Disney California Adventure to launch food experience in March

[Darkbeer1]

I agree. I am beginning to wonder if a slow “phase in” of rides could happen as a means of enticing visitors should Orange County get to “Orange Tier” in the late Spring or Summer. As one idea, what’s to stop them from upwelling a timed entry ticket to a “Pixar Pier Experience” treating the Pier as a “small amusement park” under the state guidelines. TSMM and TLM may need to be closed, but otherwise all other Pier rides and queues are already fully outdoors.

Even with the current strict capacity limit - spread over three of four (3 or 4-hour?) day parted shifts it would seem like a reasonable “add on” to a “food festival” ticket in the future if this continuing into May-July. Similar to the 2019 Galaxy’s Edge previews only with no overlapping “shifts”.

I also wonder if the Red Car (and/or Main Street vehicles) could be exempted as operational as transportation vehicle.

Small Amusement Parks will open under the Orange Tier. If the Assembly bill passes, then all size parks will open under the Orange Tier.

 

[Darkbeer1]

Well, the union issues were definitely problematic I am sure, which is something Knott's didn't have to deal with.

Knott's has kept all of its full time employees on the schedule, every week regardless of if an event was happening since last March.

 

[Darkbeer1]

OK but as I said, we still have at least a dozen parks here in California that are still closed and no one attempted it outside of KBF. I just think, as I said, putting on these events is probably just not deemed worth it. KBF did it and it is successful enough but it still didn't get bigger parks like Universal, Sea World or Disney to attempt it. And I think with DLR, they already had DTD to at least attract people to spend money without a huge amount of money.

I do think what Magic Mountain did for Christmas was a great event, having a drive through to see the Christmas lights, but after that, they haven't attempted anything else. For whatever reason, the event at KBF doesn't seem like it's catching on to any other parks, even as a weekend or holiday thing.

SeaWorld San Diego did offer tasting events as well, as mentioned above. (BBQ)

 

[SevenSevens]

Knott's has kept all of its full time employees on the schedule, every week regardless of if an event was happening since last March.

That's amazing.

 

[Darkbeer1]

>>A park that was ridiculed when it opened for being little more than an outdoor mall will reopen to paying guests 20 years later … as an outdoor mall.<<

Niles: Disney California Adventure will be a mall again, and I’m happy with that

Disney marked the once-beleaguered park’s 20th anniversary by announcing a new food event that will open a year after the park was shut down by the pandemic.

www.ocregister.com

 

[cmwade77]

That's amazing.

Not really, they only have to pay them for hours worked since they aren't union as far as I am aware.

 

[cmwade77]

>>A park that was ridiculed when it opened for being little more than an outdoor mall will reopen to paying guests 20 years later … as an outdoor mall.<<

Niles: Disney California Adventure will be a mall again, and I’m happy with that

Disney marked the once-beleaguered park’s 20th anniversary by announcing a new food event that will open a year after the park was shut down by the pandemic.

www.ocregister.com

Too true

 

[TP2000]

I don't necessarily disagree that Disney needs to stay nimble, but in this particular case, I think hindsight is playing a bigger role in criticizing their decisions than it should be. Disney is a much bigger company and they pay their Cast Members much better than Knott's does. Disney, through the benefit of union contracts, is also required to have more CMs with differing job classifications doing the same job. That is an absolute benefit for the people that work at Disneyland, but it makes changes like this more difficult to navigate, gain approval from all interested parties and far more expensive to pull off.

Disney could have pursued this last year, but I think their efforts were more focused on just reopening the whole park. I think I mentioned last year that there would be concerns on the Disney side about bringing back CMs and creating a food festival, that would be priced appropriately to be competitive, and I think those concerns are still true. It's probably not a coincidence that we haven't been told what the pricing for the Disney event will be. It's also somewhat suspicious that Disney is announcing this, while Knott's has not announced any additional food offerings, when their boysenberry festival should be right around the corner.

If Disney made any mistake here, it was putting all their eggs in the reopening basket back in June of last year, when they literally had no authority to reopen. Even that though, is a mistake I think they should be forgiven for.

It's not that I don't appreciate the insight, but all I hear when I read that is excuses.

Excuses for why there's a lot of red tape in TDA. Excuses blaming unionized labor. Excuses for why TDA's executives were slow to respond. And excuses for why TDA still doesn't quite get things done in a timely fashion.

