Disney California Adventure Park - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)
Disney California Adventure Park

Disney California Adventure Park

Disney California Adventure Park
4.5
Amusement & Theme ParksDisney Parks & Activities
8:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Monday
8:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Tuesday
8:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Wednesday
8:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Thursday
8:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Friday
8:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Saturday
8:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Sunday
8:00 AM - 10:00 PM
About
Buckle up for an exhilarating ride around Pixar Pier on the Incredicoaster, zoom through the desert landscape of Cars Land on Radiator Springs Racers, and explore a campus created for the next generation of Super Heroes at Avengers Campus.
Duration: More than 3 hours
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Admission tickets
from $310.00
All you need to step foot in the door.

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  • Tom K
    Davenport, Florida322 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    1st time here and may be the best Disney park
    1st time at this park and we did early entry. We actually got on every ride, but webslingers. This was with leaving at 2 and heading to Disneyland. The different parts of the park were amazing and great mix of rides. This is my new favorite park.
    Visited April 2023
    Traveled with family
    Written April 24, 2023
  • Fly-Wills
    Dubai, United Arab Emirates517 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    A must visit, amazing park. A marvel lovers dream
    An amazing park that you won’t get bored of! I could spend all morning in avengers campus. For any marvel lover this park is a must visit. The avengers campus boasts several rides including Guardians of the Galaxy - mission breakout. This is the old tower of terror that has perfectly been converted into guardians. It is easily the best ride in both parks. For any marvel or guardians fan, you have to do this ride. Even queuing is worth it, there is so much entertainment and props during the queue. Cars land is also great! The cars ride puts you on a high speed circuit, and lots of the cars characters (full size cars) drive around the area. The California area is quality, boasting a massive roller coaster ‘the incredi-coaster. A giant Ferris wheel, lake and lots of tasty food outlets. Highly recommend trying the mango beer. The Sanoma Vineyard is also nice to visit in the sun. But expect hefty alcohol prices. A hot dog along the Main Street is highly recommended for food choices. We also dined at the restaurant on the pier ‘Lamplight Lounge’, which is level with the water. We watched the light show from here, which is a must see. Chose this over the fireworks. After visiting both parks (Disneyland resort and CA) we felt CA was definitely the less busy of the two. There’s more room to walk around and not feel as busy as Disneyland resort.
    Visited May 2023
    Traveled as a couple
    Written May 20, 2023
  • RoyaltyC
    Calgary, Canada418 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Second time this year
    Got on Soaring after 10 minutes wait on a Tuesday morning. I wanted to do it again in the afternoon but the wait was an hour. Radiator Springs kept breaking down. Single rider lane saved lots of time. Food and wine festival seemed to be popular. My old favourite Boardwalk Pizza and Cocina were not so good this time. Guardians of the Galaxy is a must even though the wait was almost an hour. World of Colour was spectacular. I got in the virtual line around 12pm and got ticket to the 930pm show. This is my favourite park of the 2. It was much busier in April than in January.
    Visited April 2023
    Written May 29, 2023
  • bridgete478
    4 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    FABULOUS!
    So fun and fabulous. Get the park hoppers and the genie pass. Get the tacos birriea! Kids loved everything, especially guardians, Incredibles, soarin, and cars ride + Mac and cheese bread bowls! Thanks Disney! Could live in the parks!
    Visited June 2023
    Traveled with family
    Written June 5, 2023
  • therealS1
    Honolulu, Hawaii233 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Wonderful Time…Wonderful Memories.
    Our family of 9, with 5 adults and 4 kids could not have had a better time. So much better than Disneyland which we two for the two days prior. All employees, cast members and the like were exceptionally nice and helpful. We did the Lightning Pass with an optional fee for the Cars ride. That saved us a lot of time and allowed us to get on every ride we wanted to. The upkeep seems so much better at this park vs Disneyland. Also, we ate at multiple venues and enjoyed the food for the most part. We love the flexibility to enjoy adult beverages and walk throughout the park. We look forward to our next (California) adventure.
    Visited June 2023
    Traveled with family
    Written June 9, 2023
  • tiffmgilmore
    Pleasant Hill, Missouri15 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Just go!
    We had a great time. We have been to Disney World and Disneyland now. I would definitely go back to Disneyland. We always rope dropped the park, and loved the park the first half of the day. Around 3:00, it really started to get busy but it was still manageable.
    Visited June 2023
    Traveled with family
    Written June 19, 2023
  • Bev B
    Temecula, California2,978 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Fun
    I love coming over & walking California Adventure Park. Sip a drink on the terrace & enjoy fun rides. It’s getting a bit busy for summer… but still fun. A taste of our California. I’m a native😍… So Cal.. we are not all bad😂. 100 years of Mickey… not Disneyland- 68 years old.
    Visited June 2023
    Traveled solo
    Written June 22, 2023
  • angelakwilson78
    3 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Great place to play, eat and make memories!
    California Adventure for our family of mostly teens was wonderful. Get there early and use the Genie+ app to do rides all day. Food options were great. Incredicoaster and Guardians of the Galaxy were favorites, along with Goofy Sky School and the Symphony Swings. We were disappointed to only be able to do Cars ride once because of lines and Genie+ didn’t allow fast passes on it. But we spent a full day and everyone enjoyed the rides, the food and the ambiance. Highly recommend World of Color. Watch from the bridge with no extra charge but have someone scout a spot by 8pm for a 9:30 show. It’s worth it!! To see our youngest’s eyes light up was worth any inconvenience! Big kids loved it too!
    Visited June 2023
    Traveled with family
    Written July 5, 2023
  • SingaporeBms
    Singapore, Singapore351 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Great attractions but understaffed
    Haven’t been to the park in 4 years and we were impressed with the new attractions which display the best of Disney imaginering. What is lacking is enough staff to do the basics of keeping the park clean and pristine. Toilets were of questionable cleanliness and the plates piled up quickly when people were trying to self-clear their tables. For the amount Disney is charging customers this is just not acceptable.
    Visited July 2023
    Traveled with family
    Written July 7, 2023
  • Hitcher84
    Eureka, California1,472 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Amazing Theme Park
    I am not a theme park person, but the teens had a lot of fun at this place. It is part of the Disneyland Resort in California and literally across from the iconic Disneyland Park. While it is not as "classic" as Disneyland, it is just as amazing and I can see how some might like it better than Disneyland. The rides are generally more thrilling. Like Disneyland, the park is divided into several areas like Avenger Campus, Cars Land, and Pixar Pier. The Incredicoaster is a really nice roller coaster. Radiator Springs Racers is also a fun ride. Soar around the world is a flight simulation with a large screen that takes you to various sights around the world. The Spiderman ride is a fun, interactive experience, and the spiderman show is pretty cool. There is a Guardians of the Galaxy ride with a drop that is fun. The park closed a couple of hours before Disneyland, at ten.
    Visited July 2023
    Traveled with family
    Written July 21, 2023
These reviews are the subjective opinion of Tripadvisor members and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Popular mentions

