Disney's California Adventure Park Map

Disney's California Adventure Park

Disney's California Adventure Park (commonly referred to by its initials, DCA) is a theme park in Anaheim, California, adjacent to Disneyland Park and part of the larger Disneyland Resort. It opened on February 8, 2001. The park is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company.

This 55-acre theme park was constructed as part of a major expansion that transformed the Disneyland area and its hotels into the Disneyland Resort and consists of five areas: Sunshine Plaza, Hollywood Pictures Backlot, The Golden State, A Bug's Land and Paradise Pier. Most of them are meant to resemble various aspects of California, its culture, landmarks and history.


Concept and construction
In 1991, Disney announced the plan to build a second gate in Anaheim, WestCOT, a west coast iteration of Epcot, in place of the existing Disneyland main parking lot, but due to various reasons the project was canceled in 1995, which led to the idea of Disney's California Adventure, a park to celebrate and pay tribute to California. Disney's California Adventure was part of the plan to expand the one park property and convert it into a greater, multi-day vacation resort destination which would be able to appeal to a greater audience - similar to Walt Disney World resort.


The construction of Disney's California Adventure began in 1998, as part of the Disneyland Resort expansion project which included the new theme park, the Disney's Grand Californian Hotel, Downtown Disney, and the renovation of the Disneyland Hotel and the Paradise Pier Hotel, and was completed in 2001. Disney's California Adventure occupies the site of the former parking lot for 5,000 vehicles, and parking is now giving space for more than 10,000 vehicles.


Park layout

Sunshine Plaza

The main gate entrance is designed to evoke a sensation as if one were stepping into a California postcard. After guests pass the giant letters spelling out California, they will pass beneath a mock-up of San Francisco Bay's Golden Gate Bridge, which serves to disguise a portion of the resort's monorail track. Flanking both ends of the faux Golden Gate Bridge are two massive murals depicting the vast mountain ranges in California. A few meters into the park from the main gate is Sunshine Plaza that serves as an access hub to all of the park's other themed lands. At the end of the path, there is a fountain featuring a large metal sunburst designed to reflect solar rays into the surrounding area. Sunshine Plaza is also home to a replica of the California Zephyr, which houses the plaza's two counter service restaurants: Baker's Field Bakery and Bur-r-r Bank Ice Cream. The plaza is also home to two of the park's biggest souvenir shops, Greetings from California and Engine Ears Toys.


Paradise Pier

Paradise Pier is themed after a California boardwalk, based on popular coastal boardwalks such as the Santa Monica Pier and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Paradise Pier's attractions consist of the classic amusement park rides found in many boardwalks such as the California Screamin’, the Maliboomer, and the Orange Stinger. Toy Story Mania!, an interactive attraction inspired by classic midway games and Disney's California Adventure Park's newest attraction, featuring Pixar characters, opened on June 17, 2008.

In October of 2008, the Sun Wheel closed to be made over as "Mickey's Fun Wheel" scheduled to open in Spring of 2009 as part of a major makeover that will include a new Water Fountain show in Paradise Pier, "World of Color" scheduled to open in the Summer of 2010.


A section of Paradise Pier is themed after the Historic U.S. Route 66, a desert road area that starts with Paradise Pier's crashed fireboat the S.S. rustworthy. Notable attractions are the Jumpin' Jellyfish, Golden Zephyr, and Mulholland Madness as well as the Sunglass Shack in the shape of a giant roadside attraction dinosaur.


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Golden State
This land allows guests to experience California's natural settings. It is further divided into five sub-lands:

Condor Flats
Soarin' over CaliforniaThis sub-land is themed after the aviation industry. The featured attraction here is Soarin’ over California, a ride that simulates a hang glider tour of California. Also in this area is the Taste Pilot's Grill counter service restaurant.

Grizzly Peak Recreational Area
This sub-land is themed after California's wilderness, such as Yosemite and Redwood national parks. Attractions include Grizzly River Run, a fast-paced river rapids ride around Grizzly Peak. Nearby is the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail; an interactive playground area, which also includes a show, housed in an amphitheater featuring characters from Disney's Brother Bear, The Magic of Brother Bear. A special entrance to Disney's Grand Californian Hotel is also located in this area.


