California Adventure's Stepsister Park

The Matterhorn Bobsleds will have to wait. So will seeing the Jolly Holiday Bakery and any other parade or special event. My next trip to the Disneyland Resort will be dedicated solely to the reborn California Adventure. And let me be this honest about it: I think at least for a few years, I will skip Disneyland in favor of the newer park. Yes, my beloved Disneyland will- at least for the near future- become the stepsister to California Adventure as the main attraction.

Usually my visits to the resort are for one day plus an afternoon wandering around Downtown Disney. Since I anticipate no change in this pattern for awhile, its Cars Land and Radiator Springs Racers over Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, and Indiana Jones Adventure. I'll be taking in Buena Vista Street over Main Street and the Golden State over Adventureland and Frontierland.

This also means my money will go to the restaurant at the Carthay Circle Theater instead of the Blue Bayou, and I'll skip a Dole Whip in favor of a treat over at Clarabelle's.

In jumping from Disneyland across the Esplanade to California Adventure, my expectations will also change parks. I'll be banking on being wowed again by World of Color, being thrilled by California Screamin', and fully expect Ariel's Undersea Adventure to fill the gap left by Peter Pan's Flight.

In short, the magic needs to be there- and I'm betting with my money that it will. So is The Walt Disney Company and the Imagineering division in particular. All $1Billion plus of it!