Disneyland’s billion dollar birthday gift; a real California Adventure
That loud cheering you heard yesterday was the collective jubilation of Disneyland Resort lovers. Upon hearing the news that Disney executives have approved a huge budget for fixing the maligned Disney’s California Adventure theme park, one can understand the joy.
You’ll find many stories on the internet about this. Most of them have little to no information about what new attractions may be going into DCA, but the rumor mill will certainly spin out of control now. Reports of the budget size are staggering. Here’s what the Disney Blog had to say…
…the number I’m hearing tossed around is $1.1 Billion (give or take 10%). This is just for the park itself, a separate budget is included for hotels and vacation club expansion and for continual improvements over at the original theme park, Disneyland.
This is good news. $1 billion is about 30% more than was originally spent on the theme park in the first place. Which proves, if you’re going to do something, it makes more sense to do it with quality the first time around instead of trying to cut corners or short change your customers.
Yes, California Adventure will always go down as the final straw for Disney addicts when dealing with Michael Eisner. Most of the goodwill he earned in the beginning of his tenure and during the Disney’s America battle was gone by the time the park was built. But as people entered and saw what his budget cuts left guests with, he was finished.
I have never been to DCA, and I had no intention of ever going. There is just nothing there that makes me want to experience the park. So those of you who have been there, please feel free to leave your ideas and reactions in the comments section below. Perhaps these billion dollars will make me want to spend my cash at Anaheim’s second gate. Can you think of a better birthday present for Disneyland?
Mike said,
July 18, 2007 @ 1:29 pm
I would have preferred money spent on MGM and DAK myself
David said,
July 18, 2007 @ 1:55 pm
I agree, but I think we are both being selfish. Plus, we are going to see some great new stuff at WDW in the next few years anyone. Especially at MGM
John Frost said,
July 18, 2007 @ 3:45 pm
There has been some concern that the recent approval of a hunk of cash to improve California Adventure will mean less money for Disney’s other theme parks. What I’m hearing tells me that won’t be the case. Think of the Disneyland Resort relaunch money (about $1.5 billion including hotels and downtown Disney additions) as extra-budgetary cash. These expenditures will not affect the regular maintenance and expansion budgets for Disney other theme parks and resorts. That was one of the early failures of California Adventure.
At the time Disneyland was still reeling from the Light Magic debacle (thanks to Paul Pressler) and $60 million in lost construction and operations costs that would have otherwise gone to plussing the second gate went to paying off the Light Magic loss. The effects of Light Magic (and to an extent the costly remodel of Country Bears into Pooh) kept Disneyland from reaching its full potential all the way until the purse strings were loosened to prepare the park for its 50th Anniversary under Matt Ouimet. The new Glendale regime under the direction of John Lasseter doesn’t want to see that happen again.
This comment was getting very long, so I’ve turned it into a post over at The Disney Blog…
http://www.thedisneyblog.com/tdb/2007/07/will-the-1-bill.html
-John
Mike said,
July 18, 2007 @ 4:02 pm
I hope you’re right
biblioadonis aka George said,
July 18, 2007 @ 6:17 pm
My thoughts?
Turning Disneyland into a WDW West might force a schism among the guests trying to decide where to go for vacation.
When I plan a family vacation–granted it is *always* to Walt Disney World–there is never any hesitation about where we are going to go. But knowing that DCA is taking names and kicking butt, might make me decide to take a family trip out there. Then I have to consider the increased costs of flying a family across the country instead of 600 miles south.
Could this inhibit people’s choices?
I know it is a great thing to expand the brand, but I know that my own choices will have to stand up to greater scrutiny. If we go to California one year, we might have to skip WDW the next year. Ugh!
Kitty-chan said,
July 18, 2007 @ 7:36 pm
I already feel a bit of the conflict George talks about above. I love DL and WDW . . . and DL Paris, and DL Tokyo . . . and I want to visit HK DL now too! So many parks, so few frequent flier miles.
DCA has grown on me after multiple visits. There’s a lot wrong with it, but a few things right too. I hope that as they re-do it, they manage to hold onto a bit of the mellower vibe (yes I did grow up in Northern California, why do you ask?). True, Paradise Pier is an abomination, and Hollywood Pictures Backlot is completely uninspired, but the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail is rather charming and relaxing, and I enjoy the theming in the Golden State area.
But hey, as long as they don’t leave the Electrical Parade homeless, I’m good!
Raidermatt said,
July 19, 2007 @ 3:23 am
Whether it was a good idea or not in the first place, the whole “Anaheim as a resort” train left the station long ago. DCA is broken, and it needs to be fixed. Yes, it has a few good pieces here and there, but on the whole, it is by FAR the worst of the domestic parks.
The concerns about the spending taking away from the other parks is legit. Iger has continued what Eisner started, which is preaching controlled capital spending. There’s no way they can spend $200 million a year on DCA, plus the money for the other already mentioned Anaheim projects and maintain a static level of overall capital spending unless it takes from the other parks.
That doesn’t mean that they aren’t going to change their tune, however. Perhaps they will now tell the shareholders that increased capital spending is a must. But I want to hear it from Iger’s mouth. With the next earnings call scheduled for 2 weeks from today, we shouldn’t have to wait long.
But assuming this is in fact “extra” money to fix a problem that they now understand must be fixed, I’m definitely happy about it. Money alone won’t fix the problem of course, but it’s an important first step that has to be taken.
I agree with Kitty and George about the issue of DLR actually competing with WDW. But I think that if they make the two resorts unique, and provide compelling reasons for people to visit both, then the plusses far outweigh the drawbacks. One of the problems though is that means they have to do less cloning. Too many of DCA’s already small number of attractions can be found in WDW. I understand the idea of using similar DL/MK parks to anchor the resorts, but beyond that I think it would work best if there was very little or even no overlap.
biblioadonis aka George said,
July 19, 2007 @ 3:31 am
So, K-C…
World traveler, huh?