Disney California Adventure is the second park at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, and the newest of the American Disney theme parks. Even though Disneyland has the name recognition, Disney California Adventure has some of the best Disney rides in the world. In this post, we provide a complete guide to all the rides (plus some other attractions) at Disney California Adventure.
If you’re looking for information on the rides at Disneyland park, we have a guide to those as well. We also have a plan for how to visit these rides in a single day in our one-day Disney California Adventure Itinerary.
We have a full post on Genie+ and Lightning Lanes at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, so if you’re looking to put together a complete Lightning Lane strategy you’ll want to read that post, too.
And if you’re traveling with little ones, you’ll also want to check the height requirements for every ride at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.
Best Rides at Disney California Adventure
This is a subjective list, but here are our top five rides at Disney California Adventure:
Radiator Springs Racers
Guardians of the Galaxy — Mission: BREAKOUT!
Toy Story Midway Mania!
Incredicoaster
Silly Symphony Swings
We cover all of these rides in detail below, so if you want to read more about them just keep reading (or CTRL+F straight to them). Onto the guide!
The Rides of Disney California Adventure
For each attraction, we give a “Riding it” style tip. For the most part, this will just tell you whether to:
visit at rope drop (read more about rope drop at Disney California Adventure)
get a Lightning Lane via Genie+
expect a short wait or
visit midday while waits across the park are long, the heat is high, and you’re waiting on your next Lightning Lane.
We also indicate, next to the ride names, whether these rides offer Lightning Lane or a single rider line.
Grizzly Peak
Grizzly Peak is one of the two major lands near the front of the park. From the main entrance, you’ll head down Buena Vista Street and make a right at the fountain to enter Grizzly Peak.
Passing through the land, you’ll exit in Paradise Gardens Park by The Little Mermaid. Guests who enter the park from Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa will enter directly into Grizzly Peak.
Soarin’ Around the World (Genie+ LL, Single Rider)
Height: 40” / 102cm
Type: Thrill / Screen / Motion Simulation
While not without its flaws, Soarin’ is a beautiful, thrilling experience. The ride takes you on a simulated hang gliding adventure featuring real scenes from around the world. Riding it, we consistently hear other guests marveling at the beauty of the ride.
Riding It: It’s usually best to grab a Lightning Lane for this one midday. We avoid it at rope drop because of its long load times, but on a slow day you’ll catch it at under 30 minutes a few hours into the day. Midday, be prepared for the entire experience to take 30+ minutes even with a Lightning Lane.
Grizzly River Run (Genie+ LL, Single Rider)
Height: 42” / 107cm
Type: River Rapids Raft Ride
Grizzly River Run is a rapids raft ride most similar to Kali River Rapids at Walt Disney World. You will get wet as your raft twists and turns down the Grizzly River.
Riding It: Waits and Lightning Lane availability for Grizzly River Run are highly weather-dependent, with it getting the most attention on warm days or during warm hours.
Typically you’ll want to try and grab a Lightning Lane for this midday when the heat is highest, but this can require precise timing, and it will be the busiest time of day. If you don’t want to risk missing it, visit it after Cars Land and Avengers Campus at rope drop. Waits are usually still short unless it’s already a hot day.
Redwood Creek Challenge Trail
Height: None
Type: Explorable Area
The Redwood Creek Challenge Trail is an explorable area that is essentially a ropes course for kids. Some activities are restricted to kids, but adults can definitely find some fun exploring the area.
Visiting It: Although it’s outdoors, this is a good midday activity, especially if you’re waiting on your Lightning Lane return time for Soarin’ or Grizzly River Run. It usually has limited hours, so don’t count on visiting too early or too late.
Hollywood Land
If you turn left at the fountain (right took you to Grizzly Peak), you’ll head into Hollywood Land. This land—mostly a single street—is home to just one ride but also a few other interesting attractions.
Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! (Genie+ LL)
Height: None
Type: Dark Ride
This is a dark ride through the story of Monsters, Inc. It has one or two notable effects, but you’re mostly here because (1) you love dark rides, (2) you love Monsters, Inc., or (3) you’re out of other rides at Disney California Adventure.
Riding It: There are four circumstances in which we ride this. First, if we’re getting off Guardians of the Galaxy, not pressed for time, and the wait is 5 minutes, we’ll get it out of the way.
Second, if we can catch it with a wait under 30 minutes after we’ve finished all the major rides, we’ll consider riding it. The limited ride selection at Disney California Adventure can mean this one gets way outsized waits.
Third, if we can book it on Genie+ we’ll ride it. It’s usually one of the lowest priorities in the park.
