Disney California Adventure: Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!

 

Date of Visit: October 22, 2015



I don't think we've been on this ride in at least five years (or at least not since we started this blog in 2011). I always ask Mik if he wants to go on it since it seems the only things we ever do in California Adventure is Toy Story Mania and the Pop Cone in Cars Land. Toy Story Mania was down that morning and he was still not really interested in going on Monsters, Inc until I double checked that we in fact never had done a review.

When you get to the front of the line they direct you to the wheelchair loading/unloading area which is just to the left of the regular boarding area. We then had to wait a few minutes for the wheelchair accessible taxi to come around.

They have you roll in backwards and then turn to face forward and roll back against the row divider. A block is then put in front of the back wheels for safety. I think there is then a lap bar that comes down. I don't really remember, but it looks like there is one in the picture.

After the ride, Mik reconfirmed that the reason he doesn't like the ride has nothing to do with the accessibility. In fact, he said it's one of the best "wave" vehicles. He just doesn't really like the ride as it is not as good as the classic dark rides or the newer ones like The Little Mermaid. It also makes him really wish they'd renovate some classics to have wave vehicles.

Probably won't get him to go on it again anytime soon, but at least it was useful to kill some time when Toy Story Mania was down and he was trying to stay in the parks until places were open for lunch.

Destination Info:
Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!
Disney California Adventure
1313 South Harbor Boulevard
Anaheim, CA 92802

Disney’ California Adventure: Blue Sky Cellar – Fantasy Faire

Date of Visit: August 10, 2013

Mik and I always enjoy seeing the Blue Sky Cellar exhibits about what is being planned or what is new in the park. During our D23 Expo trip, the exhibit was about the new Fantasy Faire area in front of the castle at Disneyland. Mik enjoyed seeing the model of the area in the Blue Sky Cellar more than when we had visited Fantasy Faire in person the day before, although he does like the cheesy garlic twists from Maurice’s Treats there.

Destination Info:

Blue Sky Cellar At Disney's California Adventure 
1313 South Harbor Boulevard
Anaheim, CA 92802

Disney's California Adventure: Carthay Circle

Date of Visit: June 23, 2012

We celebrated Mik's 18th birthday at the new Carthay Circle restaurant on Buena Vista Street in Disney's California Adventure.  We all really enjoyed it, but it is an expensive place.  It was worth the splurge, though, and the $220 for 2 appetizers, 4 entrees, 4 drinks, 4 desserts, and tip  actually seemed like a bargain after spending almost $100 to eat just a regular entree breakfast at the IHOP across the street the day before.

When dining at the Carthay Circle restaurant, you check in on the first floor in the corner of the lounge.  The waiter comes and gets you from the lounge area and takes you upstairs (via elevator for us) to your table.  What is really nice is that they already know there is a wheelchair and they had a chair removed and totally out of the way before we got up there.

For the appetizer, we got the house biscuits.  Mik really loved them, as he is always a bread and biscuit type person and he really like the bacon in it.  The other appetizer we got was the grilled grape leaves stuffed with chenel goat cheese.  These were okay, but I have had way better at the local street fair not to mention actually in Europe.

For the entree Mik went with the Kobe beef cheek sliders and he enjoyed them a lot.  He also tried Mom's bacon wrapped shrimp, but was not much into them.  I had the Udon Noodle Bowl, which ended up being way more hot spicy rather than the flavorful spicy I expected.

Dessert was the best part at least for me.  I enjoyed the Fried Banana Split Monte Cristo Sundae.  It was a fried banana with three little scoops of ice cream and a banana chip shaped like a banana.  I forget what Mik's dessert was called and cannot find it on any of the online menus, but it was something like chocolate chip ice cream with a brownie.  The brownie came on the side, but the picture is of how Mik set up his dessert before digging in.  Looks much cooler the way he did it!

Destination Info:
Disney's California Adventure 
1313 South Harbor Boulevard
Anaheim, CA 92802

Disney's California Adventure: Toy Story Midway Mania

Date of Visit: June 5, 2011

We were not planning of doing another review of Toy Story Midway Mania, but we ended up with some new insight on the wheelchair accessibility this time.  The one thing we noticed for the first time was Cast Members trying to load us load at the regular loading area and having to tell them we wanted the wheelchair vehicle.  In the past they always just had us go down the hall, but now they seem more proactive about loading those that can transfer at the regular loading area.

