After looking around Buena Vista Street for a little bit it was time to head to Cars Land! While I'm not a super huge fan of the Cars movies, I think they did an excellent job with Cars Land and I really like it... honestly, I will probably enjoy Cars more after visiting Cars Land than I did before... I just hope that should they decide to make a Cars III movie they go back to Radiator Springs and really base the story around those characters instead of doing what they did in Cars II 

Our friend Loren was nice enough at act as our unofficial "Tour Guide" and made sure we didn't miss anything.  Instead of taking us in the main entrance he took us through Pacific Wharf and in through the back entrance which he thought was the better way to enter the land for the first time... and I have to completely agree with him. Walking under the stone arch and being presented with the sweeping vista of Radiator Springs Racers is definitely the more impressive entrance... this is one of my two real criticisms of Cars Land... the "Front Entrance" is too much in the middle of things and there isn't enough separation from the rest of the park... I know they didn't have a lot of space to work with and hopefully once the trees grow up it will help separate it more.  In the grand scheme of things this is a minor problem... the theming in the land is awesome but entering Cars Land is a little anti-climatic which is a shame as it really deserves a grand entrance.

 

Having just arrived after a long flight we were starving so our next stop was Flo's, the main restaurant in Cars Land. Neither Dan nor I really like the food selection in Disneyland Park as we feel most of the food (with a couple exceptions) falls into one of a few categories: "Burgers and Pizza", "Stuff we don't like", and "Way overpriced for what it is"; however, we do like the food in DCA MUCH better... our favorites are the two restaurants in Paradise Gardens but you can definitely add Flo's to the list of top places to eat now. The food is very filling and feels like a "proper" meal instead of just burgers (I guess it would be considered "comfort food")... it is actually too substantial for me to eat for lunch most days; however, it is perfect for dinner (or if you feel like you need a really hearty lunch). I just wish the mac n cheese that is on the kids menu was available as a side on the adult meals... I think I will ask next time if they will let me have it as a side. Normally we try to take pictures of our food but sadly this time we were really hungry and completely forgot to take a picture before diving in LOL; however, we did eat there again later in the trip and have pictures of the food then but for now I just have some pictures of the inside of Flo's:

 

After devouring our lunch we headed to our first ride in Cars Land: Mater's Junkyard Jamboree. While this is a pretty simple ride I think it is a fun ride... the only bad thing is that it's right at the edge of Cars Land so if you are on the outside side (there are two sets of ride vehicles and you go to one or the other) you lose a bit of the immersion of Cars Land but other than that I think it is a cute and fun ride... basic but with a fun Disney twist.

 

After that we wondered around Cars Land a bit

 

We wanted to make sure we saw all the new entertainment at DCA so up next was "Instant Concert! ... Just Add Water" which is a cute little show with Goofy "conducting" the World of Color fountains in Paradise Bay to music... it is enjoyable and I am glad they are finding ways to use the fountains during the day. 

 

 After that it was back to Cars Land for more exploration :)

 

After wandering around we went to meet our first new Cars Land character... Red! This brings me to my second criticism about Cars Land... where are all the Cars?! They have Mater and Lightening McQueen who switch out with each other (and they drive through town when they are switching which IS a great touch); however, other than that they only have Red who spends most of the day in a back corner where you don't really see him unless you go looking and DJ who is part of a little show that occurs throughout the day. Originally Red was supposed to have a little show too but apparently that got canceled/postponed because of how crowded it is in Cars Land currently. But what about the other characters? Flo, Sally, Sarge, Fillmore, Ramone, Luigi, and Guido all have a presence in Cars Land via Stores or Attractions but they are never actually there. I hope someday some of the other cars make an appearance as I think it would really add a LOT to the land.

