I was so much more impressed with DCA than I thought I would be, after reading so many damning reports on it online. The Unofficial Guide is pretty negative about it too, I thought.
We just visited DL for the first time in 10 years, and obviously our first ever visit to DCA. Coming from outside the US the whole "California" theme is much more interesting to us than perhaps it is to CA locals - I agree that it is pretty much "Walt-free" but the whole Pixar element really appealed to us, especially our kids (9 and 6) who are growing up watching those movies.
We LOVED the Pixar Play Parade and Monsters Inc ride and the whole Animation studio building is brilliant - you could spend hours in there. The detail in the Sorcerer's Workshop rooms is great, the rooms are beautifully fitted out- very true to DL and the way attention to detail is so special there.
The Aladdin show was spectacular - worth the price of the park admission in itself.
Getting back onto the topic of appreciation, one thing that did bug me, was the way many guests seemed reluctant to applaud or show appreciation during parades and other "events", both in DCA and DL.
Big generalisation here, but I'm used to Americans being very demonstrative at such occasions, with lots of hootin' and hollerin', but when we watched "Celebrate!" and the "Play Parade", I felt a little sorry for some of the CMs who were busting their butts for very little crowd response. A family next to me at Aladdin didn't applaud ONCE during the whole show - I couldn't believe it. And the poor guy who was the MC/DJ in "Celebrate!" -trying to elicit a few responses from the crowd was hard work!
Maybe most of the crowd are locals who just come to expect these sorts of events on one of their regular visits to DL/DCA and take this sort of high-quality entertainment for granted, but as someone who doesn't get to visit that often, I was surprised at the lack of appreciation shown for what is really world-class entertainment