Disney has revealed new dining details and opening date time frames for the San Fransokyo Square area based on Big Hero 6 in California Adventure at Disneyland Resort. The newly reimagined land will feature a place to meet Baymax, plus reimagined restaurants and new shopping options.
San Fransokyo Square is taking over Pacific Wharf, a transformation that has been in process for the last few months. While this might sound like huge news to those who haven’t been to DCA, it’s worth noting that Pacific Wharf is a glorified food court. We don’t mean for that to sound dismissive–Pacific Wharf is a nice area and we eat there often. But it’s still a food court.
Pacific Wharf is currently home to Cocina Cucamonga, Lucky Fortune Cookery, Pacific Wharf Cafe, Rita’s Baja Blenders, and Ghirardelli. There’s also the Boudin Bakery Tour, excellent restrooms, a cool fishing net photo op, and the best entrance into Cars Land. While much of this is changing as part of the reimagining into San Fransokyo Square, the area does not have room to expand. It’s abutted by Cars Land on one side, the parade route on the other, and the bridge to Pixar Pier on the other.
With the limitations of this reimagining into a Big Hero 6 land out of the way, let’s discuss dates and details. The San Fransokyo Public Works Department has been diligently beautifying and making improvements to the local cannery district, which is home to the aforementioned eateries and businesses in this diverse neighborhood.
Over the course of the summer, those local eateries will start to introduce new menu offerings. Starting in mid-July 2023, you’ll be able to sample new San Fransokyo selections at Lucky Fortune Cookery, and the Port of San Fransokyo Cervecería will officially open. In the weeks following, additional dining options, unique shopping and more will be introduced as the transformation of this thriving seaside plaza continues through mid-August 2023.
When the transformation is completed, locations across the area, including those technically outside the waterways of Pacific Wharf – from the Cappuccino Cart outside the San Fransokyo Gate Bridge to The Bakery Tour – will be decked out in street art and colorful banners celebrating the Big Hero 6 team after their victory over Yokai.
Within San Fransokyo Square, you’ll have the opportunity to experience a meet & greet with Hiro and his huggable healthcare companion, Baymax. This dynamic duo will appear outside the Hamada Bot Shop. This is where the Big Hero 6 team builds and innovates their hi-tech gear, so you may also see a few of their upcoming inventions.
Near the Hamada Bot Shop will be the San Fransokyo Maker’s Market, a storefront stocked with unique apparel, homewares and more featuring Baymax and friends. In the concept art above, the market’s shelves are situated on robot storage cases, with decommissioned battle bots on display. If you turn a sharp eye to the rafters overhead, you may spot the local battlebot champion, Hiro’s Megabot!
Across the way, a vending machine dispenses collectible golden medallions featuring Baymax and other iconic images from San Fransokyo.
The diverse array of flavorful fare in San Fransokyo Square will include current favorites and new creations inspired by Asian cuisine, as well as the Big Hero 6 themselves. Let’s check out the dining destinations you’ll be able to try…
Aunt Cass Café, the second bakery café operated by Hiro’s loving aunt, will serve dishes, soups in freshly-baked Boudin sourdough bread bowls and more inspired by Japanese cuisine. On the outside of this quick service restaurant, you’ll find a mural of Aunt Cass’ lucky pet cat, Mochi.
This will replace Pacific Wharf Cafe, and appears to be the only restaurant that will change in a material way as part of the San Fransokyo Square reimagining. This is presumably out of necessity, given that the name of the old land was in the name of the restaurant.
An old fishing net tannery across from the café is being converted to Rita’s Turbine Blenders, a giant drink dispenser offering margaritas and icy beverages. This refreshment stand is owned and named after the repair technician who maintains the floating wind turbine, resembling a giant koi fish, that sits atop the structure.
In addition to these locations, you can expect new menu items at Cocina Cucamonga and Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop.