The Bay Area
This sub-land is themed after the California Bay Area. It used to feature Golden Dreams, a film about the history of California, starring Whoopi Goldberg housed in a theatre. Its last showing was on September 7th, 2008. Outside of the theatre is a mural and a replica of the Palace of Fine Arts. The Bay Area also includes an avenue of houses similar to the Victorian architecture of many townhouses found in San Francisco. The main area is scheduled to be converted to The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Adventure, with construction expected to start in 2009.


The Golden Vine Winery

This sub-land is themed after Northern California's Napa Valley and the winemaking industry. Included in this area is Wine Country Trattoria, a casual table service-dining restaurant which features wines and Italian foods. The former main attraction in this area, Seasons of the Vine, a film showcasing Napa Valley and the changes throughout the seasons, housed in a wine cellar-like theatre, closed on March 30th, 2008 to be converted into the Walt Disney Imagineering Blue Sky Cellar, which opened in October of 2008, that features the upcoming changes to the park. The exhibits will be rotated every few months until 2012, when the major park improvement project is scheduled to be finished.


Pacific Wharf
This sub-land is based on Monterey's Cannery Row area, especially as depicted in John Steinbeck's novels, and also resembles San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf. This area includes the Cocina Cucamonga Mexican Grill, Pacific Wharf Cafe, along with a Karl Strauss beer truck and Margarita stand. This sub-land also features attractions such as the Mission Tortilla Factory, which features a tour on how tortillas were once made, and showcases working corn and flour tortilla machines. Another attraction is the Boudin Bakery Tour, which is a tour of the sourdough bread making process with Rosie O'Donnell and Colin Mochrie as video tour guides.


Hollywood Pictures Backlot

Hollywood Pictures Backlot is an area styled to appear as Hollywood boulevards and movie backlots, with Hollywood, Television, and movie-themed attractions. A version of the Tower of Terror attraction from Disney's Hollywood Studios opened in the Hollywood Pictures Backlot in 2004. Recently, a new attraction, Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! based on the characters from Monsters, Inc. opened in the attraction building that housed Superstar Limo. The 2000-seat Hyperion Theatre currently plays host to Disney's Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular.
Also featured since the park's opening is Muppet Vision 3-D, a show that also originated at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

The entrance to the area with the sign Hollywood Pictures Backlot featuring two ceramic elephants sculptures atop columns. This homage is echoed at the Hollywood and Highland entertainment complex in Los Angeles, which currently houses the Academy Awards ceremonies at Kodak Theatre (which opened the same year, 2001) which also has elephant sculptures atop columns.


"A Bug's Land"

"A Bug's Land" is seen from the point of view of a bug, and the character of "Flik" from A Bug's Life. Oversized human items and foodstuffs are scattered around the land. This land features Flik's Fun Fair, It's Tough to be a Bug! and the Bountiful Valley Farm, based on the Disney-Pixar film "a bug's life". The land opened in 2003 and offers various kid-friendly rides and other attractions. Such rides including Fliks Flyers, Francis' Ladybug Boogie, Tuck & Rolls Drive em' Buggies, Heimlichs Chew Chew Train, and Dots Puddle Park.

Performance Corridor

Disney's Electrical ParadeThe Performance Corridor is the primary parade route through the park, currently from the Sunshine Plaza area to the Route 66 area near the Orange Stinger. This route is subject to change due to the scheduled changes in the parks offerings.

The Disney's Electrical Parade is offered on peak periods, this traditionally consists of the Easter/Spring Break period, summer months, and last few weeks leading up to New Years.

There is also a High School Musical performance, usually 3 trips down the Corridor per day.

