Pixar Fest Review at Disneyland

​I was so excited to experience Pixar Fest opening weekend!  Let me tell you – it did not disappoint!!  I love the Pixar movies, especially Toy Story and Cars!  Plus, one of my all time favorite parades was coming back so I knew my family had to go!  Below you will find my review of some of the top things to see and do at Pixar Fest!

Parades/ Entertainment:
 
Let me just start by saying the theme of friendship makes for some adorable parades and fireworks!  Paint the Night is always amazing!!!  The Frozen float did not make a return with the parade this time, but do not worry!  Late June a new Incredibles float will make an appearance, and I have no doubt it will be amazing!  The other parade, Pixar Play Parade, was so happy and cheerful.  With upbeat music, lots of water (be prepared to get wet!!), and lots of your favorite Pixar friends; this parade was a crowd pleaser to all ages!
 
My family chose to do a dining package with reserved viewing for both of these parades.  I am so glad we did!  We did the Wine Country Trattoria package for Paint the Night.  It was a sit down lunch, and the food was really good!  Below is the menu for that one!  My kids ate more at this meal than the rest of the trip combined!  Viewing was reserved right across the street from Bugs Land and Cars Land.  We arrived about an hour early and were right on the front of the viewing area.  They let my husband leave and get us snacks and come back.  People were lining up at least 2 hours before to reserve spots otherwise!
 
The other dining package we did was the Plaza Inn Pixar Play reserved viewing.  This was a picnic type lunch.  It was a ton of food, and all of it was really good!  We got it to go (though it took them a while to package it up).  The viewing was right across from the Plaza Inn.  We arrived 30 minutes early and were able to sit on the curb.  There was so much space for this area.  No one was crowded!  They came around and offered bottled water because it was pretty hot that day.  We got lanyards to wear for this package as well as tickets we gave as we entered the reserved area. 
 
The fireworks were really cute!  Honestly, I did not pay much attention to the fireworks but focused on the projections.  Buzz Lightyear flies as well as the house from Up.  When the Coco portion starts, there are large skeletons (I could not tell which characters exactly) that are on top of the buildings on Main Street, USA.  I felt like this show was a bit shorter than shows in the past, but still great! 

Food:
 
Specialty food seemed to be a huge part of this festival!  We tried A LOT of the different food offered!  It was all so cute I almost hated to eat some of it!  We tried Mike bread, an alien macaroon, the oriental Sulley noodles (they changed from blue to purple when you squirted lime on them!), the Pixar cake, Sulley popcorn bucket, the Mike sipper, root beer float in Woody’s boot (my husband asked and got a Coke float instead), the Toy Story funnel cake, and Coco features at Rancho de Zocalo.  My girls had fun eating all of it as well!  The Pixar cake was my daughter’s favorite while I really enjoyed the funnel cake!  My husband loved the noodles.

Characters:
 
While the characters can be seen in the parades easily, special character greets were not overly abundant.  So many of the Pixar characters have regular meets that we just met them there!  They did have a special area at the back of Disney California Adventure where you could meet some of the Pixar favorites.  They change out every few minutes so there was no guarantee you would meet the same character out when you got in line. 
 
Merchandise:
 
The hot items that seemed to sell out very fast were the Sulley popcorn buckets, the trading pins, and Woody’s boot! I was able to get two out of three of those things, so I will call it a win!  Just a note – some items have limits on them.  The popcorn buckets, boots, and sippers were limited to one per guest per transaction.  In order to get two boots, my husband and I each had to wait in line and pay separately.  Also, the cast member told me they can not take someone who passes payment – so bring two forms of payment!  There was Pixar Fest merchandise in many shops.  There is also a store on (what will soon be) Pixar Pier called Knick Knacks that had great Pixar merchandise.  I had never seen a lot of what they had in any other stores and it is organized by movie. 

My family and I LOVED Pixar Fest.  I highly recommend you grab your best friend and head over this summer to experience this amazing event!

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About the Author:

Morgan Scully, Travel Advisor
​Morgan is passionate about all things Disney. From an early age she loved taking in the magic of Disney World, but its when she became a mom and she saw life through her daughters' eyes that she truly understood how amazing a Disney vacation can be for a family. Morgan is well versed in all things Disney Parks and Disney Cruise Line. She also serves as Whitney World Travel's Military Vacation Specialist-- helping the brave men and women who serve our country and their families get the most out of their vacations. Morgan is a graduate of Texas A&M University.