Anyone else actually like DCA?

Cheney!

Cheney!

Member
raven24 said:
I like DCA, for the most part. However I hate the turn folks at Disney have taken for this poor park.

I grew up with DCA, being only eight years-old at the time it opened. I was happy about the changes made for its 2012 rebirth and was honestly hopeful for its future, but not anymore. It’s sad because they were on a decent track for just a few, short years before Disney decided to ruin it.

Really sad and unfortunate.
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DCA died to me the second Guardians was announced. I think before that, the park was very near to reaching it's potential. Sure, places like Hollywoodland and Paradise Pier needed some additional reconfiguring and sprucing-up, and I'd say the parks needed a few more classic, defining attractions, but it was so close to being a great park. Removing Soarin' stung to me, but it's not like Disneyland never had any attractions removed prematurely.

Thank you Bob Chapek for butchering this park in the name of profit margins and cross-company synergy. DCA, I lament thee.
 
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F

fctiger

Well-Known Member
Hated DCA for the most part between 2001-2008.

Started to accept it between 2008-2012.

2012-present it finally felt like a true Disney park and fell in love with it.

Still really enjoy it today! A bit sad we lost TOT but actually grew to love GOTG, so yeah I definitely like it. Never cared that much for PP so totally fine with Pixar Pier and actually more interesting now. It's still not my favorite second gate park (that will always be TDS) but its high on the list, but I haven't been to WDW in over a decade.
 
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yensidtlaw1969

yensidtlaw1969

Well-Known Member
My biggest problem with DCA is that if I've traveled all the way across the country and found myself this close to Disneyland, I'm gonna need some tremendously compelling reasons to go somewhere other than Disneyland. To me, DCA doesn't really offer those.

WDW's parks offer some compelling reasons to stray from The Magic Kingdom, despite its classic attractions and massive lead in terms of attractions on offer. Spaceship Earth, World Showcase, The Tower of Terror, Hollywood Boulevard, Kilimanjaro, Pandora . . . those are all big-ticket items that make me feel like I'm seeing something incredible and unique in the world. Not to mention the parks being beautifully designed and rich in atmosphere. I'm glad I spent some time at DCA on my last trip to finally see Cars Land, which opened after my previous visit, but outside of that there still wasn't enough to keep me wanting to hang around. What else in that park is both incredible and unique in the world? Where is the rich atmosphere? Some of the WDW Parks have hit a rut in terms of theme (Looking at you, Epcot and DHS), but DCA never had a proper one to speak of, and it appears to be getting worse instead of better. A park needs to meditate on SOMETHING to really be a Theme Park.

DCA, in my opinion, has never come close to justifying the time it forces me to spend away from Disneyland. I'm down for it to be a totally different experience from Disneyland, but it's got to be of equal or similar value to convince me to actually go. I'm still waiting for that to happen. My first visit was in 2001 when the park was still new and awful, and I feel like the park has still yet to lose that scent. The Extreme Makeover wasn't enough.

I wish RSR was flanked by more than flat-rides, but Cars Land is still pretty great. Get something else in the park on that level and maybe I'll take another look. Guardians, Pixar Pier, and what we've seen of Marvel Land all make the park look like it's bunting. DCA needs to hit a couple more home runs before I'll really be interested in giving it more time. Meanwhile the park across the street has decades worth of grand slams to lure me in . . . it's no contest.
 
No Name

No Name

Well-Known Member
You can't get on them for trying to make money. Disney is a business, I am an investor, and I hope they make as much money as they can make. I just don't believe many of the recent changes at DCA are financially good changes, especially long-term as the theme of the park becomes more diluted and it becomes less cohesive as a whole.

However as it stands I still very much like DCA. If I had to choose to spend tomorrow at either west coast park I would choose DCA, and I find nothing wrong with that.
 
