The Disneyland Book of Secrets 2014: One Local's Unauthorized, Rapturous and Indispensable Guide to the Happiest Places on Earth (149 page)

Want to dance with
Dime
?  Stand in the front row of the crowd and see if you’re selected.  It’s all in good fun; try out your dance moves and go with it!  Your friends and family will snap some awesome photos and video of your impromptu performance.  However … Have a super-jealous wife or girlfriend?  Then hang back in the crowd!

Toward the end of the song,
Dime
selects a woman from the crowd–again, a real Guest–and teaches her a signature dance move.  Want a moment in the limelight?  Stand in the front row and see if you’re chosen.

In December 2012, during our family
’s
Disneyland
holiday visit, my brother-in-law was selected by
Dime
to dance with her.  I had, truth to tell, nudged him toward the front, hoping he’d be chosen.  He’s a friendly guy with a certain star quality, and enjoys being picked for
Disney
skits.  I had a feeling
Dime
would notice him if he was in front–and she did.  He was a great sport and had fun with it.

What I did
not
expect was that
Dime
would pull
me
out of the crowd and teach me a dance move.  I am definitely more comfortable on the sidelines than in the spotlight.  But
Dime
insisted; she’d noticed me snapping photos of my brother-in-law, and felt it was only fair
I
get some limelight too.  Call it instant karma!  So I did what you do at
Disneyland
and
DCA
–I rolled with it, and found the fun.  Hey–I talked with
Dime
.  Pretty cool.

Next they ask for children to volunteer.  Do your kids want a taste of celebrity?  A few
youngsters will be invited to join the show.  The children follow
Dime
’s lead in a dance while the band plays
Disney
’s
Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?
  The kids love it, their parents and grandparents love it, cell phone cameras are rolling–it’s a fun time and a whole lot of happy memories for your group!

When t
he show starts to wind down,
Dime
and her guitarist sing
Blue Skies
–a perennial favorite of the era–and then close with
Bye, Bye Blackbird
.  They climb into the big maroon jalopy, and as they pull away they treat Guests to a boisterous rendition of
Toot, Toot, Tootsie (Goo’ Bye!)
.  As they round
Carthay Circle
and head back down
DCA
’s
Hollywood Boulevard
, you feel like you’re living a moment of L.A. history.

For show times for all of
Buena Vista Street
’s talented characters and performers, check online, ask a Cast Member, or refer to
DCA
’s
Entertainment Times Guide
.

The
Red Car News Boys
and
Five & Dime
are absolutely not to be missed. 
Disney
has hired amazing entertainers who bring to life the heady hope and determination of 1920’s & ‘30’s Los Angeles.  It’s breezy fun, a living history lesson for youngsters and a trip down memory lane for the mature set.  My father was a pianist who grew up in the ‘30’s.  I wish he’d lived to visit
Buena Vista Street
.  He’d have loved it.

And
Walt
–who always demanded perfection in
Disney
entertainment–well, you know he’s checking in on these performances from time to time.  And he’s smiling. 
Holiday Vision:
  In 2012
Buena Vista Street
celebrated its first holiday season by presenting the
Buena Vista Street Community Bell Ringers
.  Popular with Guests, the troupe should become holiday regulars at
Buena Vista Street
for many years to come.  Naturally, as Christmas approaches, jolly old
Santa Claus
visits
Elias & Co.
to hear children’s holiday wishes and share Christmas
magic
. 

Cars Land

Cars Land At-a-Glance

Attractions:
 
Luigi’s Flying Tires
,
Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree
,
Radiator Springs Racers
(FP) (S)

Gear:
 
Lube-O-Rama
,
Radiator Springs Curios
,
Ramone’s House of Body Art
,
Sarge’s Surplus Hut

Grub:
 
Cozy Cone Motel
(B, L, D, S),
Filmore’s Taste-In
(S),
Flo’s V8 Café
(B, L, D, S)

Cars Land Introduction

There are bad ideas and good ideas and ideas that are pure genius.  Some brilliant ideas take time to catch on, but when
Disney
announced it would design and build
Cars Land
at
DCA
, that sounded like a winning notion right at the starting gun.

Scheduled to open in
summer 2012,
Cars Land
was promoted as a generously proportioned 12-acre district that would be home to beloved
Disney-Pixar Cars
characters, especially
Lightning McQueen
and
Mater
.  Located south of
Hollywood Land
and the
“a bug’s land”
district,
Cars Land
would replace the
Timon Parking Lot
, the last remnant of the original
Disneyland Parking Lot
.

