Buena Vista Street (formerly known as Sunshine Plaza) is a themed "land" at Disney California Adventure at the

Disneyland Resort The Disneyland Resort, commonly known as Disneyland, is an entertainment resort in Anaheim, California. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division and is home to two theme parks (D ...

. Though named for the real-life Burbank thoroughfare that the Walt Disney Studios sits on, the central plaza represents

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, and specifically the

Los Feliz LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to: Science and technology * Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation * Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers * Level of significance, a measure of statistical significanc ...

area, in the 1920s when

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

first arrived there. One of the main features is a small-scale replica of the Hyperion Bridge, which was being constructed when Disney stayed in Atwater Village. The replica functions as a working bridge for the resort's monorail system. This land is similar to the layout and style of Main Street, USA at

Disneyland Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envision ...

, Disney California Adventure's sister park. It includes dining, shopping, parades, and entertainment. The Red Car Trolley, a recreation of Pacific Electric's iconic

Red Car The Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electric railway system ...

electric trolleys, transports guests through this area, from the park's entry to Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout! in Avengers Campus.

History

Sunshine Plaza

Disney California Adventure's original main gate entrance, Sunshine Plaza, was designed to evoke a sensation as if one were stepping into a California postcard. After guests pass the giant letters spelling out California, they would pass beneath a mock-up of the Golden Gate Bridge, which served to disguise a portion of the resort's

monorail A monorail (from "mono", meaning "one", and " rail") is a railway in which the track consists of a single rail or a beam. Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurat ...

track. Flanking both ends of the faux Golden Gate Bridge were two massive murals depicting the vast mountain ranges in California. A few meters into the park from the main gate was Sunshine Plaza that served as an access hub to all of the park's other themed lands. At the end of the path, there was a fountain featuring a large metal sunburst designed to reflect solar rays into the surrounding area. Sunshine Plaza was also home to a replica of the ''

California Zephyr The ''California Zephyr'' is a passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area (at Emeryville), via Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Reno. At , it is Amtrak's longest daily route, and second-longest overall ...

'', which housed the plaza's two counter service restaurants: Baker's Field Bakery and Bur-r-r Bank Ice Cream. The plaza was also home to two of the park's biggest souvenir shops, Greetings from California and Engine Ears Toys.

Re-imagineering and expansion

Disney California Adventure Park entrance (Buena Vista Street)

On October 17, 2007, The

Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

announced a multi-year, $1.1 billion expansion plan for Disney California Adventure Park. Included in this expansion plan was the re-theming and complete overhaul of Sunshine Plaza into Buena Vista Street. The Golden Gate Bridge replica was removed and the sunburst structure replaced with a recreation of the Carthay Circle Theater, which showcased the world premiere of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937. The building serves as the new visual centerpiece of Disney California Adventure's reincarnation. In early August 2011, the ''California Zephyr'' display was removed, with major portions being donated to the

Western Pacific Railroad Museum The Western Pacific Railroad Museum (WPRM) in Portola, California, known as the Portola Railroad Museum until January 1, 2006, is a heritage railroad and archives that preserves and operates historic American railroad equipment and preserves docu ...

. The park's main gate was extended outward to where the postcard letters formerly stood, and resembles the

Pan-Pacific Auditorium The Pan-Pacific Auditorium was a landmark structure in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, California. It once stood near the site of Gilmore Field, an early Los Angeles baseball venue predating Dodger Stadium. It was located within sight of ...

, similar to the entrance of

Disney's Hollywood Studios Disney's Hollywood Studios is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division. Based on a concept by M ...

in Florida. The Red Car Trolley travels through the plaza. The main gate was opened on July 15, 2011. The construction of the Red Car trolleys began on January 10, 2010. Construction of Buena Vista Street itself began in October 2010 and opened on June 15, 2012. Throughout construction, the main entrance remained open with areas blocked off from time to time to aid in construction.

COVID-19 pandemic

On November 19, 2020, Buena Vista Street was made accessible as a temporary extension of the nearby, unticketed Downtown Disney District for shopping and dining while the remainder of Disney California Adventure remained closed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. The land returned to its normal, ticketed operation when Disney California Adventure re-opened on April 30, 2021.

References

External links