Finally, the ride sometimes (usually?) offers a “Buddy Pass” option, which is like single rider but for one or two people. Ask at the ride entrance if a Buddy Pass is available and you might be able to skip the line if you have one or two people.
Red Car Trolley
Height: None
Type: Transport
The Red Car Trolley actually has four stops. One is at the front of the park (enter the park, turn right), one is in the hub of the park, one is in the middle of Hollywood Land, by the Animation Building, and the last is just at the end of Hollywood Land, a few steps from Mission: BREAKOUT! This is a trolley ride through this part of the park—basically this park’s version of Main Street Vehicles.
Riding It: I like the trolley, but I haven’t personally found it to run a particularly reliable schedule. This could just be bad luck—maybe I always wind up waiting at the wrong end of the route. But since it is point-to-point with sometimes lengthy stops at either end, I usually wouldn’t plan to ride it unless I could see it heading to a stop.
Mickey’s PhilharMagic at Sunset Showcase Theatre
Height: None
Type: 3D Show
The Sunset Showcase Theatre is located behind Award Wieners, near the Monsters, Inc. ride. It’s currently home to Mickey’s PhilharMagic, a 12-minute 3D show featuring music from your favorite Disney films.
Watching It: This show rarely (if ever) will have a wait, so you just want to try to avoid walking in right after one show starts. Otherwise, consider visiting during the peak afternoon heat.
Animation Theatre Attractions
The next three attractions are all indoors and located in a single building—the Animation Theatre. The building is also home to an Anna & Elsa character greeting.
Animation Academy
Height: None
Type: Drawing Course
The Animation Academy is one of the attractions inside the Animation Theatre. Every 30 minutes, a class assembles for a 15 to 20-minute course on drawing a character. The schedule of characters is posted outside the classroom.
Visiting It: You can swing by most anytime during operational hours and expect no wait. Classes are at the top and bottom of the hour. For more popular characters (e.g. Mickey), you may want to arrive about 15 minutes, or even earlier, to be safe.
Sorcerer’s Workshop
Height: None
Type: Interactive Space
The Sorcerer’s Workshop is one of the attractions inside the Animation Theatre. The interactive space has a few activities, but the highlight for us is drawing our own zoetrope—we try and make one every time we visit.
Visiting It: Walk through it when you want to get out of the sun or before or after another Theatre attraction. If it isn’t for you, you can quickly leave.
Turtle Talk With Crush
Height: None
Type: Interactive Show
Turtle Talk With Crush is a really fun show for kids. The physical setup is simple: a screen featuring Crush (from Finding Nemo) and seating for an audience. But the actual show is interactive, allowing members of the audience (mostly kids) to have improvised dialogues with Crush. While not thrilling, it is cool technology featuring a character most of us love.
Visiting It: Shows are held every half hour.
Avengers Campus
At the end of Hollywood Land, you’ll reach Avengers Campus. The first ride you’ll see is Guardians of the Galaxy — Mission: BREAKOUT!, the elevator drop ride that pre-dates the rest of the land.
Guardians of the Galaxy — Mission: BREAKOUT! (Genie+ LL)
Height: 40” / 102cm
Type: Thrill / Elevator Drop
Guardians of the Galaxy — Mission: BREAKOUT! is a high-thrill elevator drop ride. The ride was formerly the Tower of Terror before being reimagineered into its current story. While we have a deep appreciation for the eerie suspense of Hollywood Studios’s Tower of Terror attraction, Mission: BREAKOUT! is an undoubtedly exciting, fun, fresh take on the ride. Radiator Springs Racers is probably the better ride, but Mission: BREAKOUT! is our personal favorite at the park.
Riding It: Mission Breakout is one of our highest priorities not just because it is popular, but because we think’s it’s so good that it’s worth riding twice if possible. If you have Early Entry, you’ll probably want to ride it during that time and then again with Genie+ later on. If you don’t have Early Entry, we still think it can be worth making it one of your first two rides of the day to make it easier to fit a second ride in later.
WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure (Genie+ LL, Single Rider)
Height: None
Type: Dark screen / game ride
WEB SLINGERS is the only new ride that came to the park as part of the Avengers Campus expansion (another was planned, but we haven’t heard about it in years). The ride is a game-style screen dark ride, in the style of Toy Story Midway Mania (trying to hit targets on the screen), but with the twist that you don’t need a cannon or blaster or anything like that—simply flinging your arms at the screen (like Spider-Man) is enough to fling your spiderweb at the targets (which happen to be robotic spiders).
It’s a fun, novel concept, but you might wind up just straining your arm and wondering what just happened. It’s an intense experience—our 2.5-year-old screamed the whole time and was terrified in the pre-shows—that can kind of get lost in game aspect.