The other reason we decided to do another review is related to the lap bar.  In the past they always removed the lap bar along with the seat when Mik rode in the wheelchair vehicle.  This time, though, they left the lap bar on.  Mik hated that time we went around because he always freaks out when something presses against his stomach due to his baclofen pump.  The bigger issue though is the blaster is stuck a certain distance from the lap bar, which meant despite almost totally being squished against him he still had trouble controlling it easily.

The lap bar incident happened on Friday, June 3.  On Sunday (our last day of this trip) they asked if the lap bar was okay and we told them that did not work for him.  It then took them at least 15 minutes to get the the metal piece they put on when the lap bar is off on so that we could ride.  The piece goes on top of the metal bar the lap bar attaches to and it took 4 CMs before one finally got the pins into the holes that holds the metal piece in.  Later that week I heard online that the wheelchair vehicle was down for service not only in California, but also Florida for this ride.

Our main review of Toy Story Mania can be found here.

Photo by Kjersti
Text by Kjersti with Mik's accessibility input

Destination Info:
Disney's California Adventure 
1313 South Harbor Boulevard
Anaheim, CA 92802

Disney's California Adventure: World of Color Picnic

Date of Visit: June 4, 2011


I did not want to have to worry about getting FastPasses to World of Color and the $16 for a meal and FastPasses did not seem too bad for Disney.  Besides I willingly spent $60 per person for the Fantasmic Dessert Seating for the same trip, so really $16 per person did not seem bad at all.  Of course, it is much different and in the end it turned out not worth the $16.

Our main problem with the World of Color Picnic was the food.  It was not that bad amount, but of the three different meals we have (we each had something different) the only good thing was the apple pie that came with Mik's chicken.  The food was not exactly bad, but you can spend the same amount (or less!!!) and get something really tasty just across the bridge in Pacific Wharf (i.e. Mik's favorite of clam chowder in a bread bowl).  I am glad we did it once, though, because the World of Color picnic bag that came with our meals is fun for reusing for grocery shopping.



It was convenient that it came with World of Color FastPasses and we did not have to go over to California Adventure when it opened to make sure we got to see first showing.  However, they are just the same levels as you can get for free if you do the FastPass line thing.  Thus when it comes time to return before the show you still have to stake out a spot early and wait around for the show.

We ended up with Yellow FastPasses, although I hear some get Blue.  It is the same section we had FastPasses for back in March for the D23 2nd Anniversary Party.  This time the CM was not helpful at all.  We got there early and he said here go into this section right here (at the top) or you can go down lower, but he did not explain we had to leave section to do that and Dad was going to go down the steps with Mik in the wheelchair.  I would not let him do that, as Mik is not a fan of that kind of thing.  I also did not feel like trying to get our FastPasses back and do the through the Red area backtrack to the yellow route that we ended up doing last time, so we just took the handicap section at the top, especially since Mik wanted to try to avoid getting wet.

I was wary of what the view would be like from the top, as there are water level effects, but actually I was surprised and it really was not much different.  Since we got there early we were able to roll Mik up to the front of the section between two benches and sat on the bench next to him.  Mik thought the section was good and he would not get wet like up closer, but boy was he wrong!

We did not get wet from the spray like when we were closer, but Mik ended up even more wet because near the end they have a fountain that sprays straight up right in front of the handicap section.  We happened to even be quite perfectly line up with one right in front of us.  Sadly, we had even brought a blanket, but we left it in backpack because we were not sitting close.

Mik only agreed to see the show if he did not have to end up with wet pants like last time and boy did we mess that up.  Basically we have learned our lesson, no matter what part of the section you are in you could get wet.  Not exactly soaked everywhere, but definitely a possibility in certain spots really close to the show or near the fountains depending on how the wind is blowing that night.

Mik still likes the World of Color and I enjoyed it again as well, but sadly the TRON part is gone and the replacement Pirates is not quite as good.  Cool that it is changes somewhat regularly, but the TRON part was so cool because the lighting and effects involved so much of the scenery.  Of course, we probably will sometime see the show again, we will probably never do the picnics again.

