One Beeeeelion Dollars!

Originally Posted By trekkeruss

<<I don't see "artistic success" in DCA>>

Artistic success doesn't have to mean how something looks, but how something makes you feel. Soarin' is a success not because it's perfect, but because people love the experience. Aladdin is a success because the show is wonderful, despite the fact the theater housing the show is just OK.

 

Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom

I just don't like DCA. It does nothing special for me. Other Disney parks take me to exotic places and make me feel like I'm somewhere else. DCA doesn't do anything like that. And after all that walking you make it to the back of the park and encounter Carnival rides, what a let down. At WDW we have a resort themed like the back of DCA. This has got to be Disney's worst park on the planet. I'm sure Disney doesn't seriously think DCA can compete with the likes of other theme parks in the Southern California area.

After spending 6 days visiting DLR in California... I have to honestly say, I think instead of building DCA Disney should have built an Animal Kingdom Park. Just drop Kilamarjaro Safari since they don't have the land to pull that off.

 

Originally Posted By trekkeruss

NO WAY could Disney pull off any kind of animal park, not with the land available, and certainly not with the world famous San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park not all that far away.

 

Originally Posted By jonvn

"I just don't like DCA."

That's fine. Perfectly fine. There is no reason why you have to, or should.

What gets controversial here is when people try to PROVE their opinion and extreme statements are correct. They quote articles from people who agree with them, they print out things from websites that never have a good thing to say, and so on.

It's silly and endlessly pointless. You don't like it? Fine. Some people do, some people don't. Some people like it ok, but want to see it have more. There is a spectrum.

That is what makes the world go around.

 

Originally Posted By davewasbaloo

That's interesting Tom (and indeed you are entitled to your opinion). While we think it needs some work, we loved Hollywood Pictures Backlot and the Golden State. Just the entrance and PP were misteps IMHO. But each to their own.

 

Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom

That doesn't mean I don't like some of the ride/ attractions in the DCA. I do... I just found the themeing to be less than stellar. After having spent two days in DCA, I never knew there was a Route 66 area until getting back to Georgia and reading the post here.

I have been to the San Deigo Zoo.... trust me, its no Disney's Animal Kingdom. I still think Disney could have pulled off a good Animal Park even if they had to full it with animotronics instead of live animals. Instead we got the largest piece of the property taken up by a murky lake with a Roller Coaster that seems to go on forever. One ride does not make a theme park.

I also don't buy the "Lost Leader" arguement. The.... well it did what it was suppose to do..... it filled rooms and people are staying longer. Disney could have put in a bus stop and gotten those results. No matter how you slice it or dice it.... its sub par.

 

Originally Posted By Dabob2

They could not have put any kind of impressive animal park on that parcel of land. I remember reading something to the effect that for every acre of animal display area, you need 5 acres of backstage - I think that was the ratio.

The SD Zoo is 100 acres - almost twice the size of the current DCA, and except for the small-footprint skyride and the buses, has essentially no rides - and certainly no one would have wanted JUST a zoo there, but something more like a theme park/zoo hybrid like AK (which is larger than EPCOT). Even if they'd built on the whole parcel with Timon right from the beginning, they didn't even have enough space to do a "plain" zoo on the scale of the SD Zoo.

 

Originally Posted By jonvn

I think most of the theming in DCA to be actually pretty good. The wharf area in particular is very nicely themed. So is the airfield area. Hollywood is also nice themed, as is the river area.

What is not good is the lack of attractions to go with the theming. Also not good is perhaps how these areas intermingle from one to the next. They sort of just go from here to there, and it doesn't seem like there's a whole lot of rhyme or reason to that.

But for each individual area, the theming is OK. It's not utterly ornate like EDL, but ok. It could use sprucing up in some areas, like the pier, but the pier really does have theming already, too. So they are adding more.

The entrance area, well, I think that's kind of weak, maybe. That bridge out front looks badly scaled. Droopy. They need to raise up the cabling on it so it doesn't look so odd. Then the sun icon, while ok, isn't really anything. It's a piece of decor, with no real reason to exist.

So these are things that need to be worked on and fixed.

Just be glad that the park is there at all for them to have something to actually fix.

