Originally Posted By disneywatcher >> To me, what's most interesting is that after Disneyland was built, the area that is now the "Resort" had no restrictions placed on it (so much for the free market determining the best outcome, eh?). << But the one -- ONE! -- thing the city could have done from a long time ago was remove all the hideous power lines that originally were on almost every street in the area. That was Anaheim's responsibility from the very beginning, but they chose to ignore it until not long ago. I still recall walking in front of what has since become the Paradise Pier Hotel back in the early 1990s, when there were scruffy motels right next to it, and marveling at the sight of hinky wood electrical poles along the former West Street, now Disneyland Drive. It's easy to lose sight of just how embarrassingly bad the immediate surroundings were. Forget the splendor of the DisCo's land in Orlando. Anaheim wasn't even up to the level of Fresno or Bakersfield.
Originally Posted By friendofdd >>>Anaheim wasn't even up to the level of Fresno or Bakersfield<<< Is there something special to learn in this comparison or are we simply geographical bigots?
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones "Forget the splendor of the DisCo's land in Orlando." I don't think WDW is that wonderful. The fact that you are stuck on Disney property is the worst thing about it. The resort itself feels like its pieces were placed by throwing darts at a map. Disneyland Paris and Tokyo Disney are not perfect, but they are situated far better than the Anaheim and Florida resorts. The parks are close to each other, the surrounding areas aren't that bad, the resort isn't too large to be difficult to navigate and you can access the properties via rail. That's a winning combination in my book.
Originally Posted By Manfried Okay folks I am back from my disconnected from the Internet vacation and I thought I would start with this thread. I have read through it and having returned from Anaheim, it is an interesting read. Spokker, one thing you definitely do not understand about building in Florida and the WDW property. It may seem like darts, but there is also a very good land use study behind the way things ended up where they did. It has something to do with the actual land itself. There are areas they just cannot build on.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 You're okay as long as you stay on Disney property in Fla. But MAN do you not have to drive very far off to be in "Deliverance" territory.
Originally Posted By disneywatcher >> I don't think WDW is that wonderful. << For a company like Disney, and for people who need a lot of space to create ambitious things, the 16,000-plus acres of open land -- which remains green year round (the downside being all that vegetation requires lots of rain year round) -- is somewhat better than the frumpy and outdated environment that unfortunately grew up around the DisCo's property in Anaheim. However, such a great difference between the DisCo's settings on the East and West coasts would not have been so great if the small amount of land the DisCo does own in Anaheim hadn't been squandered on the dreck of DCA. If that acreage instead had been turned over to a jewel of a park -- something truly first class -- that would have helped balance matters greatly.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 A man is sent to prison for the first time. At night, the lights in the cell block are turned off, and his cellmate goes over to the bars and yells, "Number twelve!" The whole cell block breaks out laughing. A few minutes later, somebody else in the cell block yells, "Number four!" Again, the whole cell bloock breaks out laughing. The new guy asks his cellmate what's going on. "Well," says the older prisoner, "we've all been in this here prison for so long, we all know the same jokes. So we just yell out the number instead of saying the whole joke." So the new guy walks up to the bars and yells, "Number six!" There was dead silence in the cell block. He asks the older prisoner, "What's wrong? Why didn't I get any laughs?" "Well," said the older man, "sometimes it's not the joke, but how you tell it."
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones "is somewhat better than the frumpy and outdated environment that unfortunately grew up around the DisCo's property in Anaheim." Wow, you mean if nobody at the city or Disney plan ahead, motels might spring up around a worldwide tourist destination??? I know, so that this doesn't happen in the future, let's go build on swamp land with areas, as Manfried points out, that you cannot build on. That is sure to make our resort user friendly. For all of its faults, I like that I can leave Disneyland and find a reasonably priced restaurant without feeling like a prisoner on Disney property.
