Chapter 50
Get Your Kicks on Route 66

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(Originally posted July 26, 2013)

We continued through DCA past Grizzly Peak, which looked as beautiful as always.

Of course, the main attraction for the day—and the place we were most excited to see—was just ahead of us…

Welcome to Cars Land!

We were beyond thrilled to finally turn that corner and see the new land that had been teasing us ever since we spotted the construction from the top of Mickey’s Fun Wheel a year and a half prior.

In preparation for (we hoped) getting to DCA soon, we had re-watched Cars a week or two before this for the first time since seeing it in theaters. I really like the movie! I think it has all the qualities of a solid Disney-Pixar story, and I was so excited to finally see Cars Land in person. I know it’s been said time and time again, but it really felt like we were stepping right into the film.

Upon first entering, we just decided to wander through and see the whole land before trying to ride anything.

The vistas that make up Radiator Springs are definitely among the most breathtaking things I’ve ever seen at a Disney park.

Tracy has always had a bit of an obsession with traffic cones, so she just loves the Cozy Cone Motel.

We both had decided that Guido was our favorite character in Cars, and we were excited to ride Luigi’s Flying Tires, despite the negative reviews that seemed to inundate the internet.

I love the statue of Stanley. Truly everything from the town in the movie is here.

And of course, making it to the end of the street, we reached the current mecca of the Disneyland Resort—Radiator Springs Racers.

We knew that we certainly wouldn’t be making it to DCA in time to get Fastpasses for this attraction, but that didn’t stop us from drooling a little bit while we imagined riding.

Forcing ourselves to turn around, we began to walk back up the street toward the attractions with more reasonable wait times. On the way, we passed the Cozy Cone again.

We got in line for Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree, and the wait was only posted at about 15 minutes.

The queue had plenty of details to entertain us while we waited.

Plus it was fun to just watch the ride in action and listen to all the great songs they had recorded for the attraction.

Finally, we reached the front of the line, and Tracy and I boarded our tractor. He looks like such a pleasant sort.

The ride began, and it was a lot of fun, but boy was it violent. I found myself needing to hold onto the bar and Tracy kept slamming into me. Obviously, the whiplash effect is the point of the ride, but since my neck and back don’t do well with whiplash, this wasn’t the best attraction for me. I hate when I have to cross rides off the list because they cause me pain, but I had to label this one among those that I can’t ride too often.

While I was trying to shake off the neck pain, we headed over to Pacific Wharf.