Part of our Disneyland Resort Pocket Guides series, everything you need for one land at a time: every ride, every shop, every restroom, and the details most guides skip.
Buena Vista Street is the first thing you see when you walk through Disney California Adventure’s main gate, and it’s doing something most entrance lands don’t bother with: telling a real story. This is Walt Disney’s own arrival in Los Angeles, reimagined as a street. He came to the city in July 1923 with, famously, a frayed cardboard suitcase and about forty dollars to his name. Buena Vista Street recreates the 1920s and ’30s Los Angeles he would have walked into, shopfronts, signage, and all.
One thing worth knowing up front: this land doesn’t currently have a ride to hop on. Its one attraction, the Red Car Trolley, stopped operating in February 2025 as its former route became part of the Avengers Campus expansion, the same construction building Avengers Infinity Defense and Stark Flight Lab that we’ve already covered in our Avengers Campus guide. So think of Buena Vista Street as a shopping-and-dining land with real atmosphere rather than a ride-first stop, and plan your visit here accordingly.
What Happened to the Red Car Trolley
The Red Car Trolley opened alongside Buena Vista Street’s 2012 makeover (more on that below) and spent over a decade carrying guests along the street and into Hollywood Land before looping back. It stopped running in February 2025, as its former route became part of the Avengers Campus expansion currently under construction. If you’ve come across an older guide describing it as an active ride, that’s just a little out of date at this point, it’s no longer operating.
The good news, and a nice touch on Disney’s part: one of the actual trolleys is still there, now parked permanently on Buena Vista Street as a static photo opportunity. So while you won’t be riding it anymore, it’s still very much part of the street’s charm, and a genuinely sweet spot for a photo if you remember the original ride fondly.
A Little History: From Sunshine Plaza to Buena Vista Street
If you visited Disney California Adventure between its 2001 opening and 2011, this entrance area looked completely different. It was called Sunshine Plaza back then, a contemporary, pun-filled take on an idealized California postcard, anchored by a scaled-down Golden Gate Bridge with the Disneyland Monorail passing over it. Buena Vista Street replaced that concept entirely on June 15, 2012, trading the postcard aesthetic for the more grounded, nostalgic 1920s Los Angeles theme you’ll walk through today.
Carthay Circle: The Heart of the Street
At the far end of Buena Vista Street, where it opens into the park’s central hub, sits Carthay Circle. Look for the Storytellers statue, a young Walt Disney standing with an early version of Mickey Mouse, and the recreated facade of the actual Carthay Circle Theatre, the real Hollywood theater where Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs held its 1937 premiere. Today, that building houses upscale dining rather than a movie screen, more on that below.
Where to Eat
Carthay Circle Restaurant
The land’s fine-dining anchor, with a menu developed by Napa Rose Executive Chef Andrew Sutton. Lunch and dinner service, and reservations are genuinely recommended here rather than optional.
Carthay Circle Lounge
A full-service bar attached to the restaurant, appetizers and drinks in a slightly more relaxed setting than the dining room upstairs.
Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Café
This holds a genuinely fun piece of Disneyland trivia: it was the first Starbucks ever located on Disneyland property, and it remains one of the busiest Starbucks locations anywhere in the country. If a coffee run matters to your morning, get here within the first 30 minutes after park opening, Buena Vista Street itself typically opens about 30 minutes before the rest of the park, making an early coffee-and-pastry run here a genuinely smart way to start the day before tackling rope drop elsewhere.
Clarabelle’s Hand-Scooped Ice Cream
A classic ice cream parlor stop, good for an afternoon treat.
Mortimer’s Market
One of the first things you’ll see walking in, fresh fruit, veggies, chips, and other grab-and-go snacks, a good option if you just need something quick on your way into or out of the park.
Shopping on Buena Vista Street
Elias & Company Department Store
The largest single shop in the entire park, named after Elias Disney, Walt’s father. Expect a wide range of general Disney merchandise given the sheer size of the space.
