The New Buena Vista Street California Adventures

California Adventures had a facelift in a few areas. If you haven’t been in a while it’s the perfect time to go back and find all of the hidden Mickeys and changes they have made to the entrance and main street.

Interview with Lisa Girolami, Senior Director of the Buena Vista Street project.

“One of the main things we’re trying to do with Buena Vista Street is create an emotional connection for guests when they walk in,” explained Lisa Girolami, senior show producer and director, Walt Disney Imagineering. “We want people to take in the architecture and the color and the ornamentation, to know where they are and what time it is. The whole street comes alive to put you right there in the steps of Walt when he first stepped off the train in California, with all the optimism and opportunity he felt was there for him at the time.”

“What we decided was, um, for the main entry, is that we needed a stronger sense of place and time. We also needed a stronger kind of connection back to Walt. So it’s a two-part design of the street, with both of those things in mind. We also wanted to create a complement to Main Street in Disneyland. And with Main Street in Disneyland being patterned, the way Walt wanted to create a sort of idealized Marceline, Missouri, his home town. That’s what we hope you think about when going down Main Street in Disneyland or Walt Disney World and in Magic Kingdom.”

“Mortimer’s Market, for instance, is our fruit market. If you look up on the top, we’ve layered in little clues and little details that, for instance if you’re a kid, you just want to have a visceral experience. You know, kids don’t necessarily care about trivia, history and all that. They just want to see beautiful objects and characters as they run down the street and just kind of feel it. But the adults will see all the details and if they are true history buffs of Disney they will look at it and just Get It.

Entertainment to notice on Buena Vista Street

“The Red Car News Boys” roll into town on shiny Red Car Trolleys, singing “California, Here I Come!” and other fun tunes from the 1920s and ‘30s. The News Boys also deliver the latest “headlines,” in the Buena Vista Daily Bugle.

The citizens of Buena Vista Street – a cast of L.A./Hollywood “characters” out of the 1920s and ‘30s – interact with guests, creating impromptu laughs, smiles and memories.

· The musical group Five & Dime adds all that jazz to Carthay Circle “On the Sunny Side of the Street.” This ensemble of friends and relations, led by a vivacious singer named Dime, has travelled Route 66 all the way from Chicago in hopes of making it big. Like everyone who comes to Buena Vista Street, great things await them just around the corner.

Now I’m going to let you loose to find your own hidden Mickeys in the new Buena Vista Street in California Adventures.

Thank you to Disney and Disneyland for providing a day full of fun at California Adventures.