Photos by Kjersti
Text by Kjersti with Mik's input

Destination Info:
Disney's California Adventure 
1313 South Harbor Boulevard
Anaheim, CA 92802

Disney's California Adventure: The Little Mermaid - Ariel's Undersea Adventure

Date of Visit: June 3, 2011

Yesterday, the line for The Little Mermaid - Ariel's Undersea Adventure was consistently 100 to 120 minutes.  We were not thinking of doing it because we wanted to see the parade and Fantasmic over in Disneyland, so we were going to save the wait for today.  However, when we went on Toy Story Mania we waited 45 minutes in the regular line and then had to wait extra for the wheelchair vehicle while two groups that had GACs to skip line went around.  We did not mind waiting, but the Cast Member gave us a special Fast Pass that could be used on any Disney California Adventure or Disneyland ride except Star Tours.

There are not any rides we like going on that had lines longer than 15 mins or different wheelchair access other than Toy Story Mania, which we had just gone on, so we decided to use it to bypass the 2 hour Little Mermaid line.  We got on the ride in less than 5 minutes, as even the timing of the wheelchair vehicle coming around worked out with it almost around.

The Little Mermaid's wheelchair vehicle is awesome.  It is not a clam shell like the rest of the vehicles, but rather it is like King Triton's chariot.  It is designed to have the back fold out to a ramp and roll in with one person riding next to the wheelchair on small seat.  It can be loaded with only slowing the ride, although the Cast Members were not quite efficient yet and had to stop it for a few seconds.

The ride itself is pretty good in my opinion.  I liked the scene with the sea creatures doing the Under the Sea song.  It is interesting how the lighting effects make it like you are going underwater at the beginning and then coming out of the water when Ariel gets her legs.  Some may not think it as good as some of the classic dark rides, but it is certainly brighter and it does still tell the story of the movie quite well and Ursula looks rather realistic.

Photos by Kjersti and Dad
Text by Kjersti with Mik's wheelchair accessibility input

Destination Info:
Disney's California Adventure

1313 South Harbor Boulevard
Anaheim, CA 92802

Disney's California Adventure: World of Color

Date of Visit: March 10, 2011

The World of Color show was the main reason we went to Disneyland on March 10.  We got Fastpasses as part of the D23 2nd Anniversary event, so we did not have to worry about getting over to the park when it opened.  It is definitely a good idea to get over to Disney's California Adventure first thing for fastpasses, as they were supposedly gone by 11:30am that day and it was not quite the peak season, yet.

Mik often does not care for the shows (he still has never seen Fantasmic) other than the indoor theater ones (Aladdin, Great Moments with Lincoln, etc.).  However, we have both been looking forward to this show since we have seen the area under remodel back in 2009.  It opened last summer, but we visited in April last year.

We got to the Fastpass area around 7:15pm (show started at 8:15pm) and it was already quite full.  We were in the yellow area, but when we got there they directed us to go to the next area to get to the ramp.  We got over there and the cast member taking the Fastpasses for that area (Red?) was ready to send us back to yellow, but another cast member knew that we were sent there for the ramp and escorted us down.  He did not quite know where he was going, but he was very friendly and did make sure we got down to a good wheelchair seating area.

The wheelchair sections are manned to make sure other people do not crowd it.  There is a row of benches in the front for those that need them.   The area is not right in front, as there is a lower area right by the water, but the area is raised above the lower area, so there is no problem with people standing in front and getting in the way of enjoying the show.

Mik and I both loved the World of Color show.  It was awesome how the video is projected on the water screens and the other lighting and flame effects.  The end Tron scene is really awesome.

Mik thought the wheelchair section was good, except that you get some of the spray depending on the wind.  His pants ended up wet along with his top because he was sitting in his wheelchair compared to those standing only getting wet on top.  He said next time he wants to bring a blanket for the show for that to get wet instead of him.  At least that means he is willing to see it again, though, as it is pretty awesome.

