It's official. They're dividing the pier area into 4 "neighborhoods," decorated (not really themed) in styles reminiscent of The Incredibles, Toy Story, the shorts, and...it's unclear what the 4th is. The area from the Swings to Mermaid will remain untouched: Pixar Pier to Bring New Incredicoaster and More to Disney California Adventure Park Summer 2018 Screamin' gets an Incredibles theme (and redone station building, queue is still outdoor switchbacks) Carousel appears to be getting touched up, but it's unclear what the "theme" will be Fun Wheel retains Mickey face but gets Pixar characters on the individual gondolas Midway games and shirt store will be redressed Cove Bar and Ariel's Grotto will be remodeled slightly New Inside Out spinner ride in the former Maliboomer site It's not as bad as I had feared, but it's still a long way from being "good". It's just a lot of hastily-conceived decorations slapped onto the existing infrastructure without any particular rhyme or reason. There's certainly no meaningful theme of backstory in the way that Disney typically likes to advertise as a differentiating factor from their competitors Although it's not complete garbage, I really have to question how exactly this got approved. How much is this costing that could have been better applied to other things? Does this project preclude the pier from getting fixed for the foreseeable future? What other ideas got turned down in favor of this? A lot of potentially-promising projects have been announced for the parks in the next few years, but if they're coming from the masterminds behind this (likely corporate, not the creatives, who approved this), I really fear for the direction the parks may be headed in
It doesn't look as expected, but I still don't like it. I guess a new name is needed for the park soon, because the next Californian themed area will be gone. It's really time to get rid of John Lasseter. He is so overrated and unfortunately he has too much influence within Disney. There's just too much Pixar in the parks right now. When Iger leaves in 2019, he should take Lasseter with him.
I've seen Disney do worse. I've never wondered why I gave up my annual pass. But times like this make me wonder why I ever thought I'd eventually reinstate it.
Because it is inexpensive compared to building a major e-ticket attraction and it does what executives love most...... feels low risk.
True, but considering that it really doesn't do anything for the park's capacity (all of those rides currently operate at or near capacity all day long, and the new spinner will have negligible capacity) it's a whole lot more expensive than doing nothing. They're essentially spending a ton of money to do nothing for the park's bottom line; whether or not this draws people through the front gates, there really won't be anything more for them to do than there is now. So why spend the money to do it? The budget hasn't been announced, but given Disney's recent projects, I have to think that something like this is probably in the $35-50M range, which could easily be a large portion of the budget for a meaningful new addition. Instead, it's being spent to slap decals on existing infrastructure.
It officially starts today with attractions and stores shutting down for their make over. Any new thoughts on this project now that this starts?
I still think it's a bad idea. The more I hear about it, the more amazed I am that the funding and will to remodel this area is being spent so poorly. For the same (or less) price and effort, they could have an iconic and truly timeless area, but instead they're getting something that's just a mindless jumble of disconnected franchises with no reason for being together
As always, the proof will be in the pudding, but in theory I agree. If they're going to spend the money, why not do so to flesh out the theming already there and make it more beautiful and coherent? Everything from beautifying plain things like the water fountain outside the carousel to finally giving Screamin' a decent queue. They could give it much more of a sense of time and place, instead of (IMO), giving it less of one, and making it less coherent. (What do The Incredibles have to do with Inside Out or Toy Story, other than having been produced by the same studio?) I kind of like the artwork of the googie-style house slated for the loading area (if not the queue per se, more's the pity) of the former Screamin'... but even that will clash with the still 1920's (or so) feel of much of the rest of the pier.
Paradise Pier has always had a theme problem. I remember when the DCA first open people were complaining about how this theme was everything that Disneyland was against. The DCA 2.0 re-theme helped, in my opinion, but they did not complete it. The 2.0 theme only was around Toy story mania and didn’t touch Screamin’ or the other end down at the shops. My personal feeling is that this make over to Pixar Pier is Disney’s management’s attempt to have something “new” for 2018. We all know that 2019 is going to be a juggernaut, but management needs to fill hotel rooms and the parks also this year. With a quick make over they can now say that they have a whole new land and convince people that they really need to come down and see it in 2018. I hope that the finished version of Pixar Pier is not an incoherent mess but we will have to wait and see.
My understanding is that the original theme of PP was intended to be the precise opposite of DL. To use a soft drink metaphor, if DL is 7-Up, then DCA in general, and PP in particular, was originally intended to be dn-L. Walt created DL in an era where (with a few exceptions like Knott's Berry Farm) public amusements were dirty, chaotic (and not terribly safe) places that tended to attract "lowlifes," rather than being places where families could have fun together. His successors created DCA in an era when public amusements had, for the most part, been reinvented as DL-wannabes. An era when even movie studio tours had (with a few notable exceptions like the Paramount tour) morphed from actual tours of actual working studios into theme park visions of moviemaking. A time when there was actual nostalgia for the waterfront amusement parks of the first half of the 20th century, and a time when young people craved theme parks with "an edgier vibe," whatever that means. PP was intentionally chaotic in design because it was intended to be a romanticized, sanitized (while trying very hard not to look sanitized) version of what a typical pre-Disney amusement park was.
