The first thing that needs to be acknowledged is Disney's California Adventure ceased to exist. The park that centered around the dreams, achievements, and physical attributes of California went to the grave long ago.
Today Disney California Adventure was reframed in a new way. Instead of centering around the state and its' people, the goal post was altered. Disney California Adventure's very loose connective tissue is a celebration of the creations of Californians and the state as a source of inspiration. Because of Walt Disney's dreams and the power of being unleashed in California, he was able to create his company.
Instead of being Disney's California Adventure as in a California Adventure that belongs to Disney, it's Disney Californian Adventure where Disney is linked to the Adventure. Disney is part of its' identity.
A good comparison would be Disney's Land and Disneyland. Two different things.
Technically using their tortured logic they could put ANYTHING in there, because Disney is a Californian Company. The poor park has fallen off the rails.
Honestly, and I know I shouldn't do this, I've checked out of trying to understand the meaning of that park. It's been given perimeters that allow it to become an IP dumping graveyard.
Better it than Disneyland.
I agree with you. But I think the answer is people are wildly off the mark on what is actually coming.
None of this Marvel stuff is going to be set in New York and Iron man sims aren't the plan.
There is no concerted effort that I've ever been aware of to rename the park or turn against the California theme entirely. That doesn't mean Marvel won't be an oval peg in a round hole... but there are no plans to make either a square.
Disneyland lacks a unifying theme like some of the more modern parks have. However, they are newer, I'd hope things improve with time. Original Epcot, Animal Kingdom and even the lesser quality California or Studios have a better overlying framework.
Tokyo Disney Sea is really just Disneyland, with 'the Sea'. Ironically most people would name those their favourite parks. Perhaps keeping things really loose from the get go makes it easier on the longevity.
Underlying all the park areas at Sea are the fundamental beliefs that:
1) Humanity's fascination with the unconquerable and unknown will drive them to explore. That is largely the sea, but comes in many forms.
2) That Nature and other cultures are not always going to be willing participants in being discovered and or controlled.
3) The drive to understand and control can bear remarkable human and environmental costs.
Those are some of the top of my head. Sadly Sea is less prolifically written about in North America (I should look into buying a book). None of those are official, but if you run any of the opening day attractions and several added a little later, you'll find they almost universally deal in these three themes.
The quest for knowledge, the opposition to acquiring knowledge, the cost of knowledge are ingrained into the DNA of the park. The park takes a somewhat pessimistic view of exploration for the most part, providing a dramatically different take from the romantic notions of the 1950s that brought us Frontierland and Adventureland. It's cautionary. The one modern attraction, Stormrider, actually showed man's desire to conquer and nature revolting. Same with the later add on of Tower of Terror. The idol acts as a metaphor for the exploitation of native cultures, and Hightower's death seems metaphorical for the loss of one's soul in pursuit of profit. The exploited lash out and the man becomes trapped in his own creation.
Striking.
More broadly the park deals with how humanity interacts with the Sea and how the Sea shapes the cultures and societies built up around them. How it can act as a connective tissue between different worlds and lands. How it can be a catalyst for development and lead to so many seemingly foreign landscapes and cultures. What remains critical no matter the era or understanding of one culture, is the fact we're all humans and we all are drawn to the Sea.
So Sea has had and continues to have a message. I would say that TSMM and the Little Mermaid Attractions are frankly not part of the story. They're distractions. We'll have to see about Frozen and Nemo. I got a bad feeling about this...
Touche! The park icon. How could I forget? BTW a lot of people seem to hate Mickeys Fun Wheel as the park icon but I think it works well.
Team Carthay forever!
I don't blame you or the public at large for not embracing it though. It's the job of Disney to make people love it, but MiceChat's favorite lady insisted on the restaurant instead of an attraction. A park Icon has to leave a mark, and it needed to be accessible. It might as well be a facade.
Ironically MiceChat uses the restaurant as an example of why she knows the theme park business so well, when in fact she torpedoed the park Icon. Eventually when the monorail is rerouted Carthay will finally have its' day in the sun.
As to Marvel I'm guessing generic Avengers Base or era specific. Disney has shown a healthy disdain with just building a generic city.
