Disney California Adventure Travel Guide + Tips

I hope you liked Part 1 (Disneyland) of our recent California vacation! Now let’s head right across from Disneyland to Disney California Adventure! I honestly didn’t know much about this park besides that Luke was beyond excited about Radiator Springs (which is inside the park). I hope you like this Disney California Adventure Travel Guide full of tips!

The Park:

This park is all about California. It features 7 themed lands including: Buena Vista Street, Cars Land,  Grizzly Peak, Paradise Pier, Pacific Wharf, “a bug’s land” and Hollywood Land. Our favorite was Cars Land! And “A Bug’s Land” is great for the really small. I can’t even tell you how awesome Cars Land is! It’s an EXACT replica of Radiator Springs! Pretty sure Luke really thought we were in the movie!

Where to Eat:

Be sure and get a snack at The Cozy Cone and it’s fun to have lunch at Flo’s Cafe. For dinner we ate at Wine Country Trattoria (see my note below World of Color for that).

Tip: Secret Entrance

There is a direct entrance from The Grand Californian Resort to Disney California Adventure. If you are staying at any of the Disney Resorts you have access to it. But note that lines build up there too in the mornings so get there early.

Tip: Magic Hour

As mentioned in the Disneyland post – if you stay in any of the Disneyland Resorts you get access to the park ONE HOUR BEFORE THE PUBLIC. This is called “Magic Hour” and is HUGE. At Disney California Adventure they call this the “Race to Radiator Springs” and it is exactly that. Get ready and pick the little ones up because people will literally be RUNNING to get there first. You want to head straight to Radiator Springs to Radiator Springs Racers. It is BY FAR the best ride of the entire park and lines get MAJOR LONG. Ride Racers and then go ahead and knock out as many rides in Radiator Springs as you can as well as take pictures with the characters before the lines get there.

Tip: Fast Passes

Again, Fast Passes are the way to go to prevent standing in line all day. A little before 9am send ONE PERSON from your group to stand in line at the Hyperion Theater to get fast passes for the new Frozen LIVE show.  REMEMBER TO TAKE YOUR TICKETS FOR EVERYONE IN YOUR GROUP WITH YOU to pull passes. This is super popular and is a great show. Because you can hold a show fast pass AND a ride fast passes at the same time – grab the Frozen fast passes and then head right before 9am to stand in line at the Radiator Springs Racers fast pass line (yes lines for the fast pass will already be forming and please note that it’s outside A Bug’s Life). It is totally worth getting to ride twice! Try and hit up passes whenever you can throughout the day!

Tip: World of Color

I HIGHLY recommend seeing the World of Color show. The kids AND the parents love it! We purchased a dining and ticket package that included dinner and tickets to the show. Even though it’s pricey we really enjoyed it. We ate at Wine Country Trattoria which offers the package but note that you need to make reservations.

Tip: Take a break

If you are staying at a Disney resort nearby I recommend taking a break around mid-day and catching a nap if you can. The parks stay open late and the kids (and parents) have a hard time making it a full day.

Another ride we really liked was Soarin’ which felt like you were flying around the world! One of the most exciting rides we did was Tower of Terror! I am still flabbergasted about it! Luke kept asking to ride so we took him and Daddy Russ and I were super nervous. Well, he LOVED it! He was so brave!

I can’t wait to go to Disney again! Luke has been talking about it every day since we came home. I’m so grateful that we got to go and now have so many memories of our magical vacation!

Disclaimer: I received complimentary tickets from Disney during our visit. All opinions expressed here are my own.