It costs $5 a person a game, and the games aren't world beating by any means. But you could treat it as a more fun way to get a cuddly toy souvenir. For example on the water gun one (a very simple game) if 2 people play the prize is a Mickey soft cuddly toy. I didn't think that was bad for $10 and a game, and as 2 members of our family were the only players a prize was guaranteed. Same with the horse racing one. In both cases the more players who participate the bigger the prize available.If you want the prize do not do the one where you throw balls through character's mouths. Its actually difficult!

This requires extra money to play and never guarantees a prize. The best way to get one, is to have each person in the family compete each other at the same time and one of you will get a toy for the whole family. Other than that, it is just for fun to try your luck against others. I like how they made this Pixar themed, It really adds to the experience.

After the conversion from Paradise Pier to Pixar Pier I decided I wanted to give the new carnival games here a go. I learned that they now have it set up so you must buy a prepaid play card (from a bank of kiosks near the game booths) in order to play the carnival games. Here you can decide how much you want on your card-so you can put on just enough to play one game or you can choose to put on enough for multiple. I chose to put $20 on my card so I could play each one of the games at least once since each game is $4. ***I should add here that you can't use a Disney Gift Card to put money on the prepaid play card, you must use a credit card or cash.*** As I said before, I put $20 on my card so that I could play each of the carnival booth games at least once each and I found the best were La Luna Star Catcher (where every play wins-yay!) and Bullseye Stallion Stampede, which were both games I won with my $20 game play. The Wall-E Space Race also wasn't bad, it was easy to play but I didn't win when I tried it. Of the 4 games however, I would definitely suggest skipping Heimlich's Candy Corn Toss as it was by far the hardest...so unless you have amazing aim I would say just play another one of the games again and bypass this one all together. Overall, a really fun experience with cute Pixar theming-just be prepared to plunk down a good bit of cash to have a shot at any of the prizes.

The relatively new Pixar Pier at Disney's California Adventure is where you'll find Games of the Boardwalk. It's a wonderful design incorporating the nostalgia of a beachside, boardwalk carnival with the games w loved as kids.

Having been to California Adventure many times, for some reason we never played any of the carnival style games at Paradise Pier/Boardwalk. There were at least 4 different games-shooting a water pistol in a clown's mouth, a baseball throw, horse race, etc. Just like at the carnival or county fair, you get a limited amount of attempts then have to pay for more 'turns'. We spent about $30 but in the end, my husband did win me an adorable Dumbo stuffed animal. It was fun and we'll definitely try it again. FYI-you have to buy a game card that you pre-load via cash or debit/credit card. Then you swipe the game card to play. Saves time over handing the barker cash.