Rip up a parking lot and replace it with a three-dimensional playground based on beloved
Radiator Springs
, filled with popular
Cars
characters and
Cars
-themed attractions? 
Ka-chow
!  This new land seemed destined to be a winner.

Of course, it
seemed
destined to succeed, but so many things can go wrong with such a massive undertaking.  And in its early days
DCA
had had more than its share of missteps.  Would this prove to be another one?

Cars Land
would be 12 acres–four times the size of
Mickey’s Toontown
at
Disneyland Park
.  That’s a lot of room for things to go right, but it’s a lot of room for things to go wrong, too.  Could any new land, however carefully crafted, truly convey the charm of
Radiator Springs
and the scope of its majestic
Cadillac Range
?  And people love
Cars
–the movie and its characters.  Any false notes, any hint of exploitation or cheaping out, and
DCA
would find its critics and Guests up in arms.

As a frequent Guest at the resort during the years of
Cars Land
’s construction, the author was cautiously optimistic. 
Cars Land
was a brilliant idea–more attractions for children, a new land for Guests of all ages to spread out in, and source material rich with possibilities for the
Imagineers
to tell interesting stories.  And the
Imagineers
were given several years to design and build and test the place–certainly plenty of time.

But would they be given the necessary budget?  Proper funding was, historically, a challenge at
DCA
.  Would the
Imagineers
’ imaginations be allowed to soar, to envision something truly remarkable?  And would remarkable dreams be given a green light, or quashed in favor of cheaper and more practical notions?

As the years passed,
local Guests peeked over fences trying to glimpse the new world that was under construction, and caught better views from the dizzy heights of
Mickey’s Fun Wheel
, and the best panoramas of all from theme-park-view rooms at the
Paradise Pier Hotel
.  Slowly
Cars Land
took shape.  The
Radiator Springs
portion seemed just piles of dirt for the longest time, but as the mighty steel girders of the
Cadillac Range
were raised and painstakingly assembled against
Anaheim
’s sky, they hinted at a coming grandeur.

* * *

Cars
is a CGI film that was released in June of 2006 to generally favorable reviews by audiences and critics.  It was nominated for two Oscars and, to date, it’s grossed almost half-a-billion dollars world-wide.

Kids in particular warmed to the cast of
quirky car characters, but, like most
Disney-Pixar
films the original story was crafted for viewers of all ages, and older audience members warmed to the film’s celebration of small-town values and defunct–but fondly remembered–Route 66.

There are a lot of story and script credits on
Cars
, but it was primarily the baby of
Disney-Pixar
geniuses
John Lasseter
and the late
Joe Ranft
.  They didn’t just throw together a script about Route 66.  They gathered a team of staffers and hit the road to explore and soak up the authentic flavor of Route 66.

Their deep interest in “the Mother Road,” classic cars and
the small-town communities of the southwest is evident in every beautifully rendered frame of
Cars
.  The level of detail is exquisite, and many of the characters in the animated film are based on
very
real characters that the
Disney-Pixar
team encountered during their travels.

When it became evident that
DCA
needed a new,
Disney
-themed land that would appeal to Guests of all ages and immerse them in an enchanting landscape, basing it on
Cars
must’ve been a no-brainer.  The strangely beautiful desert landscape of the American southwest with its warm colors and sculpted elements provides a
magical
arena for Guests.  The
Cars
characters are popular and relatable, and their stories could clearly drive (pun intended) satisfying attractions.

Imagineers
designed three attractions for the new land, including headliner
Radiator Springs Racers
, an
E-ticket
thriller for the whole family. 
Radiator Springs Racers
accounts for about half the land’s footprint, six acres of painstakingly hand-carved rock courses where Guests’ vehicles race.

In addition to attractions there
are
Cars
-themed shops and restaurants, and the entire district, including the town of
Radiator Springs
, is an attraction unto itself designed to submerge Guests in the
Cars
film world.

The
Imagineers
’
Cars Land
models displayed at the September 2009
D23 Expo
revealed just how detailed and immersive
Cars Land
would be, including all the major architectural and geographic landmarks of the movie rendered in a warm color palette ranging from sand to honey, amber, and sunset.

The model also demonstrated that in addition to
Cars Land
adding
Disney
magic
and more attractions and activities to
DCA
, it would serve a functional purpose by finally creating a connective corridor flowing through
Hollywood Land
(formerly
Hollywood Pictures Backlot
),
“a bug’s land,”
and
Pacific Wharf
.

No longer w
ould Guests leaving the
Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
have to walk all the way back through the
Hollywood
district to travel to the park’s other lands.  Geographically speaking, the addition of
Cars Land
greatly improved the pedestrian flow of the park, and eliminated frustrating backtracking.