I'm not a great artist and there's honestly so much I've thought about so I'll do my best to explain what goes through my mind when I picture a better DCA. You all can use your own imaginations to fill in the rest.
Grizzly Peak
- Soarin' Over the World returns to Soarin' Over California, permanently.
- GRR is given animatronic characters. Bears, hikers caught in humorous situations a la Jungle Cruise, anything is better than nothing.
- Removal of Brother Bear characters/references from Redwood Creek Challenge Trail.
- Adding some sort of animatronic singing bear-style show/theatre along the walkway that goes beneath GRR's lift hill (near the former smoking area). Perhaps a spiritual successor to Country Bears or maybe playing up the whole "vacation" angle with them being on an indefinite California vacation of some kind.
Cars Land -> Rethemed/named to "Route 66"
- Racers remains mostly intact but the mountain range is tweaked as to become more "generic" and less Cadillac. Storyline is tweaked slightly. Still features a "big race" happening along Route 66 in California but you're required to head to Radiator Springs (the show building out back) to prepare, as before.
- Rest of the land is heavily altered with the removal of all Radiator Springs buildings, references, etc. Junkyard Jamboree and Luigi's head to Yesterland.
- Addition of two new attractions: "Museum of the Weird" and "Autopia thru Nature's Wonderland". Rolly Crump's work inspires a new walk-thru attraction along Route 66. The concept spawns from the "tourist trap" type of attractions you commonly see along the side of the road but it ends up being something very real/mysterious. Autopia thru Nature's Wonderland would essentially just be an Autopia ride through much more gorgeous scenery akin to what has already been build in the mountain range. Winding through caves, passing by the racing cars, etc. This would also allow Disney to close down Autopia across the way and use that area for future expansion space.
Hollywoodland
- Tower of Terror returns, immediately (non-negotiable, Disney
).
- "Hollywood Studios" area (near Monsters Inc.) is bulldozed and given a re-theme to a "Hollywood Bowl" type of area, with an emphasis on music. Area will have two attractions and also be used for any future dance parties akin to ElecTRONica or Mad T Party.
- Mickey's PhilharMagic is "plussed" with a new show and plays in a theatre space in this area.
- Some iteration of Rock 'n' Roller Coaster and the G-Force Records building is added, likely eating up the former Millionaire building, Monsters Inc. and the old Hollywood and Dine space.
- Hyperion Theatre façade is finally removed and theatre receives the love it so desperately deserves. Theatre becomes home to whatever Broadway-style shows Disney wishes to showcase at the moment.
- Because I am realistic and know that MARVEL will need to be represented in the parks somehow.. this is the land to do it in. Since these movies are "Hollywood" already, you don't need to get overly complicated with backstories or explanations for them to be in this area so probably some form of E-ticket attraction connected to a themed plaza within Hollywoodland (similar to "it's a small world"'s) eating up shuttle drop off zone as originally envisioned by Disney.
- Reworking the context presentation of Turtle Talk with Crush and re-opening Ursula's Grotto. Turtle Talk is fine in the Animation Building but I think a heavier emphasis should be placed on this being an attraction that really showcases the art of voice acting and bringing characters you see on screen to life via this medium before or after the show begins.
Buena Vista Street
- Honestly, it's pretty much fine as is. I'd maybe do away with some of the more "commercial" window displays and return them to more "authentic"-looking ones.
Avengers Campus -> transformation into a new "Silicon Valley"-inspired area (name TBD)
- Removal of pretty much everything present in this area currently.
- New attractions, shops, showcases and eateries inspired by "Big Tech"-style companies.
- Various contenders for Disney IP inclusion in this area are but are not limited to things such as: Big Hero 6 (tech college from the film), TRON (ENCOM, software development, etc.), Wreck-It-Ralph/Vanellope (internet shenanigans) and so on and so forth.
- Implemented correctly, this area could almost feel like DCA's version of Tomorrowland.
Pacific Wharf
- Honestly, there's not a lot of room to expand here since the area is pretty land-locked. The area would remain mostly the same, as it's nearly perfect for what it offers but with a few minor changes.
- I actually don't hate the idea of some form of Golden Gate Bridge taking over the old one, especially since this area already feels like "Pier 39" in San Francisco. I'd keep going with that idea but make it look authentic, not like Big Hero 6's.
- Update the Bakery Tour's video, narration, etc.
- Make this area the main "hub" space for any any all future food festivals (Food and Wine, Lunar New Year, Festival of Holidays, etc.). Cocina Cucamonga kitchen transforms and becomes entirely dedicated to making and serving the food for all festival ordering stands in the land (reason for the eatery's removal will be explained in the final land presented in this post). Seating areas are already present and I believe there's even a performance space near the beer truck, if I remember correctly. In short, this area already has a heavy emphasis on food, so why not lean into it with all the festivals they do in DCA? Merch for these events can be sold here too and continue to drive foot traffic throughout the year.
Pixar Pier -> name reverts to Paradise Pier
- Removal and undoing of everything added during Pixar Pier transformation.
- Move forward with the Victorian-era building theme that many areas never received but were originally going to.
- Removal of World of Color and all related platforms/projectors. Night time spectacular or not, I feel they are up far too often and ruin the view of the lagoon.
- Removal of Mickey's Fun Wheel (explained next)
- Former MaliBOOMER launch pad and Mickey Fun Wheel space become home to an elaborate, giant walk-thru sea vessel that ran aground many years ago. This would become a re-working of the former S.S. Rustworthy but on a much larger and grander scale. MaliBOOMer walkway area and California Screamin' track pass through the hull of the structure and ship would become home to a highly themed boat-style attraction which explores the vessel in detail, culminating in an outdoor splashdown into the lagoon (an idea previously explored in old DCA concept art). New backstory for Paradise Pier as a whole involves this vessel, as the ill-fated ship became so popular, the pier was built around it.
- Land begins where Lamplight Lounge is (as normal) but now ends with Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta/Silly Symphony Swings.
Paradise Garden Park -> transformation into a new Mexican-inspired area (name TBD)
- Garden Grill and everything up to Ariel's becomes a completely new area inspired by and celebrating Mexican architecture and culture. Think San Diego areas.
- Goofy's Sky School, Zephyr, Jellyfish and Ariel's Undersea Adventure would disappear to Yesterland.
- As previously discussed, Cocina Cucamonga was removed from Pacific Wharf so new Mexican food eateries/restaurants would live in this newly built land, along with cultural showcase spaces.
- Some form of Coco attraction could likely take over Ariel's former building.
Thank you all for coming to my TED Talk.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that some sort of area celebrating
California's farmland would likely make the final cut in my perfect vision of DCA. Obviously they tried this once so it would need to be a lot better than just tractors everywhere. Maybe the winery area's surrounding grounds on the other side of Grizzly Peak could be tweaked ever so slightly to lean into this idea more.
