How would YOU fix DCA?

[Californian Elitist]

DCA hate is so overblown sometimes. It has problems and things that could be improved but people here are honestly saying Disney needs to bulldoze the entire park and start over. DCA is a lot better than Hollywood Studios, do people here think Disney should bulldoze that park too?

If DHS is worse than DCA, then yes, both should be bulldozed.

Starting over, depending on who’s spearheading the project, has the potential to actually improve and build upon DCA’s original concept. What’s there now ain’t it, besides a few exceptions. The park was on the right track, then it fell off.

I don’t think any of us hate DCA. I think many of us hate what they’ve done to the park, though.

 

[PiratesMansion]

While I haven't been to DHS since 2017, it looks like overall that park has trended in a better direction than DCA and has at least more table service variety, so it'd probably win out for me if we're just looking at the parks as they exist at the moment.

 

[josh2000]

If DHS is worse than DCA, then yes, both should be bulldozed.

Starting over, depending on who’s spearheading the project, has the potential to actually improve and build upon DCA’s original concept.

So they need to spend tens of millions to demolish DCA and then they need to spend billions to re-build the park from scratch? Constructing a whole new park from scratch would take modern Disney at least five years to complete but probably longer. Also they'd be most likely to open the new park in phases meaning it could take well over ten years for the new DCA to reach the capacity level that the current park is at. The reduction in revenue from DCA being closed for five years or more would be considerable, I would also worry about the thousands of cast members that would lose their jobs. Would it all be worth it in the end? It's hard to say. Is starting from scratch going to dramatically increase the amount of guests who visit? Who knows?

The whole idea seems really unnecessary to me when millions of guests already visit and enjoy DCA every year. Maybe Disney could just work with what is currently there and improve things instead of starting from scratch?

 

[Californian Elitist]

So they need to spend tens of millions to demolish DCA and then they need to spend billions to re-build the park from scratch?

100%. Yes. The park is a hodgepodge of random things that don’t make sense. The park is a little over 20-years-old and has already gone through multiple “fix-it” projects. Something is clearly wrong. The park can’t seem to balance both great attractions and its identity at the same time. It’s either one or the other, or both aren’t working (current DCA). It was heading in the right direction for a few years, then it regressed.

This is all just personal opinion. Disney is not going to demolish DCA and start over. However, I would absolutely advocate for that because, personally, when something just isn’t working, I like to start over. Start from scratch, think about how I want to do things differently, see how things can be improved, etc., then go from there. DCA just isn’t working, and it’s never worked.

 

[PiratesMansion]

As much as Disney will never actually demo DCA and start over, there are things that just flat out never worked well for me even when it was at its peak (for me, 2015): Hollywood certainly, but the park's layout has always been a little unnecessarily wonky.

Not completely ridiculous like some other parks, but I almost always end up, say, turning from the Pier down the path next to Little Mermaid to head back towards the rest of the park, before having to turn around and remind myself that unless I'm going to Grizzly, Soarin', or GCH, that pathway just isn't a realistic option.

 

[Californian Elitist]

As much as Disney will never actually demo DCA and start over, there are things that just flat out never worked well for me even when it was at its peak (for me, 2015): Hollywood certainly, but the park's layout has always been a little unnecessarily wonky.

Not completely ridiculous like some other parks, but I almost always end up, say, turning from the Pier down the path next to Little Mermaid to head back towards the rest of the park, before having to turn around and remind myself that unless I'm going to Grizzly, Soarin', or GCH, that pathway just isn't a realistic option.

I agree that some things have never worked. Because of this, DCA has never been a mostly great or just really, really good park, even during the time between 2012 and 2015, for me, personally.

 

[TomboyJanet]

Grizzly River Run is a very good rapids ride with nice scenery. Not every ride needs audio animatronics. It's nice to just have a ride without tons of show elements.

It was only a suggestion. Its not the main focus of what I was saying though. I was more about the expansion of Hollywood theming because I feel like in the 90s Disney did this well by creating old school 20s-50s/60s Hollywood vibes in MGM Studios. They seemed to be heading toward that and then the Marvel thing happened and kinda killed it.

 

[truecoat]

The eastern gateway, along with expansion into the drop-off area would be best to fix a dead area of the park. Whether it's expanding the Marvel presence with Wakanda or adding a Zootopia area, it would clean up the back lot look that isn't appealing to me.

 

[Brer Oswald]

While I haven't been to DHS since 2017, it looks like overall that park has trended in a better direction than DCA and has at least more table service variety, so it'd probably win out for me if we're just looking at the parks as they exist at the moment.

The thing that kind of loses me with DHS a is that all of its best rides either have exact clones or direct counterparts at Disneyland Resort. I’m not going to pretend like old DHS (or MGM) was perfect by any means, but it was at least unique. Now it’s just a hodgepodge of cloned attractions. The attraction lineup is too small to meet the demand, and the park just becomes a crowded mess.

 

[Brer Oswald]

The best bet would be to bulldoze everything and start over.

The pier is prime real estate for something much better. I honestly hope they bulldoze that section and start fresh.

