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Celebrate the spirit of Disneyland in California with these Disney California Adventure inspired t-shirts! From thrill rides to classic characters, these Disney California Cricut shirt designs can be customized at home. Wear them on vacation to Disney California Adventure or at home to show your love of the theme park! Keep reading for how to create these two DIY designs for your next adventure.

Disney Cricut Shirt Designs

In honor of Disney California Adventure park’s 20th anniversary, my kids and I came up with these fun DCA inspired t-shirt designs. We were inspired by the thrill rides and of course, the iconic Mickey face on the Pixar Pal-A-Round Ferris Wheel that overlooks Pixar Pier.

I’m offering tips for using a Cricut Joy to create these two unique designs. The projects are both available in Cricut Design Space for your personal use. These are the first Disney Cricut shirt designs I’ve made on my new Cricut Joy. As a huge Disney fan and frequent theme park visitor, I can’t wait to make more (and share with you, of course!)

Cricut Essentials for This Project

For this project, we’ll be using iron-on vinyl. I used Smart Iron-On in several colors, exclusive for use in the Cricut Joy. If you have another type of Cricut machine (Explore Air, Maker), you can use iron-on that’s been applied to a mat.

I also made good use of my EasyPress 2 for these tees. The heat settings and timer ensure that you’ll be heating your product to appropriate specifications. The Cricut EasyPress iron makes designing your own t-shirt projects very easy!

My first Cricut project was for this Valentine’s Day Cricut T-shirt Design, in which I shared tons of beginner tips. I’ve got a few more for these designs as well, so be sure to read all the details!

Disney Cricut T-Shirt Designs Supplies List

Here’s the entire supply list you’ll need to recreate these two Disney Cricut t-shirt designs:

• Cotton t-shirts – I always shop for kid’s tees at Primary, the best place for kid’s clothing basics. Use the code AFF20PCT for 20% off your first order!
• Cricut machine – I used the Cricut Joy for this project
• Cricut EasyPress
• Ironing mat (place on a sturdy surface to apply even heat, I used the Cricut EasyPress Mat)
• Iron-on materials (to replicate these projects, check the following sections for colors I used)
• Cricut weeding tool

Mickey Ferris Wheel Design

The iconic face of Mickey Mouse oversees all the fun and excitement in the Pixar Pier area. Spotted from the Paradise Gardens location across the water, this is where you’ll watch the nighttime show, World of Color. I just knew I needed to include this image when making a Disney California Cricut shirt design! The complete, printable instructions are at the bottom of this article.

The licensed Mickey face design will cost an additional $1.99, paid through the Cricut Design Space app when you create this project. But once you purchase, you’ll be able to use it on a variety of other projects (which I definitely plan to do!)

Using the Glitter Smart Iron-on Vinyl, be sure to select this when cutting your design on the Cricut. There is a different selection to choose versus the regular iron-on vinyl (example: the blade will cut deeper for the glitter vinyl than the regular vinyl, making it easier to weed).

This project will layer the vinyl iron-on pieces. Note that you’ll be ironing them on separately, not together. The glitter sunburst irons on first, then the vinyl Mickey face.

When using the Cricut EasyPress for iron-on projects, it’s important not to shift or wiggle the heating element. Unlike a traditional iron (which you would move around the fabric to work out wrinkles), you’ll want to apply a firm and steady pressure with the EasyPress. This means you press down, push the timer setting and wait until the time is up before lifting the press.

Disney California Adventure Thrill Rides Design

In honor of the awesome thrill rides at Disney California Adventure, I came up with this design that’s sure to excite your thrill seekers! And because we’re all anxiously awaiting the opening of Avengers Campus, I included the newest attraction to this ride list, Webslingers: A Spider-Man Adventure!

I used a black tee for this design, with lettering in white, red and yellow. I have a “thing” for mustard yellow, so that’s what I used! But you could definitely play around with the colors on this tee and make this in a variety of colors for different family members. For the full project directions, I’ve included details at the bottom of this post to print them out. Keep reading for additional Cricut tips!

Don’t forget to Mirror your design! This is imperative when using lettering like this t-shirt project. You’ll need to mirror each and every layer in the project. Forgot to mirror? Your letters are going to be backwards when ironed down! In the app, there’s a simple toggle slide to click on each layer to mirror the images (be sure to do this for each layer).

The individual ride names will print on various colors. Soarin’ Around the World, Webslingers: A Spider-Man Adventure, and Guardians of the Galaxy will print on the same color (show on white below). Incredicoaster and Radiator Springs Racers print on the same color (red in my design). And Toy Story Midway Mania! and Grizzly River Run print on the same color (show as mustard yellow in my design).

Design Tips

Removing the excess material from the backing is called “weeding”. The smaller letters might lift off the backing if you pull excess too quickly. Check and double check that you’ve weeded out all the tiny bits from your lettering (there are some very small pieces in those letter Bs, As and Rs!) Carefully use the Cricut Weeding Tool and sit in good light to make sure you didn’t miss any spots. Check and double-check before you iron it down!

Cut out the pieces keeping the individual lines together as shown in the image below.

To find the center of each word, bend gently in half, as shown, to find the center. Once you place a few of the phrases, use a ruler to line up edges.

Cricut iron-on has a shiny side and a backing side (matte). When you place the project pieces onto the t-shirt, you do not want those backings to overlap each other. As you’ll see in this image, I cut out the pieces to separate the word/lines. I trimmed off the excess backing and made sure that the backings were not touching before I applied heat.

Cricut Design Space – Get the Projects!

Once you have the Design Space app added to your device, you’re ready to save these projects. Give the project a star to save to your favorites, then click “Make It”. You’ll be able to create your own Disney California Cricut t-shirt project using my unique designs! If you make it, tag me @momrewritten to share.

• Mickey Ferris Wheel
• Disney California Adventure Thrill Rides

Mickey Ferris Wheel Instructions

Disney California Thrill Rides Instructions