Disney's Cars Land feels like walking into a movie

Like opening the door to Oz, walking into Cars Land at Disney California Adventure is like stepping into a real-life version of the fictional town of Radiator Springs from the 2006 animated movie.

PHOTOS: Preview day | Buena Vista Street?|?Cars Land?|?Radiator Springs Racers?|?Mater's Junkyard Jamboree?|?Luigi's Flying Tires?|?Cars Land origins

The enveloping and breathtaking new 12-acre land takes you to another world and makes you forget that the Anaheim Convention Center is just behind the towering, man-made mountain range.

While most people will approach the new land from the impressive photo-op entrance along Route 66, I prefer entering from the Pacific Wharf food court area, where you can truly appreciate the immense scope of the immersive 125-foot-tall Cadillac Range. It's almost as if the 280,000-square-foot, crescent-shaped rock-work mountain reaches out and hugs you.

The last time I was this impressed by a theme park land was when I walked into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal's Islands of Adventure in Orlando.

REVIEWS:?Cars Land?|?Radiator Springs Racers?|?Mater's Junkyard Jamboree?|?Luigi's Flying Tires?|Buena Vista Street

Visitors who have been anxiously peering over the construction walls won't be disappointed when Cars Land finally opens June 15 as the final piece in a $1.1-billion expansion at the Anaheim theme park. Cars Land is like walking into the movie.

As you enter Radiator Springs along Route 66, you pass Fillmore's hippie geodesic dome and Sarge's military Quonset hut before reaching Sally's deliriously wacky Cozy Cone Motel.

At the center of town sits Flo's V8 Cafe, Ramone's House of Body Art, Luigi's Casa Della Tires and the Radiator Springs Curio Shop on the four corners of the intersection. Off in the distance rise the tailfin-shaped buttes of Cadillac Range.

Convertible sports cars zip by on a nearby track with an audible vroom. The smell of fresh-baked pie emanates from the tables at Flo's diner. Even the manhole covers bear the RS insignia of Radiator Springs. At night the street shimmers with an irresistible neon glow that makes you want to move into the isolated desert town and call it home.?A nightly neon lighting moment will be accompanied by the 1950s doo-wop hit "Sh-Boom (Life Could Be a Dream)."

The computer-animated Pixar movie about the journey of an anthropomorphic race car named Lightning McQueen offered few details about what happened inside the shops and down the side streets of Radiator Springs, creating a challenge and an opportunity for the artists at Walt Disney Imagineering to flesh out the back story of the town.

Quite naturally, Flo's became a 300-seat counter-service restaurant serving Route 66-inspired comfort food. Among the menu highlights: pork loin with Coca-Cola BBQ sauce, ugly-crust pies and an apple juice and passion fruit concoction called Red's Apple Freeze (my new favorite drink at the park). With a series of delightful automotive-themed chandeliers that are as creative as they beautiful, Flo's offers panoramic views of the picturesque town out of almost every window.

Across the street, Sally the Porsche has turned her Cozy Cone Motel into a series of walk-up snack stands selling novel twists on traditional theme-park pretzels, popcorn, ice cream and churros — all served in cones. The most inventive of the pun-filled creations: Chili Cone Queso, chili with cheese and Fritos served in an edible cone-shaped bread bowl.

Looking at the Cozy Cone makes me smile. There are cones everywhere, serving as streetlamps, flowerpots and fence posts. There's even a waterwheel out front made of little cones. My favorite touch: the old-school TV antennas atop each of the Caltrans-orange wigwam cones.

Next door at the Radiator Springs Curio Shop, the front of the store bristles with a cacophony of "last chance" signs typical of a Route 66 roadside souvenir stand. The visual chaos of the shop stands in stark contrast to the meticulously manicured environment favored in Disney theme parks. In fact, much of Cars Land looks like just the type of rundown and ramshackle tourist trap Walt Disney abhorred.

The new land features three rides, two that are wonderful and one that's less so. The surprisingly spry Mater's Junkyard Jamboree is a classic whip ride on a spinning teacup platform that packs a wallop. The disappointing Luigi's Flying Tires is a docile re-creation of the 1960s Flying Saucers ride in Tomorrowland. And Radiator Springs Racers combines a dark ride with a drag-race finale in one of the best attractions you'll find at any Disney park.

Disney officials are already preparing for waves of visitors to turn Cars Land into an ocean of humanity during the first few months following the grand opening. Imagine cramming every park visitor into a single land (with plenty of curious annual passholders thrown in) and you get an idea of what Cars Land will look like — at least for awhile. Expect multi-hour lines for every ride to snake throughout the land and spill into the park.

