Cars Land!

Definitely the most highly anticipated part of this trip was visiting the new Cars Land.  Tate, Mya, and Sadie are all very into the Cars movies and consequently the toys, and we could not wait to check out their re-creation of Radiator Springs.  As with all things Disney, it exceeded our expectations.  The details were incredible.  Everywhere you looked there were signs, quotes, or characters right out of the movies, and new added details that brought the Cars theme to life.  There are a few ways to enter Cars Land but I think we got our first view right.  We walked in this way:

 Through a huge arch which gave us a beautiful view of this canyon they created with massive rock formations and the Radiator Springs Racers ride winding through it.  It was beautiful.  This was Glenn's reaction:

He kept saying, "They must have consulted a geologist.  It's amazing how accurate it is."  The rest of us wouldn't have noticed, but I'm glad for Glenn's sake, that they accurately created their rock formations so he wouldn't be bugged by the inaccuracies the whole time. The kids' reactions were more akin to this:

It was absolute magic for our littles to see their favorite characters and the entire land from the movie brought to life.  They had characters available for visits all over the land.  We met up with Lightning first, of course.  

 Tate couldn't keep his hands off Lightning.  He was so intrigued.

 

The Cars characters were incredible.  They were real cars steered by some hidden remote control and they drove down the street calling out quotes and funny things as they passed.  A couple of times when they switched up the characters receiving visits, we'd follow them out just because it was cool to see them really driving down the street in Radiator Springs.

One morning Sadie, Tate and I paid a visit to Red the fire truck.  He was very sweet and "purred" (revved his engine) when we pet him.  And since it was Christmas time he honked deck the halls with his horn for us.  He was very cool.

The Hansen Fam with Mater in his Holiday attire.

 The rides were really well-done too.  Of course our favorite, and everyone's favorite, is Radiator Springs Racers.  It was so neat.  You drive in a race car through the canyon and then inside a building where you drive through Radiator Springs.  You go tractor tipping with Mator and drive down main street where they have all of the cars from the movies animated and moving around.  Then you get new tires at Luigi's or a paint job at Ramones and then Guido and Luigi set you off on a race against another car.  It was the perfect combo of Disney magic and a little speed at the end.  Tate was a little hesitant, but always said he enjoyed it.  Since it was such a new land and a favorite ride, you had to work to get fast passes for it.  Every day we wanted to spend in California Adventure, we had to arrive right when the park opened and send Glenn to the fast pass line for the ride, which was already easily a half an hour long, just to get fast passes to ride it at some point during the day.  One day they ran out of fast passes before we got them, but the other times, our return times were late in the afternoon.  I'd never seen a ride that busy before.  I'm glad we figured out the system though so we could ride it a few times.  It was not to be missed.

There are only two other rides in Cars Land.  This one is Luigi's flying tires:

 You ride in a huge tire on what looks like an air hockey table and you lean to steer and bump into other tires.  It was tame and the kids liked it.

 Glenn, Mya and Tate

Cody and Miss Sadie.

This is the crew in line for Mater's Junkyard Jambouree.  It was a fun one.  The little baby tractors do a square dance and they whip passengers around in their trailers.  

 I wish that I had taken more pictures of the details in the park.  Is was so cool how they made everything car-themed, even down to the flowers made of brake lights.

This is the main drag all lit up at night with it's neon signs.

 

 Seeing it all decked out for Christmas was pretty unique too.  They had garlands everywhere made of different sizes of air filters, wreaths made of crescent wrenches, christmas trees made of license plates.  They did such a good job creating this world and making it feel so much like the movie.  I wish I had a picture of the canyon lit up at night.  It looks like it's lit by a beautiful sunset all night long.  So glad we were able to see this new land.  It was perfect timing for our littles.