Grizzly River Run is the river rapids ride
at Disney California Adventure. This ride takes place around the stunning Grizzly
Peak and unlike most rides of its kind, this one features multiple drops. This is why I
think it’s one of the best rapids rides out there, and I’ll explain why in this review.
River rapids rides increased in popularity in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s. In
1999, Disney’s Animal Kingdom opened Kali River Rapids. This was an Intamin river rapids ride,
and the f
irst time a ride of its kind had made its way to a Disney park. The ride was extremely
well-landscaped while offering a message about conservation. But the signature element was a
30 foot or 9 meter tall plunge towards the end of the ride. It was the first time an element
like this had been added to a rapids ride. When Disney California Adventure
opened in 2001, it would also feature an Intamin-built river rapids ride.
This one would be named Grizzly River Run. The ride would be built aroun
d Grizzly Peak, a
110 foot or 33.5 meter tall manmade mountain. The highest point would be shaped as a
snarling bear. This looked incredible and it served as the central icon for California
Adventure. Not only was it one of the first things you saw as you entered the park, but
it was unique for a Disney mountain because guests could walk around all sides of it. This
meant it needed to look great from all angles. The ride’s premise was Grizzly Peak was once
mined by the Eureka Mining Compan
y. Once the mines were tapped out, the buildings were
abandoned. Years later, the old infrastructure was transformed into a recreational
facility for those into extreme sports. About a decade ago, the references to extreme
sports were eliminated. The ride is now themed as the Grizzly Peak Recreation Area, a
national state park with Class V rapids. I love this ride’s entrance. There’s a giant
grizzly bear statue holding a paddle. Usually he is wearing a lifejacket, but around Christmas
time
, he will wear a festive holiday sweater. This ride has good capacity for a rapids
ride. Each boat holds 8 guests. The ride has 30 rafts and there are nearly
2 dozen on the course at once. This ride utilizes a turntable load platform.
This is continuously moving for capacity purposes, but the park can stop it if guests
need more time to load or exit. As with many rapids rides, this ride’s line
will spike midday. This is especially true on hot summer days. Between noon and 4 pm,
this line c
an hit the 60-90 minute mark. If you want to avoid these
waits, you have a few options. One, head here early in the day. Not many
people make this their first stop. Although I think you’re better off using the
rope drop time on something else. Two, head here in the evening. Not many people
want to ride this once it starts getting cooler, but you can often walk right onto this.
And there’s a chance the boats won’t be fully loaded with the reduced demand, making
it less likely you get absolu
tely soaked. Three, use the single rider line. I’ve
had great success using this, and I’ve never had to wait more than 5 minutes. That’s
even on hot summer days when the standby wait exceeds an hour. This ride needs to pull a lot
of single riders because of the 8 person rafts. Four, grab a Lightning Lane. This is the
most efficient way to ride as a group midday. You book a one hour time slot for
this ride on the app and shouldn’t have to wait more than 10-15 minutes when you return.
You ca
n book Grizzly River Run once per day. One final touring note is that this ride
often closes for its annual refurbishment in the early months of the year. Don’t be
surprised if you find it closed for several weeks in the January to March timeframe. It
makes sense why Disney does it then because these are the coolest months of the year.
Once seated, guests are secured by individual seatbelts. These rest across your lap.
Now, important note if you want to keep things dry. As with most Disney ri
des,
everything must ride with you. Fortunately, Disney offers complimentary lockers adjacent
to the ride’s entrance to keep your belongings safe and dry. These are free for 2 hours.
As with most water rides, you must have something on your feet. And a tip if you want
to avoid soaked shoes, you can wrap your feet in plastic bags. This admittedly looks ridiculous,
but it feels a whole lot better than walking around in soggy socks and getting blisters.
This ride begins with a slow turn. During
this, you’ll hear the ride’s safety
instructions in a few different languages. There isn’t much theming here, but
the landscaping and rockwork is beautiful. Then you pass under a former building for the
Eureka Mining Company and have a long conveyor belt up the mountain. It intentionally makes these
rickety sounds. Along the way, you pass under a few leaky pipes that’ll get you mildly wet.