THE 1HAPPY HAUNT

THE 1HAPPY HAUNT

Well-Known Member
Sorry but I do not like the park. I like a few of the rides in the park but to me it is not enough to save it. I wish they would tear it down and use it for an expansion for Disneyland itself. The main problem I have with the park is it does not feel timeless like Disneyland. also when I enter Disneyland I feel I am cut off from the rest of the world and am in a place unique unto itself. DCA felt to me like a six flags park. not that there is anything wrong with six flags. but it did not feel magical in DCA. it felt like GENERAL THEME PARK USA. I go to Disney for a certain experience and DCA does not provide it. it was a half day park for me on a 2 day park hopper ticket. I then spent the rest of the day at Disneyland and had more fun than I did at DCA. sorry it is a inferior park to me.
 
yensidtlaw1969

yensidtlaw1969

Well-Known Member
egg said:
You can't get on them for trying to make money. Disney is a business, I am an investor, and I hope they make as much money as they can make. I just don't believe many of the recent changes at DCA are financially good changes, especially long-term as the theme of the park becomes more diluted and it becomes less cohesive as a whole.

However as it stands I still very much like DCA. If I had to choose to spend tomorrow at either west coast park I would choose DCA, and I find nothing wrong with that.
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I'll never get on Disney for trying to make money - but I'll get on them for the way they try to do it.

Putting aside any artistic ambition Walt Disney had in building, say, Pirates of the Caribbean (and I sense that he had many), we can't pretend he didn't know it being a good ride would make the park money. He just also knew that spending more money upfront to make something unlike anything the world had ever seen would pay off in spades.

50 years later, no one holds it against him that he knew it would make money because we continue to get what we want out of that deal;
we're willing to pay the admission fee on the condition that we get to experience something incredible. It can be an expensive deal to make good on, but when you do it right it can pay off for decades.

Unlike DCA, which has had to strip nearly every land to the studs at least once and STILL doesn't impress. It really is cheaper to do it right the first time.
 
THE 1HAPPY HAUNT

THE 1HAPPY HAUNT

Well-Known Member
yensidtlaw1969 said:
My biggest problem with DCA is that if I've traveled all the way across the country and found myself this close to Disneyland, I'm gonna need some tremendously compelling reasons to go somewhere other than Disneyland. To me, DCA doesn't really offer those.

WDW's parks offer some compelling reasons to stray from The Magic Kingdom, despite its classic attractions and massive lead in terms of attractions on offer. Spaceship Earth, World Showcase, The Tower of Terror, Hollywood Boulevard, Kilimanjaro, Pandora . . . those are all big-ticket items that make me feel like I'm seeing something incredible and unique in the world. Not to mention the parks being beautifully designed and rich in atmosphere. I'm glad I spent some time at DCA on my last trip to finally see Cars Land, which opened after my previous visit, but outside of that there still wasn't enough to keep me wanting to hang around. What else in that park is both incredible and unique in the world? Where is the rich atmosphere? Some of the WDW Parks have hit a rut in terms of theme (Looking at you, Epcot and DHS), but DCA never had a proper one to speak of, and it appears to be getting worse instead of better. A park needs to meditate on SOMETHING to really be a Theme Park.

DCA, in my opinion, has never come close to justifying the time it forces me to spend away from Disneyland. I'm down for it to be a totally different experience from Disneyland, but it's got to be of equal or similar value to convince me to actually go. I'm still waiting for that to happen. My first visit was in 2001 when the park was still new and awful, and I feel like the park has still yet to lose that scent. The Extreme Makeover wasn't enough.

I wish RSR was flanked by more than flat-rides, but Cars Land is still pretty great. Get something else in the park on that level and maybe I'll take another look. Guardians, Pixar Pier, and what we've seen of Marvel Land all make the park look like it's bunting. DCA needs to hit a couple more home runs before I'll really be interested in giving it more time. Meanwhile the park across the street has decades worth of grand slams to lure me in . . . it's no contest.
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PERFECTLY SAID. I WISH I COULD LIKE THIS POST A MILLION TIMES
 
EPCOTCenterLover

EPCOTCenterLover

Well-Known Member
Hollywood Land and Pixar pier make me feel angry for what should have been, but I really really like the rest of the park. Lost potential. Disneyland even with its flaws feels timeless.
 

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