Riding It: WEB SLINGERS is usually pretty easy to get a Lightning Lane for, but it’s also located in the area of the park where you’re likely to be spending the start of your morning. We wouldn’t head there first—that’s a time reserved for Mission: BREAKOUT or Radiator Springs Racers—but WEB SLINGERS can be one of the first few rides in your day.
Cars Land
Cars Land is one of Disney’s most beautiful lands. The scenery alone make Cars Land worth a visit, but it’s also home to the best rides in the park—Radiator Springs Racers.
Radiator Springs Racers (Individual Lightning Lane, Single Rider)
Height: 40” / 102cm
Type: Thrill / Racing / Dark Ride
Radiator Springs Racers is arguably the best ride at all of Disneyland Resort. It’s is altogether a scenic outdoor ride, a fun and surprising dark ride, and a fantastic thrill ride.
With Mission: BREAKOUT!, it’s one of two must-ride attractions at Disney California Adventure, and easily one of the best Disney rides in the world.
Riding It: You probably either rope drop Radiator Springs Racers, or you buy an Individual Lightning Lane for it. Generally, we think this is the Individual Lightning Lane that is most “worth it” at Disneyland resort, balancing price, quality of ride, and value of freeing your morning up for other activities.
Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters
Height: 32” / 81cm
Type: Trackless Dancing Vehicles
While I’ll say that I’ve seen kids who love this ride (including my own), I don’t get it at all. This is a trackless “dancing car” ride. Basically you sit in a car that “dances” with other cars on a platform. There’s some spinning, some back and forth, some side to side, and so on.
Riding It: The location in Cars Land, popularity with small children, and very low capacity gives this one long wait times. Typically we try and ride it early in the morning (the first two hours of the park being open). Right after Radiator Springs Racers (or before it if you’re using a Lightning Lane for Radiator Springs Racers) is a good time.
Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree
Height: 32” / 81cm
Type: Spinning
This is like a Mad Tea Party-lite ride. The vehicles swerve around the platform and have an extra element of swing to them, but you usually won’t leave completely discombobulated. This is the same ride system as Alien Swirling Saucers at Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios.
Riding It: Though it isn’t as popular as Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters, waits can get high midday. Typically we try and ride it in tandem with the other two Cars Land rides in the morning.
San Fransokyo
San Fransokyo is a centralized land in Disney California Adventure that is mostly just for dining. It has no rides and only one attraction.
The Bakery Tour
Height: None
Type: Walkthrough
The Bakery Tour is a walkthrough tour (with a film and display signs) of the park’s sourdough bread bakery.
Visiting It: You can pass through anytime during operational hours. It will probably require ten minutes, maybe less, to read all the displays.
Paradise Gardens Park
Paradise Gardens Park is one of two lands in the far back of the park—the other being Pixar Pier (these two lands used to be just Paradise Pier). The rides at Paradise Gardens Park among the least popular in the park, but they all have enjoyable elements.
The Little Mermaid ~ Ariel’s Undersea Adventure
Height: None
Type: Dark Ride
This is a dark ride through the story of the Little Mermaid. Best we can tell, it is identical to the Magic Kingdom ride Under the Sea ~ Journey of the Little Mermaid except for some minor narration changes.
Visiting It: If you can walk on it later in the morning, go ahead. We usually save it for the evening and ride it while waiting for World of Color. Only Little Mermaid zealots should consider waiting more than 20 minutes for it.
Golden Zephyr
Height: None
Type: Multi-rider Circle Swing
The best way to describe Golden Zephyr is just to show you the below picture. As you can see, it’s a swing ride with 12-person vehicles. It’s a fun little ride, but unfortunately it can’t operate in even the mildest windy conditions (as the old proverb goes, a butterfly flaps its wings in China and Golden Zephyr has to close for an hour). This can cause skewed wait times as it opens and closes throughout the day, but generally it isn’t too popular. Guests who enter the park from the Pixar Place Hotel entrance will enter right by Golden Zephyr.
Riding It: This is among the lowest priorities, with waits very rarely exceeding 20 minutes and usually just 5 minutes. On slow days, walk on it in the morning with no wait. On busier days, you’ll probably wind up pushing it into the afternoon for a 15-minute wait.
Goofy’s Sky School (Genie+ LL, Single Rider)
Height: 42” / 107cm
Type: Kiddie Coaster
Goofy’s Sky School is a kiddie coaster that is sort of like Primeval Whirl (formerly at Disney’s Animal Kingdom) without all the awful aspects. Okay, there’s still some jerkiness, but it’s not completely terrible.
Riding It: As the least popular ride on Genie+, you’re usually best grabbing a midday to late Lightning Lane for this one rather than wasting any time on it earlier in the day. That said, it is often a walk-on for the first 30 to 60 minutes of the day, and you might hop on while in the area anyways.
