Big Hero 6 San Fransokyo Open Now at California Adventure – DETAILS!
Pacific Wharf in California Adventure is has been rethemed into San Fransokyo based on the Big Hero Six movie. This new area includes a Baymax meet-and-greet, vibrant new theming, and new places to eat and shop!
Keep reading for everything we know about this San Fransokyo retheme along with details on what to see, do, eat, and enjoy.
Pacific Wharf Reimagined to San Fransokyo
San Fransokyo Square is a fictional combination of San Francisco and Tokyo from the Big Hero Six film. The storyline for this new area includes local entrepreneurs coming together to reimagine the seaside canneries into a vibrant, multicultural district of neighborhood restaurants and small businesses in response to the local fishing trade falling on hard times.
Opening Date of San Fransokyo
While San Fransokyo offered new food items and dining locations over the last few weeks, the area officially opened as San Fransokyo Square on August 31st, with Baymax and Hiro out to greet guests! Disney shared that even after this opening date, “the San Fransokyo Public Works department will continue to beautify the area with additional decor”.
New Dining Locations and Shops at San Fransokyo
You can read more about the new San Fransokyo Big Hero 6 food offerings here. Click there for our review of the new food.
One expected hit is the Baymax popcorn bucket. At a recent media event, Disney gifted us one to preview. While taking photos in the park of the bucket I was asked no less than five times where it was for sale.
New dining options and stores will also be introduced during the following weeks as the reimagining is underway. There will be new food locations alongside old favorites when San Fransokyo constuction is complete, and locations across San Fransokyo–from the Cappuccino Cart to The Bakery Tour–will be decorated with colorful street art and banners in celebration of Yokai's defeat by the Big Hero 6 team.
New Details on San Fransokyo Revealed
During a recent media event covering San Fransokyo, Disney revealed new details about the land. After sharing the opening date which we included above, they also shared some new details on the inspirations for changes in the land.
New Music in the Land
The music throughout the land will be J-Pop centered around the year 2014 to match the years that the original animated film was released. Some of the music was also previously played in the Japan Pavilion at Epcot and The Happy Ride With Baymax at Tokyo Disney. The loop will be over 90 minutes long. Instrumental versions of the songs “B-A-Y-M-A-X,” “A New Angle,” “Happy Song” and “One Sweet Ride” from the Tokyo Disney attraction will be included.
Cast Member Costumes
The new Cast Member costumes worn in the land will feature some of the local San Fransokyo sports teams or the local university school. The design of the costumes matches the style of a tinkerer at work on a robotic creation like Hiro creating Baymax. All the Cast Members are supposed to appear to be living, real, San Fransokyans.
Ghirardelli in San Fransokyo
San Fransokyo is an alternate reality version of San Francisco so Ghirardelli also exists in that world. The exterior of that building will have new lanterns added and the interior is already transformed with a new mural that reflects the reality of San Fransokyo. See the completed mural in our construction update section below. The same koi fish turbines that will be added to other structures in the land will be added here.
Easter Eggs Throughout
The land will have easter eggs that pay homage to the original movie, the Disney Channel animated series, and the Disney Plus animated series throughout. Fans of all three of these works will find tributes in the new land.
New San Fransokyo Food Locations
New food locations will also be added by the completion of the reimagining that are inspired by the world of the Big Hero 6 movie!
Aunt Cass Café, the Quick Service bakery café operated by Hiro’s loving aunt, will offer soups in Boudin bread bowls and additional dishes inspired by Japanese cuisine. On the exterior of the restaurant, there will be mural of Aunt Cass’ cat, Mochi. See the concept art for this location below!
At Rita's Turbine Blenders—owned and named after the repair technician of the floating wind turbine shaped like an orange fish on top of the structure—you'll find a giant drink dispenser offering margaritas and other icy beverages.
Existing food locations, including Cocina Cucamonga and Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop, will also gain some new menu items, with more details to be announced soon.