Meanwhile, Knott's Berry Farm has been operating its park as a food n' crafts festival for over six months, employing thousands of Knott's employees, and keeping the Buena Park and OC economy healthier. And they didn't make excuses, they just did it.

And for the record, Knott's Berry Farm is also owned by a company with theme parks in other states. Other states that allowed theme parks to reopen. Just like the Walt Disney Company. I can almost guarantee you that that the Knott's execs are just as ticked off at Sacramento as the Disneyland execs are. But Knott's Berry Farm got it done in 2020, where TDA failed. Because... excuses.

Knott's has kept all of its full time employees on the schedule, every week regardless of if an event was happening since last March.

Good for them. Mr. Storbeck is apparently not only very business savvy, but is also a class act.

 

[TP2000]

SeaWorld San Diego did offer tasting events as well, as mentioned above. (BBQ)

Very true.

I didn't go, but I knew people who did go when I spent most of last summer/fall in San Diego.

Sea World also performed Shamu shows and Dolphin shows, plus a lot of other exhibits and entertainment as part of their Brews N' BBQ food festival in 2020. A good time was had by all.

 

[cmwade77]

Very true.

I didn't go, but I knew people who did go when I spent most of last summer/fall in San Diego.

Sea World also performed Shamu shows and Dolphin shows, plus a lot of other exhibits and entertainment as part of their Brews N' BBQ food festival in 2020. A good time was had by all.

Don't forget the Sea Lions show as well, albeit modified to not include Biff unfortunately.

 

[CaptinEO]

Yeah the amount of food you get was kind of the issue. I don't think that pre-paying for two meals worth of food made a lot of sense when, because of the reservation system, you couldn't really come back to use it later. I'm pretty sure with the DCA festivals of the past, the tasting cards were reusable between visits, but who knows if that will work out this time.

I have relatives who went to the Knotts food festival at the end of 2020 and they were raving about how HUGE the portions were and how good everything was.

I was going to skip it because I thought it'd be like California Adventure where its 2 bites of a food item for 8 dollars.

 

[el_super]

It's not that I don't appreciate the insight, but all I hear when I read that is excuses.

Not excuses, reality. Reality without the Anti-TDA bias. Of course the reality is that not everything is equal or as black and white as you constantly try to make it out to be. There were a lot of good reasons why, at the time last year, a food festival made no sense for Disneyland. For some of us who would rather have the parks open, any type of food festival can still be considered irresponsible and any additional virus transmission will inevitably delay OC's transition to the Yellow Tier even more.

Meanwhile, Knott's Berry Farm has been operating its park as a food n' crafts festival for over six months, employing thousands of Knott's employees, and keeping the Buena Park and OC economy healthier. And they didn't make excuses, they just did it.

What a silly thing to say. There's still somewhere close to 10,000 people working at Disneyland keeping the OC Economy "healthy." How many people are working at Knott's again?

Good for them. Mr. Storbeck is apparently not only very business savvy, but is also a class act.

Jon Storbeck is a great guy, but trying to insinuate that what is good for Knott's would also be good for Disneyland is ridiculous. Maybe next you can suggest that they tear out Main Street for a nice tall B&M coaster.

 

[el_super]

I have relatives who went to the Knotts food festival at the end of 2020 and they were raving about how HUGE the portions were and how good everything was.

Oh I have no doubt that the portions were huge. But that's more of a drawback for someone who doesn't like to waste food. If they had the option to buy the food ala cart so you didn't have to buy something you weren't going to be able to eat, I think I would be more willing to try it.

Disney's Food and Wine prices are ridiculous, but the portion sizes are right for a tasting event.

 

[cmwade77]

I have relatives who went to the Knotts food festival at the end of 2020 and they were raving about how HUGE the portions were and how good everything was.

I was going to skip it because I thought it'd be like California Adventure where its 2 bites of a food item for 8 dollars.

Honestly the value is there for the quantity of food you get, not to mention they did an excellent job with socially distanced entertainment.

 

[mickEblu]

So rumors are saying Main Street will open in Mid March. Same time the DCA food festival opens. Who’s going to want to go spend $40 bucks + for those 8 bites of food at DCA if you can go to Main Street and get some fried chicken at the plaza inn for $15? I guess there is a big enough demand for both to be open. Plus that way, they can still provide “free access” to shopping in a park when the food festival starts at DCA.

