DCA Grand Reopening Part 2- Cars Land!

So when I left off on my recap of my experience at DCA on it's Grand Reopening day, I was headed to Cars Land! (Click here to read Part 1!)  When I got to the area of Cars Land I saw that the walls were down and that there was a big sign at the start of DCA's Route 66.

It seemed like everyone visiting DCA was at Cars Land because it was so crowded!  Everything had a long line and there were people everywhere!

I think this might be my favorite area in Cars Land!

So crowded!

  

I considered the Single Rider line for Radiator Springs Racers but even it had a 50 minute wait!

I saw a line that went far down their Route 66 and thought it was part of the regular line but when I asked someone I found out it was actually the line for people using Fastpasses!
I ended up just walking around the Radiator Springs Racers ride and I was amazed at how massive it was!

It was a little after this that I heard the song "Sh-Boom" start playing so I raced back to see the buildings light up!  The street looks nice during the day but I really think it looks best at night!

I didn't spend too long at Cars Land because of the crowd but I was glad I was able to check it out!

Afterwards I went back to Buena Vista Street to take a peek inside Carthay Circle.  The lounge looked very nice and I made a mental note to come back soon for a drink!

 

I left Carthay Circle and went over to check out the Mad T Party.  I'd been to it before but it was it's first official night so I wanted to take a look!  I'll be sharing lots of photos from that in my next post!

California Adventure Grand Reopening! Part 1

I didn't get to go into California Adventure as soon as it reopened on June 15th but I was able to go after work!  I went solo and had a really nice time taking in the new surroundings and checking out all the new merchandise!
I was nervous that the park would have reached capacity by the time I got there around 6:30pm but there actually wasn't much wait at this point and I got in just fine!
To start off I must say how much I loved Buena Vista Street!  All the changes made a big difference and you do feel like you're stepping into another time and place as you walk in.  The trolley was fun to see and there were so many new things to look at I felt a little overwhelmed trying to decide where to start.

I looked over at Oswald's which I was pretty excited about and spotted a new Oswald toy! It looked like there were only two left on the shelf so despite not having looked at anything else, I rushed over to purchase it since my husband and I are big fans!

Our new Oswald at home

From Oswalds I went over to Five and Dime to look for what merchandise they had for the Grand Opening.  It was here that I found out there was a special merchandise event for Annual Passholders at the Animation Building so I headed that direction. Near the Animation Building they had several tables that seemed to have had people from different radio stations at them earlier in the day.

They had a sign outside the Animation Building so I knew I was in the right place.

As I walked into the Animation Building I was handed several sheets of paper that indicated which areas had which merchandise.  I was also given a pencil. Inside there were different sections that had various merchandise in cases.  The setup made it a little hard to see what merchandise they had to offer but it didn't keep me from buying a few items.

Inside the Animation Building

Some of the merchandise

From there I headed back to Buena Vista Street and checked out the new statue of Walt and Mickey.

I was pretty excited by Buena Vista Street and wanted to explore some more but I was curious about Cars Land so I went over.  I'll post that night's photos from Cars Land in my next post!  

At the gates of California Adventure- June 14th!

On June 15th, California Adventure had it's big reopening!  The walls came down and all that had been worked on was revealed!  I hadn't been planning on really checking it out until the crowds died down but as the big day grew closer I started to get pretty excited and decided I'd have to go!  I was so excited in fact that on June 14th, I headed over to take a peek through the gates right after I got off work.

California Adventure was closed that day to the public so I wasn't going to be able to go inside but I knew that the line for the next day would start forming early.  I went to see what it looked like and to see if I could see anything through the gate. As I walked over I saw that the line for the next day had already started forming in the small parking lot off of Harbor.  After getting through bag check, right away I saw that the banners in the Esplanade were different and were of California Adventure!  

There were signs surrounding the entrance that said it was closed and would reopen the next day.  

When I went up to the gate I was not disappointed!  The wall that you saw as you entered for the past several months was gone and I could see straitght into Buena Vista Street!

Cast Members coming to tell me to go away... Just kidding!

Cameras and lights at the end of the street

Oswald's!

I was very impressed with how it looked just from the gate and couldn't wait until the next day so that I could explore the park!  I had to work the next day but planned to head over immediately after!  My next few posts will be about my experience at California Adventure on opening day!

Mad T Party- Coming Soon!

Recently we posted video from ElecTronica's last night!  As I've mentioned before I was a big fan and was sad to see it go.  It is going to be replaced with a new night event called the Mad T Party.  They've already started setting it up and despite previously seeing some of the plans for it I was surprised by how much they're doing for it!  I must admit it definitely has me curious!

  
The "Drink Me" bar is set up and looks fun and whimsical!

Table on the ceiling

Here are some more photos I took of the area.

Pretty big stage

End of Line Club is now House of Cards

I was happy to see that there will still be an arcade!  Flynn's has been replaced with Mad Arcade.  I'm kind of hoping the games will be the same because there were some I had grown attached to but we'll see!

 

 

What do you all think of the set up so far?  I was pretty skeptical about it at first but am looking forward to seeing what this looks like when it's all completed!