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- Smith Family, KY
Description And Comments
Higher than the Matterhorn attraction at Disneyland Park, this whopper of a Ferris wheel tops out at 160 feet. Absolutely spectacular in appearance, with an enormous Mickey head in the middle of its wheel. Pixar Pal-A-Round offers stunning views in all directions. Unfortunately, however, the view is severely compromised by the steel mesh that completely encloses the passenger compartment. In essence, Disney has created the world's largest revolving chicken coop. Regarding the ride itself, the non-swinging buckets are (relatively) stationary. We recommend these for those prone to motion sickness. For others, the swinging buckets are more exciting.
Touring Tips
Ferris wheels are the most slow loading of all cycle rides. Thus, we were very curious to see how the loading and unloading are engineered. Pixar Pal-A-Round has a platform that allows three compartments to be loaded at once. The lateral sliding buckets are loaded from the two outside platforms, while the stationary compartments are loaded from the middle platform. Loading the entire wheel takes about six and a half minutes, following which Pixar Pal-A-Round rotates so slowly that the wonderful rising and falling sensations of the garden-variety Ferris wheel are completely absent. For our money, Pixar Pal-A-Round is beautiful to behold but terribly boring to ride. If you decide to give it a whirl, ride the first hour the park is open or in the hour before the park closes.
The Non-Swinging version has the shorter waits of the two versions, but has only half the capacity (loads one car at a time instead of two). Also, be prepared during the busier season to double up with another small group if you are a group of 1, 2, or 3.
Pixar Pal-A-Round - Non Swinging Wait Times
This chart shows you roughly how long you'll wait for Pixar Pal-A-Round - Non Swinging when you visit on a day with a given Disney California Adventure Park Crowd Level. The blue bars represent the average "peak" wait time (that is, how long the line will be at its busiest). The bottom and top black lines represent the range of peak wait times to expect (for you fellow nerds out there: it's the 5th percentile and 95th percentile of peak wait times). Please note that these are estimates, and for a better forecast for your travel dates, see Pixar Pal-A-Round - Non Swinging Wait Times.
Special Comments
The world's largest chicken coop; may induce motion sickness. This attraction was previously known as Sun Wheel (until 2008) and Mickey's Fun Wheel (until 2018).
Special Needs
Other Attractions in Pixar Pier
- Incredicoaster
- Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind
- Jessie's Critter Carousel
- Pixar Pal-A-Round - Swinging
- Toy Story Midway Mania!