Animal Kingdom vs California Adventure

[TP2000]

@TP2000, I assure you we were all here for the last decade plus of evolution/devolution, as the case may be, for both DCA and Disney Parks as a whole. For all of the text and images contained within your last few posts, I don't believe that there's any new information contained within it that we haven't heard from you or others countless times, OR that we haven't experienced for ourselves many times over.

Oh, it's fine. This is a discussion board as part of the online Disney fan community, where we discuss Disney theme parks. We discuss back and forth, back and forth and back again, since the first civilian 28K Modem screeched to life 30 years ago.

If this wasn't a discussion board, it would have just had the poll with no ability to comment or... you know... discuss.

So far, that poll is sitting at 36 Votes for DAK and 13 Votes for DCA. Can you guess which one I voted for?

I'm sorry that you were personally victimized by DAK in some unspecified way, but that doesn't mean that many of us can't find DAK to be a superior park over DCA anyway.

I'm not victimized by DAK. I was just underwhelmed a bit on my first visit in 1999, and then the near dearth of expansion and additions in the ensuing 25 years left me feeling its the weakest WDW park. And globally? It's got the weakest ride and attraction lineup on the planet for Disney parks. It's nearly criminal how they've let that park slowly devolve.

Why don't they do a water spectacular there again? What happened to that Rivers of Light thing? I mean, KiteTails was an absolute hoot and a half, but Rivers of Light seemed to have real potential. They built a giant aquacade for it and everything.

But also, realize that my comments come from not just a decades-long member of the San Diego Zoological Society, but also someone who visits the Tokyo theme parks regularly. So my standards for a Disney park-zoo are very high.

 

[Professortango1]

Have you met DCA circa 2001-2007? That was the epitome of budget cuts and scaled back plans.



Which it has desperately needed for over 20 years now. It's 2024. If they announce new stuff for DAK at D23 Expo nest month, it won't open until the late 2020's, maybe 2030 or later in phases. That's not acceptable, but here we are, and the fans at WDW lap it up as if it's a legitimate entertainment roster 26 year old theme park when it's not.



To be fair once DisneySea opened in 2001, from 2002 to 2020, TDS opened 2 new E Tickets (Tower of Terror, Soaring), 2 D Tickets (Midway Mania, Raging Spirits), 2 major revamps to opening day E Tickets (Sinbad, Finding Nemo), and a long list of huge new water spectaculars and large scale stage shows.

Then they opened the Fantasy Springs expansion this year with 4 additional rides in a new land.



Well, it also helped that most Epcot attractions built in the 1980's were at least 15 minutes long. Some of the individual rides, like the Exxon pavilion and Kraft Foods boat ride, were 30 to 45 minutes long. And not a single 90 second spinner ride in the bunch.



See, this is where I scratch my head and think "Did they really tear down the Billion dollars worth of stuff they built for DCA circa 2012???" Then I think, and tally, and realize all of this fabulous stuff from the 2012 relaunch we all raved about is all still there. And some stuff, like the removal of Condor Flats in 2015 to be remade into Grizzly Peak Airfield, was a big improvement over what was there in 2012.

All this stuff is still at DCA. I just double checked.

DCA is absolutely a victim of budget cuts, but also of corporate short-sightedness. DAK had big ambitions and Rhode ensured that the park itself still had value even if the attraction roster was lighter than intended. DCA make the decision to have exposed sound stages, lots of concrete, and an emphasis of shops and dining over attractions.

I also wouldn't brag about TDS changing Sinbad and Stormrider as both were downgrades to the park.

And yes, DCA did have money put into it to fix it. I love Buena Vista Street and Radiator Springs Racers/Ornament Valley is gorgeous. But the improvements for the pier were stopped and then undone with Pixar Pier. A downgrade. World of Color added a nighttime show but filled the bay with visible equipment and removed the wave machine. A downgrade. Grizzly Peak has always been the best area of the park, but shoved into a small corner that it cannot expand into due to the hotel. Condor Flats' retheme was better, but only slightly. It took an okay area and made it pretty okay. It didn't change the fact that Soarin' is a giant exposed show building and the monorail still goes overhead. Its still an empty feeling land.

Bugs Land was no prize, but I'd take it over Avengers Campus. Hollywoodland was made less tacky, but not a better experience overall. The buildings are still facades, the area still lacks attractions, the corridor towards TOT/Mission BO still feels like a backstage service road, and now Mission BO towers above it despite AC facing away from it.

