Jessie's Critter Carousel
| Jessie's Critter Carousel | |
|---|---|
| Park | Disney California Adventure |
| Land / area | Pixar Pier |
| Type | Carousel |
| Opened | April 5, 2019 |
| Designer | Walt Disney Imagineering
|
| Status | Operating |
Jessie's Critter Carousel is a carousel at Disney California Adventure in Anaheim, California. Located on the boardwalk of Pixar Pier, the attraction is themed to Jessie, the cowgirl from Pixar's Toy Story films, and carries riders on the woodland critters from the fictional Woody's Roundup television show. It is a retheme of King Triton's Carousel of the Sea, an opening-day attraction of the park.
History
The carousel opened with the park on February 8, 2001, as King Triton's Carousel of the Sea, part of the original Paradise Pier. In keeping with that land's seaside theme and Disney's 1989 film The Little Mermaid, its 56 ride figures were sea creatures — dolphins, seals, otters, flying fish and seahorses among them — arranged around a mural of undersea scenes beneath a canopy topped by King Triton himself.
The ride operated in that form for seventeen years. In 2017 Disney announced that Paradise Pier would be split in two: the eastern boardwalk would become Pixar Pier, and the carousel, sitting on the Pixar side of the new boundary, would be rethemed accordingly. King Triton's Carousel of the Sea closed on March 5, 2018, and the transformation was formally announced a week later.
After a soft opening on March 28, 2019, the ride officially reopened as Jessie's Critter Carousel on April 5, 2019. It was one of the final pieces of the Pixar Pier conversion to be completed, debuting about nine months after the land itself.
Experience
The retheme replaced the ocean with the Old West. The sea creatures gave way to 56 new figures drawn from the critters Jessie befriends in Toy Story 2 (1999), in which Woody's Roundup appears as a 1950s puppet show within the film. Riders can choose among turtles, snakes, armadillos, buzzards, bunnies, deer, skunks, beavers and other desert and woodland animals, each sculpted in a stylised toy-like manner consistent with the idea that the whole carousel belongs to Jessie's playset. Stationary chariot-style seating is also provided.
A large figure of Jessie, in her cowgirl outfit, presides over the attraction, and the surrounding artwork shows scenes and characters from Woody's Roundup, including Woody, Bullseye and Stinky Pete. The structure retains the footprint and open-sided pavilion arrangement of its predecessor, standing on the Paradise Bay waterfront between Pixar Pier's boardwalk games and its neighbouring attractions, with views across the water to Paradise Gardens Park.
With no height requirement and a slow, predictable rotation, the carousel is aimed squarely at families with young children, and it serves as a gentle counterpart on the pier to the far more intense Incredicoaster that loops overhead nearby.
See also
- Pixar Pier
- Disney California Adventure
- Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind
- Paradise Gardens Park
- Toy Story Midway Mania!