The Disneyland Book of Secrets 2014: One Local's Unauthorized, Rapturous and Indispensable Guide to the Happiest Places on Earth (180 page)

Pacific Wharf
Introduction

When
DCA
opened in 2001,
Golden State
was a sprawling land, encircling
Grizzly Peak
and divided into multiple sections including
Pacific Wharf
, a Monterey Bay and San Francisco-themed area with an emphasis on California’s diverse cultures and cuisine.

Golden State
, large and fragmented, wasn’t a truly cohesive realm, and during the 2012 completion of
DCA
’s billion-dollar renovation,
DCA
made it formal: 
Golden State
was officially split into
Condor Flats
,
Grizzly Peak
, and
Pacific Wharf
, and they appeared thereafter as separate entities in park maps and park literature.

Pacific Wharf
is one of
DCA
’s prettier lands.  With its high concentration of eateries and picturesque seating it can be considered the “food court” of
DCA
—
Disney
style.  The wharf area is a congregation of brick and corrugated metal structures, reminiscent of Northern Californian canneries and fisheries.  There are plaques detailing the histories of those industries, and there are windows filled with photos and artifacts.  The tempting scents of Asian and Latin cooking, freshly baked bread, and freshly poured chocolate, mingle in the air.  The music of traditional Mariachi tunes wafts across the bay.  Across the bridge is a perfectly replicated little slice of
Bay Area
Victorian houses, and, nearby, sumptuous cuisine served in the grand precincts of a classic California vineyard.

In sum,
Pacific Wharf
is a delight at the geographic heart of
DCA
, a place for Guests to meet and eat and converse about their
Disney
adventures.

Does
Pacific Wharf
have a connection to
Walt
?  In spirit.  In terms of cuisine,
Walt
was pretty much a beans and chili kind of fellow, but he was a great traveler and fascinated by different cultures.  His voyages through Alaska launched
Disney
’s award-winning
Tru-Life Adventure
documentaries. 
Walt
frequently traveled through Europe, and in the early 1940’s he served as a goodwill ambassador to South America.  He enjoyed learning about different people and places, and what he learned stimulated ideas for his creations.  That’s what
Pacific Wharf
celebrates at its core–the many different people and cultures that made California great, especially those who migrated to the Golden State in the wake of the 1849 Gold Rush.

There
is
a specific
Disney
connection to Northern California, through
Walt
’s eldest daughter.
Diane
, who married USC left end
Ronald Miller
, would help to carry forward her father’s work and his love of California after
Walt
passed on, and so would her husband
Ron
.  As a young man,
Ron
served in the army and was a pro football player for the Rams, but from 1957 until 1984,
Ron
worked at
Disney
in a variety of roles including serving as
Disney CEO
from 1983 to 1984. 
Diane
was busy over the years raising seven children, and she and
Ron
built and ran a winery in Napa Valley.

Notwithstanding her maternal and business duties,
Diane
has always found time, particularly in her later years, to celebrate and champion her father and his vision.  She was instrumental in driving the completion of the
Walt Disney Concert Hall
in Downtown Los Angeles, a unique structure designed by
Frank Gehry
.  She was also the moving spirit behind the
Walt Disney Family Museum
which opened at San Francisco’s Presidio in October of 2009.

It’s
appropriate that
Pacific Wharf
is the home of the
Walt Disney Imagineering Blue Sky Cellar
.  In this converted wine cellar,
Imagineers
share art work, models, blueprints, and video clips detailing how new
DCA
creations evolved, from initial concept to the finished article, based on the creative processes
Walt
developed and refined over the years.

Guests who visit
Pacific Wharf
will find themselves immersed in the history and vibrancy of Northern California, especially in and around San Francisco and the Napa Valley, an exciting melting pot of cultures and foods. 
Did You Know?
 
Disney
has had a significant presence in Northern California since it began working with No Cal-based
Pixar Animation Studios
in the 1990’s, and subsequently purchased
Pixar
in 2006. In October 2012, the world learned of a new
Disney
connection to Northern California.  Genius filmmaker
George Lucas
, a longtime
Disney
collaborator, sold
Lucasfilm
–a mighty media empire based in and around San Francisco–to the
Disney Company
.

Pacific Wharf
Attractions

The Bakery Tour

[
FastView:
 
A brief and interesting tour, and a free sample of sourdough bread.
]

If you’re in a Rhode Island bakery, you try the Portuguese sweet bread.  If you’re in a Paris
boulangerie
, you buy a
baguette
.  If you’re in San Francisco, that cosmopolitan city by the bay, you go to
Boudin Bakery
at famous Fisherman’s Wharf and treat yourself to the sourdough bread.

The
Pacific Wharf
district of
DCA
, at the heart of the park, is a compact evocation of Northern California’s wharf industries and multicultural cuisine.  The architecture is San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf meets Monterey’s Cannery Row, weathered waterfront buildings complete with vents and silos, docks worn and scoured by a sea breeze, and a green-painted iron bridge spanning a sparkling tidal bay.

When I first visited
DCA
in 2006, I didn’t have time to stroll the
Pacific Wharf
district, but it caught my attention as we passed it. 
Pacific Wharf
reads instantly–it’s a loving tribute to Fisherman’s Wharf and Monterey, and the
Imagineers
designed a replica that looks weather-worn but lovely, historical but
Disney-esque
.  They found the romance in the architecture of Northern California’s back-breakingly demanding wharf industries.

