Has Disney's California Adventure changed it's image?

[Kit Jackson]

World makes so much sense in Epcot with the world showcase. Doesn’t make sense inDCA.

Yes! Also, having two different rides gives people a reason to go to the parks both coasts. It makes the California version of Soarin' something you have to go to the West Coast/Disneyland Resort to experience.

 

[gelatoni fan]

You can tell how much DCA means to Disney by how many park anniversaries have they celebrated. That answer is ZERO.

I was in the park on the Anniversary just before the pandemic hit and asked a CM at the Chamber of Commerce if they were doing anything special. Answer was: "you're the second person to ask me this today and the answer is no". So I ended up getting a CM to write California Adventure on a Happy Birthday Button. You'd think they would at least try to sell a Limited Edition pin or something. At least they have some merchandise for the 20th this year though. But Disneysea's 20th seems like a bigger deal than California Adventure's 20th even though Japan is more locked down than California right now.

 

[jordan13402]

I was in the park on the Anniversary just before the pandemic hit and asked a CM at the Chamber of Commerce if they were doing anything special. Answer was: "you're the second person to ask me this today and the answer is no". So I ended up getting a CM to write California Adventure on a Happy Birthday Button. You'd think they would at least try to sell a Limited Edition pin or something. At least they have some merchandise for the 20th this year though. But Disneysea's 20th seems like a bigger deal than California Adventure's 20th even though Japan is more locked down than California right now.

I keep forgetting its the 20th...man what a lost opportunity

 

[Chickinvic]

The only 2 good things to do at DCA when it opened was Grizzly River, Screaming (or whatever the coaster was called), and Soarin'. When they added Tower of Terror a couple years later it became more worthwhile to me. Carsland is just incredibly. I actually spent more time at DCA than DL on my last trip in 2016. I think it became a great park. I personally couldn't care less about Marvel, but it is what it is.

In short, DCA has been moving away from the California theme for quite some time.

 

[Chickinvic]

Yes! Also, having two different rides gives people a reason to go to the parks both coasts. It makes the California version of Soarin' something you have to go to the West Coast/Disneyland Resort to experience.

The Califonia version of the ride is far superior anyways. I'm still complaining about the stupid "world" one. I just hate the distorted images. I don't even bother going on it at DCA or Epcot. Throws me right out of the experience. The California version was amazing.

 

[MonocularVision]

The IP thing is a general trend with all of their amusement parks and not specific to DCA. Long gone are the days where we get attractions not themed to an existing piece of IP. Everything going forward will be tied in to their existing set of characters and cinematic universes.

 

[Pluto468]

It's changed alot since the beginning. I remember watching that being built and we were SO excited to get inside once it opened but it was just ok. The tram had this announcement about the Grand Californian being built every time we rode it.

We had APs back then and were at Disneyland once or twice a week, but just a few visits to DCA was enough. We'd pop in once in a blue moon because there were a few things we liked, like Soarin, the boardwalk games and King Triton's carousel. There just wasn't much to do there compared to Disneyland. Also not alot of restaurants that we were interested in. I can't think of any we went to in the beginning.

I think DCA is on the right track now. Although I always thought it would have been cool if they sent all the retired Disneyland rides and attractions to DCA, like Country Bear jamboree.

 

[DodgerGirl]

What I think caused DCA to go downhill was when they started having a new attraction or ride for a few years then retire it for no reason like they did with Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Play It and when it came out in fall of 2001 it was the talk of the town and it had lots of merchandise and then the second thing they did was retire the Aladdin musical show and it stayed longer then retired due to the debut of Frozen Live and while Frozen Live was great Aladdin was better. In restaurants I think DCA did a wrong thing by closing Ariel's Grotto and turning it into Lamplight Lounge and they should've kept Ariel's Grotto because it was truly a great place where you could eat and meet Ariel and other characters too. Another restaurant that suffered the same fate was ABC Soap Opera Bistro but I think the main reason why this restaurant closed because of the pricey food. I know this because when my mom and I went into ABC Soap Opera Bistro once we looked at the menu and we were shocked at how pricey the food was and we also saw a snippet of the soap opera show they had and it looked unappealing. I think if you were a diehard soap opera fan that restaurant was for you. But if DCA could bring more interesting stuff like interactive shows and parades and more game show type shows and add more rides full of excitement DCA would get more visitors to them

 

[Gamedog]

I may be the only one who actually liked the OG DCA 1.0.

Walking under the Bay Bridge for the first time while hearing the Beach Boys singing "California Girls" was pretty cool. DCA 1.0 definitely had a solid California vibe to it.

That all said, I'm pretty pumped with the current DCA too, with BVS and Carsland really taking the cake for me.

Good times had at all versions of DCA for me.

 

[Chickinvic]

That all said, I'm pretty pumped with the current DCA too, with BVS and Carsland really taking the cake for me.

What is BVS?

 

[BrianL]

What is BVS?

Probably Buena Vista Street - the entrance and hub were heavily changed when they did the rededication.

