Carsland AP Preview Report - 6/9/12 - pic heavy

[Laura]

James/NemoRocks and I went to the preview last night and it was outstanding. He wants to write the report, so I'm just going to post pictures (mine came out better than his ).

I have purposely spent the past 2 years not reading a single thing about Cars Land or Buena Vista Street and not looking at any pictures, and I think I've successfully avoided all spoilers. I had a vague idea from seeing a few exhibits at D23 last year and a few walks through Blue Sky Cellar, but for the most part I went in without any expectations. I was so blown away. Buena Vista Street is surreal. I had no idea there would be SO MUCH added and it's all gorgeous. I guess I won't miss The Beach Boys after all. Cars Land, I just can't put it into words, so I'll simply post my pictures. We took about 700 pictures between the 2 of us. I'll try to post only about 100 here.

James can write whatever kind of talky thing he wants somewhere in this thread. Pics are coming right up.

(James is throwing a fit because he says it's CARS LAND, not Carsland and I RUINED the whole thread already with my title. Excuse me for assuming it followed suit with Disneyland, Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, and all other lands in Disney parks. )

 

[Californian Elitist]

Thank you Laura and James for the beautiful pictures!!!

 

[Laura]

It was fun going through the SECRET DOORS all night - haha.

 

[Laura]

 

[Laura]

You really can't put the grandeur of this entrance to Cars Land in a picture. I literally gasped. It was surreal. I don't even want to post this because it takes so much away from how it really is in real life.

This is the line to get into Cars Land. It stretched way back to probably at least Ariel's Grotto. Thankfully, we were near the front of it.

 

[Laura]

I am a genius. I suggested that we go directly to Luigi's Flying Tires. I knew every single person in that giant line was going to run to Radiator Springs, and I was right. We got to Luigi's and there was NO ONE there. We were the first ones to the ride, and it took a while for more people to show up and there weren't even enough people to fill half the ride. For the rest of the day, the line was out the door, so I'm glad we did it first.

Those tires really get moving if you lean just right and you hit an open path. It was more fun than I expected.

 

[Laura]

We did everything in Cars Land and had the place almost to ourselves while the rest of the mob was stuck in the Radiator Springs line.

I didn't think I'd enjoy Tow Mater's because I get really sick on spinning rides, but this actually goes in kind of a figure 8 pattern, so I had no problems on it at all.

 

[pumpkin7]

what is the aim of luigis flying tyres, if you don't mind me asking... ? looks interesting!

 

[Laura]

These lines were really long the whole evening, except during the time we were there. I got my vodka pomegranate lemonade without a wait.

 

[Laura]

Eventually, we had to jump in the 70 minute line.

The following pictures are all from the queue of Radiator Springs Racers

My kids will like these

The light looks really neat shining through the bottles

The wait ended up being 90 minutes because the ride broke down twice while we were waiting.

 

[KingdomofDreams]

You really can't put the grandeur of this entrance to Cars Land in a picture. I literally gasped. It was surreal. I don't even want to post this because it takes so much away from how it really is in real life.

Thank you so much for posting these great photos! I can't wait to see it all. I am interested in which entry point this would be? It looks breathtaking! For a first time view/entry into the land, would you recommend this entry vs. others?

 

[Laura]

what is the aim of luigis flying tyres, if you don't mind me asking... ? looks interesting!

I'm not really sure. LOL

 

[Laura]

Thank you so much for posting these great photos! I can't wait to see it all. I am interested in which entry point this would be? It looks breathtaking! For a first time view/entry into the land, would you recommend this entry vs. others?

OMG YES. I'm disappointed there will actually be other entrances. This one was the most impressive entrance to anything I've ever been through in my life. It was located in between the restrooms and Karl Strauss.

 

[Laura]

Here's some on-ride pictures. Not the best, but I didn't have the right kind of lens for the situation with me.

 

[Laura]

These are from the exit queue

And some more random pics...

 

[Laura]

Ok now comes the bad night pics. I have to say, this place was a godforsaken nightmare to photograph at night, and I'm not usually that bad at night photography. Between the harsh neon lights and the overly red rocks, it's a miracle I could get anything to come out at all. The rocks were the worst. Whatever they use to light them does not look good on camera. I tried various white balance settings and exposures to no avail. I'm looking forward to seeing how other photographers manage to do this as time goes by. So don't judge this place as looking awful at night just because my pictures look like crap. It actually looks really cool in person.

Some examples of how I found it impossible to photograph the mountain range and the neon signs at the same time

 

[Laura]

We hadn't ever been to Ghiradelli at DCA and I was sick of seeing everyone carrying around awesome ice cream sundaes all night except me. So we left Cars Land for a while and I ordered a hot fudge sundae which was way too huge for me to eat. We wandered around Buena Vista Street while I ate it, and the place was a ghost town. The poor characters were all just standing around with no one visiting them. I had to take pity on Mickey Mouse, ice cream or no ice cream.

I couldn't get any night shots of Buena Vista Street due to hand full of ice cream sundae, so James will have to add his.

We tried to go on Radiator Springs again after I finished my food, but it was broken down...again, so we went to the exclusive AP preview World of Color showing. I stood front and center and got soaked. James was a little more intelligent and stood back a ways.

We did ride the cars 2 more times, but I'll let James write up all the details and such.

 

[Magenta Panther]

Well, all those pics just took my breath away. I am currently in the preliminary stages of planning my Disneyland trip and I thought I was enthusiastic before! Buena Vista Street was my main incentive for going, but Cars Land looks freaking amazing and I can't wait to visit it (even though "Cars" is my least fave Pixar film). The gang behind Disneyland should be very proud of themselves. They exceeded all my expectations. Kudos to all!

 

[NemoRocks78]

Kay… I'll begin on Buena Vista Street.

The place is beautiful. Unbelievable how this used to be the home to tile murals, a tiny Golden Gate Bridge, bad puns, and hubcap icons! They did an incredible job.

This is Guest Relations. Good disguise!

The right side of Buena Vista Street is known as the "Elysian Arcade" and is home to the following businesses:

And a look inside…

These are gonna be very popular, I think!

For all you button-down shirt fans:

I want to get a Red Car Trolley to go around our Christmas tree this year, heh.

Trolley Treats… yum!

Clarabelle's is just off to the side of FF&P Cafe. All the seating is in there - Clarabelle's shares space with Trolley Treats and just has the walk-up counters. Guess it's not a big deal since most people are gonna want Ghirardelli instead.

 

[NemoRocks78]

Here's a look at FF&P's menu. The Frappucino ad on the right is about as Starbucks-like as it gets in the place. Also, notice the display case - lots o' yummy Starbucks bakery items! I'm glad to have that option instead of the crap from Jolly Holiday Bakery and the like.

FF&P Cafe also has some great artwork and stuff on the walls. I thought this was super neat:

An overview of the area:

Starbucks logo outside the entrance:

We saved the left side of the street - Elias & Co., Big Top Toys, and Los Feliz Five & Dime - for the evening. Elias & Co. is beautiful inside. I COULD NOT believe this was Greetings from California a year ago!

Big Top Toys entrance - under the Hyperion Bridge.

Big Top Toys sells a crocheted Oswald the Lucky Rabbit plush. These things were flying off the shelves and I picked the last one up. It's on eBay right now if you're interested.

Candy Mountain or whatever it's called is in a window at Trolley Treats.