Hey guys! It’s me, your favorite dog host Parker, here to introduce you to the first
episode of Fastpass Facts Presents: where we’ll talk a little bit about the evolution
of Disney California Adventure!
So, let’s go back to 1990, when Jack Lindquist was President of Disneyland and he came up
with the idea of creating a second Disney park in California to attract more guests
and extend their visit to the Disneyland Resort.
By then, Disney had already acquired the Disneyland Hotel after buying the Wrather Corporation,
the company that owned it. And at the time, the Wrather Corporation also managed and operated
the Queen Mary Ocean Liner and so, Disney got permission to operate it also.
Why is this important? Because Disney had two options:
Option number 1: Create a West Coast version of EPCOT named WestCOT, that would be located
in the parking lot area.
Option number 2: Create a nautical park located in Long Beach called DisneySea using the Queen
Mary as a backdrop.
And so, Disney opted for option number 1 and went ahead with the development of WestCOT
because they thought having a second park that far from Disneyland was not such a great
idea after all.
At the same time, the Oriental Land Company, who owns the Disney Tokyo Resort, saw the
plans for DisneySea and liked the idea so much, that they decided to build the park
as a companion to Tokyo Disneyland at the Tokyo Disneyland Resort.
Everything was going fine until when Euro Disney’s failure caused WestCOT’s plans
to fall apart and be cancelled. The problem was that even though Disney wouldn’t be
able to make WestCOT a reality, they still needed an expansion for the Disneyland Resort.
And here’s where Michael Eisner comes in.
We all know that after Euro Disney’s failure, Michael Eisner changed and became a little
more wary of the things the company wanted to create and so, he decided to build an expansion
in the old parking lot, where WestCOT was also planned to be, but with a much less budget
than the 3 billion dollars that WestCOT was expected to cost.
An so, to come up with the concept of this new expansion, Eisner held a three-day brain-storming
getaway in Aspen, Colorado where he and his team of Disney Imagineers and Executives,
came up with the idea of Disney’s California Adventure a park that would showcase and celebrate
all of California, and the best part was that it could be built for $650 million dollars
instead of the $3 billion price tag for WestCOT.
The problem was that not everybody was happy with the announcement. Critics thought that
it was not a great idea to build a park about California, in California, when you could
have the real thing at your doorstep.
And when you add that to the rumor that had been floating around Disney Websites that
said Eisner and the Imagineers were only buying "off-the-shelf" rides from other companies
and sprucing them up with a few Disney flourishes, things were not looking good for the new park.
Disney’s California Aventure opened its doors in Feb 8, 2001 and of course, things
didn’t go as planned. The mind.blowing crowds that should have been there were nowhere in
sight. And to top it off, the media and guests reviews were awful. They complained about
the redundant “California” theme, the lack or rides for young children, the lack
of E-Ticket attractions and more importantly, the lack of a “Disney” theme.
And this was not surprising. Let’s take a look at everything that went wrong.
For starters, most, if not all, attractions were lacking that special Disney magic that
every Disney park is used to having.
The were lots of generic, “of-the-shelf” rides like it was rumored and other, or this
bizarre nightmare called “Superstar Limo”. This attraction was a dark ride that took
riders through a cartoony rendition of Hollywood and introduced to animated figures modeled
in the likeness of many celebrities. A stereotypical Hollywood talent agent named Swifty La Rue
further appeared infrequently on small in-seat video screens, reminding the riders not to
be late to their movie premiere. Just look at this dude, really.
And not only that, but many of the rest of the attractions were pretty… boring. Take
a look at Bountiful Valley Farm, instead of being an attraction it was more of an exhibition
where visitors could walk through fields of real orange trees, stumble across cow statues,
learn about irrigation systems, and visit the Caterpillar tractor exhibit where they
could learn how caterpillar tractors help farmers. It was pretty interesting and all,
but it’s not something anyone would expect from a Disney park.
So guests start complaining. Why would they have to have to pay the same admission price
for Disney’s California Adventure as for Disneyland when California Adventure didn’t
hold up to Disney standards?
So Disney knew they had to do something.
The first change Disney made came in 2002 and was “a bug’s land”, and while this
eliminated the need for more ride for young children and gave the park a little more of
a Disney feel, it still couldn’t compare to many of Fantasyland’s dark rides.
Next in 2004 came the first E-Ticket attraction in the park, “The Twilight Zone Tower of
Terror”.
And then, on March 13, 2005, Disney announced that Bob Iger would succeed Michael Eisner
as CEO. And with this change came a complete overhaul in the park.
It first started in 2006 came “Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!”, which
replaced the awful Superstar Limo that was actually closed within the first year the
park opened.
This was a pretty good change but Iger knew there was much more to be done so on October
17, 2007, he announced a multi-year $1.1 billion expansion for Disney’s California Adventure.
Each district was reimagined to transform the park from a spoof of modern California
culture to a romanticized, idealized version of the state, exploring specific time periods
and historic settings. The project began in December 2007 and was completed in stages.
Toy Story Midway Mania! opened on Paradise Pier in June 2008. World of Color, a nighttime
water and lights show on Paradise Bay, opened in June 2010 and The Little Mermaid: Ariel's
Undersea Adventure opened on the site formerly occupied by the Golden Dreams theater in June
2011.
The most drastic changes to the park included a complete overhaul of the main entrance,
Sunshine Plaza, and Paradise Pier. The main entrance and Sunshine Plaza were turned from
a "giant postcard" spoof of California into Buena Vista Street, a representation of Los
Angeles as it appeared when Walt Disney moved there in the 1920s. The "CALIFORNIA" sign
in front was removed and donated to Cal Expo in Sacramento. Paradise Pier was turned from
a contemporary representation of California boardwalks into a representation of Victorian
seaside amusement parks of the 1920s, and some of the area's off-the-shelf rides were
either removed outright like the Maliboomer) or re-themed to have more of a focus on Disney
characters like Mickey's Fun Wheel, Goofy's Sky School or Silly Symphony Swings. Cars
Land, an area that simulates Radiator Springs from Disney·Pixar's Cars film franchise,
was added to the park and features three rides, including the E ticket Radiator Springs Racers.
Construction was completed in 2012 and the park was then re-dedicated on June 14, 2012.
The park’s name was also changed from Disney’s California Adventure to Disney California
Adventure and got a new logo also!
With all of these changes, the park’s attendance rates increased like crazy! In 2012, Disney
California Adventure reached a record high for the park of over 7 million visitors a
number Disney had hoped the park would do in its first year. Also, the day of the park's
rededication it had a record number of 43,000 visitors in one day!
Disney California Adventure’s is now one of guest’s favorite parks and for the looks
of it, the park is still going to be in constant change. With Pixar Pier opening this summer,
and Marvel Land replacing a Bug’s Life, it looks like Disney is working hard to keep
the park as one of guest’s favorites forever!