How did California Adventure Start?

[JanetRose]

Isn't it built on what used to be a parking lot? Where did they move the parking lot to?

 

[Chickysmom]

Yes, DCA was built on whatused to be the parking area for DL....now they have a huge parking structure on the west side of DL that visitors park in.....

 

[JanetRose]

Did Disney already own the property that the new parking lot now stands?

 

[Chickysmom]

I'm not positive, but I think so....they own other pieces of land in that area still. One has been consider and rumored on and off of a water park but nothing came of it.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

The location where the parking structure and adjacent lot are used to be a Disneyland RV campground and a KOA RV campground. When Disney began to convert those campgrounds into the parking lots today, some people tried to sue because they had been living there for 5 years (at least, I remember reading that in the newspaper) - often, people came down from up north & spent winters there.

The Disneyland Hotel used to have shops and cabana type rooms in a Japanese garden setting that were built out to the monorail station. There used to be a Monorail Cafe there, too. The street was right there, and then the parking lot for Disneyland. If I remember correctly, there used to be a tram from the hotel to the park, or guests could take the monorail if they already had park tickets.

Disney made the street lower, and then built a promenade over the street. At the same time, they razed the shops, restaurants, and cabanas that were closest to the monorail - what is there now is the ESPN Zone, Rainforest Cafe, Compass Cafe, etc., which is part of Downtown Disney. The area across the promenade - Downtown Disney, Grand Californian Hotel, and California Adventure were all built on the Disneyland parking lot.

It was interesting watching it be built.

 

[stich626]

OOhh that's so cool. A water park wold be neat!!! DO u think they could build one in the next couple of days. lol

 

[almostGoofy]

Some of you might remember that originally the plans were to build an EPCOT like park called WESCOT but those plans were scratched and scaled back to the present California Adventure. WESTCOT was going to be too expensive to build.

There was also a brief time when Disney consider building a Disney Sea in Long Beach but they scratched those plans pretty quickly after annoucing it to the media.

 

[Vanvmom]

The parking structure is MASSIVE! I haven't seen any parking garage that large anywhere else.

 

[disneychrista]

I believe at one time it was the largest parking struction in the world or the US or something like that.

 

[JennyG999]

Some of you might remember that originally the plans were to build an EPCOT like park called WESCOT but those plans were scratched and scaled back to the present California Adventure. WESTCOT was going to be too expensive to build.

There was also a brief time when Disney consider building a Disney Sea in Long Beach but they scratched those plans pretty quickly after annoucing it to the media.

I remember that! I only very recently went to Epcot, and now I am bummed! That was probably my favorite place at WDW (since we don't have anything like it!)

 

[Ladyhawke10]

I know, I've wistfully thought about how wonderful it would be if California Adventure had been another Epcot instead. I mean, California Adventure is lovely, but it was built in the era of the Las Vegas location-themed resorts (New York, Paris, etc) and having Disney follow suit seemed so unimaginative by Disneyland's standards. California Adventure just doesn't have the magic! It was be so awesome to have another Epcot or something like Animal Kingdom...another incredible park

 

[jlmarr]

I know, I've wistfully thought about how wonderful it would be if California Adventure had been another Epcot instead. ... It was be so awesome to have another Epcot or something like Animal Kingdom...another incredible park.

Yes, like Tokyo's Disney Seas, which was being developed at the same time as DCA. I also feel the Disney folks blundered here.

 

[jlmarr]

You can get a before and after comparision by clicking on the Aerial Photo tab in this link , which shows the current DL Resort. Click on Urban Areas to get back to the current view.