 

[CaptinEO]

It was only a suggestion. Its not the main focus of what I was saying though. I was more about the expansion of Hollywood theming because I feel like in the 90s Disney did this well by creating old school 20s-50s/60s Hollywood vibes in MGM Studios. They seemed to be heading toward that and then the Marvel thing happened and kinda killed it.

Oh I totally see what you mean. Apologies, that comment wasn't directed at you. It seems since forever I've heard people say the ride needs an AA in the cave. This is one case where I like a ride being simple and not needing robotics.

 

[TomboyJanet]

The pier is prime real estate for something much better. I honestly hope they bulldoze that section and start fresh.

I'm fine with them keeping Super'Cali Credi-coaster-Expiala-Screamin' since it's become Iconic at this point. That and the wheel. I mean there are only two wonder wheels as far as I know. It's cool that the west coast has one

I just wish DCA had a highly themed coaster instead of two under themed ones

 

[Brer Panther]

Here's something that I've been wondering about for a while...

Would the "IP-ification" of Paradise Pier work better if, instead of PIXAR as a whole, they made it a Toy Story-themed pier? Something along the lines of Tokyo DisneySea's "Toyville Trolley Park"?

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Keep the Victorian "seaside boardwalk" theming, but work in the Toy Story characters and elements in a natural way? There's already Toy Story Midway Mania, Senor Buzz Churros, and the Jessie carousel...

 

[Phroobar]

Here's something that I've been wondering about for a while...

Would the "IP-ification" of Paradise Pier work better if, instead of PIXAR as a whole, they made it a Toy Story-themed pier? Something along the lines of Tokyo DisneySea's "Toyville Trolley Park"?

​

Keep the Victorian "seaside boardwalk" theming, but work in the Toy Story characters and elements in a natural way? There's already Toy Story Midway Mania, Senor Buzz Churros, and the Jessie carousel...

Toyville Trolley Park was kind of where we were going with Paradise Pier until Pixar took over. It is where we should have ended up.

What do you think Tom Hanks thinks about people walking into his mouth?

 

[PiratesMansion]

The thing that kind of loses me with DHS a is that all of its best rides either have exact clones or direct counterparts at Disneyland Resort. I’m not going to pretend like old DHS (or MGM) was perfect by any means, but it was at least unique. Now it’s just a hodgepodge of cloned attractions. The attraction lineup is too small to meet the demand, and the park just becomes a crowded mess.

No denying that. However, questionable ride capacity decisions aside, I'd say the overall quality of attraction is significantly higher than at DCA. I have no illusions that it'd be anything but a pain to experience right now, and perhaps if I actually went back it'd swing back over to DCA.

 

[Californian Elitist]

The pier is prime real estate for something much better. I honestly hope they bulldoze that section and start fresh.

I actually think some sort of pier should stay. Piers and California are pretty much synonymous with each other, at this point. The problems are the Pixar overlay and overall lack of effort since 2001. I’d love to see a general seaside boardwalk with no Disney characters and really cool attractions. They could do so much more with the Pier. They could start by putting a spook house dark ride over there.

 

[Centauri Space Station]

The thing that kind of loses me with DHS a is that all of its best rides either have exact clones or direct counterparts at Disneyland Resort. I’m not going to pretend like old DHS (or MGM) was perfect by any means, but it was at least unique. Now it’s just a hodgepodge of cloned attractions. The attraction lineup is too small to meet the demand, and the park just becomes a crowded mess.

Actually other than GMR, every ride at MGM had a clone once WDSP opened

 

[SplashJacket]

I actually think some sort of pier should stay. Piers and California are pretty much synonymous with each other, at this point. The problems are the Pixar overlay and overall lack of effort since 2001. I’d love to see a general seaside boardwalk with no Disney characters and really cool attractions. They could do so much more with the Pier. They could start by putting a spook house dark ride over there.

The issue with this concept is Piers are notoriously kitschy and cheap. Similar to a roadside carnival as seen in Animal Kingdom.

Pixar Pier is a romanticized amusement. If they remove the IP, what prizes are won at the games? You can remove the IP, but I don’t think you’d have a superior product.

Dinoland doesn’t work because the theme is replicating something cheap. Pixar Pier works because it deviates from the source material and the natural beauty provided by the water on piers. They’ve done a very good job with it.

 

[SplashJacket]

Actually other than GMR, every ride at MGM had a clone once WDSP opened

While that may be technically true, the back lot tour clone was hardly an exact clone, MGM’s actually did stuff. And Tower of Terror was also vastly different.

The differences with RRC are like Disneyland’s pirates (MGM’s RRC) and WDW’s pirates (DCA’s)

One is lower quality but effectively the same, so that clone is valid in my books.

As for ToT and Back Lot, I don’t think many people would consider Shanghai’s PotC to be a clone of MK, Tokyo, Paris, or Disneyland’s PotC and think it’s a similar relationship here.

Even on a more milder sense, Paris’s PotC deviates significantly from Tokyo, MK, and Paris, so that may be more palatable, but I still wouldn’t call them clones.

But all this is semantics anyway

 

[Brer Panther]

What do you think Tom Hanks thinks about people walking into his mouth?

I'm sure the giant Woody head entrance sounded like a good idea on paper, but... yeah, definite nightmare fuel.