4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles15,749 reviews
Excellent
10,555
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Average
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atlas993
Elk Grove, CA478 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2021 • Family
We’ve gone twice in the span of a month (second weekend of November and third weekend of December) and it is packed in these parks. If you are worried about crowds, you should NOT go to Disneyland. A good portion of people are wearing masks, but not everyone even though you are being asked to wear them anywhere indoors. The staff is fantastic and they are doing their best, but you can tell there are less staff than normal. In November we had park hoppers and in December we just did one park a day and because there are so few rides that we like in DCA, I prefer park hopper tickets and I’d do Genie+ for at least one day. I would highly recommend picking your must do (Web Slingers or Radiator Springs Racers) and get to the gates by 7:15am. You can get to the rope and be one of the first people on one of those rides, then just know you’re going to be waiting for awhile for the other ride later in the day. This is the park that you really need to get there in the morning and do as much as you can within the first few hours. After that, the wait times are going to be long for most of the rides. It’s a good park, but the lines get really long because there’s not as many rides as there are in Disneyland. I wouldn’t get Genie+ if you’re just going to be in DCA all day, but if you’re park hopping I’d tell you that it will make your day less stressful if you get it.
Written December 29, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

ArcadeDaddyO
Milpitas, CA66 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2022 • Family
When I reviewed Disneyland 11 years ago, I gave it five stars as during that time, the line wasn’t as crazy and Disney still had the fastpass which was free.

