California Adventure Park: The Golden State

The fourth and final land I will be writing about is the Golden State, and I have a few things to say about this land. First of all it is either the biggest or second biggest land in California Adventure. The other thing is that the largest ride in terms of land used for the attraction is in the center of this land. Actually, the Grizzly River Rapids eat up most of the land's surface area.

Most everything is built around this ride. This adds some nice twist and turns to get to other parts of the park. I highly suggest looking at the map before going anywhere in Golden State. I'm not saying you will get lost, but a few minutes of preplanning will save you time later. I have gone there and been turned around because I did not know where I wanted to go. Just a few words of advice mixed with experience.

Golden State: Soarin' Over California, and Grizzly River Run. There is a playground and a show about the California dream, but that's all this land has to offer. Now with that said these two rides make the parks admission worthwhile.

Soarin' is a giant IMAX screen with a hang glider ride vehicle. You load into the vehicle and then when the ride starts the gliders are lifted into the air suspended from the top. The ride movie begins to play and you are gliding across America. This ride is one of the most amazing and simple ideas, but very well done. Each seat has its own speakers making the visual and audio experience that much more amazing. Another thing this ride does very well is take what you are seeing and add smell and feel to the visuals.

One scene you are gliding over a river with lush vegetation on either side of the river. At that point you can smell the fresh pine and cold wind is blown into your face. It feels like you are really gliding over a river in California. Since this ride is so incredibly popular I suggest riding first in the day, getting a Fastpass or using the single rider line.

Now for the other ride in Golden State. Yes, Grizzly River Run. This attraction is not only wet and fun, it's long. This ride is a very relaxing and somewhat bumpy at times attraction. I will say I have yet to see a dry person getting off this ride. But the wet factor is not really bad; you can get wet but not soaked except in rare occasions. This is an inner tube ride with a lot of Disney flair.

The beauty of this ride has to be the visual appeal. You ride through the rapids, in and out of caves and very close to the giant grizzly bear stone carving. I suggest this ride for kids over the age of 10 and above. This ride can be bumpy but the bumps are minimal at best. Do bring a change of clothes unless you plan on going to Splash Mountain or riding Grizzly River Run again.