Disney California Adventure this week said farewell to A Bug’s Land to make way for the future expansion of Marvel in the park
In October 2002, A Bug’s Land was opened as a replacement to Bountiful Valley Farm, which already included A Bug’s Life attraction, the show, It’s Tough To Be A Bug.
It all featured as part of the Californian theme through out the park on opening day, but after lacklustre attendance, it was time for a revamp.
As part of a bigger plan, alongside the announcement that The Tower of Terror would be build, A Bug’s Land would emerge from the shadow of the Tower (literally A Bug’s Land entrance sits right at the foot of the Tower making you feel even more like Flik and co).
A Bug’s Land would incorporate the already existing It’s Tough To Be A Bug and expand across the old farm.
It would be given the feel that you were the size of a bug, that has arrived at Flik’s Fun Fair and would feature 4 new attractions as well as a splash pad for children.
The three attractions would be Tuck & Roll’s Drive ‘Em Buggies, a typical off the shelf bumper car ride.
Francis’ Ladybug Boogie, a spinning attraction, but unlike Alice’s Teacups, the rider was unable to spin the ride vehicle themselves.
Heimlich’s Chew Chew Train, a ride through attraction, narrated by the late Joe Ranft, who voiced the character in the film, as you passed giant versions of Heimlich’s favourite food. This is the first interesting part of the closure, due to the love people had for Ranft, some of his narration has been incorporated in the new Heimlich game of Pixar Pier, Heimlich’s Candy Corn Toss
Lastly we have Flix’s Flyers, the main attraction. Fashioned out of old food containers, this spinner resembled balloons that Flik had created, as guests would soar over the land giving great views of the park. This ride will not be going away completely though. It will be moved over to the aforementioned Pixar Pier, being rethemed to another massive Pixar hit, Inside Out.
The writing was on the wall for the land once The Tower of Terror was announced to be going away, to be replaced by Marvel’s Guardian’s of the Galaxy Mission Breakout, leaving a very different view to before
An so it came to pass, in March 2018, it was announced the land would be going away, to include an expansion from Guardians of the Galaxy, for more Marvel attractions. It’s Tough To Be A Bug was first to go, actually closing the day before the announcement
The rest would follow on September 4th, and with that another massive part of the early years of California Adventure was gone.
This was a weird one for me, as I actually never did any of these attractions, as the last time we went to California, we didn’t really know much about California Adventure, other than the obvious stuff, and therefore looked at the area and saw the splash pad and though it was a kid’s area. Having learnt so much more about the parks in the last 5 or 6 years, I am now really sad to see it go without ever having taking part in some really fun attractions.
So I say farewell to the Ant Royal Family with a heavy heart
