Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA <I think the high-scale places should have been built in such a way that you could have entered them from inside AND outside DCA.> That's an excellent idea, The Redhead. Unfornately, it would have involved having some foresight. Sort of like having gaping visual intrusions when you're walking through the Golden Vine Winery section and can view The Anaheim Convention Center and The Inn at the Park. I swear, sometimes it feels like they designed all of DCA over a long weekend.
Originally Posted By BlueOhanaTerror >>>Erica Kane would eat a fussy salad - in perfect makeup and without ever actually chewing.<<< My understanding is that her nostrils secrete a mucousy enzyme over her food, which breaks it all down and makes it easy to slurp.
Originally Posted By BlueOhanaTerror >>>I swear, sometimes it feels like they designed all of DCA over a long weekend.<<< Umm... You mean you didn't know about that?
Originally Posted By TheRedhead "Unfornately, it would have involved having some foresight." True, but I would never have guessed that expensive restaurants in a Disney park would have been met with as much venow as it was with DCA. Before DCA existed, I used to fly over from the east coast and spend a couple of days at DL. My main gripe, however, was always that there were no nice places to eat. I love a good dining experience on my vacation. So it made sense that they would go up-scale in DCA if they're gunning for a resort (or even resort jr.). But right away it became just another reason to bash the park, when it was really one of the few distinguishing positives in the park. I found it baffling. But yeah, if they knew how much the park would struggle (and how quickly they'd lose such high profile names in the dining world), I'm sure they'd have made the restaurants accessible to more. Though if they had that crystal ball, Wolfgang Puck would be the least of their concerns...
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA I agree with you, The Redhead. One of best dining experiences at any Disney Theme Park was at the outdoor bar at The Golden Vine Winery. Fantastic setting, wonderful and knowledgeable staff [Mondavi employees], great wine, and very tasty menu items [I can recall a delicious olive platter], made it a real enjoyable destination for us. We even had Easter Sunday [2001] dinner at the upstairs restaurant [when it was still under Mondavi leadership] and found it to be exceptional as well. Alas, by the time next Easter came, Mondavi was gone, as was Wolfgang Puck. The restaurant quality had slipped significantly, and you could 'feel' the desperation setting in. Let's add Disney characters! Let's get rid of shows. Let's lose 'Eureka!' parade. feh.
Originally Posted By disneywatcher >> feh. << That, and not "DCA," would make a better acronym for the park.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA Disney's FEH in Anaheim. Part of the Disneyland Resort -- which isn't technically a resort, but it sounds good.
Originally Posted By TP2000 Whatever happened to that Fab woman? Once Cyn-cyn left very suddenly to spend more time with her family, Fab kind of fell of the face of the earth too. Odd. Thank you for digging up this old thread Jim! It provided a fun reminder of what DCA was like 5+ years ago, and how much it has changed, and still needs to change to finally be at least mildly succesful as a theme park. If only Mondavi and Puck had built restaurants and pavilion-type facilities in Downtown Disney in place of Naples and Tortilla Jo's. Can you imagine the lines for those two locations on any weekend in the off season, or any day of the week during peak seasons like Summer, Christmas, Easter, etc.?!? Puck and Mondavi would have rolled in cash, and the Resort would still have these great, stylish locations that no other mall or resort in SoCal had. I'm surprised Braverman, Pressler, Harriss and Eisner all stayed at Disney as long after DCA's grand opening as they did. I would think the first few would have resigned to SPEND MORE TIME WITH MY FAMILY as early as Labor Day, 2001. Instead they were able to hang on for at least 18 months after DCA's opening (Pressler), with Eisner and Harriss leaving under clouds 2 or 3 years later, and Braverman making it into calendar year 2005 before he left Disney to go do something else. I hope someday there is a book written about DCA and it's role in the Disney Company and it's executives at the turn of the 21st century. It's a fascinating topic really, once you scratch the surface and remember what we all thought would happen back in 2000-01.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA I agree with you TP2000, it's a terribly interesting topic. I feel that if there was a Learning Annex class taught for Theme Park Design, Disney's California Adventure would be an excellent topic. You couldn't discuss it within Disney, 'cause people'd get all mad.
Originally Posted By hopemax And now think, if Jim hadn't had bumped this topic up, it would have been lost to the archive forever. Think of all the great topics that have now gone on to the great abyss.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA <And now think, if Jim hadn't had bumped this topic up, it would have been lost to the archive forever. Think of all the great topics that have now gone on to the great abyss.> thank you mentioning that hopemax. Many here were hyper-critical about resurrecting an old topic. But heck, we've added more comments 4 years later than when this topic started. Awesome.
Originally Posted By disneywatcher >> I'm surprised Braverman, Pressler, Harriss and Eisner all stayed at Disney as long after DCA's grand opening as they did. << I think they wanted to ensure their legacy was as schlocky and drawn-out as possible.