The Current performances are:

Pixar Play Parade
High School Musical 3: Right Here!, Right Now!"
DCA Entrance at night
Paradise Pier
Golden Gate Bridge replica
The Tower of Terror attraction
Entrance to the Hollywood Pictures Backlot
The California Screamin' roller coaster.
Grizzly Peak
Disney Animation Building

Expansion plan
On October 17, 2007, The Walt Disney Company announced a multi-year, $1.1 billion expansion plan for Disney's California Adventure Park.

Buena Vista Street

The Sunshine Plaza will undergo major retheming and be renamed Buena Vista Street, or more commonly known as "Walt Disney Plaza". The concept is a street representing Los Angeles in the 1920s, when Walt Disney first arrived in Los Angeles.

The Golden Gate Bridge replica will be removed and the sunburst structure will be replaced with a recreation of the Carthay Circle Theater, which showcased the world premiere of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937. The building will serve as the new visual centerpiece of Disney's California Adventure's reincarnation.

The park's main gate will be extended outward to where the postcard letters presently stand. Red Car trolleys will travel through the plaza. Construction of Buena Vista Street(initially named "Walt Disney Plaza") will begin in 2009 and is planned to open by 2011.

The building that formerly held the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - Play It! attraction was to serve as a temporary entrance, now the entrance will be located next to Soarin' Over California.

Hollywoodland

Hollywood Pictures Backlot will be renamed to Hollywoodland and will represent the old Hollywood glitz and glamour that was in the 1930s. The land will house several ticketed events in the future. Disney film directors, writers and animators will occasionally be in the area to inform guests about their careers. The popular family stage show "Playhouse Disney Live on Stage" will be updated and the Red Car trolleys from Walt Disney Plaza will go though this land. The building that formerly held the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - Play It! attraction was to have served as a temporary entrance, while the real one will be renovated, but was moved next to the Soarin' Over California. Construction will begin in 2010.

Cars Land

The new Cars Land will contain three attractions and will span 12 acres. The first, Radiator Springs Racers, will be an E-Ticket attraction using the technology of Epcot's Test Track. It will be among the most expensive rides ever built at an estimated 200 million dollars and will be a detailed dark ride that ends with an outdoor side by side dueling racing finale. The ride will begin with a race briefing from Lightning McQueen and end at the Wheel Well Motel from the movie. Some elements said to be featured in the attraction are switchbacks, tunnels, bridges, waterfalls and banked turns.

The other two attractions are going to be smaller family attractions featuring Mater's Junkyard Jamboree and Luigi's Roamin' Tires, a revival of the 1960s Tomorrowland "Flying Saucers" ride. Cars Land will also feature a life size model of Radiator Springs and several dining and shopping venues.

It will take the place of the existing Timon parking lot behind the Tower of Terror and is supposed to open in 2012, after the park celebrates its 10th anniversary. Construction is set to begin in June 2009.

Paradise Pier

Paradise Pier will be re-themed as a romantic Victorian boardwalk. The changes began with the opening of Toy Story Midway Mania! on June 17, 2008.

The Sun Wheel will be renamed "Mickey's Fun Wheel" and the sun face is to be replaced with a large Mickey Mouse face. The Orange Stinger will be rethemed into "Silly Symphony Swing", base on a Walt Disney's short film, "The Band Concert" and Conductor Mickey Mouse will be on top on the tower moving a around with the music. The Mulholland Madness will be rethemed into "Goofy’s Sky School", also base on Walt Disney's short film "Goofy's Glider". The huge Mickey symbol installed on California Screamin’ will be replaced by a huge sun symbol and a "Paradise Pier" logo would be added on the very structure of the roller coaster. The bay will become home to a new nighttime spectacular called "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color." To accompany seating for this show, a new 9,000-person standing room only viewing area will be added. The Maliboomer will be removed. In its place will be a parachute-type attraction, like the now gone attraction from Knott's Berry Farm.

Also included in this re-theming will be re-imagined midway games, a new beer garden-themed eatery (to replace Pizza Oom Mow Mow and Burger Invasion). Golden Dreams has been closed and will be replaced with an attraction based on The Little Mermaid, the attraction will be call "The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Adventure. Mickey's Fun Wheel & board walk is set to be completed Spring 2009 & the rest of Paradise Pier to be completed around 2011, around Disney's California Adventure Park's 10th anniversary.

