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| Cars Land at the California Adventure |
Not too long ago I was able to enjoy a short trip to California, with some time spent at Disneyland. One thing I love about the resort is there really is a little bit of everything for everyone. Of course I'm a car guy, but the good news is there is car stuff at Disneyland. Anyone who has been to the park in the past few decades or so knows about Autotopia, the ride where you get to drive an internal combustion miniature car through an outdoor course. The car is kept on the pathway with some rails, which you can slam into pretty hard if you really jerk the wheel. Autotopia is a tribute to some old-time car culture, including the retro designs of the cars you get to drive. If you haven't been to Disneyland, I highly suggest going and checking out Autotopia.
There are a number of automotive related pieces of merchandise you can purchase at the park, like an I-5 Mickey Mouse road sign and a pin that's a Mickey Mouse made of car parts.
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| The Cozy Cone Motel |
California Adventure has one new area that is all about automotive stuff: Cars Land. Remember the Pixar Cars movie? Some people loved it, others hated it. Well, the movies have been popular enough that Disney built a whole new section of the California Adventure that is a recreation of Radiator Springs. I have to say I was a little skeptical about Cars Land before I really spent some time there since I'm not a huge fan of Cars (but I don't hate it, either). You get to walk down the smooth-as-glass main street Lightning McQueen paved himself and see the various shops owned by the citizens of Radiator Springs. You can even have a meal at Flo's V8 Cafe (although I skipped that once I saw the outrageous prices).
I did, however, pop for a drink at the Cozy Cone Motel, mostly because the drink came in an orange traffic cone that for some inexplicable reason still seems cool. One of the shops there carried all kinds of automotive merchandise, including books about Route 66 that looked interesting. I will definitely have to go back to Cars Land and take it all in with more detail since I didn't have as much time as I would have liked, or as much money as I would have liked for my trip.
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| As you can see, the Cozy Cone has cone-themed decorations everywhere |