 

[CaptinEO]

Oh I have no doubt that the portions were huge. But that's more of a drawback for someone who doesn't like to waste food. If they had the option to buy the food ala cart so you didn't have to buy something you weren't going to be able to eat, I think I would be more willing to try it.

Disney's Food and Wine prices are ridiculous, but the portion sizes are right for a tasting event.

I totally get what you mean. I didn't want to prebuy a billion items and would rather be able to buy things on a whim then have to overbuy food.

 

[SevenSevens]

I have relatives who went to the Knotts food festival at the end of 2020 and they were raving about how HUGE the portions were and how good everything was.

I was going to skip it because I thought it'd be like California Adventure where its 2 bites of a food item for 8 dollars.

I can vouch. As long as we didn't waste a "taste" on a fruit-lemonade or other drink, we had hard times using up all the "tastes" on our cards.

 

[Th3 DUd3]

So rumors are saying Main Street will open in Mid March. Same time the DCA food festival opens. Who’s going to want to go spend $40 bucks + for those 8 bites of food at DCA if you can go to Main Street and get some fried chicken at the plaza inn for $15? I guess there is a big enough demand for both to be open. Plus that way, they can still provide “free access” to shopping in a park when the food festival starts at DCA.

This is why I said that ticketing the event was not necessary. Just have the carts, offer unique items, give Legacy's an opportunity for a discount(or not) change out the food that doesn't work and let people roam. Once again Disney has an opportunity to provide value in a time of hardship vs. tightening the screws. They have an opportunity to take some advice from someone that was truly selfish.

 

[TP2000]

Not excuses, reality. Reality without the Anti-TDA bias. Of course the reality is that not everything is equal or as black and white as you constantly try to make it out to be. There were a lot of good reasons why, at the time last year, a food festival made no sense for Disneyland. For some of us who would rather have the parks open, any type of food festival can still be considered irresponsible and any additional virus transmission will inevitably delay OC's transition to the Yellow Tier even more.

The reality is that several other SoCal theme parks were able to reinvent themselves and reopen their parks as food festivals and shopping fairs in 2020. Disneyland Resort couldn't and/or wouldn't.

That tells you all you need to know about how TDA works and how sclerotic the bureaucracy is there.

What a silly thing to say. There's still somewhere close to 10,000 people working at Disneyland keeping the OC Economy "healthy." How many people are working at Knott's again?

I'm sorry.... what?!? There are still 10,000 CM's actively on the payroll at Disneyland??? Not on furlough, but actively pretending to do work every week for a regular paycheck? 10,000 people to run one of the smallest outdoor malls in SoCal and maintain theme parks and hotels that have been closed for a year? What on earth are those 10,000 CM's doing every week? I assume a chunk are white collar folks working from home on their wine-fueled Zoom calls. But even in 2019 there weren't more than a few thousand white collar CM's and Dockers-clad managers on the payroll.

If there really still are 10,000 CM's (or even half that) actively on the payroll to watch a closed Resort complex not operate, then I rest my case on the fact that TDA is swamped in bureaucracy and red tape and TPS reports.

Yes, you still need to maintain and monitor the closed parks and hotels and infrastructure, but you only need a couple thousand CM's to do that. Not 10,000.

Jon Storbeck is a great guy, but trying to insinuate that what is good for Knott's would also be good for Disneyland is ridiculous.

The facts remain the facts. Mr. Storbeck hustled and scrambled to get his theme park reopened in some capacity seven months ago. And Mr. Storbeck succeeded. TDA's Instagrammable President-Du-Jour has so far failed to do the same.

 

[Stevek]

So rumors are saying Main Street will open in Mid March. Same time the DCA food festival opens. Who’s going to want to go spend $40 bucks + for those 8 bites of food at DCA if you can go to Main Street and get some fried chicken at the plaza inn for $15? I guess there is a big enough demand for both to be open. Plus that way, they can still provide “free access” to shopping in a park when the food festival starts at DCA.

I would certainly pick DL over DCA. Unfortunately, I can imagine it would be a nightmare to actually get in given the pent up demand to set foot back in the park.