Golden State
The Golden State will see the addition of several new restaurants based on California's farmland and heritage. California-themed Food and Wine Festivals will take place in this area of the park. The Seasons of the Vine attraction has been replaced (closed in March of 2008) by a "Disney's Blue Sky Cellar", opened in late October 2008, it showcases future additions to the park.

Connection of Tower of Terror and "a bug's land"
Included in the Cars Land expansion will be the much-needed connection of "a bug's land" and the Tower of Terror. This will also affect the parade route.

Disney's California Adventure Park Map

Disneyland Park Map: From Time to Time

Disneyland Park (Anaheim), California

Disneyland is an American theme park in Anaheim, California, owned and operated by the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts division of The Walt Disney Company. It was dedicated with a press preview on July 17, 1955, in ceremonies led by Walt Disney and opened to the general public the following day. Disneyland holds the distinction of being the only theme park to be designed, built, opened, and operated by Walt Disney.

Currently the park has been visited by more than 515 million guests since it opened, including presidents, royalty and other heads of state. In 1998, the theme park was re-branded Disneyland Park to distinguish it from the larger Disneyland Resort complex. In 2007, over 14,800,000 people visited the park making it the second most visited park in the world, behind the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World.

History

Disneyland’s concept began one Sunday, when Walt Disney was visiting Griffith Park with his daughters Diane and Sharon. His idea was simple: a place that both adults and children could enjoy. Walt Disney's father helped build the grounds of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. The fairgrounds for the World's Fair were a cheaply constructed set of individual "Country" areas from around the world and areas representing various time periods of man, it also included many "rides" including the first Ferris wheel, sky ride, a passenger train that circled the perimeter, Wild West Show, etc.

While many people had written letters to Walt Disney about visiting the Disney Studio Walt realized that his movie studio had little to offer to the visiting fans, then he had the ideas of building a site near his studio, which evolved to a small play park with a boat ride and other themed areas. Walt's initial concept, his "Mickey Mouse Park", started with an 8 acres plot across Riverside Drive.

Walt started to visit other parks for inspiration and ideas, including Tivoli Gardens, Greenfield Village, Playland, Children's Fairyland, and Republica. He started his designers working on concepts, but these would grow into a project much larger than could be contained in eight acres.

Walt hired a consultant, Harrison Price from Stanford Research Institute, to gauge the area's potential growth. With the report from Price, Disney acquired 160 of orange groves and walnut trees in Anaheim, southeast of Los Angeles.

Difficulties in obtaining funding prompted Disney to find new methods of fund raising. He decided to use television, and so he created a show named Disneyland which was broadcast on ABC television network. In return, the network agreed to help finance the new park. For the first five years of its operation, Disneyland was owned by Disneyland, Inc., which was jointly owned by Walt Disney Productions and ABC. In 1960 Walt Disney Productions purchased ABC's share.

Construction began on July 18, 1954 and would cost USD$17 million to complete and was opened exactly one year later.

1955: Opening day

The entire route of the Disneyland Railroad is clearly visible as it encircles the park.Disneyland Park was opened to the public on Monday, July 18, 1955. However, a special "International Press Preview" event was held on Sunday, July 17, 1955 which was only open to invited guests and the media . The Special Sunday events,were televised nationwide and anchored by three of Walt Disney's friends from Hollywood: Art Linkletter, Bob Cummings, and Ronald Reagan.

The event did not go smoothly. The park was overcrowded as the by-invitation-only affair was plagued with counterfeit tickets. Vendors ran out of food. A gas leak in Fantasyland caused Adventureland, Frontierland, and Fantasyland to close for the afternoon. Parents were throwing their children over the shoulders of crowds to get them onto rides such as the King Arthur Carrousel.

