To be sure, Disney California Adventure’s new World of Color (WOC) spectacular is one of the hottest tickets in Southern California, but that doesn’t mean you need to put off until next year a visit to the Disneyland Resort’s second theme park just to make sure you get to take in this nightly, super soaker of a show.
Just a Reminder
While we welcome everyone to our site, we’d like to take a moment to remind you that our grownup geeks’ guide series of stories are primarily written for adults traveling without children, who aren’t necessarily regular Disneyland Resort visitors.—Ed.
A grownup geeks’ guide to World of Color
Lately, there’s been much talk on the Internet about how the abundance of Disneyland Resort Annual Passholders—a million or more by some estimates—are making it difficult for vacationers and day visitors to take in the new World of Color nightly spectacular at Disney California Adventure (DCA).
The working theory that’s emerged from these discussions is that the problem will be mitigated when summer season block-out dates for the two value-priced Southern California Annual Passports take effect the beginning of July. Of course, Saturday’s are virtually blocked out year-round for the low-cost passports, which, thanks to the economy, are more popular than ever.
This past Saturday, June, 26, not only were the Southern California passports blocked out but so was the Deluxe passport, making it an optimal day to see just how hard or easy it might be for the occasional Disneyland Resort (DLR) visitor to catch a World of Color performance. With that in mind, I planned a casual visit to DCA for that day.
There are basically two ways to ensure that you get to see World of Color from the Paradise Bay Lagoon viewing area: Get a FastPass for one of the three daily shows or purchase either a WOC Picnic or Prix-Fixe meal, which includes preferred WOC viewing.
If you only take away one thing from today’s story, please remember this: DO NOT assume you will be able to walk up to DCA’s Paradise Bay Lagoon viewing area and take in a World of Color performance.
At best, you might get to see the show at an angle or from the backside along the Paradise Pier Boardwalk. However, it’s far more likely you’ll be politely turned away and invited to enjoy the rest of California Adventure. That said, seeing World of Color from the Paradise Bay Lagoon viewing area may be easier than you think.
Image copyright© obe-mediaone. All rights reserved.
Saturday arrived. I took my time getting ready and didn’t leave my San Fernando Valley home—approximately 40 miles away from the DLR—until 10:15 in the morning. By that time, DCA was already open and distribution of WOC FastPasses had begun.
An hour and fifteen minutes later, I was walking up the path to the Grizzly River Rapids FastPass distribution center, which is used to distribute FastPasses for WOC. Once the WOC FastPasses have all been given out, the machines return to dispensing FastPasses for the Grizzly River Rapids attraction.
As Mr. Spock might say, my logic proved to be sound. WOC FastPasses for the 10:15, or second show, were still being given out at 11:30 that morning.
On the Disneyland Resort’s website, DCA’s summer closing time is listed as 10:00 p.m. with two daily WOC performances, the first at 9:00 p.m. and the second at 10:15 p.m. after the park has officially closed. However, published reports indicate that, internally, Disney has set, for the remainder of the summer, DCA’s daily staffing levels for an 11:00 p.m. closing, with a third 11:15 p.m. WOC show.
Prior to annual passholders block-out days, the blogosphere was full of reports that passes for all three shows were gobbled up by noon on a daily basis during the two weeks since the WOC premiere.
By 11:35 a.m., I had a “Red Zone” WOC FastPass, which asked that the bearer—that would be me—return to the Redwood Creek Challenge between 9:00 and 9:30 that evening. I had the rest of the day to myself.
Saturday in the Park with Chuck
It had been quite some time since I’d spent an entire day at Disney’s California Adventure, the previous park name. The allure of Disneyland across the soccer field-sized Esplande was strong, but the whole purpose behind the creation of WOC and the billion dollars worth of attractions and improvements being poured into DCA was to shake off it’s image of being just another “land” at Disneyland.
On this day, DCA was busy. Not packed, mind you, but very active and alive with theme park fans of every description out to have a good time.
I walked around Paradise Pier, checked out Silly Symphonies—the wonderfully rethemed swing ride—strolled under and past the giant California Screamin roller coaster, and then headed across the lagoon bridge toward DCA’s wine country. It was time for lunch.