 

After that it was time for our 2nd attraction in Cars Land: Luigi's Flying Tires. I honestly have mixed feelings about Luigi's... it *can* be a fun ride; however, since most people have no clue what they are doing (it isn't really that hard but...) you can end up being in the middle of a big clump of people with no way to move and get out to fly around... add in the insanely slow loading and unloading times and you get a ride that needs some help. When it was first announced I was very excited as I had always heard about the flying saucer ride in Tomorrowland but obviously never got to experience it.  I am very glad I got to ride it; however, I wouldn't be surprised if in a couple years they announce that they are going to replace it with something else (and hopefully they don't go the WDW route of closing it and replacing it with a kids play area LOL)

 

Then once again we wandered around Cars Land :P

 

Then DJ came out for "DJ's Dance 'n' Drive" which for some reason was missing the performers who are normally with DJ... there isn't too much to the show... it is basically DJ playing music (normally with some dancers) and they get kids to come out and dance too.

 

After that we headed back to Buena Vista Street to see some of the new entertainment there. The first show was 5 and Dime... which is a jazz band that features Goofy... sadly we got there after it had started and Goofy is only there at the beginning so we missed seeing him then (but of course we went back a bit later to see him). It was an enjoyable show and definitely fits in with the feel of Buena Vista street... Both of the two Buena Vista Street shows take place in Carthay Circle which you might think would jam up traffic; however, the design of Carthay Circle was well thought out so even when one of the shows is going on it is easy to get by.

 

Not long after that the Red Car Trolley came up the street with the Red Car News Boys inside for their show... the show is loosely based on the 'Newsies' Broadway show and features one of the songs from the Broadway show; however, the other songs are not and the show is themed to Hollywood instead since it is designed for Buena Vista Street. It was a good show and it also features Mickey Mouse at the end. 

 

 

After that Buena Vista Street Goofy came out to meet his fans so of course we went over to say hi

 

Then we headed to Condor Flats to see Minnie's Fly Girls, another new show.

After that it was finally time for the big new main attraction, Radiator Springs Racers, which is now my favorite attraction at Disneyland. The outdoor sections are even better when you are driving or racing through them than they are when looking at them from outside. The indoor dark ride parts, where you finally get to see the other citizens of Radiator Springs, are great too (although sadly they do seem to be having a lot of problems keeping everything working as various things were broken at times throughout our trip... hopefully once the summer madness is over they will be able to work out all the issues)... the only bad thing about the ride is the insane lines to ride it but hopefully things won't be quite so insane after a few months.  Also, in the summer the queue line can be extremely hot since all the rock work traps the heat.  This is another place the trees need to hurry up and grow so they provide more shade.

 

After that we looked around Cars Land a bit more and managed to catch DJ's show again but this time with the dancers! 

 

Then we headed back to Carthay Circle to catch the beginning of one of 5 & Dime's shows so that we could see Goofy 

 

Buena Vista Pluto was out so of course we had to go say hi

Then we decided to try Luigi's Flying Tires a 2nd time to see if we had any better luck

 

Then it was back to Buena Vista Street to look around a bit more

 

Then we went back to Cars Land to see them turn on all the lights... they do a little announcement and the lights come on one by one up the street... they do this every night around sunset... it is a nice little added touch and if you are in the area at the right time it is worth seeing at least once.

Once it got dark it was time to ride Radiator Springs a 2nd time... it is definitely a different experience at night and I would recommend trying to ride it both during the day and at night 

 

Cars Land looks great in the day but is even better at night (especially if you like Neon LOL)

After spending pretty much the entire day on Buena Vista Street and Cars Land we decided to have a change of pace and went to Downtown Disney for a little while

 

Then we finally headed to Disneyland

At this point ,because of our early start to get our plane in the morning, we had been up for almost 24 hours so we decided it was time to call it a night after a very successful 1st day... Hopefully you all enjoyed the first part of this report and I will try to get the 2nd part of the report up soon :) If you want to see a lot of our pictures of Cars Land and Buena Vista Street you can go to their new pages on the site :)