The park got such bad press for the event and well-known as "Black Sunday". Although July 17 is currently acknowledged by Disney as the official opening day, but Disney did officially state that opening day was on July 18, including in the park's own publications. Disneyland referred to July 17th, 1955 as "Dedication Day’.

On Monday, July 18 crowds started to gather in line as early as 2 a.m., and the first person to buy a ticket and enter the park was David MacPherson with admission ticket number 2, as Roy O. Disney arranged to pre-purchase ticket number 1. Walt Disney had an official photo taken with two children instead, Christine Vess Watkins (age 5 in) and Michael Schwartner (age 7), and the photo of the two carries a caption along the lines of "Walt Disney with the first two guests of Disneyland." Vess Watkins and Schwartner both received lifetime passes to Disneyland that day, and MacPherson was awarded one shortly thereafter, which was later expanded to every single Disney-owned park in the world.


1990s: Park becomes Resort

In the late 1990s, work began to expand on Disneyland Park and its Hotel, the site of the original parking lot, were earmarked to become part of a greater vacation resort development. The new components of this resort were another theme park, Disney's California Adventure Park; a shopping and entertainment precinct, Downtown Disney; and a remodeled Disneyland Hotel, Paradise Pier Hotel and Grand Californian Hotel.


50th anniversary

The fiftieth anniversary of the Disneyland theme park held through 2005 and 2006, which commemorate to celebrate Disneyland's milestone, throughout Disney parks all over the globe. In 2004, the park undertook a number of major renovation projects in preparation for its fiftieth anniversary celebration. Many classic attractions were restored, notably Space Mountain, Jungle Cruise, and Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room. The 50th Anniversary celebration ended on September 30, 2006.


Park Layout

August, 1963 Anaheim's newly completed Melodyland Theater at the top. Harbor Blvd. forms the eastern boundary of Disneyland Park.The park is divided into realms, which radiate like the four cardinal points of the compass from Central Plaza, and well-concealed backstage areas. The idea behind this was to develop theatrical "stages" with seamless passages from one land to the next. The public areas occupy approximately 85 acres.When the park initially opened, it consisted of five themed areas:

Main Street, U.S.A., an early 20th century Midwest town

Adventureland, featuring jungle-themed adventures

Frontierland, illustrating western frontier

Fantasyland, bringing fantasy into a reality

Tomorrowland, looking into the future.

Since the initial opening, additional areas have been added:
-In 1957, Holidayland, a 9 acres recreation area including a circus and baseball diamond, which was closed in late 1961.
-In 1966, New Orleans Square, based on 19th century New Orleans
-In 1972, "Bear Country", themed to the mountain forests of the South. It was later renamed Critter Country and themed around Splash Mountain's Song of the South elements.
-In 1993, Mickey's Toontown, themed around the Toontown seen in the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit


Lands of Disneyland

Main Street, U.S.A.

Main Street, U.S.A. is patterned after a typical midwest town of the early 20th century. It is the first area guests see when they enter the park, and is how guests reach Central Plaza. At the center of The Magic Kingdom and immediately North of Central Plaza stands Sleeping Beauty Castle, which provides entrance to Fantasyland by way of a drawbridge across a moat. Adventureland, Frontierland, and Tomorrowland are arrayed on both sides of the castle.

Main Street, U.S.A. is reminiscent of the Victorian period of Americana with the train station, town square, movie theatre, city hall, firehouse complete with a steam-powered pump engine, emporium, shops, arcades, double-decker bus, horse-drawn streetcar, jitneys and other bits of memorabilia. At the far end of Main Street, U.S.A. is Sleeping Beauty Castle, and the Plaza hub which is a portal to all the theme lands.


Adventureland

Adventureland is designed to be an exotic tropical place in a far-off region of the world, in the remote jungles of Asia and Africa. Attractions include opening day's Jungle Cruise, the "Temple of the Forbidden Eye" in Indiana Jones Adventure, and Tarzan's Treehouse, which is a conversion of the earlier Swiss Family Robinson Tree House from the Walt Disney film, Swiss Family Robinson. Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room which is located at the entrance to Adventureland is the first feature attraction to employ Audio-Animatronics, a computer synchronization of sound and robotics.