Oswald’s Filling Station
A souvenir shop with a genuinely photogenic antique car parked right outside, named for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Walt Disney’s character predecessor to Mickey Mouse.
Los Feliz Five and Dime
Another general merchandise stop along the street.
Trolley Treats
The land’s candy shop, and worth a look even if you’re not buying anything, there’s a Big Rock Candy Mountain model built right into the window display.
Kingswell Camera Shop
Beyond being a shop, this doubles as a PhotoPass printing location, worth knowing if you want physical prints of photos taken earlier in your day.
Photo Spots: PhotoPass and DIY
Kingswell Camera Shop doubles as a PhotoPass printing location, worth knowing if you want physical prints of photos taken earlier in your day, not just digital downloads.
For DIY shots, the parked Red Car Trolley is now genuinely one of the best photo spots on the street, still fully intact, still photogenic, just permanently stationary. It’s a lovely one if you remember riding it, and a fun bit of history even if you don’t. The Storytellers statue and the recreated Carthay Circle Theatre facade at the end of the street are both worth a photo too, especially if you know the real theater’s connection to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ 1937 premiere.
Restrooms
Restrooms are located near the Chamber of Commerce, close to the park entrance on the left side as you walk in.
A Quick FAQ
Is there still a ride on Buena Vista Street? Not an operating one. The Red Car Trolley, the land’s one attraction, stopped running in February 2025 as its route became part of the Avengers Campus expansion. The good news, one of the actual trolleys is still parked on Buena Vista Street as a static photo opportunity, so it’s still very much part of the scenery, just not something you’ll ride anymore.
What used to be here before Buena Vista Street? Sunshine Plaza, from the park’s 2001 opening until 2011, themed to a stylized California postcard with a scaled-down Golden Gate Bridge. Buena Vista Street replaced it in June 2012 with the current 1920s Los Angeles theme.
Is Carthay Circle Restaurant worth the reservation? It’s the land’s fine-dining option, with a menu developed by Napa Rose’s executive chef, genuinely one of the more elevated dining experiences at the resort. Reservations are recommended rather than optional given the demand.
Why is Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Café always so busy in the morning? It’s the first Starbucks that was ever built on Disneyland property, and it remains one of the busiest Starbucks locations in the country. If you want coffee without a long wait, get there within the first half hour after opening.
Can we get PhotoPass prints on Buena Vista Street? Yes, Kingswell Camera Shop handles PhotoPass printing.
Does Buena Vista Street open earlier than the rest of the park? Yes, typically about 30 minutes before the rest of Disney California Adventure, which makes it a good spot for an early coffee run before heading to rope drop elsewhere.
Explore More
Buena Vista Street leads straight into Carthay Circle, the roundabout that actually functions as Disney California Adventure’s entrance-side hub. From there, the whole park fans out: a right turn takes you toward Grizzly Peak, continuing around and straight across from where Buena Vista Street feeds in gives you a great view of the Grizzly Peak waterfall (worth a photo on its own, more on that above), and just past that on the left is one of Avengers Campus’s two entrances. Keep going along the Performance Corridor and you’ll pass Cars Land’s main entrance on the left, then an entrance into San Fransokyo Square, before arriving at the Paradise Gardens Park obelisk, the second hub deeper in the park. From there it’s a roundabout of its own: San Fransokyo Square, Pixar Pier, Paradise Gardens Park, and the Embarcadero walkway back toward Grizzly Peak. Hollywood Land is the other branch off Carthay Circle, running along Hollywood Boulevard, its main street, to Avengers Campus’s second entrance.
Read our full Grizzly Peak guide here, our full Avengers Campus guide here for more on the construction currently affecting the old trolley route, our full Cars Land guide here, our full Pixar Pier guide here, and our full Paradise Gardens Park guide here.
This post is part of our full Disneyland Resort Pocket Guides series (hub page link TBD).
Want the whole trip planned out, not just this one land? The Magic Made Easy Guide covers everything from rope drop to dining reservations in one place. And if you’d rather talk it through, we offer 1:1 Coaching, 60 minutes, just the two of us, mapping out your trip together.