My Year With The Mouse

Back over to the Mouse-Next-Door, there’s an attraction I particularly love–the Redwood Creek Wilderness Explorer Camp.

It’s all woodsy and stuff

The Redwood Creek Challenge Trail is sort of tucked away in this little area of California Adventure, and is a great place to just immerse yourself in a truly interactive attraction.

It was originally tied to the movie Brother Bear, which I never saw, but is now themed in with the Pixar movie Up, which I love, love, love (SQUIRREL!). Part of the challenge trail is walking in the footsteps of Russell (the Boy Scout-like character in Up). You can move through the trail collecting Wilderness Explorer patches.

Actually badges, not patches

When you go in, you can get a map of the badges. They have a little scratch off area for each of the stations to mark your progress. If you don’t have your own personal map, you can follow this one

For the directionally-challenged, like me

At each station, there’s an activity to do. For example, you can howl like a wolf

AAAOOOOO!!!!

While you slide down giant slides that look like tree trunks.

Wheeee!!!

At the bottom. We had to do this approximately 5,000,000,000 times that night.

How sliding down tree trunks is connected to wolf howling is a little beyond me, but it’s fun. Theo particularly loved this part.

The area is defined by a number of activities, from the slides to a kid’s zip line to just a whole lot of rope bridges. For a while Theo was too anxious to walk on the ropes, but he got over it.

Daddy and Theo on a rope bridge

The whole trail is multi-level, so it’s fun to see the different vantage points.

After you’ve finished your Wilderness Explorer badge hunt, there’s a small theater where you can watch a graduation type show.

It’s pretty much super-cute

At the show you take your official Wilderness Explorer Oath, call for Kevin the bird thing, get a Wilderness Explorer sticker, and do a meet and greet with Russell from the movie.

Unless you find Russell positively terrifying, which Theo does.

Go figure.

There are also other things to do. A little kid zipline on tires is super cool.

In a princess dress, no less!

Unfortunately I am too big for this, so chalk that right up with the Jedi Training Academy as things I wish I could do but can’t.

There’s also a smaller slide, which Theo didn’t like quite as much.

Kind of goes side to side

And a lateral rock climbing wall that again I’m too tall for

It’s like they just don’t want me to have any fun

And left over from the Brother Bear theme, a cave of wonders with these hand thingies that light up and tell you your spirit animal.

My spirit animal is apparently a skunk, which to be completely honest is pretty disappointing.

The Redwood Creek trail is really great if you’ve got kids who need to blow off some energy after waiting all day, and fun for adults as well. It’s sort of one of those hidden treats at the Mouse-Next-Door, and I do recommend it.