A Victorian pier has a time and a setting, thus it is a theme. Pixar has no time or setting, thus it is not a theme.
But a victorian pier had no unified theme to begin with whether it Be in DCA or in real life.
seaside Piers and were always a collection of themes bundled up to create an environment for pleasure wether it be with music, over the top entertainment and extravagant buildings.
Also this whole argument about the design elements not fitting a Victorian Pier really has no merit.
seaside Piers that were situated and built from the mid 1800 in England to the early 1900’s in California had no unifying architectural limit. Even though They had structures that had Victorian elements in it’s hey days these seaside piers had elements of Oriental kiosks, gothic elements and even structures that simulated mountains and other natural elements.
The Bath house in Ocean Park was actually a building with stucco walls and a facade with Egyptian architecture. Most of Santa Monica Pier was a collection of wooden and steal coasters and unthemed stucco buildings ( by the way Santa Monica Pier had its own version of the zephyr right at the far end of the pier)
The Pike amusement park actually had very little
Victorian architecture as well and was made mostly of stucco lined buildings with color canopies and very little ornamentation.
Seal Beach amusement park was known for its coasters just built on the sand with rows of more wooden and stucco buildings that only added element that gave it character was large flashy lit signs that rose above the single and two story structures.
In essence if people here argue authenticity and theme and wether this is a cheap makeover than maybe Disney should turn back the clock and go back to DCA 1.0 because surprisingly those cheap stucco lined buildings with its huge tacky flashy signs where closer in theme to what California seaside Piers looked like.
This whole mental picture of elaborate fully Victorian structures really never filled these amusement piers in California and only appeared slightly in the east coast. The majority of those Victorians structures people talk about were actually not part of the piers but instead places like bath houses and hotels near these beaches. No seaside Pier in the states had the Grandier and extensive detailed architecture as the amusement piers that were built in the mid 1800’s in Europe.
People may argue the fact that they don’t like Pixar but to argue or suggest that the mixed elements of districts within the pier or the decision of architecture style for the Pier are out theme is incorrect.
Even to a certain degree the use of these characters are not out of character. During the late 1800 and mid 1900 some of the fun house, music theater and entertainment values in these piers used themes that were based in folklore, past mythology and future ideas. Wether they be themed to dragons, satanic myths or aliens.
Pixar characters may not have a a unified theme or a specific time or setting but neither did amusement seaside parks. Seaside amusement parks that developed from the 1800’s and continued into the mid 1920’s had architectural elements and story elements that spanned more years than the actual timeline of these parks
Do I think this ALL Pixar theme is the best direction for the pier? NO
Is there elements that work? YES
Are their elements that still lack? Of Course
Is the idea totally out of theme to what a seaside pier might have looked like? Not at all because a seaside Pier had no unified theme to begin with and had no rules of design of what could or couldn’t be added to them.
what’s even worse is despite this, arguably the best Toy Story attraction anywhere in the world is nothing but a screen based shooter ride!
