Cars Land lifts the curtain

Although Cars Land at Disney California Adventure won’t open to the public until Friday, the theme park threw an invitation-only gala on Wednesday evening.

The clip above from CBS Los Angeles gets you started. Also, the Los Angeles Times reported in its review:

Like opening the door to Oz, walking into Cars Land at DisneyCalifornia Adventure is like stepping into a real-life version of the fictional town of Radiator Springs from the 2006 animated movie. […]

While most people will approach the new land from the impressive photo-op entrance along Route 66, I prefer entering from the Pacific Wharf food court area, where you can truly appreciate the immense scope of the immersive 125-foot-tall Cadillac Range. It’s almost as if the 280,000-square-foot, crescent-shaped rock-work mountain reaches out and hugs you.

The last time I was this impressed by a theme park land was when I walked into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal’s Islands of Adventure in Orlando.

And this made me chuckle:

Next door at the Radiator Springs Curio Shop, the front of the store bristles with a cacophony of “last chance” signs typical of a Route 66 roadside souvenir stand. The visual chaos of the shop stands in stark contrast to the meticulously manicured environment favored in Disney theme parks. In fact, much of Cars Land looks like just the type of rundown and ramshackle tourist trap Walt Disney abhorred.

Here’s an Associated Press report about Cars Land:

Tiny details such as radiator caps on stanchions or references to Pixar cofounder Ed Catmull (a neon sign says “Catmull Oil”) give Pixar buffs endless fodder to revel in.

“If you’re a little kid and you just want to have that visceral enjoyment … you’ll have that, but if you’re a Disney-phile and you really want to get those deep, deep, deep stories, they’re here too,” said Lisa Girolami, senior show producer of Walt Disney Imagineering, on a recent tour.

And SoCal Adventures and Thrills has been busy posting videos. Here’s a close-up of the Cozy Cone, Flo’s V8 Cafe, Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree, and Radiator Springs Racers:

And Dawn Welch, owner of the Rock Cafe in Stroud, Okla., has been posting to a new blog, Cars Land or Bust, with her kitchen manager Beverly from the road and before the gala.

UPDATE: Excepts from Disney’s official news release about the Cars Land gala:

Grand opening ceremonies began with an onscreen remote broadcast of “Cars” stars Lightning McQueen and Mater racing across the highways of America on their way to welcome guests at the premiere. Iger and Staggs welcomed voice talent from the movie on the stage leading up to a spectacular grand finale – the arrival of Lightning and Mater in Cars Land, a chorus of roller-skaters and dancing mechanics, the electrifying light-up of the neon signs that line Route 66, and a stunning fireworks display over the mountain range of Ornament Valley. […]

“We want guests to think they are on this great road trip and, in a way, almost like they are going home,” said Kathy Mangum, executive producer of Cars Land. “Cars Land will feel very familiar in so many different ways. I can’t tell you how many people have seen it and said ‘I can’t believe I am in Anaheim.” […]

“A lot of the places you will find only inside Cars Land, so we took the theming and storytelling all the way through, in a way that guests will feel as if the town is being operated by the characters,” Mangum said. “Everywhere you look there is a funny little car nod. After all, it is a land built by cars.”

Many of the automotive winks were inspired by a research trip Imagineers took along Route 66. Others were inspired by working with the animators from Pixar. […]

The road leading into Cars Land is dotted with large animated neon signs reminiscent of the ’50s era of cross-country travel along Route 66. As with other aspects of the land, the neon signs are three-dimensional representations of recognizable landmarks from the movie “Cars,” and they come to life each night at sundown when it’s cruisin’ time along the boulevard.

“Cars” fans and other interested shoppers will find a great selection of Cars Land and other Disney and Disney●Pixar gifts and souvenirs at the “local” retail shops in Radiator Springs. Although the interiors of most of these locales weren’t seen in the movie, they were created for Cars Land by Walt Disney Imagineers with their characteristic attention to detail, drawing on inspiration from vintage stops along historic Route 66.

Sarge’s Surplus Hut offers a broad selection of merchandise – kids clothing, costumes, hats, toys and plush – featuring Lightning McQueen, Mater and other “Cars” characters. Radiator Springs Curios is a country-style mercantile with special appeal for collectors of pins themed to all things “Cars.” The shop also stocks magnets, antenna toppers and license plate frames. Ramone’s House of Body Art features the signature items of the Low & Slow Car Club and Champion Custom Speed Shop collections in t-shirts, work shirts, hats and accessories.

Dining options in Cars Land include Flo’s V8 Cafe, modeled on the quirky roadside eateries along old Route 66. The cafe serves full meals from a quick-service counter. A windowed “showroom” dining area and adjoining outdoor patio offer a breathtaking view of the Cadillac Mountain Range and the vehicles zooming by in Radiator Springs Racers. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served at Flo’s, and specialties include chicken tamale with scrambled eggs, brioche French toast with salted caramel and bananas, home-style rotisserie classics such as pork loin or New York strip loin, plus the house-made Pie-O-Rama for dessert.

The distinctive, orange “cone” architecture of Sally’s Cozy Cone Motel offers quick service cone-themed snacks from five different cones, including ice cream cones, chile “cone” queso, pop “cone” and other “cone”-coctions. Fillmore’s Taste-in celebrates the Cars Land “new age” hippie-van-in-residence. His food and beverage kiosk offers the “high-octane” natural health benefits of fresh fruits, bottled water and juices.

This convinces me all the more that Cars Land will inspire visitors to find the real Route 66.