Unfortunately, they’ve monetized fastpass now (which is called lightning lane) and the most popular rides, expect to see 2.5 to 3 hours wait.

A couple tips if you decide to go.

1) The Disneyland app is a must just to reduce your time being in line. So convenient to order your food as well as to check wait times for rides.

2) Naptime for the kids/break time for the adults at the hotel. It helps a lot if you intend on being at the park until closing. The break just gives you and the kids to freshen up, eat and relax.

3) If you can spare the money, get the lightning lane for the ride that you or your kid/s really want to do. Being in line for at least an hour (or more!!) just drains you.
Written March 3, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

BushkaTexas
Texas551 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Sep 2021
It's been 5 years since we have been to DCA. We were there to celebrate 25 years of marriage. First if you are from out of state like we are the annual pass holders are back and fill up the park with all levels and no restrictions Mon-Thursday. I wish that out of town guests were allowed in the park one hour before the locals. We headed straight to Cars Land to radiator springs as that is the ride that still has the biggest backup. We arrived at the park 30 min. before rope drop as did everyone else. Luckily the wait was only 30 minutes to ride. Guardians is new for us and it was incredible. We also got to ride when they change over to Monsters after Dark in Oct. and also very good. The Avengers campus was fun for my husband who's a big fan especially later in the day when all the characters were out. Even without FP we were able to ride everything once between 8a-6p as they kick you out for the Halloween party which we were not going to pay for on top of the one day ticket. I wish they would bring back California Soarin as it's so much better than the world one which is very fake. Currently there's no shows or nighttime entertainment outside of the Halloween event and no parade. There is no social distancing in lines anymore so prepare to wear your masks even when outdoors as you are around a lot of people. Masks are mandatory inside. We were disappointed that this trip we couldn't afford to stay at a Disney hotel as they have greatly increased the prices that even as middle class we can't justify the cost. We stayed at a good neighbor hotel and walked.
Written October 4, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Dean_Amy-2004
Gettysburg, PA5,828 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jun 2021 • Family
Went with our 11-yr old granddaughter on our first Disneyland/CA Adventure visit. We arrived EARLY and were rewarded with being there for rope drop and allowed in 45 min before opening time. We immediately headed for Radiator Springs to ride the racers and then explored the rest of the park. We only had one day and did a park hopper to see both parks. While we didn’t see/do everything of course, we checked off all the food and ride to-dos we had and then some.
Currently no tram service or fast passes, but still had a great time. The reduced capacity and focus on Web Slingers allowed us to get on the less popular rides pretty quickly. If you’re a first time visitor, I’d recommend skipping the hype around webslingers and Avenger campus unless that’s really your thing. We decided to focus on all the other areas/rides and had a fabulous time! Highly recommended.
Written June 19, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Juan Toofree
Idaho28 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2020
I would love to know why anyone would build a park where the sun is so bright. We went there in the morning and it was so bright I had to wear sunglasses and put a cap on. Then later in the day when the sun finally started to go down I had to take my sunglasses off and put them back in my bag. It was so terribly inconvenient and not to mention we had to line up for the rides. No-one told me I would have to line up. PLUS, the park is way too big. They should get rid of 90% of the rides and people wouldn't have to walk so far.
Written September 26, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Marc C
9 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2022 • Family
We brought our 10 year old daughter to Disney land California, for her first trip to Disney, both my wife and myself have marvellous memories of Disney in Florida 15 years ago.
We have never felt more let down by an experience than California Disney.
Despite limiting the number of guests in the park, every area is extremely crowded, too much to move. The rides seem to break down or get stopped at a moment’s notice, and the waiting times are ridiculous, over 2 hours to get on the smugglers run ride, 30 minutes more than the estimated wait time.
You need to be aware before you come to the park that unless you buy a genie+ fast pass (30$ per day per guest), you will only ride as a standby passenger, and will not get on until everyone with fast pass is on, this can mean an extra 30 minutes after you get to the front of the queue.
The genie+ fast pass, which we tried one day, is difficult to use, you can only book one attraction at a time, and you may get a time slot many hours in the future, this means in a typical day you will end up with only 3 or 4 rides at best and assuming they don’t break down…
You should also be aware that the genie+ fast pass does not cover the most popular rides in each park, fast passes to these are an extra 20$ per person.
The cast members who previously made visiting Disney so special were in short supply, also almost all of the shows seem to have been cancelled.
In short, it was a waste of a lot of money, we will not be back.
Written December 30, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

