This is Curmudgeon Steve, signing off.
Ok, maybe I'm still a little buzzed from it all, but I'm joining the bandwagon and declaring DCA a ... oh, can I even type the words? ... a successful Disney theme park. OMG!!
By now, we all know Buena Vista Street and Cars Land are beautiful. I'm so glad that I first experienced BV Street at twilight, when it was gloriously magical, and Cars Land at Route 66 Neon Cadillac Range Nightmosphere, when it was spectacularly gorgeous.
Racers is - d'uh - a really fun E-Ticket, dark ride / turbulent & thrilling hybrid (but so smooth that it's never turbulent). To my surprise and delight, Junkyard Jamboree is lots of highly-amusing fun in a minor key, and Luigi's Tires is easy as pie to "operate" and a total blast of silly fun (if you can get there early enough to avoid the long line). Nighttime visit followed by Early Entry morning was perfect, btw.
But more than just adding a couple of beautiful new areas, DCA has finally done a lot to combat the somewhat off-putting "track" layout I've been kvetching about in this thread.
The side streets of Cars Land link it to other parts of the park such that there's practically an entire south side back street zone parallel to the main track (parade route) and, with the Condor Flats, Grizzly River loop on the north side - there's now several ways to cross the park and many joins and loops to provide for lots of ways to switch directions and switch things up in moving around DCA.
The only single-direction track loop left is the one around Paradise Pier. That could have been fixed by extending the Cars Land west entrance all the way to California Screamin' ... but I'm glad they didn't do that. The west entrance to Cars Land is best kept away from such a major thoroughfare, and it's pretty perfect as a sleepy side entry from the Cannery Row food court. This entrance is so beautiful and evocative - underneath the rock archway at the feet of the towering Cadillac Range. Just wonderful.
The other side entrance, on the east side of Cars Land, goes to the very back of Bugs Land - - insanely making Cars Land just a few steps away from Tower of Terror. It's like a magic teleportation pathway. Seriously, this new "back route" of DCA completely changes and majorly fixes the one-track-mind of the existing layout. Wow.
Eh, the Bugs Land entrances from ToT and from Cars Land could be a little more elaborate. They are very plain wrap, and that's too bad - since the kiddie land's "main entrance" is so fantastic ... and I suspect the "through road" around back to become the most popular route to and from Bugs Land.
A minor quibble. Of course, while barely seeing any of the "old" DCA, I'm still confident to say the place has been successfully revised! The finishing touches to make each "land" a different decade are still to come, I understand. But DCA is ... omg, I shudder to say it, a fun and beautiful place to visit.
