Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan So, if I understand this correctly, these folks don't necessarily ride motorcycles. They drive to the park in a Toyota Corolla dressed as bikers, only with Mickey or Eeyore or Donald Duck in place of the Grim Reaper on the back of their Sons of Anarchy vests. Is that right? I can't quite wrap my head around this.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros As far as I can tell, that's correct! Like I mentioned earlier, they're not a real "gang" and don't actually cause any real problems. They just tend to stand around pretending like they own the place. At least the gangs in West Side Story danced and stuff; ironically, these gangs are just about the only people in the vicinity of Mad T Party who aren't dancing...
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>Neil had a very challenging assignment in HPB.<< I really don't envy anybody who was responsible for a large chunk of DCA when it opened. It's clear that the budget ruled the park, but I think they did a pretty good job with what they were given. HPB always seemed like one of the more realized areas of the park, especially as they added things to it. I'd argue that it's the least changed from its original intent/design Although it's not perfect, I still kind of like the concept of the not-quite-real street that gradually fades into a movie set. The cheesy window displays could stand to be changed after all these years, and I would have liked to see the soundstages covered a bit more by the facades, but overall it worked for me. It was one of the areas where they wanted to be different from DL and did it successfully
Originally Posted By oc_dean >>Disneyland gangs, I have never heard of anything more hilarious, ridiculous, or sad.<< Well, as the stories go ... Videopolis (ironically, first DL project under Michael Eisner) .. didn't last in it's initial design .. the 'dance/music-video' hangout, for very long. Probably because of the kind of "locals" it was attracting.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance "They just tend to stand around pretending like they own the place" I've got to know why anyone could seriously do this. I won't be able to sleep until I find out.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Because a Premium Annual Pass is cheaper than 12 months of cable? Any number of reasons, really...
Originally Posted By Yookeroo "They just tend to stand around pretending like they own the place." They're the personification of online Disney message boards! I've seen them around and have never got an "own the place" vibe from them.
Originally Posted By TP2000 Back to this old 2001 interview.... What a hilarious hoot and blast from the past! And what a great reminder of how DCA was an utter failure and flop when it opened in 2001, even if folks like Doobie didn't want to poke or prod or state the obvious. Gawd this park was a turkey, and a cheap and unattractive turkey at that. Imagineer Neil Engel is no longer an Imagineer. His LinkedIn states he was with WDI until '08, then took a five year hiatus from working during the Great Recession, and in '13 he got a gig in Orlando for Universal Creative. But old interviews and photo reports like this one from early 2001 are comedy gold. Real soap stars will stop by Soap Opera Bistro and bring you your dessert?!? The feedback on DCA pre-opening has been really positive?!? Superstar Limo only needs some tweaking to lighting and audio levels?!? BWAHAHAHA! Of course it's not poor Neil Engel's fault, nor is it the fault of Early Internet Era suck-ups like Doobie. It was Paul Pressler and Cynthia Harriss and Michael Eisner's fault. They were truly clueless and idiotic for thinking this park could work and succeed. They are all long gone from Disneyland now and not welcome back onto property. Thank God. And the one other thing I am reminded of from 15 year old photo reports like this is... The jeans people wore at the dawn of the 21st century were really high waisted and unattractive. All of America was wearing ugly Mom Jeans as the 21st century dawned. It was more unfortunate than even Superstar Limo.
Originally Posted By monorailblue I will never stop chuckling about how we used to spiel to Monorail Guests waiting at the Hotel, later DTD, station about how fabulous the park would be, how it would have sell-out crowds for several years, etc.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 "Although it's not perfect, I still kind of like the concept of the not-quite-real street that gradually fades into a movie set. " Me too. I liked the whole meta-"Is it real? Is it Hollywood? What IS real when it comes to Hollywood?" thing. DCA was definitely a mixed bag when it opened, but there was plenty to like, as well as plenty to criticize. Some of the intentional departures from DL didn't work, but some did.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA Getting rid of the 'Eureka!' Parade within the first 3 months was a mistake. It was a great parade - tying together the 'California' theme and it coulda been a classic.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan I liked the whole meta-"Is it real? Is it Hollywood? What IS real when it comes to Hollywood?" thing.<< Hmmm. It never really worked for me. I felt a bit cheated to gaze down the blvd thinking there were some unique shops to look in, and they turned out to be nothing more than puns in neon. But beyond that, I wished that they had decided to make it look like you were walking through sets on a studio lot, rather than mixing "real" Hollywood with it here and there. Maybe it was too subtle for me, but I just didn't get it. I also disliked the entrance to DCA. The tile mural, if you stopped to look at it for a bit, was actually quite beautiful. But the wear it was placed it looked flat and almost an afterthought. The new entrance, filled with motion and life, is vastly better. I liked Seasons of the Vine. To me, it was classic Disney edu-tainment. And on a hot day, you can do worse than sitting in a cool room listening to Jeremy Irons describe the wine making process. I really liked the wave fountain. Not where it was placed, but I wish they'd been able to move it somewhere on paradise Pier. That sound of the water would add another fun element there.
Originally Posted By monorailblue An updated wave fountain, turned into a 360-degree feature, would go great in the Esplanade.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Something like this, perhaps? <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o09UFhVIIVw">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...UFhVIIVw</a>
Originally Posted By Dabob2 I liked the whole meta-"Is it real? Is it Hollywood? What IS real when it comes to Hollywood?" thing.<< <Hmmm. It never really worked for me. I felt a bit cheated to gaze down the blvd thinking there were some unique shops to look in, and they turned out to be nothing more than puns in neon. But beyond that, I wished that they had decided to make it look like you were walking through sets on a studio lot, rather than mixing "real" Hollywood with it here and there. Maybe it was too subtle for me, but I just didn't get it.> Yeah, I know a lot of people didn't like it, and I get that too. What I liked is that it simultaneously could be read as a tribute to deco-era Hollywood (with some of the facades recalling classic 20's/30's LA department stores, which I know a lot of people have never seen even in photos - they've done that again on BVS, but at the time BVS didn't exist), and a tribute to movie-making Hollywood, as some of them were indeed just facades. And yet... some of them you could walk into. The very betwixt and between nature of that turned some people off, but I found it interesting. And then at the end of the street is something that looks like a theatre. You get closer, and it's just a facade. Yet behind the facade... is an actual working theatre. The area had definite space limitations, which I think really limited how successful it could be. They didn't have MGM/DHS's size to play with. In the limitations they had, I did like what I saw as the "is it real or is it memorex" vibe, but I understand that many didn't share that.
Originally Posted By monorailblue No, not like that fountain. Too cartoony for the Esplanade, which has a somewhat chic-er vibe. Something that does things like this, but on a 360 basis. No surfing Mickey required. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUIjImtUE0E">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...jImtUE0E</a>
Originally Posted By Dabob2 The fountain was kind of cool, and the sun sculpture was okay... but not as a would-be centerpiece or weenie/icon. Now they've got a fountain near the Carthay, but it's not the main attraction; it's an embellishment TO the Carthay, which is clearly the weenie/icon. That's what the original fountain/sun should have been; a nice little embellishment to the proper centerpiece that they didn't build at that time.