New Shops in San Fransokyo
The San Fransokyo Maker’s Market will be offering apparel, homewares, and and more featuring Baymax and friends from the Big Hero 6 movie. Below, you can see details like shelves on robot storage cases and battle bots (including Hiro’s Megabot) on display. Across from The San Fransokyo Maker’s Market, there will be a vending machine that dispenses collectible golden medallions with Baymax and scenes of the city of San Fransokyo.
Outside the Hamada Bot Shop, you'll be able to meet Hiro and Baymax and also check out the place where the Big Hero 6 team develops their gear and new inventions.
San Fransokyo Big Hero 6 Area Construction Update
Construction on the Big Hero 6 area at Disney California Adventure is continuing. The bottom half of the bridge into the new land that will soon be redesigned to match the bridge in the Big Hero 6 movie (concept artwork below) is now completely painted orange and the unpainted towers for the new San Fransokyo Bridge are now attached.
The walls along the facade of the Pacific Wharf Cafe building are also now seemingly complete with new signage.
More small details are being added throughout the land. The bathrooms have male and female versions of Baymax.
Inside Ghirardelli chocolate the moving mural has now been altered to reflect the idea that there is a Ghirardelli in San Fransokoyo rather than the traditional San Francisco mural. You'll find the brige, additional signage, and the air-borne wind turbines flying.
The center of the mural also now has the beautiful florals.
San Fransokyo Area Details
The main iconic landmark of this new area will be the San Fransokyo Gate Bridge which will replace the previous Pacific Wharf bride. The bridge links the two tide pools between San Fransokyo Square to the Paradise Gardens park obelisk. As guests cross the bridge they will catch a view of a floating wind turbine on top of an old fishing net tannery which powers the district.
The Baymax meet and greet will be outside the converted warehouse at the south end of the area. Most importantly, Disney has confirmed that you will still be able to enjoy all your favorite Pacific Wharf dining locations during this transformation. This new Baymax meet and greet doesn't appear to be replacing nay existing locations in the Pacific Wharf area and utilizing a new space to provide these interactions.
Once the transformation to San Fransokyo Square is complete, guest will still find “familiar favorites like soups in freshly baked bread bowls, as well as many new Asian-inspired selections.” The new Port of San Fransokyo Cervecería draws inspiration from its tri-cultural influences with signage in English, Japanese and Spanish. Outside will be a fun and inviting beer garden decorated with festoon lights and papel picado.
San Fransokyo is a wonderful addition to California Adventure and continues to transform this area of the park to fit into the magic of Disney.
What is closing to create San Fransokyo from Big Hero 6?
With the recent update to this new project in California Advneture, we do know that all the current restaurants in the area will be available during the construction process. This recent update also confirmed that guests will still find “familiar favorites like soups in freshly baked bread bowls, as well as many new Asian-inspired selections.” So at least we know for sure that the bread bowl soups will remain which are currently found at the Pacific Wharf Cafe. You can still see the sign for Cocina Cucamonga Mexican Grill in the concept art confirming this dining location will remain unchanged.
We do know that the new area will include a Baymax meet and greet. I expect that this meet and greet location will be the extent of the new “attractions” within the land. We have not heard anything about a new ride and the current Pacific Wharf area is land locked which doesn't give much room for any sort of show building expansion. Cars Land is on two sides of the area, water is on another, and Pixar Pier borders the final side. I expect that this will be place-making transformation that will largely consist of adding the Golden Gate bridge structure to the existing Pacific Wharf bridge into the area, the Baymax meet and greet, and lantern decorations throughout as seen in the concept artwork shared above.
Currently the area is home to some of Disneyland's best quick service restaurants, the Boudin factory bread tour, and the Ghirardelli chocolate store and fountain. The bread tour building is also home to a functioning bakery that services the restaurant next door. Each of these locations seems to be ever popular when we are in the parks so it will be interesting to see which location they close for the addition of the Baymax meet and greet. I expect that it will be the entirety of or a large chunk of either the sourdough tour or the Ghirardelli store. Here's hoping that both the store and tour can survive in some capacity and they find a corner to fit Baymax into.
We will update this article as we receive more information on any part of the Big Hero 6 project at Disney California Adventure.
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