Before I could reach my destination—the newly refurbished Wine Country Trattoria—Bill Rogers, the voice of the Disneyland Resort, announced that DCA would remain open an extra hour, until 11:00 p.m., and that there would be an additional performance of World of Color. He went on to say FastPasses for the 11:15 p.m. showing were now available. It was 11:58 a.m.
The first half of my lunch at the Wine Country Trattoria was lovely. Fresh baked bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar accompanied by an excellent Chardonnay. Then, as I was enjoying the tranquil outdoor ambiance—you could barely tell you were in a theme park—and my delightful pasta entrée, the reality of where I was came thundering in.
It seems that once an hour a giant, amped-up, rolling stage full of hyper young performers parks itself in front of the Trattoria and leads fans of Disney’s High School Musical in a multidecibel pep rally. It took nearly an hour for the pounding in my ears to stop!
Image copyright© obe-mediaone. All rights reserved.
After lunch, it was time to check out Hollywood Pictures Backlot. This was perhaps the most sparsely populated area of the park. At first I thought this was because of the midday heat. There’s still not a lot of shade in this part of DCA. It turned out Aladdin, the musical playing at the Hyperion Theater—which will conclude its run later this summer—sucks up most of the patrons in this part of the park during each of its performances.
The paucity of visitors and confusion created by the construction walls surrounding the track laying for the new Red Line Trolley reduced the wait time for Hollywood Tower of Terror to zero. I just walked in, entered the preshow, and exited directly to a waiting ride vehicle.
Lots more meandering, a few more of my favorite rides—if you’re not big on riding with a group of friends, try Single Rider at Soarin’ Over California; it cuts the wait time down significantly—still left me with a fair amount of daylight to kill.
On my way back to the Hyperion Theater to take in a performance of Aladdin—still a great show, kept all the fresher and funnier by the latest in a long line of extremely talented performers, especially the Genie—I passed by Grizzly River Rapids. I was amazed to discover that WOC FastPasses were still being given out. It was now 4:45 in the afternoon.
Walt Disney Presents
By 8:45 that evening, I made my way back through Grizzly River to the Redwood Creek Challenge. Even though I was 15 minutes early, I figured I’d grab a Coke Zero and get off my weary feet for a bit. Surprise! When I arrived at Redwood Creek, I found every available seating space had been taken up by some of my fellow Red Zone passholders.
Promptly at the stroke of 9:00, we were all motioned to our feet and marched around the perimeter of the Redwood Creek Challenge. At one point I thought they were actually going to make us take the Challenge to prove our worthiness to see World of Color.
Deep inside Disney’s simulated redwood forest, my fellow WOC passholders and I could hear the loudest portions of the show’s score. The music fell silent and, a few minutes later, through the trees we could make out a tidal wave of humanity from the 9:15 p.m. show making its way toward DCA’s central plaza.
Following a Disneyland fireworks show we could not see for the trees, we were at last released from our woodsy confinement and marched out to the Paradise Bay Lagoon viewing area.
Image copyright© obe-mediaone. All rights reserved.
If you get a Red Zone WOC FastPass, I recommend you stand as far back in the viewing area as you can. The Red Zone is closest to the fountains. Standing in the forward portion of the Red Zone is like watching a wide-screen movie from the front row…and you will get very wet.
The further back you are the better you will be able to take in the full scope of the show. You’re still gonna get damp, and glasses and camera lenses will mist up.
This was the second time I’ve seen the World of Color water, light, and music spectacular. I have to admit its starting to grow on me.
As virtually every review of the show has said, it has no cohesive story line. Were it not for the stunning illumination and breathtaking water effects, it would be little more than “Great Moments, Mostly From the Second Golden Age of Disney Animation.”
And yet, at the end of the show as I made my way toward the DCA central plaza, I found myself marveling at how quickly the day had passed. I began wondering when I would make my way back to Disney California Adventure…just so that I could see World of Color one more time.
Now that you know it can be easier than you think to get in to see the show, maybe I’ll see you there!
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