California Adventure

Park Dedication

To all who believe in the power of dreams... welcome! Disney’s California Adventure opens its golden gates to you. Here we pay tribute to the dreamers of the past... the native people, explorers, immigrants, aviators, entrepreneurs and entertainers who built the Golden State. And we salute a new generation of dreamers who are creating the wonders of tomorrow... from the silver screen to the computer screen... from the fertile farmlands to the far reaches of space. Disney’s California Adventure celebrates the richness and diversity of California... its land, its people, its spirit and, above all, the dreams that it continues to inspire. -- Dedication, 2001
To all who come to this place of dreams, welcome. Disney California Adventure celebrates the spirit of optimism and the promise of endless opportunities, ignited by the imagination of daring dreamers such as Walt Disney and those like him who forever changed—and was forever changed by—The Golden State. This unique place embraces the richness and diversity of California... Its land, its people, its stories, and, above all, the dreamers it continues to inspire. -- Rededication, 2012

Park Overview

Disney California Adventure is Disneyland’s sister park. Built on the old Disneyland parking lot, it takes only a minute to walk between the front gates of the two parks. California Adventure was built to be Disneyland’s sister park during an expansion in 2001. California Adventure was originally designed to celebrate the history of California. Over time, many of the California elements have been traded out for something similar, but not quite, pointing to California. The idea of California car culture turned into Cars Land. A celebration of the beach-side piers evolved into Pixar Pier and Paradise Gardens Park. A tribute to Hollywood and the movie industry has turned into Avengers Campus.

The original park design was built on a tight budget, and it wasn’t quite enough to get the crowds flowing. Super Star Limo – a caricatured version of a Tour of the Stars – is a well known example of the park’s struggle. Disney has since poured billions into updating the park, and California Adventure is now a high performer. Crowd favorites at the park include World of Color, Soarin’ Around the World, and Radiator Springs Racers! The transition has made the overall theme less consistent, but it’s a much stronger offering than it was 20 years ago. Disney’s approach seems to be that nothing at California Adventure is so nostalgic or important that it must be left in place. That gives it more flexibility to adjust its performance by updating or replacing rides than Disneyland has.

Though not strictly followed, a rule of thumb is that you’ll see more Pixar and Marvel at California Adventure, and more classic Disney and Lucasfilm at Disneyland. Because the park is so much younger, there aren’t quite as many attractions at California Adventure as there are at its sister park. Generally, this is due to fewer small attractions, not a lack of headliners. Generally, the park’s appeal leans more into thrills. The upcoming park additions will continue to strengthen that posture.

Wait Times

Below are graphs showing wait times for some of the key attractions at the park. We track posted wait times, and use them to predict what wait times will be each day. We make live updates to these predictions, so they will adjust to the current crowd levels in the park. The orange line with the circle markers shows the wait times that Disney has posted today. The blue line shows our prediction. The light-gold shaded region shows wait times that we would consider average – these are the range of wait times you can expect on a day that’s not too crowded or too slow.

Avengers Campus

Cars Land

Pixar Pier

Grizzly Peak

Hollywood Land

Paradise Garden Park

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