MelBGood
4 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2022
A great park that can be explored in a day with Genie Plus and some careful planning. A bit disappointed that if you do not want to wait a ridiculious time to ride Radiator Springs or the Spiderman ride, you have to fork out anywhere from $15 to $20 more per person in addition to the amount paid for the Genie Plus service. The tiered service options are becoming similar to flying an economy airline - your base ticket may not cost you too much, but if you want to eat, pee or bring luggage - it will cost you double the initial quoted amount. It seems that Disney is taking a page out of the airline industry's playbook.

Aside from that, the park was clean, the rides had been maintained and refreshed since our last visit and the customer service was exceptional.
Written March 29, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

bellevue1
Lynnwood, WA904 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2021
We visited Disneyland/DCA 3days Hopper tickets with Genie plus and also purchased two individual LL for DCA. DCA was less crowded compared to Disneyland when we visited. Certainly get the Genie plus and arrive at rope drop will help.
We got the individual LL $18/each for Radiator Spring Racer (loved it) and Webslinger (not worth it) in my opinion.
Written December 25, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

kimekstrom
Ogden, UT200 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Sep 2021
Went on a Wednesday mid September. Lines were short and we got on most rides pretty quickly. I loved the Incridicoaster and Guardians of the Galaxy I had virtual queue times for the new Webslinger ride at 8:30. We arrived on time and moved to boarding quickly. We were next to board when the ride had a technical problem. After waiting about 10 minutes, they announced the ride would be closed for an extended period. Our electronic tickets were scanned and we were given priority boarding if the ride reopened. We got something to eat (schwarma, which I do not recommend) and went on another ride, checking back periodically. We returned at about 9:40 and were told the ride was unlikely to open, but it was not officially shut down (ride crew was still there). As we talked to the cast member at the entrance, we were told that it was increasingly unlikely , but there was always a chance right up to park closing. I honestly thought the chance was zero, but my 8 year old daughter wanted to ride so badly she wanted to wait until they kicked us out. My wife and I watched the clock outside the ride, waiting for it to turn 10:00 so we could leave. A few seconds after the clock turned 9:59, a supervisor came out and let about 30 of us who were milling around on the ride. The magic of that for my daughter was worth the price of admission by itself. We got directly on and had a great ride. As we got off, no one was waiting to board. It was just us few diehards that they let on. Thanks Disney.
Written September 12, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

SageAdvice24
San Diego, CA50 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2021
Having to maneuver Disneyland California Adventure during COVID was less daunting than I thought. EVERY SINGLE cast member was on top of every guest to make sure there was social distancing and proper mask-wearing while in the park. The custodians were on top of wiping down the table tops and chairs with a sanitizer and disposable thick paper towel. I felt safe and taken care of the entire time I was there. There were places to sanitize and wash your hands at every turn. There were cast members at every area to monitor social distancing. There were also cast members to help guide you to your destination, which proved to help when in between mobile orders.
Written April 1, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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Disney California Adventure Park - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

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