DCA: "The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly"
The Good
The Walt Disney Plaza is a great nod to the big guy, especially the Carthay Circle Theater addition. This is a much more appropriate and elaborate icon than the sun or the Golden Gate Bridge. Hopefully they don’t cut corners so that the theater is replicated effectively and beautifully. Plus anything is an improvement over those hokey panoramic mountains.
Walt Disney Imagineering Blue Sky Cellar sounds great. Anything that gives insight into behind-the-scenes work is usually done quite well. Hopefully the same can be said about this attraction.
Toy Story Mania was also a great addition. It’s attractive, interactive, and fits in nicely with the Pier theme. But what about the other additions?
The Bad
Hollywoodland sounds an awful lot like Disney's Hollywood Studios. Why? Because it IS Disney's Hollywood Studios – edited for content. What exactly is getting updated here? Oh, right, Playhouse Disney - Live on Stage. Fantastic. Updating a show less than eight years old for kids less than eight-years-old. I’m pretty sure the toddlers aren’t going to notice any changes in the art direction when they’re barely old enough to spell “Disney”. But I digress – the theming of the land is getting updated, too. From “Hollywood Pictures Backlot” to “Hollywoodland”. Boy, you’ll hardly recognize the place. Sure, the trolleys will now travel through, but that just means you’ll get to this mediocre land even slower. The Tower of Terror is like a bad sequel compared to the original in Orlando. Same with the Disney Animation Tour. And Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue is really bland. Perhaps Disney should have done what we usually dread and just carbon-copied the original attractions. Muppet*Vision 3D is always worth a visit, even if you can visit it elsewhere. Oh, sorry – Disney’s Aladdin – A Musical Spectacular is quite good, but having only one good original attraction in a land of this size seems to be an underachievement.
The Ugly
Cars Land – how long did the creative geniuses in R&D take to think of that title? And why are they making a land based on Pixar’s least acclaimed film, especially when they already have a terrible land based on Pixar’s second-least acclaimed film? To be fair, there is a Cars sequel in production which could help this. And the signature raceway attraction is getting a hefty chunk of money. What bothers me is that they chose to create an entire land based on their worst franchise while some of the best films go untouched. And what will happen if the second film flops? How will an entire land stay fresh for years after the films are largely forgotten? Raul said: “The sustainability of this land has been something that Imagineers have planned on for the remainder of the next decade as it will have several bells and whistles that will make this THE premiere land in Walt Disney's California [Adventure].” How? How can the land be sustainable when the film wasn’t? And to boot, they claim they will be using the technology from Test Track to build the raceway. Good thing Test Track is so reliable or they’d be in trouble. Then there’s Luigi's Roamin' Tires, an attraction based on the extinct Flying Saucers of Tomorrowland. They removed the saucers in the ‘60s because they were slow-loading and costly to maintain, but I’m sure the new ride will fix those problems. On the other hand, Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree will be a smash hit – I’ve heard Larry the Cable Guy has a great singing voice.
Paradise Pier is getting re-themed! Oh, the Sun Wheel’s face will be replaced with a Mickey Mouse face! And Mickey the conductor will now sit atop the Orange Stinger! So it seems they’re plastering the Mouse all over the land that stands against everything Walt wanted. Except … the Mickey Mouse symbol on California Screamin’, the one half-decent ride, is getting replaced with … a huge sun symbol. So … what’s happening here? I’m confused … people were complaining about Paradise Pier because it stood against Walt’s philosophies, but the midway games are getting re-themed rather than recycled and a new show called "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color" will be played in the lagoon. So are they trying to dispel the rumors that Walt would roll over in his grave if he knew about the Pier by covering the place with Walt and his most famous creation? And, just for kicks, they’re throwing in an attraction called, “The Little Mermaid Ariel's Adventure” despite that it has nothing to do with the land in which it resides. People were also complaining that the rides, well, sucked. Good on Disney for adding Toy Story Midway Mania, but that doesn’t compensate for the fact that the other attractions still suck. Scrap the Pier. Start from scratch. I know that I didn’t find it all that ugly to begin with. It was a rather pleasant-looking site. But the midway games and crappy attractions can’t make up for that. So don’t slap a fresh coat of paint on a rusty old car – rethink it! And California Screamin'... why can't Disney give this ride an actual story with a build up to the ride during the queue? It's insipid and it's themeing (or lack thereof) is boring. There's nothing exciting about it other than the ride itself. This has to be the most excitingly bland ride Disney has ever created!
And, of course, the biggest question of all: WHY ARE THEY NOT SCRAPPING A BUG’S LAND?
Your thoughts? Berate me!
I hope all the current changes that are being made will transform DCA into something magical that we all love. I had gotten to like DCA in its old state, but maybe the new version will be amazing.
