[ SUNDAY TRAVEL ]
The Adventure Begins ANAHEIM, CALIF. >> I'm strapped into a metal seat, floating in the middle of a white cloud, a cool breeze caressing my face, gliding over the ground who-knows-how-far below. There's silence except for the wind whooshing by my ears.
Disney's California Adventure
offers spectacular new rides and
other attractions celebrating
the state>> DOWNTOWN DISNEY
>> TAKING THE ADVENTUREBy Tim Ryan
Star-BulletinThe cloud slowly lets colors seep through its mist - a deepening blue and a bright orange. Then, as if by magic, the cloud disappears, and my feet dangle from this contraption seemingly a thousand feet or more above San Francisco's gleaming Golden Gate Bridge. Hundreds of cars appear to speed to and from the city beside the churning bay below.
I grip the aluminum bars alongside my seat and wonder what in the world I'm doing up here. My stomach shoots into my throat as my "hang glider" swoops toward one of the bridge's massive stanchions.
"Oh, Goddddddd!" I yell in unison with dozens of other riders around me.
This is Disney's most technologically advanced attraction ever, Soarin' Over California, at its newest park, California Adventure. The ultimate "E" ticket attraction, Soarin' is a magical journey that literally sweeps guests up, over and across the landscape of the Golden State, which of course is what the park is all about. I'm one of 87 "riders" lifted 40 feet inside a giant projection IMAX screen dome. My field of vision is totally surrounded and filled by beautiful 80-foot images of my home state.
Before we're finished, Soarin' will take us through Napa Valley, fragrant orange groves, Yosemite Falls, the desert of Palm Springs, San Diego and right into the peeling right curl of a near perfect wave alongside fast-moving surfers.
My "flight" ends at Disneyland - where else? - over Snow White's castle in the midst of a spectacular display of fireworks. It is all over much too quickly.So I go again. And a third time!
California Adventure, along with the Downtown Disney district and Disney's California Grand Hotel, is the culmination of a 10-year, $1.4 billion dream, and the largest project in Anaheim since the original Disneyland opened 46 years ago.
The project has transformed Disneyland from a single theme park venue into a multifaceted, world-class resort and entertainment mecca. It combines coordinated design and the operation of three hotels, two Disney parks and the Downtown Disney complex. Major entertainment, hotel and recreation facilities are linked by a tree-lined pedestrian walkway and transportation. In all, the resort encompasses 422 acres.
CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE covers 55 of those acres and offers 22 shows, rides and attractions, much like the original Disneyland but with more sophisticated adventures and restaurants geared toward adults. There are three themed lands - Hollywood Pictures Backlot, Golden State and Paradise Pier - each with its own characteristic adventures, shops and restaurants.
And there are California icons everywhere: a 120-foot-high Ferris wheel revolving around a gigantic sun face, a "granite" mountain peak shaped like the head of a grizzly bear and a Golden Gate Bridge with Disney monorails speeding across. (The bridge is part of a kinetic entranceway resembling a giant postcard overlaid by 1112-foot-high letters spelling "California."
I step through the letters into the plaza, which is gleaming in hot colors: reds, yellows, oranges. It is dominated by a 50-foot "sun" made of gold titanium inlaid with tiny glass particles. The shiny orb is illuminated by reflected solar light from six heliostats computerized to follow the sun. At night it's lit by high-intensity orange, red and yellow lights.
Pulling out my official California Adventure map, I figure I am nearest the Golden State, with its Condor Flats, Grizzly Peak Recreation Area, Bountiful Valley Farm, Golden Vine Winery, Pacific Wharf and Bay Area. There's a real vineyard and a wine-tasting area.
I head to the Grizzly River Run, a 300-foot-long gold ore conveyor. It uses eight-passenger rafts that are lifted into swirling rapids 45 feet above a "valley." Each raft is grabbed by the rushing waters and carried down slides, through caverns and mine shafts to a final, whirling, very wet plunge into a spouting geyser field. (More than 130,000 gallons a minute roar down the river flume.)Before I climb aboard, Disney cast members - that's what the staff is called - hand me a poncho and big-brimmed hat to help me stay dry, which isn't possible. The grizzly on Grizzly Mountain growls when my raft passes directly beneath the bear's chin, warning us of the 22-foot whitewater plunge ahead.
A short walk around the bend from Grizzly Peak, visitors step into a time warp. Paradise Pier is designed to feature bygone days of California's legendary surfside boardwalks and the excitement of a seaside resort.
The area, with its 4-plus-acre man-made bay, is dedicated to the "Golden Age" of amusement parks, packed with wild attractions. One of these, California Screamin', is a roller coaster modeled after the traditional wooden coasters of the 1920s, but it takes passengers from zero to 55 mph in under five seconds, followed by a loop around a large Mickey Mouse head.
I climb aboard the 150-foot diameter Sun Wheel - 500 feet in circumference - which appears to be a traditional Ferris wheel. This one, however, stands taller than Disneyland's Matterhorn Mountain and has a huge revolving sun set in its center. I find out too late that Sun Wheel is a ride within a ride and I have chosen the scarier half of that equation.
While some riders get the traditional Ferris wheel ride, I am in one of several cars that move within the spokes of the structure, sliding along interior curves as the wheel turns, swinging precariously back and forth, depending on the position of the big wheel.
Feeling brave, I make myself ride California Screamin', which isn't nearly as noisy as other roller coasters. I learn that the induction motor system that powers the ride is hidden deep in the ground in a concrete, earthquake-proof, climate-controlled bunker.
Twenty-four passenger cars are shot like cannonballs up the first ramp by a specially designed catapult system. Scream tunnels in various locations along the 6,000-foot steel-reinforced track help muffle riders' shrieks.
Just before we take off, I tell the operator I'm a "loop virgin," meaning I have never been on a ride that does that maneuver. He tells me, "Enjoy it and don't shut your eyes," and says that there are 147 braking systems along the track.
"We haven't had an accident yet," he says.
"But this is the park's opening day," I remind him.
Then we're off! The loop comes out of nowhere, and suddenly I'm suspended behind Mickey's big ears, then under his jaw, and it's over. Screamin' is a thrill without the terror. My kind of ride.
California Adventure park has an easier, less frantic pace than its older brother Disneyland. Adults will be delighted by Avalon Cove, the full-service oceanfront Wolfgang Puck eatery. The building looks like a giant sandcastle. It's entryway is graced by a gold-leafed statue of the Greek god Poseidon and a quartet of leaping dolphins supporting a 50-foot spire representing a giant seashell.
Feeling suddenly so California, I drop in for sashimi and a glass of Merlot, sitting in the second-floor Cove Bar next to a farm couple from Modesto. They tell me how much they like Disney's "beach." From this vantage point, it's easy to imagine you're in the more tranquil California of a half-century ago.