New Orleans Square

New Orleans Square is a themed land based on 19th century New Orleans. It was opened to the public on July 24, 1966. Despite its age, it is still very popular with Disneyland guests, being home to two of the park's most popular attractions: Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion. Hidden in the walkway near the Blue Bayou Restaurant, there is a doorway with the number 33 beside it. This is the entrance to a private members-only club inside Disneyland, that members pay high amounts of money to get into. Club 33 is the only place in Disneyland proper to have alcoholic beverages.


Frontierland

Frontierland recreates the setting of pioneer days along the American frontier, home to the Pinewood Indians band of animatronics Native Americans, who live on the banks of the Rivers of America. Entertainment and attractions include Fantasmic!, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Mark Twain Riverboat, Fronierland Shootin' Exposition and Sailing Ship Columbia. May 2007 featured the opening of "Pirate's Lair at Tom Sawyer Island". Frontierland is also home to the Golden Horseshoe Saloon, a show palace straight out of the Old West.

Critter Country

Splash Mountain is a combination log flume and dark ride attraction at three Walt Disney Parks, based on the 1946 Disney film Song of the South.Critter Country opened in 1972 as "Bear Country", and was renamed in 1988. Today, the main draw of the area is Splash Mountain, a log-flume journey inspired by the Uncle Remus stories of Joel Chandler Harris and the animated segments of Disney's Academy Award-winning 1946 film, Song of the South. In 2003, a dark ride called The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh replaced the Country Bear Jamboree. The Country Bear Jamboree presented shows featuring singing bear characters that were visualized through electronically-controlled and mechanically-animated puppets, known as Audio-Animatronics.


Fantasyland

Fantasyland, a place where classic stories of everyone's youth have become realities for youngsters - of all ages - to participate in, like flying with Peter Pan over moonlit London, or tumbling into Alice's nonsensical Wonderland. Fantasyland was originally styled in a medieval European fairground fashion, but its 1983 refurbishment turned it into a Bavarian village. Attractions include several dark rides, the King Arthur Carrousel, and various children's rides.


Mickey's Toontown

Mickey's Toontown opened in 1993 and was partly inspired by the fictional Los Angeles suburb of Toontown in The Walt Disney Studios' 1988 release Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Mickey's Toontown is a 1930s cartoon come-to-life and is home to Disney's most popular cartoon characters. Toontown features two main attractions: Gadget's Go Coaster and Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin. The "city" is also home to cartoon character's houses such as the house of Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse.


Tomorrowland

The Tomorrowland attractions have been designed to give you an opportunity to participate in adventures that are a living blueprint of our future.
Initial attractions included Rocket to the Moon, Astro-Jets and Autopia; later, the first incarnation of the Submarine Voyage was added. The area underwent a major transformation in 1967 to become New Tomorrowland, and then again in 1998 when its focus was changed to present a "retro-future" theme reminiscent of the illustrations of Jules Verne.
Current attractions include Space Mountain, Innoventions, Star Tours, Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, Autopia, the Disneyland Monorail Tomorrowland Station, Astro Orbitor and Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage opened on June 11, 2007, resurrecting the original Submarine Voyage which closed in 1998.


Transportation

Disneyland Railroad

Encircling Disneyland and providing a grand circle tour is the Disneyland Railroad (DRR), a short-line railway consisting of five oil-fired and steam-powered locomotives, in addition to three passenger trains and one passenger-carrying freight train. With a three-foot gauge, the track runs in a continuous loop around The Magic Kingdom through each of its realms. Each turn-of-the-19th-Century train departs Main Street Station on an excursion that includes scheduled station stops at: Frontierland Station; Toontown Depot, the gateway to Fantasyland; and, Tomorrowland Station. The Grand Circle Tour then concludes with a visit to the "Grand Canyon/Primeval World" dioramas before returning passengers to Main Street, U.S.A.


