Lighting the Path for Alice

Fantastic flower lampposts tower above the queue for the Alice in Wonderland dark ride. Originally, the entire exterior was given over to the giant leaves and flowers inspired by the film. The real trees and hedges were worked into the scene as part of the 1984 remodeling.

Ordinarily, the clash of scale between the living trees and the giant make-believe flowers could be jarring, but it works well here. The ride's exterior becomes a transition between the outside park and the loud, colorful scenes waiting inside the show building. Wonderland is a dream world, so it makes sense for the exterior to represent a state of mind halfway between awake and asleep...or am I reading too much into it?

After all, the Alice ride's design--like so much of Disneyland-- is the result of Imagineers making the best possible use of limited and awkward spaces. It's a two-story indoor-outdoor adventure because part of it has to squeeze above Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. When talented people are tasked with that kind of design puzzle, we wind up with wonderful landscapes that might never have been dreamed up otherwise.

Hooray for awkward spaces!

Lightning Greets Fans at the Cozy Cone

Lightning McQueen welcomes his fans outside Sally's office at the Cozy Cone Motel in Cars Land. The combination of fun food, chatty automobiles, the town's music and terrific Cast Members make this one of the best character meet n' greet set-ups at the resort.

Where Lightning Got Sentenced

Near the courthouse, right where it should be, stands the famous "Happy Place" spot where Doc Hudson sentenced a horrified Lightning McQueen to hard labor community service while Mater requested $32,000 in legal fees. The courtyard has been "prettified" since Radiator Springs regained its rightful place on the map at the film's finale, and now boasts tail light flowers (love the tire planters) and a bench for human guests.

Here's a side shot to show the spot's placement in the town. It's 7:20 A.M. during Extra Magic Hour, and it seems 95% of the early visitors to Disney California Adventure are in line for Radiator Springs Racers, which leaves the rest of the town open to relaxed, crowd-free touring...until 8:00, when the general public enters en masse. The place is completely believable as a historic, once-forgotten stop along Route 66; it's hard to believe those telephone poles were just installed a few months ago.

The Only Things Missing are Bees (Car Bees)

I've seen Cars (the movie) more times than I can count, yet somehow never noticed the flowers in Radiator Springs look like tail lights. Cars Land opened my eyes to that detail with its whimsical light-up flowerbeds, which look spectacular at night.

Watching the film after visiting Cars Land, I had to smile; the perfect match between the animated plantlife and the real-life counterparts at DCA is just one more example of the care that went into this amazing fantasy world.