Disney California Adventure

The Cozy Cone Motel is a quick-service dining location in the Cars Land section of Disney California Adventure based on the motel seen in Pixar’s Cars series of films. The design of the motel is based on the kitschy Wigwam Motel chain, of which two still exist along Route 66 – one in Holbrook, Arizona, and one in San Bernardino, California. “Yeah, it’s like a clever little twist: the motel’s made out of caution cones, which, of course, cars usually try to avoid… now we’re gonna stay in them” – Lightning McQueen Each of the 5 cones here sells cone-themed versions of snacks and beverages such as chili “cone” queso. Sharp-eyed Pixar fans can peek through the window to find a Buzz Lightyear hiding in the motel’s lobby, a nod to a scene from Pixar’s Toy Story 2 (1999). Official Information: Disneyland.com

Elias & Co. is a shop on Buena Vista Street in Disney California Adventure. The name Elias refers to Walt & Roy’s father as well as Walt’s middle name. A sign outside of the “Big Top Toys” facade entrance of the shop advertises “Hollymont Property Associates” which is a reference to the real estate office where Walt & Roy set up their first cartoon studio in LA. Official Information: Disneyland.com

Flo’s V8 Cafe is a quick-service dining location in the Cars Land section of Disney California Adventure, a physical representation of the one seen in the Cars films, designed to look like a Ford V-8 engine (circular air filter surrounded by spark plugs and pistons). The character of Flo and her cafe are based on a real cafe called Midpoint Cafe located halfway down the historic Route 66. Official Information: Disneyland.com

The Glendale-Hyperion Bridge is a bridge carrying the monorail track which crosses above Buena Vista Street in Disney California Adventure. The facade bridge is a replica of the real Glendale-Hyperion Bridge which connects Interstate 5 from Glendale (near Atwater Village) to the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles where one of Disney’s original animation studio stood. The bridge replicates the real one’s distant octagonal towers along with accents from lamposts as it may have looked when it was first constructed in the 1920s. Official Information: Disneyland.com

Julius Katz & Sons is a shop on Buena Vista Street in Disney California Adventure. The name references Julius, an homage to an animated cat who joined the live-action Alice in Disney’s silent Alice in Cartoonland shorts of the 1920s. Another entrance to the shop has a facade of Atwater Ink & Paint which refers to the Atwater Village district of Los Angeles. This area was frequented by Walt and his animators in the early days of the Disney Studio, when it was located just across the Glendale-Hyperion Bridge, in Silver Lake. The “address” of this fictional part of the shop is is “2719 Buena Vista Street” which itself is a reference to the address of the original site of the early animation studio. Keep an eye out for the “Atwater School of Art & Animation” sign which lists the instructors as: Clark, Davis, Johnston, Kahl, Kimball, Larson, Lounsbery, Reitherman, Thomas. These “instructors” are actually Walt’s “Nine Old Men”, a group of key animators who lead the production of classics like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Peter Pan (1953), and many more. Official Information: Disneyland.com

The Kingswell Camera Shop houses the Photopass kiosk in Disney California Adventure. The name Kingswell comes from the name of the street in Los Angeles, Kingswell Avenue, where Walt first lived when he moved to Los Angeles. This street is also where Walt and Roy set up the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, their first animation studio in Hollywood. Official Information: Disneyland.com

Pixar Pal-A-Round is an attraction at Disney California Adventure celebrating all Pixar characters. The attraction originally opened with the park on February 8, 2011, as the Sun Wheel. In 2009 it was rebranded as Mickey’s Fun Wheel and again in 2018 to its current state. The Ferris Wheel’s design was modeled after Coney Island’s Wonder Wheel attraction. Both rides are unique in that they contain stationary gondolas as well as ones that slide along rails and swing back and forth, a feature that is only present in these two wheels. Official Information: Disneyland.com

The Radiator Springs Curios shop is a gift shop in the Cars Land section of Disney California Adventure that sells a variety of Cars and Route 66 related souvenirs. It’s a faithful recreation of Lizzie’s shop from Pixar’s Cars franchise. The shop in the film draws inspiration from three real-life roadside gift shops along Route 66: Sandhills Curiosity Shop, Hackberry General Store, and Jack Rabbit Trading Post (famous for its “HERE IT IS” billboard) Inside the shop, you can find a reference to the 1989 short film, Knick Knack, one of Pixar’s first experimental computer-animated films. If you walk in the shop and look on the top shelf on the far wall, you’ll find the “Nome Sweet Nome” snow globe from the short. Official Information: Disneyland.com

Radiator Springs Racers is a high-speed thrill ride in the Cars Land section of Disney California Adventure based on Pixar’s Cars franchise. Ride Details Fans of Pixar’s Cars franchise may recognize the Cadillac Range mountains surrounding Cars Land and this ride. The mountain-range is an homage to Cadillac Ranch, a roadside art installation in Texas. The waterfall seen during the ride is called Firewire Falls. It’s modeled after the one seen in the Cars films, which is inspired by Arizona’s Havasu Falls. During the indoor scene, you see Ramone’s House of Body Art in Radiator Springs. The design of this building, as seen in the films, is based on a real building in Texas called the U-Drop Inn. The large rock formation in the middle of the loop track is a physical creation of Willy’s Butte, a location in the films based on a real-life place: Utah’s Mexican Hat Rock Formation. Official Information: Disneyland.com

Ramone’s House of Body Art is a shop in the Cars Land section of Disney California Adventure that sells car related apparel, merchandise, and custom artwork by designer Chip Foose. The design of the facade of this building, as seen in the Cars films, is based on a real building on Texas’ Route 66 called the U-Drop Inn. Official Information: Disneyland.com  

Soarin’ Around the World is a family attraction which gives the sensation of hang-gliding across 13 different world famous landmarks. The ride originally opened as Soarin’ Over California here in Disney California Adventure, an opening day attraction in 2001. Soarin’ later made its way to Epcot as a clone of the ride in 2005. On June 16, 2016, Shanghai Disneyland opened with a revamped version of this ride called Soaring Over the Horizon featuring a unique ending. The next day, both Epcot’s version and this version were updated to the new film and given the new name Soarin’ Around the World, each with their own exclusive finale scene. Another Soarin’, Soaring: Fantastic Flight opened in 2019 in Tokyo DisneySea. Queue Details This version of Soarin’ features an exhibit in the main queue titled “California Aviators Wings of Fame”, featuring photographs detailing historical landmarks in California’s history of flight. One of the photos on the right side of the queue, about halfway down, is of a 1927 Lockheed Vega 5-C standing outside of Glendale’s Grand Central Air Terminal, one of the first passenger air terminals in the country – if you weren’t aware, Disney now owns this historic building and the […]

Under the Sea ~ Journey of The Little Mermaid is a slow-moving dark ride in Disney California Adventure based on the 1989 animated feature, The Little Mermaid. The facade entrance rotunda to this attraction is a scale version of San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts. This structure was originally built as the entrance to the now-defunct attraction, Golden Dreams, but was repainted for the opening of the Little Mermaid ride. Right before the exit of the ride, be on the lookout for a tribute to the Little Mermaid’s original author, Hans Christian Andersen as well as Copenhagen’s famous Little Mermaid Statue (Den lille Havfrue). This ride has a nearly identical counterpart in the Magic Kingdom called Under the Sea ~ Journey of The Little Mermaid. Official Information: Disneyland.com