bringing a couple kids along might help me blend in better here, but I want to play with the Enchanted Books and in the interactive Sorcerer’s Workshop creating my own cartoons, doing voiceovers,and then watch “Drawn to Animation,” a video that show how Disney characters evolved told by the characters themselves, or the 22-minute film highlighting segments from past animated films. It’s 40,000 square feet of sheer magic. And I’m not even a cartoon aficionado.
To get to the animation building, you first have to enter Hollywood Boulevard. A mural based on a scene from the 1916 D.W. Griffith film “Intolerance” marks the way to the movie-set street inside,just one taste of the history snippets that await throughout the park.
At first glance, the freestanding wall that’s a backdrop of blue sky and puffy clouds for Hollywood Boulevard looks like, well, a wall. But as you walk down the center of this LA walk of fame, the storefronts seem to go on for miles and the backdrop becomes the sky. I don’t know how they do that,something about the color, I’m told,but it’s fascinating.
But maybe the place to start is with Soaring Over California, a bird’s eye view of the state. Though we couldn’t ride on it the day of my visit, we saw it in operation. The production takes IMAX to the next level, surrounding the riders with the film,and with the sights and smells of the state as they “hang glide” from Lake Tahoe and Yosemite to Malibu, over LA’s freeways, across the Anza Borrego Desert and San Diego Harbor. This is no theater in the round, however. You are in the film, and a few surprises can give you a start. (Watch out for that F/A 15!)
Soaring is about a five-minute ride, but it still can handle 1,700 “passengers” per hour. The film itself is shown at 48 frames per second, said to be the biggest frame format in existence. And like the IMAX film “Adventures in Wild California,” this adventure has the potential to spur interest among tourists in visiting other parts of the (real) state.
Okay, but I want to do other things, too: visit the growing area called Bountiful Valley Farms and the vineyard, complete with a Robert Mondavi-sponsored winery where I can sip a glass of wine and people-watch. I’ll watch the craftsmen at Pacific Wharf, just as I’ve done at Williamsburg, but closer to home. And I must see the “Steps in Time” theatrical production at the beautifully appointed 2,000-seat Hyperion Theater. This first production is a salute to,what else?,Disney music through the ages. I can picture the theater as a setting for awards shows, fundraisers and other social events in the future.
I want to explore everything, savoring the experience, even though I have crisscrossed this real state for more than 20 years. The attention to detail, like the iconoclastic LA architecture on Hollywood Boulevard, animated celebrities in the Superstar Limo dark ride, or the Monterey feel of Pacific Wharf makes it fun to look closely at every nuance.
The Disney folks expect tourists will spend one day at California Adventure and more than that at Disneyland (when, that is, it isn’t at capacity). But California Adventure offers more than just rides,it’s a mini-vacation in the midst of OC. Sure it’s “phony”,but in whirlwind times like ours, what’s easier (and cheaper) for locals,trekking up to the Bay Area and Yosemite for three or four days or spending a day or two in Anaheim? And for tourists on limited time or budgets, it’s a chance to get a glimpse of what the state offers in the same way that an IMAX movie at a national park visitor center introduces you to the real experience. Oh,and then there’s Downtown Disney, where it will take you a couple of weeks to work your way through the restaurant menus, to say nothing of the shops. So much to eat. So much to buy. So little time. I need to live closer to Anaheim for a while. Maybe they’d rent me one of those cozy recliners at ESPN Zone?