If you absolutely must see Cars Land in June, I recommend a midweek visit as early in the day as possible. Otherwise, it might be worth waiting until the initial traffic jam dies down a bit. Lightning McQueen and his friends will still be there.

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Disney's a class act, so what went wrong?

We recently purchased 350 points in Disney Vacation Club, Disney's time-share program. New members of Disney Vacation Club are given help with their first reservation, and salespeople can go into Disney's inventory, if necessary, to get a better selection.

About six weeks ago our salesperson promised to help us with our second reservation as soon as we had our dates decided, because we had booked our first reservation on our own.

When we called, we found out he is on indefinite medical leave and were directed to speak with another salesperson about the reservation. The second salesperson said she couldn't help because Disney offers to help only on the first reservation.

We tried to appeal to a supervisor, but she also refused to help. And her tone on the phone was not what one expects of a Disney representative — very negative and condescending. It is not our fault that our salesperson is on medical leave, and we feel Disney should honor what he told us. The longer they delay, the less chance any villas will be available. Can you help us get that magic that we expected from Disney?

— David Willard, Newtown, Pa.

A: Disney's policy may be to give priority to first-time reservations, but it is not something that is openly promoted, as far as I can tell. Nonetheless, if your time-share salesman promised you could use your first-reservation credit on your second reservation, it's something Disney should make good on.

I've attended the Disney Vacation Club presentation here in Orlando, and it's a pretty impressive program. Disney offers a lot of properties, and the rates were reasonable enough that I even considered buying in. Why didn't I? Like a lot of Americans, I don't have nearly enough vacation time to use it.

The problem with the agreement you had with your first sales representative is that it was verbal. Of course, you had no way of knowing that he would go on indefinite medical leave just when you were trying to make your reservation, but what happened to you underscores the importance of getting absolutely everything in writing.

Even a brief email from Disney, agreeing to help you with the second reservation, would have prevented this from taking away the magic of your vacation. If you didn't have something in writing, you could have started a paper trail — or in your case, an email trail — with your request. Disney would have been compelled to respond to you by email, and it may have answered differently (and almost certainly without the attitude you got from the supervisor).

I think the Vacation Club staff you dealt with could have done better, from finding a new salesperson who had been properly briefed on your needs to ensuring that all of the promises he made to you were being kept, even if the promises weren't necessarily in line with company policy. And, of course, there's no excuse for being unpleasant with a customer — ever.

I contacted Disney Vacation Club on your behalf. A representative called you and helped you make a reservation at the time-share you wanted.

Christopher Elliott is the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine and a co-founder of the Consumer Travel Alliance, a nonprofit organization that advocates for travelers. Read more tips on his blog, elliott.org, or e-mail him at chris@elliott.org.

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Disney's new luxury Hawaiian resort 'Aulani' opens

KAPOLEI, Hawaii (AP) — Aloha, Disney!

The Walt Disney Co.'s new upscale, beachside Hawaiian resort Aulani opens Monday, thousands of miles from the nearest Disney theme park. And while Mickey Mouse and friends can be found on the property, Hawaii's culture, history and natural beauty are the biggest stars.

"The resort is not a replication of any of our theme parks. We know if guests want to go toDisneyland, they'll go to Disneyland," said Djuan Rivers, a Disney vice president who oversees the resort. "Our guests are coming here first and foremost for Hawaii and everything Hawaii has to offer."

Joe Rohde, head of Aulani's creative team, grew up in Honolulu and said "we made a choice early on to really, really focus on Hawaiian culture as a defining element of Aulani."

Aulani is located on the west side of Oahu, about an hour's drive from Waikiki. The sprawling 840-unit resort is the first major Disney property to offer a mix of regular hotel rooms and Disney Vacation Club time shares away from a theme park. (Disney's smaller resorts in Hilton Head, Ga., and Vero Beach, Fla., are time shares.)

Aulani is a Hawaiian term for messenger of a chief or higher authority. Showcasing the host culture as Aulani's main theme is a departure from other Disney properties where the iconic mouse and other Disney references are visible at every turn. True, visitors will find a surfer Mickey lamp in each Aulani guest room, with his image subtly blended in the bedding design, and Disney cast members portraying Mickey, Minnie, Donald and the rest of the crew can be found strolling around in bright aloha shirts and shorts. But the spotlight here is definitely on Hawaii.

"This story is about this place, that you came to see, experience and want to take away memories from that are different than the memories if you went to Idaho," Rohde said.