In addition to its eateries and
serene atmosphere,
Pacific Wharf
features a couple of select attractions, including the
Bakery Tour
, which dates back to
DCA
’s
Opening Day
.

The
Bakery Tour
is sponsored by
Boudin Bakery
.  It’s a minor attraction and by no means a must if you’re on a tight schedule.  However, if you have the time to spare, it’s worthwhile.

Boudin
(pronounced “Bodine”) was one of San Francisco’s first bakeries.  It opened in 1849, the “tipping point” year of the gold rush (think “miner ‘49ers”), when San Francisco’s population exploded from about 1,000 souls to over 20,000, with many more on the way.  Few miners got rich, but merchants, hoteliers, boarding house keepers, and bakers like the
Boudins
throve on the business the thousands of hopeful miners brought to the city.

To take
DCA
’s
Bakery Tour
, Guests queue at the
Boudin Bakery
entrance and wait to be admitted.  A group of Guests is fed into the bakery about every ten minutes.  In the ante room, a Cast Member clad in baker’s whites offers you a slice of delicious
Boudin
sourdough bread.  The video screens mounted to the walls flicker to life, and the presentation begins.  Actors and comedians Rosie O’Donnell and Colin Mochrie host the video tour.  After an introduction, the doors open into the actual bakery, and Guests enter; the video presentation continues on monitors in the bakery.

Through
glass walls, Guests observe the bakery equipment and the bustling bakery crew while the video presentations keep rolling.  O’Donnell and Mochrie keep the mood light and fun, cracking jokes while providing interesting insights into the crafting of sourdough bread.  Did you know it takes 72 hours to create a single loaf of sourdough?  That every loaf baked today still contains “mother dough” that dates back to
Isodore Boudin
and the 1840’s?  O’Donnell and Mochrie give you plenty of information to chew on while you’re noshing a sourdough slice.

The complete tour takes about 10 minutes, and then you exit, emerging, conveniently enough, right next to the
Pacific Wharf Café
.  If you have restless little ones with you, or the presentation doesn’t pique your interest, you can leave before the tour ends.  Since your hosts are electronic images on a video screen, there’s no one to offend, other than the white-clad bakers behind the glass partition, and they’re too busy preparing the bread to notice when you depart! 
Did You Know?
 
DCA
’s
Boudin Bakery
makes the sourdough loaves and bread bowls for both parks.  Your gumbo bread bowl in
Disneyland
’s
New Orleans Square
, for example, was baked fresh at
Pacific Wharf
. 
Did You Also Know?
  If you’re ever in San Francisco visiting the
Walt Disney Family Museum
, and you’re hankering for sourdough bread, visit the
Boudin Bakery
at Fisherman’s Wharf.  For a complete list of
Boudin
locations and more about the famous bakery’s history, visit
www.boudinbakery.com
. 
FastPass:
  No.  The bakery tour doesn’t lend itself to the
FastPass
format.  The good news:  There are seldom large groups or long waits. 
Kid’s Eye View:
  I’ve never been on the tour but I’d like to go.  The bread is delicious!

Bay Area

[
FastView:
 
Captures the architectural beauty of old San Francisco.
]

Just north of
Paradise Pier
and south of
Grizzly Peak
is a
Pacific Wharf
corridor that connects the districts.  The corridor consists of a broad path that transitions from the forested
Grizzly Peak
landscape to the more urbane environment of old San Francisco.

The
Bay Area
consists of a row of Victorian and Edwardian houses painted in gorgeous whites, blues, pinks, and lavenders, hyperreal versions of the elegant “painted ladies” for which San Francisco is famous.  Some of the houses appear to be residences, while others have signs painted on the windows advertising fictional bay area businesses like
Palo Alto Sax
or
Cable Car Financial
/
Riding Ups and Downs of Finance
.

To the west Guests see a small-scale version of the rotunda of San Francisco’s
Palace of Fine Arts
. 
DCA
’s replica rotunda used to serve as the entrance to the
Golden Dreams
attraction.  Although
Golden Dreams
is no more, the rotunda has been incorporated into the exterior of the
Little Mermaid:  Ariel’s Undersea Adventure
attraction which opened in 2011.  (The real Palace of Fine Arts was built in 1915 for the Panama-Pacific Exposition which San Francisco hosted.)

Since the closure of
Golden Dreams
in 2008, the
Bay Area
of
Pacific Wharf
no longer has any attractions, although the painted ladies and rotunda are lovely in and of themselves.  What’s behind the sophisticated façade of the Victorian and Edwardian houses?  Since their 2009 refurb, they’ve hosted payphones and rest rooms, and, since June 2011, the
Embarcadero
shop. 
Did You Know?
  In October of 2009, the
Walt Disney Family Museum
opened in San Francisco.  Housed at the city by the bay’s famed Presidio, the museum features a wealth of photos, artifacts, and imaginative displays related to
Walt
, his family, and his creations, including a fascinating model of
Disneyland
not as it exists but as
Walt
saw it in his mind. 
Walt
’s eldest daughter
Diane Disney Miller
was instrumental in the museum’s creation.  Museum hours are typically 10 am to 4:45 pm and, as of this writing, tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for students and seniors, and $12 for kids aged six to 17.  Children under six are admitted for free.  For more information, call (415) 345-6800 or visit the
Walt Disney Family Museum
site via
http://www.waltdisney.org
.