Disneyland Monorail System

The original Mark I and Mark II, was the first trains that were created especially for Disneyland. Five generations of monorail trains have been used in the park, since their lightweight construction means they wear out quickly. The most recent operating generation, the Mark VII, was installed in 2008. The monorail shuttles visitors between two stations, one inside the park in Tomorrowland and one in Downtown Disney. It follows a 2.5 mile (4 km) long route designed to show the park from above. Currently, the Mark VII is running with the colors Red and Blue with one more color to be added in the coming months.

Monorail Blue travels over the former Submarine Voyage ride which is now the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage in Tomorrowland.

Main Street vehicles

All vehicles that are found on Main Street were designed to accurately reflect turn-of-the-century vehicles, including a double-decker bus, a horse-drawn streetcar, a fire engine, and an automobile. They are available for one-way rides along Main Street, U.S.A. Walt Disney used to drive the fire engine around the park before it opened, on most mornings. It has also been used to host celebrity guests and used in the parades.


Live entertainment

Characters
Disney characters, who greet visitors, interact with children, and pose for photos, can be found throughout the park. Some characters have specific areas where they are scheduled to appear, but can be found wandering as well. One reason Mickey's Toontown was created was so that there would be a place for Mickey Mouse to always be available to greet guests in his own house.


Daily ceremonies
Every evening at dusk since the September 11th 2001 attacks, there is a military-style flag ceremony to lower the American Flag for the day, performed by a regiment of the Disneyland Security Personnel. The ceremony usually begins at 4:30pm.


The Disneyland Band
The Disneyland Band, which has been part of the park since its opening, plays the role of the Town Band on Main Street, U.S.A. It also breaks out into smaller groups like the Main Street Strawhatters, the Hook and Ladder Co., and the Pearly Band in Fantasyland.


Fantasmic!
Fantasmic! is a popular multimedia nighttime show hosted by Mickey Mouse which debuted in 1992. The presentation is made at the Laffite's Tavern end of Pirate's Lair at Tom Sawyer Island and uses the Rivers of America as part of the stage. It uses Frontierland and New Orleans Square as the spectator arena.
It consists of synchronized lighting and special effects, with floating barges, the Mark Twain Riverboat, the Sailing Ship Columbia, fountains, lasers, fireworks, thirty-foot-tall "water screens" upon which animated scenes are projected, and an automated forty-five foot fire-breathing dragon.


Fireworks

Disneyland Fireworks from Sleeping Beauty CastleElaborate fireworks shows synchronized with Disney songs and often an appearance by the Peter Pan character Tinker Bell. Recent presentations have become more elaborate, featuring new pyrotechnics, launch techniques and story lines. In 2004, Disneyland introduced a new air launch pyrotechnics system, reducing ground level smoke and noise and decreasing negative environmental impacts.

1958–1999 Fantasy in the Sky
2000–2004 Believe... There's Magic in the Stars
2004–2005 Imagine... A Fantasy in the Sky
2005–Present Remember... Dreams Come True
During the Holiday Season, there is a special fireworks presentation called Believe... In Holiday Magic which has been running since 2000, except for a short hiatus in 2005 during the park's 50th Celebration.


The Golden Horseshoe Revue
The Golden Horseshoe Saloon offers a live stage show with a frontier or old-west feel, starring Slue Foot (or Sluefoot) Sue and Pecos Bill. It ran until the mid-1980s, when it was replaced by a similar show starring Lily Langtree (or Miss Lily) and Sam the Bartender. Most recently, Billy Hill and the Hillbillies have played their guitars and banjos in a bluegrass-and-comedy show.


Parades
Disneyland has always had parades that have marched down Main Street. There are several daytime and nighttime parades that celebrate Disney films or seasonal holidays with characters, music, and large floats. One of the most popular parades was the Main Street Electrical Parade (now at Disney's California Adventure as Disney's Electrical Parade).

Debuting in May 2005 as part of the Disneyland's 50th Anniversary, Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams is presented, celebrating several of the classic Disney stories including The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Alice in Wonderland, and Pinocchio. During the holiday season, Disneyland presents "A Christmas Fantasy" Parade which celebrates the joy & wonder of the holiday season.

