“You’re in Radiator Springs, the cutest little town in Carburetor County!”

It’s time for a look at one of my very favorite parts of our trip to Disney California Adventure…our visit to Radiator Springs!

Cars is the movie I most associate with Turkey’s and Bunny’s early childhood. We went to see the movie at the drive-in theater when our house was being built, and it quickly became a family favorite. It’s still my favorite animated movie, and one of my favorite movies, period. So it was really special to be able to explore that town with Turkey and Bunny!

We discovered that apparently everyone knows to park their strollers by Stanley:

I loved getting to see the Cozy Cone Motel…it’s a popular spot to meet Lightning and Mater, too!

The most popular ride in town is “Radiator Springs Racers.” The area they built up around the ride not only looks really cool, it also tells the story of how Radiator Springs came to be (yes, there is an actual spring flowing from an old radiator!):

We saw other familiar spots, like Ramone’s House of Body Art:

And Flo’s V-8 Cafe, where we stopped for a bite to eat:

Luigi’s Casa Della Tires is also the location of another fun ride, Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters:

We got to see Doc Hudson’s trophy case:

And the Horn-O-Plenty:

There were also cool billboards on the way into town:

We saw three different Radiator Springs residents…Lightning McQueen (of course!), Mater, and Red. They were treated like any other costumed cast member at Disney with handlers and everything!

But what was maybe the coolest part of the whole experience was seeing the neon lit up at night, just like Lightning did for Miss Sally:

I am so thankful we got to have this special experience together!