Disney California Adventure

Cars Land

A full-scale recreation of Radiator Springs against a man-made butte range, and the park's best single achievement.

Opened2012
Attractions3
Places to eat3
HeadlinerRadiator Springs Racers

Cars Land opened in June 2012 and is the reason this park stopped being a punchline. It is a complete street — Radiator Springs from the 2006 film, built at full scale with working neon, backed by Ornament Valley, a range of red rock buttes constructed out of steel and shotcrete that reads as real from anywhere in the park.

The three rides run from the outstanding to the ordinary: Radiator Springs Racers is the best attraction at the Disneyland Resort, Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters is a clever trackless dance, and Mater's Junkyard Jamboree is a carnival whip that hits harder than it looks. Both of the smaller rides carry a 32-inch requirement; the Racers requires 40 inches.

The land is at its best after dark. There is a moment each evening when the neon comes on across the whole street at once, and it is worth timing your evening to be standing in the middle of it when it happens. Ask any Cars Land cast member roughly when it will be.

The practical warning is heat. Cars Land is paved, walled with dark rockwork, and almost entirely unshaded. In summer it is the hottest place in the park by a noticeable margin.

Do not miss

Radiator Springs Racers, the best ride at the Disneyland Resort
The neon lighting sequence after dark
Chili Cone Queso at the Cozy Cone Motel
Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters and its trackless choreography
Flo's V8 Cafe's back patio facing the race track

Cars Land tips

Ask a cast member when the neon comes on and be standing on the main street when it does. It happens once a night and there is no announcement.
The Racers single rider line routinely cuts a 90-minute wait to under 25 minutes, and the ride randomizes which pit-stop scene you get, so riding twice is genuinely different.
The five Cozy Cone windows sell different things. Read the signs before you pick a line.
Buy water at Fillmore's on the way in. This land has the least shade in the park and the walk between rides is longer than it looks.

Attractions in Cars Land

Radiator Springs Racers

40"102cm

Dark ride · 5 min · Single Pass

The park's best ride: a slow-moving trip through Radiator Springs that ends in a side-by-side outdoor race across the rockwork.

Radiator Springs Racers opened with Cars Land in June 2012 and remains the most expensive and most technically accomplished attraction the Disneyland Resort has ever built. It runs on the same enhanced motion vehicle system as Test Track at EPCOT, but where that ride is a proving ground, this one is a narrative dark ride that happens to end with a race.

Tips for Radiator Springs Racers

This is a Lightning Lane Single Pass attraction, meaning it is bought per ride rather than covered by Multi Pass. If you only buy one Single Pass all day at this park, buy it for this.
The single rider line is excellent and badly underused — routinely 15 to 25 minutes against a 90-minute standby. Groups of two who ride separately lose almost nothing.
Ride once in daylight and once after dark if you can. The outdoor race section is a completely different experience under the neon, and the queue collapses in the final hour of the night.
The standby queue is the longest walk in the park and the outer switchbacks have no shade. If it is over 85 degrees, use single rider or Lightning Lane rather than standing in it.
Repeat visitors: the ride randomly sends you to either Ramone's paint shop or Luigi's tire shop before the race. Riding twice back to back is the only reliable way to see both, and the single rider line makes that cheap.

Full guide to Radiator Springs Racers →

Mater's Junkyard Jamboree

32"81cm

Spinner · 1½ min

A whip-style ride where tractor-drawn trailers swing between turntables — far more forceful than it looks.

Mater's Junkyard Jamboree is a Disney reworking of a classic carnival whip. Twenty-two small trailers are towed by baby tractors around a set of interlocking turntables, and every time the tractor changes turntables the trailer behind it slings out to the side. The result is a sequence of snapping lateral swings, one after another, for ninety seconds.

Tips for Mater's Junkyard Jamboree

Ride it at night. Cars Land's neon lighting is the best thing in the park after dark and this ride puts you in the middle of it for ninety seconds.
Put the smaller rider on the inside of the bench. The outside rider absorbs the swing; the inside rider gets crushed.
Each of the seven tractors has its own song. If you are riding with a kid who cares, ask the loading cast member which tractor is which — they know.
The queue is almost entirely unshaded and moves slowly for its length. In summer, do this after 6pm rather than in the afternoon.
It has a holiday overlay for part of the year with different music and decor; the version described here is the permanent one.

