California Is Adventurous

Since I was talking about the new Little Mermaid ride in California Adventure yesterday, I figured I would touch upon some other changes that will be made to California Adventure. Some of you may know that the park is getting a major over haul. The park was never that great and it surprised me because it’s freaking Disneyland. Everything is supposed to be amazing! Well, they finally realized the error of their ways and the Imagineers are creating something completely new. I’m so very excited.

This is a list of what will take the place of the existing park. This is all scheduled to be completely by 2013. I will refer to each ride as what their ticket names once were. E ticket rides are the big roller coasters and then it goes down form there in case anyone gets confused. I was able to find some concept art as well.

Buena Vista Street

This will be an idealized vision of a 1920s Southern California street scape when Walt Disney first arrived in Los Angeles. I'm so excited to see how they do this because I grew up 5 minutes from his studio. My understanding is that the entrance to the park will completely change to mimic Buena Vista Street as well.

* Original plans for the Carthay Theater, this is the theatre where Whoopi Goldberg has her movie showing, called for the screening of a "Walt Disney Story" biographical film, but the latest plans have the Blue Sky Cellar preview center moving into the space. The Blue Sky Cellar is currently located next to the one wine restaurant. It shows all the plans of the rides and what not. If you have never walked through there, I highly recommend it. Or maybe it's just for nerds like me. Either way, the Blue Sky Cellar is now located in a really small space so moving it to the theatre could open up amazing things.

* An exclusive Carthay Circle Club on the upper floor of the Carthay Theater. Disney has quietly put out feelers to Club 33 members and those on the long waiting list for the private Disneyland club. The Interior of the Disney California Adventure Club would replicate an idealized version of an early Disney animation studio on Hyperion Avenue in Hollywood. So freaking cool!

Paradise Pier
The pier will be changed to replicate a 1920s and 30s seaside amusement park-themed land with Victorian architecture. Yes, please!

* An E-Ticket ride next to California Screamin', with an entrance in the helix of the roller coaster track leading to a new backstage attraction.

* A D- or E-Ticket attraction in the other helix where Maliboomer once stood. The area is currently being turned into a character meet-and-greet location. The tacky strip mall-themed Man Hat n' Beach souvenir shop façade likely remains unchanged in anticipation of this forthcoming attraction.

* An E-Ticket ride in place of Goofy's Sky School, itself a rethemed version of the Mulholland Madness wild mouse roller coaster. Current proposals for the location include an original thrill ride or a character-based attraction. An early concept called for a Ratatouille coaster to occupy the space. That sounds kind of cool actually.

* Disney's original plans called for the since-removed Maliboomer drop tower to become a Green Army Men parachute drop ride. The same "Toy Story" theme could replace the nearby Jumpin' Jellyfish ride, which was originally scheduled for removal in Disney's initial plan.

* Early plans called for the Fun Wheel Ferris wheel and the California Screamin' queue to get entrance facades to match the Paradise Pier area's new Victorian seaside theme.

* Imagineers have previously discussed Halloween and Christmas holiday overlays for the Toy Story Midway Mania dark ride, which is an indoor ride in case no one has ever heard that term before.

Hollywoodland

The existing Hollywood Studios Backlot becomes Hollywoodland, representing the 1930s Golden Age of Hollywood. I will more than likely never leave this land just because I can imagine the scenery will be amazing.

* Transform the space around the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride into the Golden Era of Hollywood (expanding the footprint of the area into the Timon parking lot).

* Add an enclosed lobby to the Hyperion Theater and a street façade to close off the view of the outdoor queue area. Disney announced and then rescinded plans to replace the current "Aladdin" stage show with a "Toy Story" musical. They should bring this idea back. The "Aladdin" show was kind of weird and long. I can imagine a Toy Story show would be more appealing.

* An E-Ticket attraction in the former "Who Wants to be a Millionaire – Play It" sound stage. I didn't even know "Who Want to be a Millionaire" was there...

* Several replacements have been floated for the "MuppetVision 3D" movie, including "Mickey's PhilharMagic" from the Magic Kingdom (which apparently won't fit in the Disney California Adventure theater) and a 3-D story based on the "Chronicles of Narnia" (a film franchise recently dumped by Disney). So now what?

* Removal of the modern pop-culture signage above the shops along Disney California Adventure's Hollywood Boulevard.

* The unused Hollywood & Dine food court in Stage 12 remains empty for future expansion.

Yosemite
The former Condor Flats and Golden State lands combine to form a single land themed to a 1950s-era Yosemite-like national park.

* Grizzly River Rapids receives animatronic bears, condors and other creatures once envisioned for the raft ride.

* An E-Ticket ride in place of the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. Proposals for the location include an outdoor adventure attraction or a mine-train ride.

* A circuitous train ride around Grizzly Peak as envisioned in concept art featured in the "Disney Mountains: Imagineering at its Peak" book.

* The Soarin' Over California hang-gliding tour makes way for the long-awaited Soarin' Over the World replacement. This is probably one of the coolest changes Disney will make. I love this ride, but to have it go around the world would be awesome!

* Convert the Cannery Row-themed Pacific Wharf food court to a San Francisco motif and combine the eatery area with the already-existing but unrealized San Francisco block.

Cars Land

A faithful re-creation of the isolated Route 66 town in the Pixar movie “Cars” designed to evoke the automobile culture of the 1950s and 60s. This should be very exciting.

* A drive-in theater-themed sit-down restaurant where diners eat in vintage cars while watching a movie on the big screen. The concept was part of the initial pitch for Cars Land that has since been postponed.

* A C- or D-Ticket ride on an unused corner of the new themed land is scheduled to open in 2012.

I want to go to there!!!!!! Seems to me like a lot of this park will be dedicated to Pixar movies and I'm ok with that. What do you think?