When it comes to commentary, my reaction to this is unchanged. The only real surprise to me is that they’re managing to add the Hiro & Baymax meet & greet, Hamada Bot Shop and the San Fransokyo Maker’s Market in a space that was previously occupied by only the Karl Strauss beer truck. (Maybe the meet & greet is in the Hamada Bot Shop? Even so, it’s a great use of space.)
As far as concerns go, my only major one also concerns space–that Pacific Wharf is already crowded and it can be tough to find a spot to sit during peak hours on even moderately busy days. Giving the area even more appeal, instead of just being a pleasant place to eat, is going to induce even more demand and congestion. So that’s potentially not great from an operational outlook.
Beyond that, my perspective on this reimagining is (perhaps uncharacteristically) positive. To start with, Pacific Wharf isn’t losing anything that makes it special. That’s pretty much just the food.
There’s a reason every counter service restaurant in Pacific Wharf made our list of the 23 Best Restaurants at Disneyland Resort. This food court is really good, and underrated among Disneyland diehards (despite its popularity with the general public). So long as the bread pudding, bread bowls, other assorted breads, and the delicious QuesaBirria stick around with the menu changes, I’m fine with this. (If the QuesaBirria goes, we riot!)
As mentioned before, it’s also not like I’m super enthusiastic about San Fransokyo Square. This Big Hero 6 area is going to be interesting placemaking that adds underutilized intellectual property while mostly fitting in the Disney California Adventure theme, but not materially altering anything. In other words, my “positive” reaction is also a measured one. I’m not expecting San Fransokyo Square to be a game changer or something around which anyone will plan trips. It’s a plussing to an area that is currently nothing special thematically.
This is essentially the crux of why I believe that San Fransokyo Square will be an incremental upgrade. Any changes to this area will likely be enhancements. This is as contrasted with Pixar Pier, where a ridiculous amount of money was spent to add characters in the most hamfisted ways possible. I’ve already complained about Pixar Pier (repeatedly), and what’s done is done, so I won’t belabor that particular point.
The bottom line is that San Fransokyo Square clearly will not be a Pixar Pier situation where the end result is a downgrade. For one thing, Pacific Wharf has essentially maxed out its potential as an original “California” land. Improvements were made to it during and after the Disney California Adventure overhaul, but it’s still basically just a food court.
After this reimagining, it’ll be a Big Hero 6 “land” (or however they’re classifying it) with a food court and a few other enhancements. If the concept art and construction we’ve observed thus far is any indication (photos above and below), the strengths of Pacific Wharf are being enhanced rather than undone. What’s being added is design details and Disney intellectual property that can give the area a bit more personality and design depth.
The layered backstory approach doesn’t always work–and is honestly played out–but it makes complete sense here. An area like San Fransokyo Square is precisely where you’d expect to see repurposed restaurants and other venues.
Beyond that, narrowing the focus to only one Disney IP will likely make the end result more cohesive. The transformation into a Big Hero 6 mini-land is going to improve Disney California Adventure. Critically, it also blocks out a dumber idea from being implemented in the future. (Everyone who thinks this reimagining is “pointless” might feel differently if the alternative were an overlay inspired by Toy Story 7: Forky First Blood.)
Ultimately, there’s where I stand with turning Pacific Wharf into the Big Hero 6 land of San Fransokyo Square. I don’t really care that much, but I do disagree with the consensus among Disneyland fans, which seems to be that this is a pointless change. In my view, not everything needs to be a blockbuster addition or large-scale reimagining.
I’d love to see Disney California Adventure receive more placemaking like this. Quite clearly, the future of DCA involves Disney IP. My strong preference would be to meld the “California” theme with one featuring Disney characters that work in an organic way. Again, as contrasted with the hodgepodge that is Pixar Pier. This approach worked well with Cars Land, could be a nice little enhancement here, and the same could probably be true for Hollywood Land and other areas of the park.
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Your Thoughts
What do you think of the news that Pacific Wharf will be reimagined as San Fransokyo Square from Big Hero 6? Looking forward to trying the new menu items, checking out the new shopping, or meeting Hiro and Baymax? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions? Hearing your feedback—even when you disagree with us—is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