 

Originally Posted By bean

the new route 66 is the new land where they will incorporate the new "CARS" attraction.

 

Originally Posted By lesmisfan

wait, is it taken over the same area as the one we have now, or is it oing near the farm like i thought i had heard rumored about.

 

Originally Posted By bean

no, its taking over the quiet area of the farm (no not bugsland) and part of the timon lot

 

Originally Posted By ChurroMonster

So what is going in where the current Route 66 is?

 

Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom

<<I think most of the theming in DCA to be actually pretty good.>>

Not to start an arguement, but I respectfully disagree.

<<The wharf area in particular is very nicely themed.>>

I disagree. But then again I'm from New England and have been around a lot of wharfs. I found the wharf are dull, boring and uninspiring. Pleasure Island has much better themeing.

<< So is the airfield area.>>

About the only reason why DCA has an Airfield area is for Soarin. The only other thing in this area is a counter service restraunt which could have been themed in any fashion. If you truely want to see an Avaition themed area then go to the Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian either on the Mall at DC or the building over by Dulles Airport. I didn't even see a plane in that Area of DCA.

<<Hollywood is also nice themed,>>

I have to disagree. Its like walking through a set. There are only three rides / attractions and one show in this area. And it terminates at a dead end. When I wanted to visit Flick's Fun Faire after visiting the Hollywood area, we had to walk all the way out and around into the Flick's Fun Faire area. Why not just take down the wall and let people walk into Flick's Fun Faire.

<<Then the sun icon, while ok, isn't really anything. It's a piece of decor, with no real reason to exist.>>

It screams Versace! I thought I was entering a fashion designer show.
Or perhaps its suppose to promote Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc?

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Originally Posted By davewasbaloo

Let's agree to disagree Tom. I would rather spend the day at DCA than WDW's Studios or MK.

 

Originally Posted By jmuboy

I agree with post 174, a day at DCA is way better than a day at WDW's MK. But sometimes a trip to my local mall is better than a day at WDW's MK! LOL.

 

Originally Posted By jonvn

"But then again I'm from New England"

It's not a new england wharf. It's cannery row, and it is a good replica.

"About the only reason why DCA has an Airfield area is for Soarin"

That doesn't mean it isn't well themed. I've been to the Air and Space Museum. It is not themed. It is a museum.

"Its like walking through a set. "

Yes, it's supposed to.

"It screams Versace! "

I don't know what that is. I know it's a designer name, didn't he get shot or something by Ted Bundy?

The thing is what you talk about are other problems that DCA has, not necessarily the theming aspect. Like not enough to do in any of these areas. That's something that needs to be addressed.

 

Originally Posted By labretbear

The only problem I have with Condor Flats is size, there's no room for expansion. Something mentioned at DCA's opening was the theme of the Fly & Buy shop: the abandoned airfield repurposed as a test area for high speed autos and jet rockets for use in the space program.

Hence the sports car upon the rack inside the store.

Hence the calendar dated October 1947 and the broken clock behind the shop's cash register to commemorate Chuck Yeager's breaking of the sound barrier over Victorville, CA.

There's room in the store to suggest stories/attractions that they've no space to build within the boundaries of Condor Flats.

Kennesaw Tom: there is indeed a single engine prop plane on view in CF. It's next to the fence that separates CF from the Grand Californian opposite the restrooms.

 

Originally Posted By bean

"About the only reason why DCA has an Airfield area is for Soarin. The only other thing in this area is a counter service restraunt which could have been themed in any fashion. If you truely want to see an Avaition themed area then go to the Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian either on the Mall at DC or the building over by Dulles Airport. I didn't even see a plane in that Area of DCA."

the airfiedl depicted in DCa is completely different then the airfields you are describing and yes there is a plane in the area. It is placed at the end o f the runway.

Airfields like the one in DCA can easily be found in desert areas of California

 

Originally Posted By bean

"So what is going in where the current Route 66 is?"

i really can not say much about this yet.

The only thing i can mentionis that WDI wants to really theme this area and build something that will block or at least distract the guests view from the PPH.

 

Originally Posted By jonvn

Oh, maybe they could put up a giant billboard or something in front of it that has a picture of another hotel on it.