Pixar Pier and Paradise Gardens Park


Pixar Pier and Paradise Gardens Park are themed lands at Disney California Adventure, based on that of Victorian boardwalks that were once found along the coast of California. Despite its name and the presence of a nearby man-made lake, Pixar Pier is not actually a pier, but a waterside area of the park. Incredicoaster sprawls across much of the area, with various other attractions and forms of entertainment scattered around it.
The area opened as Paradise Pier in 2001 along with the rest of the theme park. A new attraction, Toy Story Midway Mania!, opened on June 17, 2008. The attraction was the first in a series of theming upgrades to the land and park as a whole. This was followed by changes to the Sun Wheel to become Mickey's Fun Wheel, removing the ears of the Mickey head behind California Screamin’s vertical loop, and new Games of the Boardwalk in 2009. In 2010, World of Color and Silly Symphony Swings were added. To complete the Paradise Pier makeover, Disney opened Goofy's Sky School and.
Part of Paradise Pier was reimagined as Pixar Pier, which opened on June 23, 2018. The area that includes Paradise Gardens, Goofy’s Sky School, Silly Symphony Swings, Jumpin' Jellyfish, Golden Zephyr, and The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure was renamed Paradise Gardens Park.

History

When the park first opened in 2001, Paradise Pier originally resembled a modern seaside amusement park, similar to that of the Santa Monica Pier, or Santa Cruz Boardwalk. As part of the Disney California Adventure $1.1 billion expansion project, Paradise Pier was re-themed to evoke the charm of Victorian era seaside amusement parks of the 1920s.
The first change was the addition of Toy Story Midway Mania!, which opened on June 17, 2008. The boardwalk games were then re-themed to incorporate more familiar Disney characters, and the Sun Wheel was transformed into Mickey's Fun Wheel with a new color scheme, new lighting effects, and a "pie-eyed" Mickey Mouse face replacing the original sun face. Following these changes, the "Route 66" area was completely re-themed, with the "S.S. rustworthy", and "Dinosaur Jack's Sunglass Shack" being completely demolished. The Orange Stinger underwent extensive re-theming to become Silly Symphony Swings, based on Walt Disney's 1935 short film The Band Concert. Silly Symphony Swings opened on May 28, 2010. Cosmetic changes were also made to California Screamin': the Mickey Mouse silhouette was altered to represent a sunburst pattern, with a large Paradise Pier sign hanging above the loop, and the scream tubes were also repainted a darker shade of blue.
Walt Disney Imagineering created World of Color, a new nighttime spectacular featuring fountains and projection effects, for Paradise Bay. An area on the northern waterfront was repurposed into a viewing area for the show, known as Paradise Park. World of Color premiered on June 11, 2010, and plays nightly.
—which replaced Golden Dreams—opened June 3, 2011. As of November 2010, Mulholland Madness was closed and reopened July 1, 2011, as "Goofy’s Sky School", inspired by Walt Disney's 1940 short film Goofy's Glider.
On June 23, 2018, part of Paradise Pier reopened as Pixar Pier, inspired by films from Pixar Animation Studios. California Screamin' became the Incredicoaster, Mickey's Fun Wheel opened as the Pixar Pal-A-Round, with Pixar characters on its gondolas, and Jessie's Critter Carousel opened in 2019 taking the place of King Triton's carousel. The Maliboomer closed in 2010 and was unused garden space until it was replaced by the Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind attraction in 2019.

Pixar Pier features

Attractions and entertainment

Attractions and entertainment

Former attractions