Buena Vista street was a huge win as was most of Cars Land. But fixing Main Street and adding a good land doesn't make the rest of the park better as a whole. Pandora was a overall positive for DAK, but at least the other areas of DAK still looked amazing. The only two areas that were eyesores (Camp Minnie Mickey and Dinoland USA) were the two areas to be hit first with improvements. DCA is the opposite with only 2 areas being great and the rest of the park feeling lackluster.

DCA actually reminds me a lot of the Vegas theme parks of the late 90's. It feels like it has money behind it, but it also feels dated while contemporary and surrounded by the city. Disney parks are famous for their immersion. DCA feels like what it is, a theme park in the middle of a busy city. A regional park with a good budget.

 

[PiratesMansion]

Oh, it's fine. This is a discussion board as part of the online Disney fan community, where we discuss Disney theme parks. We discuss back and forth, back and forth and back again, since the first civilian 28K Modem screeched to life 30 years ago.

If this wasn't a discussion board, it would have just had the poll with no ability to comment or... you know... discuss.

So far, that poll is sitting at 36 Votes for DAK and 13 Votes for DCA. Can you guess which one I voted for?

I would never have gathered this without you typing this out. What insight!

I'm not victimized by DAK. I was just underwhelmed a bit on my first visit in 1999, and then the near dearth of expansion and additions in the ensuing 25 years left me feeling its the weakest WDW park. And globally? It's got the weakest ride and attraction lineup on the planet for Disney parks. It's nearly criminal how they've let that park slowly devolve.

You haven't been paying enough attention to the Studios Park in Paris if you feel DAK has the weakest ride and attraction lineup globally.

Why don't they do a water spectacular there again? What happened to that Rivers of Light thing? I mean, KiteTails was an absolute hoot and a half, but Rivers of Light seemed to have real potential. They built a giant aquacade for it and everything.

People didn't like that Rivers of Light thing OR that Kitetails thing. Tis unfortunate, but it's not as if we're routinely going on and on in wonderment about how AMAZING and FLAWLESS World of Color is.

But also, realize that my comments come from not just a decades-long member of the San Diego Zoological Society, but also someone who visits the Tokyo theme parks regularly. So my standards for a Disney park-zoo are very high.

Uh-huh. Doesn't quite explain how DCA suddenly meets those sky-high standards of yours, given that it's part of a resort that neither you nor your family can apparently stand to visit according to your posts here, but ok.

It remains fascinating how you alternatively characterize California as this decaying cesspool of horrors, UNLESS talking about one of its attractions, at which point THEY ARE ALL FLAWLESS AND OF IMMEASURABLE LEVELS IN QUALITY ABOVE ALL OTHERS, AND MUST BE DEFENDED AT ALL COSTS, even when it's...DCA. The ONLY exception to this rule being the Tokyo parks.

Meanwhile, you claim you don't really care what park wins a silly little poll, while choosing to write three posts of regurgitated history/thinly veiled cheerleading about DCA that any person here could have probably paraphrased from their own experiences/knowledge.

It's just a little weird to me, but you do you.

 

[Epcot81Fan]

Let’s remember, Rhode gave us this at DAK:

I’ll take Bugs Land over that embarrassment any day of the week…

 

[Professortango1]

Let’s remember, Rhode gave us this at DAK:

View attachment 805487

View attachment 805488

I’ll take Bugs Land over that embarrassment any day of the week…

And guess what's slated for removal?

As I said,,DAK opened with two bad areas. One is corrected and the second is looking to be corrected soon.

DCA opened with no good areas. Buena Vista Street has been corrected, Cars Land has been added, but the rest of the areas/lands still suffer.

 

[Epcot81Fan]

Unfortunately, DCA also wasn’t spared from the Rhode “touch”:

 

[TP2000]

Let’s remember, Rhode gave us this at DAK:

View attachment 805487

View attachment 805488

I’ll take Bugs Land over that embarrassment any day of the week…

I don't know about you, but I'm immersed!

 

[Architectural Guinea Pig]

DCA opened with no good areas. Buena Vista Street has been corrected, Cars Land has been added, but the rest of the areas/lands still suffer.

How dare you! Bountiful Valley Farms is the Magnum Opus of Imagineering.

 

[mickEblu]

I'd imagine the perception of DCA will change a lot in the next 5-10 years after they add Pandora, the Avengers E ticket and a legitimate dark ride to Pixar Pier. Any least in terms of it not being a full day park or not having enough quality attractions. Pandora will turn the ugliest land in the park into something beautiful if they move forward with that concept art and an E ticket in AC will help change the perception of that sorry land.

