California Adventure has been the New Coke of theme Parks. Sure, you would buy New Coke if it was cheap. But how many people really preferred the knockoff to the real thing. Since California Adventure opened in 2001, it has been an anemic partner to Disneyland.

Except for Tower of Terror, California Screamin’ and Soarin’ Over California, the only great thing about the park was it was never as busy as Disneyland. Just pop in the park during Disneyland peak hours and you could always find an open attraction or place to eat.

That’s about to change.

“Toy Story Mania!” opened Tuesday. The 4-D ride is based on the Pixar film ‘Toy Story” and features multiple computer-generated shooting galleries. It is the best new attraction at either Anaheim theme park since Disneyland opened “Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye” ride in 1995.

Park visitors sit in small cars. Each is equipped with a shooter that looks like a toy cannon. The design of the design of the shooter was inspired by the “Pirates of the Caribbean” ride in Florida.

Riders move through a maze of huge television screens. Each is a different boardwalk game like the ones where you try to toss tiny rings over the big necks of bottles or pop under-inflated balloons with a dart.

These darts and rings are all computer generated. You must wear 3-D glasses. And the effect is so good it looks like real darts, balls and rings are flying out of the shooters. All you have to do is pull the string on the shooter and the items appear to fly from the car to the games. The launched items break plates, pop balloons and even blow up a few mining cars.

The Disney Imagineers wanted to have one of the shooting galleries be where you shoot water into a balloon. Those who tested the ride found that boring. So there are more interactive games to make the 4 1/2 minute ride seem way to short.

Maybe it is a good thing the ride is no longer. After the third time through the ride, my arm began to feel like rubber.

The action is so frantic you really won’t get to appreciate everything the first time. The bad thing is this ride is going to be so popular, repeat rides may be nearly impossible in a single day. My suggestion is to go over the Disneyland for a visit until the crowds at “Toy Story Mania!” get smaller.

“Toy Story Mania!” has finally moved California Adventure from a waste of time and money to a must do event for this summer.