Current Parades:
Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams (2nd week of January - 2nd week of November)
A Christmas Fantasy Parade (3rd week of November - 1st week of January)

Tomorrowland Terrace
The Tomorrowland Terrace is a stage in Tomorrowland. It is a two-story stage where the lower stage rises from below with dramatic effect. It was popular in the 1960s with music performers of the day. Over the years, it was eventually replaced with Club Buzz, a Buzz Lightyear themed stage and show featuring the space character from the Toy Story movies. In 2006, it was restored to the Tomorrowland Terrace with the same style and design as the original. It is now home to the Jedi Training Academy interactive stage show where children are chosen as Jedi padawan and taught how to use a Lightsaber. Each child then has the opportunity to face either Darth Vader or Darth Maul.

Other performers
Various other unscheduled street performers play and sing throughout the park, sometimes only seasonally, including:

-The All-American College Band performs around the park. The band is composed of talented college students who audition for the chance to perform in Disneyland;

-Alice in Wonderland characters staging a wacky game of "Musical Chairs" either at "Coke Corner" or the porch of the Plaza Inn daily;

-The Bootstrappers, a band of pirates that performs songs based on Pirates of the Caribbean, along with other sea-shanties;

-The Dapper Dans barbershop quartet often sings on Main Street;

-The Firehouse Five Plus Two, originally a band composed of Imagineers, can be found on Main Street;

-The Main Street Piano Players play at Corner Cafe, also known as "Coke Corner" on Main Street;

-Merlin appears in Fantasyland several times a day to help a lucky child pull the sword from an anvil and stone;

-The Trash Can Trio, a STOMP like group that performs using trashcans in Tomorrowland; and

-Various bands in New Orleans Square, often with a jazz influence.


Tickets
From Disneyland's opening day until 1982, the price of the attractions was in addition to the price of park admission. Park-goers paid a small admission fee to get into the park, but admission to most of the rides and attractions required purchase a book of tickets that consisted of several coupons, initially labeled "A" through "D". The coupons were also sold individually. "A" coupons allowed admission to the smaller rides and attractions such as the vehicles on Main Street, whereas "C" coupons were used for the most common attractions like the Peter Pan ride, or the Tea Cups. As more thrilling rides were introduced, such as the Monorail or the Matterhorn bobsled, "D" and then eventually "E" coupons were introduced. Coupons could be combined to equal the equivalent of another ticket, e.g. if an "A" ticket was worth 1/5th of an "E" ticket, a "B" ticket was worth 2 "A" tickets, a "C" ticket was worth three, etc., for an "E" ticket ride one could use one "E" ticket, three "B" tickets, two "B" and one "A", two "C", or five "A" tickets, or various combinations; two "A" tickets could be used for a "B" ticket or three "A" for a "C"; one "A" and one "B" or two "B" tickets could be used for a "C", etc.

Disneyland ticket book circa 1975–1977. The tickets are actually printed as "coupons".Later Disneyland featured a "Keys to the Kingdom" booklet of tickets, which consisted of 10 unvalued coupons sold for a single flat rate. These coupons could be used for any attraction regardless of its regular value. Obviously it would behoove the buyer to use these for the most thrilling attractions or rides.

In 1982 Disney dropped the idea for individual ride tickets to a single admission price with unlimited access to all attractions, "except shooting galleries" . While this idea was not original to Disney, its business advantages were obvious: in addition to guaranteeing that everyone paid a large sum even if they stayed for only a few hours and rode only a few rides, the park no longer had to print tickets or ticket books, staff ticket booths, or provide staff to collect tickets or monitor attractions for people sneaking on without tickets.

Later Disney introduced other entry options such as multi-day passes, Annual Passes which allow unlimited entry to the Park for an annual fee and Southern California residents' discounts.

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Disneyland Park (Anaheim), California Map: From Time to Time

Disneyland Resort Map