Jumpin’ Jellyfish
Height: 40” / 102cm
Type: Small Drop
Jumpin’ Jellyfish is a small, outdoor drop ride. You sit in a small carriage under a jellyfish, are raised a small height, and then dropped (pretty slowly) a few times. The best part is if you grab one with a view facing the rest of the park.
Riding It: Same as Golden Zephyr—this is among the lowest priorities, with waits rarely exceeding 20 minutes. On slow days, walk on it in the morning with no wait. On busier days, you’ll probably wind up pushing it into the afternoon for a 15-minute wait.
Silly Symphony Swings
Height: 40” / 102cm
Type: Swings
Silly Symphony Swings is a classic waterfront swing ride. It’s definitely worth a ride for the views and the overall pleasant experience.
Riding It: Again, this is another low-priority ride. We’ll often stack these in the morning if we can get right through them, but you may need to push it into the afternoon on busier days.
Pixar Pier
Pixar Pier is the newest land in Disney California Adventure…sort of. The land is a reimaingeered piece of the former Paradise Pier.
Incredicoaster (Genie+ LL, Single Rider)
Height: 48” / 122cm
Type: Roller Coaster
Incredicoaster is a reimagineering of the “California Screamin’” coaster. As a roller coaster, it’s fine. It features a few cool turns and one loop. As an Incredibles ride, it’s fun, with enjoyable appearances by most of the characters. Its popularity has faded a bit since its debut.
Riding It: Incredicoaster is a mid-priority Lightning Lane at the park. While it could be a ride you head to early, its location far from the front of the park means you’ll usually be getting there a little late. If you don’t have Genie+, the single rider line is an okay alternative to the regular standby line.
Toy Story Midway Mania! (Genie+ LL)
Height: None
Type: Dark Ride / 3D Carnival Games
Toy Story Midway Mania! is a fun-for-all-ages carnival 3D carnival-style game attraction. You and a partner (along with the two people on the other side of your vehicle) ride through five carnival games, using your cannon to throw/shoot/toss virtual objects at targets to score points.
Riding It: As the best family ride at Disney California Adventure, Toy Story Midway Mania! always commands a long wait and relatively slim Genie+ availability. Because of its location in the back of the park, it’s usually going to make sense to grab this one with your third or maybe fourth Lightning Lane, rather than rushing there to start your day.
Pixar Pal-A-Round (Two Versions)
Height: None
Type: Ferris Wheel
“Pixar Pal-A-Round” is just a new name given to Mickey’s Fun Wheel, the large Ferris wheel. There are two versions of the ride. The non-swinging cars are standard Ferris wheel cabins. They swing a little bit, but nothing more than an ordinary Ferris wheel.
The swinging cars are a much more exciting experience. These roll along rails that take them toward the center of the wheel and back out again as it rotates (the pic below better shows this).
Riding It: Pixar Pal-A-Round is a tough one. It will take ten to fifteen minutes to ride, depending on how loading and unloading goes. It also doesn’t have a Lightning Lane.
Basically, if you don’t mind walking back and forth from it, push it later into your morning, say 90 minutes to 2 hours into the park’s day. But if you’re thinking you’d rather not be running back and forth, just hop on it when you’re by Incredicoaster and Toy Story Midway Mania!, it won’t ruin your morning.
Jessie’s Critter Carousel
Height: None
Type: Carousel
Jessie’s Critter Carousel is a Pixar / critters take on a standard carousel.
Riding It: You can do this one at pretty much any time in the day. On very crowded days, expect waits to top out around 20 minutes. Most days it will stay around 5 to 10 minutes.
Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind
Height: None
Type: Aerial Carousel / Swing
Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind is a hybrid aerial carousel / swing ride where you can sit backwards if you want.
Riding It: You can do this one at pretty much any time in the day. On crowded days, expect waits to top out around 20 minutes. Most days it will stay around 5 to 10 minutes.
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Know what to ride with our: Disneyland Rides Guide and Disney California Adventure Rides Guide. And just as important, know how to get on the best rides without the wait with our Disneyland and Disney California Adventure FASTPASS and MaxPass Strategy! For the complete guides to a day at the park, we have a One Day Disneyland Itinerary and a One Day Disney California Adventure Itinerary.
We always recommend arriving at the parks early. If you can get access to Extra Magic Hour at Disney California Adventure or Extra Magic Hour and Magic Morning at Disneyland, you’ll have the most time in the parks. Even without those bonus hours, you’ll need to know Rope Drop Strategy at Disneyland and Rope Drop Strategy at Disney California Adventure.
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