Wilderness Explorer Trail at Disneyland

     Did you know that there is an entire wilderness experience at Disney's California Adventure?  I am so excited to have discovered this portion of CA Adventure! Seriously though...what a great idea!

     It is located right across from the Grizzly River Run ride and it is called "Redwood Creek Challenge Trail." An activity map is provided to all participants.  The activity map guides you through the trail indicating six tasks that should be completed to earn your Wilderness Explorer badges.  Once all the badges are earned, the kids are directed to the camp circle where they are sworn in as Senior Wilderness Explorers. The kids get to meet Russell from Disney's movie UP and possibly catch a glimpse of the very rare bird named Kevin. It is all unbelievably adorable!!

     The trail is appropriate for the whole family but the activities and badges are targeted toward children under the age of 12.  We took our girls through the trail and they had the time of their lives.  Even Dylan, my toddler, had so much fun crawling through caves and climbing rope bridges.  Marley, my 4 year old, is not quite 42 inches tall yet, so she was not able to do some of the activities like rock climbing or zip lining. But there are so many other activity options that earned her those badges.  She was so excited to complete all the tasks and earn all 6 badges on her activity map:

1) Tracking

2) Bravery

3) Rock Climbing

4) Wolf Howl

5) Animal Spirit

6) Puzzle Solving

     Marley's favorite part was entering the "spirit cave".  My girls were able to spot cave drawings and place their hands on an enchanted part of the cave where it indicates which animal spirit you are.  Dylan was an eagle, and Marley was a fish.

     I found the whole experience very enriching.  The surroundings were not authentic in terms of actual wilderness, but it was a beautiful and kid friendly substitute.  We all got some great exercise doing all the activities and obstacles.  And Marley was able to learn about completing tasks to earn badges.  I highly recommend doing this, and it can easily be part of your homeschooling curriculum. Our whole family loved it!  Well done Disney!