Christmas is Coming…to Disney California Adventure 2.0!

Disney California Adventure 2.0 has been the big Disney news story of 2012, and for good reason. Recently, rumors have been confirmed that Cars Land and Buena Vista Street will be receiving lavish Christmas overlays. Temporary light poles are being installed on the right side of the street in Cars Land for, presumably, a Main Street Style garland spread, and each shop will receive decorations unique to the character that runs the shop’s personality. Buena Vista Street will receive period-specific decorations (and if they’re anything like the other Buena Vista Street props, they’ll be amazing) and will be the new home to the Disney California Adventure Christmas tree. This will be a stark contrast to Christmas 2011 at Disney California Adventure, when a Christmas tree in Paradise Pier, giant decorations in ‘a bug’s land’, the Prep & Landing World of Color tag, and this garland at the entrance were the only real signs of Christmas in the park. Of course, the huge change should come as no surprise in what has been a year of huge changes for the ugly duckling turned swan of the US Disney parks.

If you’ve followed this site for a while, you know that I’m a huge fan of Christmas in Disneyland. You also know that I am a huge fan of what Disney California Adventure has become. I think Cars Land (photos) and Buena Vista Street (photos) are two incredibly photogenic lands, and I’m excited about the prospect of seeing these new lands with the added wrinkle of similarly photogenic Christmas decorations. It may sound odd, but I’m almost as excited about seeing Disney California Adventure at Christmas as I am about seeing New Fantasyland!

As of right now, unfortunately, we have no trip planned to Disneyland Resort this Christmas season, and I’m not really sure when we’ll be able to go. During the Christmas season, we have other trips planned, so from a practical standpoint, the only time we could really go is from Friday to Sunday on one of the couple of weekends before Christmas. (Yeah, I know, not going to get any sympathy on this “hardship.”) Thanks to an excellent sale on Southwest and AirTran airfare a couple of weeks ago, we’ll be doing weekend getaways like this to Atlanta and Washington, D.C. in January, but those flights were under $100 roundtrip each, so they were pretty easy to stomach (by the way, if anyone has weekend recommendations for either place, please let us know!) Given the cost of flights and traveling to California in general, though, it’s tough to rationalize a weekend trip to Disneyland Resort. Hopefully something works itself out, but if not, make sure you share all of your Disney California Adventure Christmas photos if you head out there this year so that we can live vicariously through them!

Technical details: Nikon D7000 and Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 Lens. See our Disney Photography Guide for more photography equipment recommendations.

Like this Disney photo? Use the “Like,” “Share,” and “Pin It” buttons on this page to show it to your friends!


12 Responses to “Christmas is Coming…to Disney California Adventure 2.0!”
  1. Heather Weihl October 24, 2012
    • Tom Bricker October 25, 2012
  2. Chelsea October 23, 2012
    • Tom Bricker October 24, 2012
  3. Katie October 23, 2012
    • Tom Bricker October 24, 2012
  4. Bryan October 23, 2012
    • Tom Bricker October 24, 2012
  5. mandapanda October 23, 2012
    • Tom Bricker October 24, 2012
  6. Scott October 23, 2012
    • Tom Bricker October 24, 2012

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *