Disney California Adventure: More Buena Vista Street

It's time for the final chapter -- for now! -- touring the new Buena Vista Street in Disney California Adventure.

The formerly dreary entrance area and Sunshine Plaza are now filled with charm and the activity of a busy town. Here, Trolley No. 623 approaches Carthay Circle from Hollywood Land:

I love the sleek look of the tower atop the Carthay Circle Theatre. The original Carthay Circle Theatre hosted the premiere of Disney's SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS in 1937.

Here's more of the beautiful tile work seen up and down Buena Vista Street and at the Carthay Circle Theatre:

One of my favorite new spots on Buena Vista Street is Clarabelle's Ice Cream, which is exquisitely detailed, from the cone-shaped lamp fixture below the sign...

...to the lovely stained glass designs.

One of Clarabelle's specialties is hand-dipped ice cream bars, with choices of toppings including confetti (below), rainbow sprinkles, and more. I rarely eat ice cream bars but had to try one out, and it was really wonderful.

For more photos and information regarding Clarabelle's, please visit the Disney Food Blog, including an older preview post.

The offices of the Buena Vista Bugle are next to Elias & Company:

The free newspaper is available several places on Buena Vista Street.  What a fantastic idea! There are articles and vintage-style ads about the new stores, restaurants, and other attractions, not to mention a cartoon drawn by Walt Disney. Hopefully there will be future editions as time goes on.

The Trolley Treats candy shop features a model of Claude Coats' Rock Candy Mountain in the window. Coats, a legendary Disney artist and Imagineer, had originally designed Rock Candy Mountain to be part of the landscape for the Storybook Land Canal Boats and Casey Jr. Circus Train but it was never built. Decades later, Disney has honored Coats and his vision by building a miniature version of his design for all to enjoy.

The light hasn't been right yet for a good photo of Rock Candy Mountain through the glass in its display window, but I hope to have photos to share in the future. In the meantime, there's a very nice photo of the Mountain illustrating an article at MousePlanet.

Big Top Toys is under the Hyperion Bridge, which was shown in my previous post. It might seem an unusual design choice to have a bridge crossing the street, but there's a practical reason for it -- the Monorail runs across the bridge! In the park's previous life, this was the location of the Golden Gate Bridge.

The general theme of Big Top Toys was inspired by DUMBO (1941).

One more shot of the impressive exterior of Elias & Company, taken without a single guest in the picture at last week's passholder preview:

The interior of Elias & Company is filled with lovely details, such as this light fixture:

A Red Car Trolley rounds Carthay Circle, heading down Buena Vista Street into a long and happy future.

Be sure to read this excellent article from the Orange County Register on the many tributes to Disney history seen up and down Buena Vista Street. Just about every name and street number has special significance!

Previously: California Adventure: Cars Land Preview!; Cars Land Preview: Flo's V8 Cafe and Luigi's Casa Della Tires; Cars Land Preview: Radiator Springs Racers and Mater's Junkyard Jamboree; Cars Land Preview: Around Radiator Springs; Disney California Adventure: Buena Vista Street Preview (and More!).