 

[Professortango1]

I'd imagine the perception of DCA will change a lot in the next 5-10 years after they add Pandora, the Avengers E ticket and a legitimate dark ride to Pixar Pier. Any least in terms of it not being a full day park or not having enough quality attractions. Pandora will turn the ugliest land in the park into something beautiful if they move forward with that concept art and an E ticket in AC will help change the perception of that sorry land.

Pandora is replacing Pixar Pier?

 

[PiratesMansion]

Pandora is replacing Pixar Pier?

I wish, but more likely it'll replace Hollywood.

 

[Professortango1]

I wish, but more likely it'll replace Hollywood.

Oof, that doesn't flow at all. Walk down this 1920's street and BAM, Alien planet. And is replacing the 2nd ugliest part of the park while the ugliest remains.

Hopefully they change the name/theme when they add Pandora as it doesn't fit California at all.

 

[truecoat]

I'd take DCA over AK. I've been to AK 2 times in the last 3 years and was done way before the 6 pm closing time.

 

[mickEblu]

Oof, that doesn't flow at all. Walk down this 1920's street and BAM, Alien planet. And is replacing the 2nd ugliest part of the park while the ugliest remains.

Hopefully they change the name/theme when they add Pandora as it doesn't fit California at all.

Lol cmon. Pixar Pier uglier than the Backlot and AC? In what world does that make any sense?

Yeah that transition from Hollywood Blvd or whatever will be there is not ideal. I think they can make it work but not ideal. My vote is for Pandora in the Simba lot and Monstropolis in the backlot.

 

[TP2000]

I'd take DCA over AK. I've been to AK 2 times in the last 3 years and was done way before the 6 pm closing time.

At least you went. The last two times I went to WDW pre-pandemic I didn't even go to DAK. It just had nothing to offer me personally (again, longtime member and financial contributor to the San Diego Zoological Society).

If I were to ever go back to WDW at this stage in my life (never say never), I'd probably go to DAK just to see Pandoraland and ask the kids there why they never show up on my Halloween doorstep dressed as a blue alien.

 

[TP2000]

Hopefully they change the name/theme when they add Pandora as it doesn't fit California at all.

And Pandora fits a zoo park based on Earth and its animals how exactly?

 

[Professortango1]

Lol cmon. Pixar Pier uglier than the Backlot and AC? In what world does that make any sense?

Yeah that transition from Hollywood Blvd or whatever will be there is not ideal. I think they can make it work but not ideal. My vote is for Pandora in the Simba lot and Monstropolis in the backlot.

Monstropolis would be a cleaner transition, that is certain. They would still need to change the name of the park either way.

And yes, Pixar Pier is the ugliest land at DCA. Giant fake fast-food containers, character cut-outs looking like the LA County Faire, the mish-mash of themes and styles.

Hollywoodland has issues, but the main street looks good as long as you don't stop and look too long. Hyperion is a fantastic space and Animation Academy was once great.

Avengers Campus isn't ugly, its just boring and uninspired. Tell someone they get to walk into the world of the MCU and run around and play superheroes, a Silicon Valley tech campus isn't exactly what anyone thinks or wants. Its pretty, but doesn't reflect the stories they are trying to sell.

 

[Professortango1]

And Pandora fits a zoo park based on Earth and its animals how exactly?

DAK is a theme park based upon people living alongside animals and nature. All of the lands are about that overlap of civilization and the natural world and Pandora fits that idea. I would prefer Beastly Kingdom (although I think the original attraction concepts were not stellar either), but Pandora still fits the park. Far more than Festival of the Lion King which is set in a hyper realistic African Village featuring cartoon mascot characters and parade floats from Disneyland. If they had even copied the Broadway show's style it would have fit 10 times better.

 

[Professortango1]

I'd take DCA over AK. I've been to AK 2 times in the last 3 years and was done way before the 6 pm closing time.

I don't know if I could last till 6 PM in DCA either. RSR, Midway Mania, maybe Mission BO or Incredicoaster. Then I'm basically done with that park. Its a 1/4 day park for me at best.

DAK gives me my 3-4 hours I usually enjoy of a zoo, plus a handful of rides to enjoy. Now a full day park as of yet, but I can still fill about 7-9 hours there.

 

[Epcot81Fan]

DAK is a theme park based upon people living alongside animals and nature. All of the lands are about that overlap of civilization and the natural world and Pandora fits that idea.

Ooh, this is fun!

Now make a giant princess tiara fit into Frontierland!