Top Ten Attractions of Disney California Adventure #1 (HM)

Beginning the Best of the Resort series, we begin with the top ten attractions of Disney California Adventure Park.  When this park first opened on February 8, 2001, it was ill received by many but has since become a great theme park on its own, mainly due in part to the 1.1 Billion dollar overhaul that was announced in 2007 and was completed on June 15, 2012 with the rededication of the park.   A good number of attractions on my list come from the overhaul of the park that took place between those years, though a few original opening day attraction make the list as well.  My list for this park is based upon five categories of criteria: 1) Nostalgia, 2) Popularity, 3) Entertainment Value, 4) Engineering/Technological Value, and 5) My personal view upon the attraction.  As far as the five categories go, nostalgia doesn't really apply to Disney California Adventure yet in my mind as it is such a new attraction.  With that in mind, lets begin this list and see the best attractions that the Disneyland Resort's second gate has to offer:

Honorable Mention: Silly Symphony Swings

     So for this list, I only have one honorable mention to go along with the list (I am limiting myself to a maximum of two brief honorable mentions for each list of ten items) and that would go to Silly Symphony Swings in Paradise Pier.  This attraction first opened with the park in 2001 as the Orange Stinger, a standard wave swinger type attraction that was inside a huge orange "peel" and featured the buzzing of bees.  After the renovation of the park, the attraction re emerged as the Silly Symphony Swings in 2010, rethemed to the cartoons that are it's namesake.  

     Overall, I enjoy wave swinger rides in general at any park I go to, whether it's a generic wave swinger or the new giant swing rides that can be found at several parks now.  Silly Symphony Swings is a huge improvement in my opinion over it's predecessor and even though its still the same ride, the soundtrack, new boardwalk, and cartoon theming make it even better.  However, that being said, in a list of ten attractions at the park, I feel like there are several that slightly edge out this attraction but nevertheless, remains a great family attraction at Paradise Pier that always in my experience has manageable wait times.

Best of the Resort

Something new that I'm introducing for Dustylanding as it's first feature is the "Best of the Resort".  Essentially, this will be what I consider to be a glorified Top Ten list for each and every aspect of the Disneyland Resort.  I don't know how often I will do this (hopefully once a week) but I do know that the first list will be the Top Ten Attractions of Disney California Adventure Park.  I will do this in chunks of six for each list, starting with two Honorable Mentions (if applicable to that particular list) and then working my way down to the end in groups of two and I hope to have the first part of the California Adventure list up real soon.   I hope you'll join us for upcoming lists, as I have several lined up including Attractions of Disneyland Park, Area Music Loops, and Counter Service Restaurants.

Welcome to Dustylanding!

Hi everyone!  Welcome to Dustylanding, my personal blog about my thoughts, ideas, and reviews on the Disney parks, particularly Disneyland Park in Anaheim.  Previously, I had some Disney content on my older site (tfn5459.webs.com) but now I have Dustylanding as a specific blog for the all that content.  The old site will now become the Railroads of Disneyland, dedicated specifically to the railroads of Disneyland while my "general" park content will move over here.  Hope you will join along and enjoy some of the upcoming content!