Photos by Kjersti
Text by Kjersti with Mik's Wheelchair Accessibility Input

Destination Info:
Disney's California Adventure

1313 South Harbor Boulevard
Anaheim, CA 92802

Disney's California Adventure: Blue Sky Cellar

Date of Visit: March 10, 2011

The Blue Sky Cellar is one place we like to quickly check out every time we visit Disney's California Adventure.  It is just a small building, but it is totally worth visiting as it has exhibits and a short movie about upcoming new attractions at the park.  This time the main exhibit area was about the new Little Mermaid ride opening on June 3, 2011, and the movie also showed the Test Track like ride that will be in the new Cars Land opening in 2012.

I liked seeing the model of the ride track for The Little Mermaid ride.  The clam shaped vehicles are almost exactly like the Doom Buggies in The Haunted Mansion over in Disneyland.  While the track model most definitely does not show a wheelchair accessible vehicle, we are pretty sure there will be one because it is a tame ride and no reason there cannot be.  Plus, the architectural drawing of the ride shows a wheelchair queue.  Of course, if they figure out how to do this ride with a wheelchair vehicle than I for one really hope they add an accessible Doom Buggy to the ride track the next time they shut it down for the holiday changeover.  We can at least dream on that!

We are still unsure about the whole Cars Land.  So far the only ride we have seen anything about is the Test Track like thing and obviously that cannot be a wheelchair accessible ride.  That is still a ways off and not too much details, yet, though.

Besides the information on the upcoming attractions, there are also some touch screen monitors that you can play Disney trivia on and see how well you know your Disney stuff.  Mik has no problem playing these from his wheelchair, as some if not all are down more at kid height than adult height.

The inside of building is wheelchair accessible, but the exit is a manual door.  We went out with me rolling Mik backwards through it, but then there is little room to turn back around once you get out.  It would be easier to just go back out the entrance if you do not have someone to open and hold the door open for you, which was not an option for us since there was no one else inside the Blue Sky Cellar at the time.

Photos by Kjersti
Text by Kjersti with Mik's Wheelchair Accessibility Input

Destination Info:
Disney's California Adventure

1313 South Harbor Boulevard
Anaheim, CA 92802

Disney's California Adventure: Toy Story Mania

Date of Visit: March 10, 2011

Toy Story Mania is definitely our favorite ride in Disney's California Adventure.  In fact, this trip it was the only ride we went on in this park.  You go in the regular line until you get to the boarding area.  The cast member here will then direct you to go straight ahead to the wheelchair boarding area.

They have a wheelchair accessible vehicle here that is off the regular ride track, so the ride continues to operate normally until the vehicle is loaded and added to the regular ride track.  They load all physical disabilities and sometimes other GAC groups in this vehicle.  This means that the wait time after you get through the normal queue can be awhile, although since we have been going in the off season the past few times we have not noticed that much of a delay.  The first summer it was open, though, we would wait another 30 plus minutes after the regular queue.  Totally worth it for this ride, though.

The take a seat out of the vehicle for the wheelchair to fit.  The person riding next to the wheelchair has to go in first and sits to the left of the wheelchair.  The cast member (or another person in the group) then rolls in the wheelchair if the user cannot roll themselves in.  They use a seat belt around the passenger instead of a lap bar coming down.  They then lower the blaster and make sure it is at a comfortable height for the wheelchair user.

The blaster for the wheelchair spot is for the most part like everyone else's.  It has a string to pull to shoot, but it also has an alternative method of shooting.  This alternative is a button on top.  This is easier to use than the string pull method.  Mik prefers the string method for most of the game, but he uses the button to quickly rack up points at the last bonus part where you are hitting the single non-moving target as much as you can before time runs out.

Note that the ride vehicles quickly rotate between the games.  Mik's upper body control is good when he wants it to be, but he still often ends up flopping to the side on this because the movement happens so quickly and it is hard to prepare for it due to the ride often stopping for extra time at the games when the loading process gets backed up and then suddenly moving you to the next game with little warning.   At least once Mik has said he wished he had a chest strap like on his first chair just for this ride and he totally hated that strap!

Photos by Kjersti
Text by Kjersti with Mik's wheelchair accessibility input

Destination Info:
Disney's California Adventure
1313 South Harbor Boulevard
Anaheim, CA 92802