Arturo Hilario
El Observador
When walking into the magical locale of Disneyland and Disney California Adventure during this year’s summer months you might notice an uptick in Pixar decorations using the lively hues of red, yellow and blue, much like their beloved bouncing ball that is seen on their logo before every one of the studios’ films.
That’s because Pixar Fest 2024 has arrived, and from now through August 4, 2024, Pixar takes over the Disneyland Resort, bringing with it the delightful characters, themed food, merchandise and exciting activities throughout both of the parks in Anaheim.
Friendship is the main theme of the celebration, with an emphasis on the comraderies and connections between the many characters of the Pixar universe – from the originators in Pixar friendship, Woody and Buzz of the Toy Story franchise, to newer friendships like Miguel and his trusting street dog Dante from 2017’s Coco or Meilin and her crew of girls in Turning Red.
Originating in 2018, Pixar Fest was launched the same year as the Pixar Pier land opened at Disney California Adventure, giving Pixar fans a whole lot to enjoy then.
For the 2024 iteration, there are new foods, new adventures and plenty of new characters since Pixar has released seven films since then, with an eight, Inside Out 2, making it into the festival despite its release still being a few weeks away.
Recently we had an opportunity to hear from the Disney and Pixar creatives whose job was to transform the park, create custom Pixar animations for the nighttime projections, pick the food and translate the animation studios films from screen to parks.
You can see for yourself how the parks are transformed into a Pixar world from now until August 4, 2024.
Food
A whole new Pixar-inspired menu was created for the event, with plenty of diverse food options for any palette and any age.
Among the new foods are favorites from Pixar Fest 2018 like the Fried Bologna Sandwich from UP. New options include a Marigold Bridge Cupcake inspired from Coco, as well as a slightly spicy and flavorful plant-based Huarache made of soy chorizo beans and seasoned steak tips topped with lettuce, cheese, avocado crema, and tomatillo salsa and served with Spanish rice and refried beans topped with nopales pico de gallo
The Red Panda Bao features jumbo pork and vegetable stuffed bao with chile-garlic sauce with a vivid red coloring.
For those 21 and up, two new cocktails inspired from Elemental look and sound refreshing. They are the H2O-rita which features Tequila, blue curaçao syrup, lychee nectar, yuja purée, and lime juice as well as the Exothermic Margarita, which also features Tequila, ancho chile liqueur, passion fruit nectar, lime & grapefruit juices, and agave nectar. Both are garnished with a rock candy stick.
On May 10, 2024 six Pixar marketplaces will pop up at Disney California Adventure, bringing the total locations to get these limited time offerings to 29.
Entertainment
The main draws at any Disney park revolve around the rides, spectacles and food. For the entertainment portion of the celebration, Pixar and Disney worked side by side to bring their “Better Together: A Pixar Pals Celebration!” parade, “Together Forever – A Pixar Nighttime Spectacular,” Club Pixar, Pixar Pals Playtime Party, and Character encounters to life.
Tasha Sounart is the Theme Park Creative Director, Pixar Animation Studios and helped bridge the creative collaborations from the animation studio in Emeryville to the parks in Anaheim.
“What we do is we collaborate with our awesome team members here and we try to make sure to keep our characters cute and funny and all the stories you know accurate to what you would see in the films and it’s really interesting job because we’re always working in different media and different art styles, but we want the feelings and the emotions that you’ve that you’ve connected with these characters from the films to be carried forward in a park in many different ways.”
KC Wilkerson, Principal Media Designer for Disney Live Entertainment, helped with bringing “Together Forever – A Pixar Nighttime Spectacular” to life, taking the original Pixar Fest 2018 show and enhancing it by adding even more great elements and stories from the newer studio releases.
“Together Forever is a story and it’s about needing new friends. It’s about taking those friends and setting out on adventures and it’s about overcoming adversity together. And that is what allows us to form everlasting bonds, so we wanted to choose moments from the newer films that really reflected the overall story that we were trying to tell.”
With new projector technology, the show is able to project onto surfaces with brighter colors and more dynamic visuals. From the storefronts on Main Street, to the Sleeping Beauty Castle, the visuals alongside the incredible fireworks show is bound to dazzle.
“[It] was a tremendous challenge but I think when you see pictures and video of the show and hope it in real life and then you can see that the show really delivers,” adds Wilkerson.
At the daytime Pixar Pals Playtime Party you can expect to find oversized photo locations, craft tables, interactive dancing and games as well as a chance to get up and close with several of the new Pixar characters at the park.
“That’s a little tongue twister, but it just kind of speaks to the fun and excitement in this in this location. So this theater is in the park and this is a daytime fun zone. It really transformed that whole space to an immersive location, you get to join some of the characters for a dance party.”
Some of the new characters include Ember and Wade from Elemental and Luca and Alberto from Luca, as well as the Mr. and Mrs. Incredible in their newer super suits which appear in Incredibles 2.
Down at Club Pixar, an evening and nighttime activation at the Hollywood Lot at Disney California Adventure, families can wind down and enjoy a “drive-in” Pixar shorts theaters, or engage in many activities centered around the Pixar films, including games, and the main stage which features music and interactive dance.
Tracy Halas, Creative Director, Disney Live Entertainment adds, “It’s for everyone in all ages, but this is the hottest club in town. So once you enter you are immediately welcomed by these cool neon signs that can lead you into this this space.”
Featured at Club Pixar is a stage which hosts interactive dances as well as a DJ which welcomes guests to interact with interpretive dancers who take memorable Pixar film scenes and put their interpretive spin on them.
Pixar Fest runs now through August 4, 2024.