Full guide to Mater's Junkyard Jamboree →

Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters

32"81cm

Spinner · 2 min

Trackless dancing cars that pair off and swing through a choreographed routine on an open floor.

Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters replaced Luigi's Flying Tires in 2016, and the swap was a straight upgrade. The original was an air-hockey-style ride that broke down constantly and moved slower than most people could walk. The replacement uses trackless vehicle technology to send cars gliding across an open plaza in a choreographed dance, pairing up, circling and reversing in patterns.

Tips for Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters

There are three different dance routines with different music. If you want to see them all, ride back to back in the last hour of the night when the wait drops under fifteen minutes.
Watch from the queue rail before you ride. Seeing the pattern from outside is half the appeal and you cannot see it from inside a car.
The queue passes through Luigi's tire shop, which is packed with sight gags and Italian-language jokes on the wall calendars and posters. Read them rather than looking at your phone.
Under-7s need a rider 14 or older with them even though the height requirement is only 32 inches — a detail that catches out groups sending two kids together.
It runs a holiday overlay for part of the year with different music. The permanent, year-round version is what is described here.

Full guide to Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters →

Eating in Cars Land

Quick service · Cars Land

Flo's V8 Cafe

A 1950s roadside diner in Cars Land serving rotisserie plates, with the best view of Ornament Valley in the park.

$$Mobile order

CuisineAmerican diner
ReservationsNo reservations

Quick service · Cars Land

Cozy Cone Motel

Five orange traffic cones, each a separate food window, serving the park's most-photographed snacks.

$Mobile order

CuisineSnacks served in cones
ReservationsNo reservations

Snack cart · Cars Land

Fillmore's Taste-In

A hand-painted fruit and juice stand in Cars Land, themed to a hippie van and mercifully cheap.

CuisineFresh fruit and drinks
ReservationsNo reservations

Snacks worth stopping for

Chili Cone Queso

Cozy Cone Motel

$11.49

Beef chili and queso served inside a cone-shaped bread bowl, so the container is also the last few bites.

Our take: The rare photogenic park snack that is actually good. The bread holds up, the chili is properly seasoned, and it eats cleanly while walking to Radiator Springs Racers.

Do not leave without it Savory Walkable

Bacon Mac and Cheese Cone

Cozy Cone Motel

$11.99

Macaroni in a cheese sauce with bacon, packed into the same bread cone as the chili version.

Our take: Richer and heavier than the chili cone and better on a cool evening than a hot afternoon. If you are only having one cone, make it the chili.

Near the top of the list Savory Walkable

Cozy Cone Soft Serve

Cozy Cone Motel

$6.99

Standard soft serve from one of the five Cozy Cone windows, available in a cup or a cone.

Our take: Fine soft serve, and Cars Land is hot enough that fine is often all you need. Order it in a cup — a cone will not survive the walk in summer.

Sweet VegetarianGluten-friendly Walkable

Rotisserie Chicken Plate

Flo's V8 Cafe

$19.99

Half a rotisserie chicken with mashed potatoes and vegetables, served on a partitioned diner plate.

Our take: Competent comfort food and the most substantial plate you can get at this park without a reservation. Take it to the back patio facing the Racers track.

Savory Gluten-friendly

Veggie Tater Bake

Flo's V8 Cafe

$16.49

A baked casserole of potatoes and vegetables in a cheese sauce, served as a full entree rather than a side.

Our take: One of the better vegetarian quick-service plates at the resort, and it is on the main board rather than hidden. Heavy enough that you will not want to ride afterwards.

Savory Vegetarian

Bottled Juice at Fillmore's

Fillmore's Taste-In

$5.49

Chilled bottled juice from the hand-painted stand at the entrance to Cars Land.

Our take: Nothing special, but Cars Land is a paved canyon with no shade and this is the first cold thing you pass. Buy it on the way in, not three rides later.

Drink VeganVegetarianGluten-friendly Walkable

Nearby

Disney California Adventure map See where this land sits All attractions Every ride in Disney California Adventure Buena Vista Street The park's entrance street, rebuilt in 2012 as 1920s Los Angeles as Walt Disney would have found it. Hollywood Land The park's studio district, now thinner than it has ever been and built almost entirely around theaters.