Once at the top, you head into the river. The awesome landscaping continues with even better
rockwork
and plenty of tree coverage. Then you hear a ferocious roar, and in front of you,
you see the iconic Grizzly rock formation. You hit a small rapid. This hits
a few riders with a trickle. Then you enter a cave for some more turbulent
rapids. These really bounce the boat, but they don’t produce more than a small splash.
But this part does feel semi-intense since you have a waterfall loudly splashing next to you and
you also hear the bear’s roar echoing throughout. There is a rapid once you h
ead outside that
can create a sizable splash with a full raft. Next you have a slow turn outdoors. You pass some
more large scale rocks and eventually an abandoned kayak. Why? Because there’s a drop up ahead.
One note about the drops on this ride is that you can often be held at the top for
several seconds for blocking purposes. The first drop is a small plunge that’s about
1 story tall. It’s not too thrilling, but it does have a fun near-miss as you duck beneath a
rock formation. Then whoe
ver went down backwards is going to get very wet on the resultant
splash, especially if you have a heavy raft. You then head into another cave. Again, you
hit some rough water that’ll really bob the boat. You also have the bear’s roar echoing
and these rapids don’t get you too wet. But there is one once you head outdoors
that can get a few people decently wet. The next bit has some more intimidating looking
rapids, but they don’t cause more than a small splash. This leads to the second drop
.
This is the larger of the ride’s two drops at 21 feet or 6 meters in size. This isn’t large
compared to coasters or most flumes, but this feels much larger on a rapids ride where drops
are pretty rare. The drop is shallow so you don’t have much zip, but it is a thrill nonetheless.
This is because the rafts are wildly spun right before you enter the drop. So you’re spinning like
a top while dropping. This is not only dizzying, but it builds up the anticipation. Because
whoever goes backwar
ds will get the wettest, and there’s no way to tell who that will be.
This splash isn’t as big as the first drop, but it’ll get you decently wet, especially with
a heavier boat. It’s also worth noting this drop passes under a turn earlier in the ride
that’ll hit everyone with a sprinkle anyway. You then round a turn past a series of
geysers. Usually these are emitting a constant mist that’ll hit the boat. But
every so often, a giant geyser erupts from the trough that can soak the raft. I’ve
seen this effect disabled on cooler days, but it can be quite the surprise in the
warmer months. Depending when it goes off, it can be the most soaking effect on the
ride. On days it’s active, it will not hit every boat. It’s random when it goes off.
You then return to the station and disembark, ending the nearly 6 minute long adventure.
In terms of overall wetness, I’d say half the boat comes off gently splashed. But the other
half likely is pretty darn wet from the drops and a rapid or t
wo. The most soaking ride at
the resort is far and away Splash Mountain if you’re in the front of the log though.
Then in terms of pacing, this ride is good for a rapids ride. The ride starts slow with the early
turn and lift, but everything after is engaging. One other fun quirk about this ride is that
it is a common resting place for the cats at Disneyland. I’ve spotted a few of them
resting by the greenery in my visits. So what would I rate Grizzly River Run? I would
give this rapids rid
e an 8 out of 10. This is a great rapids ride. It’s a visually stunning
experience as you float around Grizzly Peak. The rockwork is stunning and the landscaping
fits right in with the national park vibe. Then the waterways are turbulent while atop the
mountain. The splashes aren’t too large, but raft is rocking very noticeably. But the highlights are
the drops, especially the second one when you’re spinning on the way down. And it’s a game of
Russian Roulette who will come off the wettest.
I always make sure to ride this
when I’m at California Adventure, especially since I can find a short wait with
single rider or in the evening. This really is one of the more unique rapids rides out there.
So those are my thoughts on Grizzly River Run at Disney California Adventure. What are
your thoughts on this ride? Is it one of your favorite rapids out there? Let me know down in
the comments. If you enjoyed this review, I would appreciate it if you gave this video a like and
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