 

[DodgerGirl]

Another odd thing that DCA did was replace ABC Soap Opera Bistro with Disney Junior Live On Stage and when I saw this I got surprised because it seemed that they wanted to appeal to the toddler and infant group and another ABC themed restaurant could've been much better and done well. But why start catering to young children when DCA was catered to older kids and teens. Another thing that DCA could do to improve itself is have a special building where guests could meet Marvel characters much like Disneyland has the Fantasy Fair Meet And Greet with the princesses and various Marvel characters would appear in the building throughout the day in Avengers Campus and it would be a hit. In restaurants another restaurant that closed was Pizza Ooh-Mow-Mow and why DCA closed it is a mystery and it did very good business because Lilo And Stitch did meet and greets outside the restaurant and what I think DCA really needs is another character restaurant like Ariel's Grotto because restaurants with characters are a huge hit because they draw huge crouds and families with kids and it would be a huge miracle for DCA

 

[DodgerGirl]

What DCA could do to improve itself is these things and i'm sure people would love these ideas if DCA really did this,
1. Have a parade called The Spirit Of California Parade,
This parade would be similar to the Remember The Magic parade and be an interactive parade where guests of all ages could be picked to sing dance or act out stories on California themed floats and it would surely be a hit with people everywhere
2. Have an ABC Fun And Games Arcade,
This would be an arcade where you could play video games and win prizes in a Chuck E. Cheese like format and have a restaurant where every hour a various ABC game show such as The Chase Press Your Luck or Supermarket Sweep would begin as a lunch or dinner show and would be cool and contestants would be picked before each show to participate to play for points
3. Marvel Star,
Ever wanted to be in a Marvel comic or movie? In Marvel Star fans will have a chance to audition for a part on a Marvel comic or movie play and before the show begins people will be chosen and rehearse a scene from a Marvel comic or show and will be like Superstar Television but for Marvel fans this show would be a hit
4. Have Marvel Superhero Cafe,
This restaurant would be located in Avengers Campus and be a cafe devoted to everything Marvel where you can eat some of the favorite foods of Marvel heroes such as Pasta A La Vision and Iron Man's favorite sandwiches and more. In addition various Marvel characters will appear for photos and more,
5. Have Barley's Onward Adventure,
Barley's Onward Adventure is a ride where you join Barley and Ian from Onward and go on a quest to help them spend time with their father and the ride vehicles will be Barley's van and would be a cool ride,

 

[Kender]

I may be the only one who actually liked the OG DCA 1.0.

Walking under the Bay Bridge for the first time while hearing the Beach Boys singing "California Girls" was pretty cool. DCA 1.0 definitely had a solid California vibe to it.

That all said, I'm pretty pumped with the current DCA too, with BVS and Carsland really taking the cake for me.

Good times had at all versions of DCA for me.

I think you mean Golden Gate Bridge. Bay Bridge looks VERY different

 

[DodgerGirl]

What I also think caused DCA to become the weakest link of Disneyland Resort was also the fact that they got rid of special events such as the ABC Super Soap Weekend where soap opera fans could meet ABC soap stars and Star Wars Day where DCA had events devoted to Star Wars ranging from meet and greets with Star Wars characters and actors and there was even a Star Wars edition of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Play It and it was like Star Wars Weekends at WDW. I think what they are now focusing on is food festivals to get people in DCA. What also surprises me is how they made Paradise Pier into Pixar Pier and it's main focus is on Toy Story Cars The Incredibles and Inside Out and even Bing Bong has his own candy store but you never see Bing Bong himself there for photos and the other Pixar movies such as Onward Soul and Luca get less attention there. I wouldn't be surprised if the Paradise Pier Hotel gets remodeled with a Pixar theme and be renamed Pixar Pier Hotel

 

[Mike_M]

I want to say that I remember hearing that part of DCA 2.0 was a subtle change to the name.

it was ‘Disney’s California Adventure’ originally, but was renamed ‘Disney California Adventure’. Dropping the ‘apostrophe s’ was meant to say it was now an adventure in California as opposed to California themed Adventures. Incredibly subtle, but there you have it.

When 2.0 first finished, I loved it. It had more of the charm and magic that being across the way from DL required. I think they went too far however in the last few years, especially with the rename/retheme of Paradise Pier to Pixar Pier. It’s better than DCA 1.0, but not yet where it needs to be IMO.

 

[starry_solo]

I enjoyed the Soap Opera Weekends they had at DCA.

I never went to the ones at Hollywood Studios (FL) but I assume they were similar, except since all but one ABC soap was filmed in LA, it was cheaper for them to get their actors to go to DCA. I think I went the last year it was there, in 2004/2005-ish, back when Tyler Christopher came back as Nikolas Cassadine (Coltin Scott was great, but dang, he's gotten into trouble lately!), we were on Lucky #3, Nancy Lee Grahn was Alexis Cassadine (damn, should have had her sign my little magazine instead of getting the pre-printed card)...

 

[old lady]

They should have made the theme different and included some of characters. It should have been Avengers land or Star Wars land to begin with. Or, an expansion of their Disney product instead of California. If there wanted something California or Hollywood like, they should have made Mickey based.

 

[DodgerGirl]

What I think could've saved DCA from going downhill and they could've done improvement on is as I mentioned earlier is a character themed restaurant with a character themed breakfast show similar to what Paradise Pier Hotel had in the 90's and as you know kids love characters and meeting characters is a special joy so this idea could've worked out easy for them. The other thing I would suggest would be if they added Marvel ice shows to Avengers Campus and bring out more Marvel characters such as Hawkeye Wanda Vision Miles Morales and the Eternals for guests to meet and greet and take photos with and it would be a hit and perhaps have Disney ice shows as well

 

[DLRExpert]

easy name change would be Disney Adventure.

Then they can easily get away from the California theme. Even Grizzly Peak area can be change to True Life Adventures.

They can then remove Hollywood Land to expand Marvel