Tom Staggs, chairman ofWalt Disney Parks and Resorts and the company's former chief financial officer, said Aulani "captures the very best of the rich Hawaiian storytelling and culture with a touch of Disney."

Designers have incorporated historical and contemporary island scenes, artwork, values, designs, textures, colors, language and traditions in nearly every aspect of the place, from taro fields and native foliage in the landscaping, to the Olelo Room lounge, where everything is labeled in the Hawaiian language, including the chairs (noho) and the floor (papahele). Olelo's staff, including servers and bartenders, is fluent in Hawaiian and will speak to each other in the island's native tongue while sharing the language with guests. Other employees have also undergone some language and cultural training.

"Here you are in Hawaii. You will meet people who are Hawaiian. You will meet people who speak Hawaiian. I think that's cool," Rohde said.

The resort's two main towers have 359 hotel rooms, 481 time-share condo units, two main restaurants, conference rooms, an 18,000-square-foot spa, a fire pit for storytelling and a vast water play area.

Hotel rooms range from $399 a night for a 420-square-foot room to $2,449 a night for the Ahu Ulu Suite (two bedrooms, 1,910 square feet). An ocean view room runs $549 a night, which rivals prices at Hawaii's most posh resorts.

Disney would not comment on the cost of building Aulani, which has been reported at more than $800 million. But behind the scenes, the resort has not always been the happiest place on earth. Disney broke ground on the project in November 2008 during the recession and temporarily suspended sales of time-share units in July amid concerns that it underpriced annual fees, including maintenance costs for the units. The Orlando Sentinel first reported that Disney fired three executives over the financial mistake including Jim Lewis, president of Disney Vacation Club. Disney said it recalculated the annual fee and was taking deposit reservations from prospective buyers, but not executing contracts until modifications are made in the registration materials.

Besides an 8,200-square-foot pool, there is a 950-foot-long lazy river where kids can glide along in a tube through forests and caverns, a saltwater snorkel lagoon filled with tropical fish, a rock formation with lava tube slides and an aquatic jungle gym called Menehune Bridge. Pay an extra $45 to visit a water preserve where you can feed stingrays and see starfish and anemones. A portion of proceeds will be donated to conservation efforts in Hawaii.

A supervised kid's club for children ages 3 to 12 called Aunty's Beach House was inspired by Rohde's aunt's beach home in Punaluu. With the exception of a fireplace, which most Hawaiian homes don't have, it's designed to look like a traditional home, decorated with old trophies, photos and a garage filled with tools and tins. The high-tech windows are digital portals depicting scenes from around Hawaii.

Kids can watch Disney movies, play dress-up or video games, or participate in activities such as learning hula while parents play golf, hit the spa or beach or enjoy a quiet meal. Tweens and teens have a separate hangout where they can listen to music, eat frozen yogurt and surf the Internet.

The landscaping is inspired by an ahupuaa, an ancient Hawaiian land division system that extended from the mountain to the sea. Situated between the towers is a lush tropical forest that serves as a make-believe hideout for Hawaiian trolls, or menehune. Closer to the ocean, coconut trees sway in the Pacific breeze.

A canoe and maritime theme inspired by the legendary Hawaiian voyaging canoe Hokulea is found throughout Aulani, from artwork to handmade lashings on signs and structures. High arches in the architecture evoke traditional Hawaiian canoe houses.

"We return again and again to this canoe idea because of this whole sense of arrival, journey and also because the canoes are this sort of this quintessential Hawaiian art form," Rohde said.

Aulani is expected to attract many of its visitors from the West Coast and Asia. With Japanese guests in mind, time share units are equipped with rice cookers, chopsticks and a tea drawer.

Around the corner from the resort, farther up the Waianae Coast are unspoiled beaches and mountainsides, a stark contrast to the blight from the deep poverty and homelessness that has long plagued this part of Oahu. Some locals have voiced concern about preserving the area's rural character, but with an expected workforce of 1,200, Aulani is bringing in much-needed jobs.

Aulani sits on 21 acres of a larger property, the Ko Olina Resort, which also houses a golf course with waterfalls, luxury homes, a public beach park, and the J.W. Marriott Ihilani Resort and Spa. The Marriott resort houses theNFL's Pro Bowlers and for years was the biggest building in the area, but it's now dwarfed by Aulani.

Staggs said a key component of Disney's business strategy is to figure out where families like to vacation. "Our guests told us that Hawaii is one of their favorite vacation destinations," he said, "and we created Aulani in response to that feedback."

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Online:

Aulani: http://resorts.disney.go.com/aulani-hawaii-resort/

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Follow Jaymes Song at http://twitter.com/JaymesSong

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