Originally Posted By Rebekah This topic is for discussion of the 2/4/2002 news item <b><a href="http://www.ocregister.com/sitearchives/2002/2/3/news/dca00203cci2.shtml" target="_blank">OCReg: At Disney parks, tweaks are part of the process</a></b> The February 3rd <I>Orange County Register</I> offers comments by Paul Pressler about the Disneyland Resort's performance and the changes that have occurred throughout the year and will continue to be made to increase guest satisfaction.
Originally Posted By damon63 <That achieved, Pressler insists that the collaborative effort is an ongoing process to promote tourism in Orange County. "We have to convince folks to come and spend more time in Southern California," he said. "We have to get people better educated on what we have actually built, because people are aware of the new park, but they are not aware of the aesthetics or Downtown Disney, and in many cases they're not aware of our hotels."> I, along with others, have been saying that for nearly a year. Finally it's sinking in with the power-that-be. Hallelujah!
Originally Posted By woody >>aesthetics Was there any? >>in many cases they're not aware of our hotels. The Hotels and Downtown Disney are the easy sells. The hard sell continues to be DCA.
Originally Posted By Britain I agree, Damon63. The best parts of the recent expansion have been what they have NOT been advertising. Now, this wouldn't have been a problem if DCA was a more attractive park itself, but there you have it.
Originally Posted By JohnS3 What they need is a series of ads featuring the DCA hotels as a good place to stay when visiting Knott's, the wax museum, the beach, Nixon museum ....
Originally Posted By tangaroa Wow this article was incredibly hard to read. I find it far more easy to read something from Marcie or Lutz. It seemed that the writer would say one thing, only to have it reversed by Pressler. She said that Downtown Disney and the Hotels got higher marks than DCA, but Pressler came around and said that the Park was more widely known than DTD and the Hotels. And does this just not make sense to anyone: >Another lesson learned: The high >proportion of local visitors to the >Anaheim parks created a higher demand >for attractions for very young children. ???? There are more children living in Orange County? How does that work? Braverman said that the park has a new feel to it, and that it would take time for people to realize it's hip and trendy-ness. But then they go on to talk about how guests rejected the idea of Wolfgang Puck. And I'm sorry, but they did *not* widen the walkway in front of GRR. They added a small patio off to the side, but they in no way widened the walkway. And it's hard to say it reduced congestion along that route, since there hasn't been enough people in the park to create the congestion seen last year. And does anyone else find it eerie that they are comparing DCA to DLP? Some here equate DLP as the ultimate failure of Disney management... and here they are saying DCA is just like DLP. Just a strange article all around.
Originally Posted By Jim in Pasadena CA Yes, tangaroa, there is a Nixon Library -- in beautiful downtown Yorba Linda, CA <a href="http://www.nixonfoundation.org/" target="_blank">http://www.nixonfoundation.org /</a> We also have the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, CA <a href="http://www.reaganfoundation.org/pma/" target="_blank">http://www.reaganfoundation.or g/pma/</a>
Originally Posted By woody >>Another lesson learned: The high >>proportion of local visitors to the >>Anaheim parks created a higher demand >>for attractions for very young children. > ???? There are more children living in Orange County? How does that work? I think he's saying that they were originally expecting more non-local visitors, who don't have kids or won't bring their kids. This is a strange assumption since families are the ones who are likely to go to Disney theme parks. Nonetheless, they have more locals going to DCA and those locals are bringing their kids. Therefore, they must add attractions for families with kids. I think they are messing things up by not building attractions suitable for families. The DCA attractions are designed for thrill seeking teens and adults, not the typical Disneyland crowd. Even then they fail because DCA's thrill rides are awfully tame in comparison to Knott's or Magic Mountain.
Originally Posted By tangaroa God Bless Yorba Linda. I love that little town. Thanks Jim. I was being somewhat sarcastic, but with my erratic schedule as of late, it seems I've forgotten how to do it right.
Originally Posted By JohnS3 "We have a Nixon museum? P" Yes - and here's a real irony - I just popped over to their website to see what it was like, and here's the caption I found under a drawing of the center: "Situated in southern California just 15 minutes from Disneyland, the Nixon Library is a dramatic roller coaster ride through half a century of California, U.S. and world history!" Funny, isn't it!
Originally Posted By tangaroa "Situated in southern California just 15 minutes from Disneyland, the Nixon Library is a dramatic roller coaster ride through half a century of California, U.S. and world history!" ! ! ! ! What? No Great Moments with Mr. Nixon?
