A Change In The Winds

Soarin’ Over California closed in January 2015, allegedly to be outfitted with new screens and high-definition digital projection (unavailable when the ride first opened 14 years earlier). In a surprise move, Disney decided to go big. During the ride’s five-month closure, the entire Condor Flats land will be behind construction walls.  More than just a sprucing up, Condor Flats is disappearing altogether. Construction walls surrounding Condor Flats are covered in the Grizzly Peak National Park badge and promise "Grizzly Peak Airfield – Landing Summer 2015."

When the construction walls fall this summer, Condor Flats will have been absorbed by Grizzly Peak – a concept that was meant to come to fruition during the park’s $1.2 billion re-build as official concept art (above) shows, but that was obviously cut for budgetary reasons. Now it’s finally happening.

That means that the area will lose its modern jet engines, runway lights, desert rocks, and “punny” store names as its renamed Grizzly Peak – Airfield and outfitted in pines, logs, rustic colors, and a 1950s theme. Now a part of the larger Grizzly Peak land, California Adventure will be reduced from eight lands to seven, and this summer, the area around Soarin’ Over California will look a lot less concrete and lot more forested.

Why It Matters

1. The park will have one less land, but a more complete story. Even if it’s a net loss in terms of land quantity, the charming 1950s Grizzly Peak National Park theme was always one of the park’s most successful and impressive, even when the park first opened. Infusing more trees, rustic architecture, and ‘50s details into what was Condor Flats will only make the park stronger. Not to mention, Soarin’ Over California and its hang-gliding story make more sense in a mountain resort than a desert airfield, right?

2. It fleshes out the park’s “one-hit wonder” lands. Both Grizzly Peak and Condor Flats had one ride each (Grizzly River Run and Soarin’ Over California, respectively). But uniting the two miniature lands into one consistent one, they’ll create a pretty nice ride line-up with two major attractions under one time period and setting. That means no more tiny “lands” built around a single attraction at the park.

3. It could be the start of “Phase II” of California Adventure’ rebuild. Following the massive success of California Adventure’s re-opening, fan expectations were high that a “Phase II” of renovations would sweep through and update the last two holdouts of the “old” park: Hollywood Land and Condor Flats (both of which received only name changes and minor cosmetic upgrades during the re-opening compared to the major facelifts of the rest of the park’s lands) as well as some dingy corners in Paradise Pier. Now that Condor Flats is receiving its own major facelift, only the Hollywood Land section is left, and that seems a manageable project.

Like the Condor-Flats-to-Grizzly-Peak transformation, Disney even released official concept art showing plans for Hollywood Land’s facelift (above), so we know it’s on their radar. Should that change occur, the park would officially be entirely re-born.

4. It proves that Disneyland is not resting on its laurels. After the big re-opening, some expected that Disneyland Resort would fall into a state of relaxation. Flush with cash and finally drawing in visitors, California Adventure could stand on its own and the resort could theoretically “coast” with no new additions or attention for at least five or six years. Instead, Disney is doubling down and finishing what it started, proving that it’s not done with California Adventure (or Resort-wide) improvements yet, even if it could be. 

What do you think? Are you excited for Disney California Adventure to lose a land and gain some more theming and storytelling? Or do you think Condor Flats was doing just fine as it was? Let us know in the comments below.