The character Sadness from the Pixar film Inside Out doesn’t exactly exude happy vibes at “The Happiest Place on Earth” when she glumly shuffles on stage at Disneyland Park.
But even Sadness, who is part of a new Pixar live entertainment show called Pixar Pals Playtime Party at Disney’s Fantasyland Theatre, kicks up her heels and breaks out some happy dance moves alongside her friend Joy. While other beloved Pixar characters, like Mr. and Mrs. Incredible, Frozone and Edna Mode from The Incredibles and Jessie, Woody and Bo Peep from Toy Story dance with abandon as energetic, non-character cast members provide dance instructions for audience members.
As a longtime Pixar fan, seeing Sadness’ happy dance topped my list of favourite moments while visiting Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park last week for the opening of Pixar Fest 2024, which runs to Aug. 4.
This is the second Pixar Fest. The first was held in 2018 to celebrate the opening of Pixar Pier in Disney California Adventure Park, which featured Pixar films like The Incredibles, Coco, Monsters Inc. and Toy Story.
Six years later, Pixar has released many more films, so there’s even more inspiration for the creative teams from Disney and Pixar Animation Studios to draw from for Pixar Fest 2024.
“We thought this was a really good time to bring back Pixar Fest because its been a while and we’ve come out with a lot of films since [2018],” says Tasha Sounart, theme park creative director with Pixar Animation Studios, noting Soul, Turning Red and Luca were released after the first Pixar Fest.
If you plan on visiting Disneyland during the festival, I’d recommend starting with Pixar Pals Playtime Party, a fun zone for families, since it provides an opportunity for Pixar fans to directly join in the Pixar celebration of “friendship.” This is also one of the best places to meet some of your favourite Pixar characters, who at one point in the performance leave the stage to join the party on the dance floor, so it’s easy to pose for pictures with them. Or you can join the line and take a photo with characters like Luca and Alberto posing in front of a life-size van from their film Onward, or Dug the dog and boy scout Russell from the film Up. There are plenty of Pixar characters throughout both parks, so chances are high you’ll run into more elsewhere to add to your Pixar photo memories.
Other Pixar Fest 2024 highlights include an updated night-time Pixar projection and laser show, which includes fireworks on select nights, Pixar daytime parades with eight floats and more than two dozen Pixar characters as well as 70 non-character performers, and the opening of Club Pixar, where you can watch screenings of Pixar shorts at California Adventure Park, while sitting in a classic Cadillac at the Hollywood Backlot. Club Pixar is a family-friendly nighttime experience from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m., where parents will be sure to appreciate the chance to sit down and drink a Pixar-inspired cocktail while a DJ plays music and the kids can enjoy entertainment and games.
And if you are a foodie, Disneyland Resorts’ culinary team has created 80 food dishes inspired by Pixar films, such as a Ratatouille mini-pizza with a slice of camembert cheese on top, and brought back fan favourites, like the fried bologna sandwich, which first debuted at Pixar Fest 2018. Pixar-inspired food and beverages can be found at 29 different locations around the resort.
Also, starting May 10, even more specially themed food will be available in six marketplaces in California Adventure Park. The themes of these marketplaces will represent six different Pixar films - Luca, Ratatouille, Turning Red, Soul, Elemental and Inside Out.
Pixar Fest 2024 took nearly two years of planning, according to creatives who spoke on a media panel about the limited-time festival just prior to it beginning on April 26.
“The biggest challenge was there was far too many things you can work with and which ones do you celebrate?” says Robin Trowbridge, the show director for Disney Live Entertainment.
But Trowbridge aded it was a great opportunity to create a new parade with the message friendships matter. The parade called “Better Together: A Pixar Pals Celebration” will be performed twice daily at Disney California Adventure Park, with visitors likely destined to leave the parade route humming the original song Better Together.
“Friends lift us up. [Pixar Fest] is literally an invitation to celebrate friendships,” he says.
One of the new floats in the parade depicts Turning Red, a film about friendship and acceptance.
The float also has 10 Pixar characters on it, which is the most characters to be seen on any one float.
Megan Roth, senior manager of events production at Walt Disney Company, adds the enthusiastic response so far from visitors who have seen the parade makes her think it’s possible the Pixar floats will be incorporated throughout the year in other Disney parades after Pixar Fest ends.
“Everybody is just so happy to see a lot more of that here in the park,” she says. “It was fabulous.”
Roth adds no matter where you go between the two parks, visitors can immerse themselves in Pixar during Pixar Fest 2024.
“What we loved about the first round of Pixar Fest [in 2018] we’ve built upon it and I think made it even better and amazing. For me, personally, I would love to see it on a regular basis because I think there’s just so many great ways to integrate Pixar characters and the movies that we all love into the parks experiences,” she says.
And keeping true to the Pixar films, which are famous for hiding Easter eggs in scenes, visitors should keep their eye out for Easter eggs themselves which are hidden around the resort. Now that’s something that would even delight the Pixar character Sadness.
IF YOU GO
Where to stay
Treat yourself and stay at Pixar Place Hotel, the only Disneyland Resort Hotel celebrating Pixar animation, which opened last January after a major renovation. It was formerly known as the Paradise Pier Hotel with a beach theme.
Directly across the street from Disney California Adventure Park, the hotel lobby features a large white desk lamp, a nod to Pixar’s production logo of the white Luxo light. The iconic task light is standard in all of the hotel’s 479 rooms, which include 25 suites and five signature theme suites. All 15 floors have murals dedicated to Pixar films, like the 13th where I stayed which featured a mural from Monsters Inc.
Since the hotel caters mostly to families, the standard rooms can sleep up to five people in the two queen-size beds with a pull-out couch. The hotel also has a great pool area that includes a splash zone and slide for kids.
Also, this is the only place where you can meet the Pixar character Bing Bong, from the Pixar film Inside Out, who frequently makes an appearance to greet guests.
Kim Pemberton was hosted by Disney, who did not review or approve this story. Follow her on Instagram at kimstravelogue.