Originally Posted By woody >>"Situated in southern California just 15 minutes from Disneyland, the Nixon Library is a dramatic roller coaster ride through half a century of California, U.S. and world history!"<< I can't wait for the Clinton Library.
Originally Posted By JohnS3 "What? No Great Moments with Mr. Nixon? " Actually, it's called "Great four minutes of silence with Mr. Nixon's Tapes." Too bad that a president who accomplished so many noteworthy things on a world scale, had these few tragic flaws.
Originally Posted By Westsider This journalist seemed to handle Pressler, Braverman and Disney with kid gloves. They sort of let the Company's excuses stand as to why DCA underperformed; rain (imagine that in February and March?!?), a slowing economy that still somehow packed Disneyland all spring and summer long, and then the September 11th attacks that did ding us for about 2 or 3 weeks. By Columbus Day weekend, Disneyland Park was packed to the gills again for the big holiday weekend. They are just all excuses. Disneyland still gets tens of thousands of people to visit every weekend. If DCA was actually some amazing new theme park that locals would want to pay 43 bucks to visit, DCA would be packed too. It's not amazing, it's simply mediocre, and so it's floundering next door to Disneyland. And "Flik's Fun Faire" is now the official name? Fab, the Laughingplace columnist and WDI "insider", said that Lutz was wrong and that the name would be "A Bug's Land". Lutz didn't get it exactly right, cause he said a few months ago that it would be "Flik's Fantasy Faire". "Flik's Fun Faire" is shorter than the "Fantasy" though. I don't know, I guess that name is okay. I can't wait until Cast Blast on Friday when they show us what it's going to be like. Again, that OCRegister article verged on almost a fluff piece about how great Disney is and that DCA just needs better brochures to be succesful.
Originally Posted By Jim in Pasadena CA I don't understand what you guys want? What are the top 5 comments that you think Pressler should have made? How about Braverman? What would should his 5 comments be? Do they start with Mea Culpa?
Originally Posted By tangaroa Hey I'm not that upset with what Paul and Barry said. I'm more concerned with what the writer said. Well ok, honestly there was something that irked me about the way Pressler and Braverman alluded to the secret success of DCA. Yeah Yeah I know, DCA's "success" is all a matter of opinion, and if y'all want to get into that again, that's cool. But I still don't see it. I don't think the park is performing that well, and I don't really like the way Paul and Barry seem to just blow it off, as if it's nothing to worry about still. Yeah yeah .. but other than that it's all good.
Originally Posted By dlport >>And I'm sorry, but they did *not* widen the walkway in front of GRR. They added a small patio off to the side, but they in no way widened the walkway.<< Yes they did, although it mainly took place at the transition from GRR to Condor Flats. If you look at the walkway now you can see how they pushed the fence (themed as a guardrail) out towards the GC. I am not saying they initiated a major construction project, but they did widen the walkway in addition to adding patio seating.
Originally Posted By disneywatcher I recall some argument as to whether Disney characters were slated for DCA from the beginning. I'm not sure if the following excerpt from the article indicates that Barry Braverman and others, in fact, decided to add them, or certainly had to insert more of them, well after last February: >>>>> Braverman's crew also watched to see if guests were comfortable or confused. They added more shade, trees and misters in areas that needed more protection from the summer sun. They widened the walkway near Grizzly's Run to lessen congestion. They found ways to bring the Disney characters to California Adventure - as tourists. "We give a lot of thought to that idea of 'Who lives here?' " Braverman said. Mickey and Minnie and friends live in Toontown, so they become tourists when they're in California Adventure. <<<<< Since he also said... >>>>> "We knew this park had a different energy to it ... a little hipper. We knew it would take people a while to feel that and understand it." <<<<< ...it's very possible he didn't think Disneyland-type characters roaming about DCA were appropriate for or necessary to a "different" sort of Disney park. And I wonder if he would use a future tense, as he did when describing DCA, to characterize his Imagineering department's other new park of 2001, the one in Tokyo?: >>>>> "We still feel very optimistic that it's going to be a great park." <<<<<
Originally Posted By damon63 You know I kinda felt that this article's optimistic slant was rather refreshing. Especially after all of the nonsense that's been printed both on-line and in the media about the park over the past year. Basically they let Disney management give their side of the story and for once they didn't spend a lot of time interviewing unofficial sorces or Disney fan site web masters.
