Our Land Exit Survey series has covered many classic lands that have stood the test of time. What we haven’t done as much of is dive into lands that have been built, or rethemed, recently. So here we are standing atop the pier, ready to dive off into Pixar-dom. In this post, we’ll break down DCA’s Pixar Pier’s offerings and give our thoughts on the land.

Theme parks are made up of sub-sections, generally called lands. Many of these lands are spectacular, some are far from it. In this series, we cover individual lands one post at a time and answer questions about them. While this isn’t quite the deep dive into lands that we’ve done before, I’ll provide the basic information about the land as well as my opinion on a few questions. We’ll also use these posts to talk about theme throughout the area and within the park. All of the posts in this series will use close to the same questions. Let us know in the comments if there are questions that we should add!

Here’s what we’ve covered so far:

• Disney California Adventure: Grizzly Peak, Cars Land and Buena Vista Street
• Disneyland: Mickey’s (old) Toontown, New Orleans Square, Main Street, USA and Critter Country
• Magic Kingdom: Fantasyland, Tomorrowland and Liberty Square
• Epcot: Future World West and France Pavilion
• Disney’s Hollywood Studios: Sunset Boulevard, Echo Lake and Toy Story Land
• Disney’s Animal Kingdom: Asia, Africa and Pandora – World of Avatar
• Tokyo DisneySea: Mysterious Island, Mediterranean Harbor and Arabian Coast
• Tokyo Disneyland: World Bazaar, Westernland and Adventureland

Let’s move along to Pixar Pier while trying not to get caught in an emotional whirlwind. You’re still reading after that joke? It’s not too late to turn back.

What is your short(ish) review of California Adventure’s Pixar Pier?

Pixar Pier offers plenty to do, including some iconic attractions and food, but is a mess as a whole. The land is a perfect representation of Disney’s overreliance on IP in theme parks over the last decade.

What’s in the land?

For not having much room to work with, there’s plenty here!

Incredicoaster – The attraction formerly known as California Screamin’ is one of Disney’s best roller coasters, having the Incredibles there is just an added bonus.
Toy Story Midway Mania – Midway Mania is the most enjoyable Nintendo Wii game! Whether that’s a compliment or an insult to a theme park attraction is up to you.
Jesse’s Critter Carousel – This may be just a carousel but the critters guests ride on are incredibly cute.
Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind – This looks cool but that’s where the compliments end. It’s just a spinner ride inside of oversized boxes.
Pixar Pal-A-Round – In my mind, the scariest attraction at Disneyland Resort. This giant ferris wheel has two options, the stagnant cars or the swinging ones. If you’re looking for a heart attack, try the swinging!
Games of Pixar Pier – Carnival-esque games that guests pay extra to play.
Lamplight Lounge – One of the best table-service restaurants in Disneyland Resort. Lamplight Lounge serves a variety of modern American food while showing off gorgeous views of the water.
Jack-Jack Cookie Num Nums – This food stand serves very thick chocolate chip cookies. They smell a little better than they taste but they still taste very good.
Poultry Palace – A quick-service stand that serves an unappetizing Chicken Drumstick Box.
Angry Dogs – Get your hot dogs here! Themed to the Inside Out character/emotion, Anger.
Adorable Snowman Frosted Treats – This is the place to get some soft serve. The lemon reigns supreme. Not selling snow cones here is a real missed opportunity.
Señor Buzz Churros – You guessed it, a churro cart themed to Buzz.
Knick’s Knacks – This store across from Lamplight Lounge sells different Pixar merch from a number of movies.
Midway Mercantile – The gift shop at the exit of Midway Mania largely specializes in Toy Story merch.
Bing Bong’s Sweet Stuff – Near Emotional Whirlwind, this is part candy story and part clothing. I prefer the candy if anyone wants to know!
Character Meet & Greets – There are several characters throughout the land, predominantly from The Incredibles, Toy Story and Inside Out.

What is Pixar Pier’s backstory and theme?

Well, the theme is Pixar. Just the whole studio known as Pixar. Why a pier to go along with Pixar? Because it’s an alliteration, of course!

Jokes aside, there’s no real theme or backstory here. The Incredibles, Toy Story, Inside Out and various other Pixar entities are only in the same land because they were made by the same studio. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with that but there’s also nothing that ties them together (yes, I know you can spot different Pixar characters in certain movies).

What is your favorite part of the land? What’s the most memorable aspect of it?

My favorite part is Lamplight Lounge. If I’m lucky enough to find a reservation, I cross my fingers for a seat by the water and enjoy sitting right down beside it. The Lobster Nachos are certainly good but the Salmon PLT has become my favorite item there. The restaurant offers one of the most relaxing spots in DCA and there’s great food to boot!

While most seem to like Lamplight, the most memorable part of Pixar Pier is Incredicoaster. The attraction is a blast and captivating no matter where you watch (or ride) it from. The Incredibles references are all well and good but what makes this work is recreating a coaster you might find on a Californian pier, and then making it better. Shout out to the view of Pixar Pal-A-Round from across the water, as that’s probably the most photographed scene in California Adventure.

Are there parts of Pixar Pier you don’t like?

I’ve already hit on this a little bit so I won’t belabor the point but the whole lack of theme bothers me. The pier’s architecture is all over the place and the film connections are flimsy, Midway Mania notwithstanding. Nothing about the land looks bad per se, the whole thing just feels like a glob that oozed onto a pier. Oh, and Emotional Whirlwind is another answer to this question.

How does the land coincide and transition with the rest of the park? Does Pixar Pier make the park better or worse?

Even though I don’t love Pixar Pier, the transition works alright. I’m slightly confused how they mark the end and beginning of Pixar Pier and Paradise Gardens, if there even is one. Maybe that means they flow seamlessly? Really, I just think this section of the park is a little bit confused. I will say that the addition of San Fransokyo makes Pixar Pier less of a sore thumb. There’s a nice triad of animated movies all connecting to each other now. I’m reaching a bit here.

The sum might be worse than its parts in this case but Pixar Pier’s parts definitely make DCA better. Incredicoaster and Lamplight Lounge alone do that. Add in, a solid attraction in Midway Mania, an impressive ferris wheel and a few cool stores and there’s plenty to do here that would be missed if they disappeared overnight.

Where would you rank the land in relation to the others in the park?

Below Cars Land, Buena Vista Street and Grizzly Peak but above Avengers Campus, Hollywood Land and Paradise Gardens. I’m still undecided on what San Fransokyo actually is so I’ll put Pixar Pier fourth!

What do you think of Pixar Pier? Let us know, along with any other questions you might have, in the comments below. Planning a trip to Disneyland? Check out our Planning Guide here. Looking for discount tickets? Check out this site! If you enjoy what you are reading here on Wandering in Disney then please share this post with your friends, as well as like our social media pages. You can also subscribe to the blog via WordPress or email. All of those links are on the right side of this page. Thank you for reading, we really appreciate it!