News Paradise Pier Becoming Pixar Pier

lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
Ismael Flores said:
I'm just curious but people keep saying that DCA's pier doesn't fit the theme and i am curious to understand what a theme of a amusement pier park is suppose to be? or what do people thing it is?

Aside from these amusement being near the ocean they never really had a theme. Buildings never match, the architecture was always inconsistent and from different time periods and locations.
Shows were mostly based on circus freaks and oddities
the collection of rides ranged in theme You had rides based on Mermaid others based on the West others had Egyption, the underworld, Hawaiian, haunted dolls and circus freaks etc

somehow some people think that everything needs to be victorian themed for some odd reason. Yes Disney has taken it a few steps forward and added newer characters within the theme and maybe that was the mistake. They should have tried and incorporated them into a different timeline. I think they did a good job with Mr potato head by dressing his AA with the proper clothing and maybe they could have done the same with some of these other characters.

Instead it looks like they see the Pier as a place that has evolved thru the years and is not stuck within a certain time period



seems like anything would fit within a seaside Pier and still be within theme. All we really need is the fish smell and the overflowing trash bins.
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Towns don’t have themes either. Theme is not nor does it demand a single architectural style.
 
Rich T

Rich T

Well-Known Member
Ismael Flores said:
I'm just curious but people keep saying that DCA's pier doesn't fit the theme and i am curious to understand what a theme of a amusement pier park is suppose to be? or what do people thing it is?
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One of the things that sticks in the craw of lot of Californians is the fact that, just a few hundred miles north of DCA sits the world's best seaside amusement park, The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, which was one of Paradise/Pixar Pier's inspirations.

And the SCBB kicks the butt of DCA's pale imitation in every conceivable way. As you point out, there's no theme beyond simply being an old-fashioned amusement park. But the SCBB is lively, bright, full of genuine history (which DCA never even attempted to simulate) and deep, with layer after layer of detail and attraction after attraction squeezed into every available nook and cranny. All in a stretch not terribly longer than DCA's entire Pier zone, the SCBB fits two major roller coasters, a log flume, three excellent dark rides, a walk-through haunt, a launch tower, a skyway, an amazing miniature golf course, a carousel with the brass ring game, two bumper car rides, fifteen thrill rides, a boatload of kiddie rides and more food options than you can shake a hot dog on a stick at. And it's all clean, well-maintained and tied together with cohesive signage and architectural touches. The SCBB makes you smile and surprises guests with its cleverness, class and attention to detail. Parapix Pier is okay, but it's shallow, short on attractions and lacking any sense that anyone working on the project really cared at all.
(EDIT) And in the time it's taking Disney to relocate one lousy kiddie spinner, the SCBB built two major thrill rides, overhauled its walk-through haunt and completely remodeled its main gate, ticket booths and guest services area.
 
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Deleted member 107043

ixjr said:
Pardon, for I should have expanded further.

Pixar Pier's new aesthetics, while visually grabbing at first sight, does nothing to sustain one's attention once passed the surface. It fails because instead of solidifying on a concrete concept accompanied with committed execution, it relies on pastel paint schemes, disconnecting architectural styles, oversized statues and props and a plethora of intellectual property from a computer animation studio in the hopes of connecting it altogether. The new changes only further exacerbate an identity crisis that has plagued the area since its inception 17 years ago and no amount of DisneySea inspired copulas can mask it.

You're right. The Pier section of this park has always been problematic but what good do these newly applied stylistic enhancements do other than be slight cosmetic improvements when its underlying issues still and have always been foundational?
It's all merely superficial and nothing fundamental.
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Excellent commentary. One could apply a similar argument to the aspirational (and pretentious) foundational theme of Tomorrowland. In reality, instead of delivering on Walt's promise to be a "living blueprint of our future", the land has largely been nothing more than superficial futuristic set dressing since the park opened.
 
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DanielBB8

Well-Known Member
“All in a stretch not terribly longer than DCA's entire Pier zone”

SCBB is .4 mile long. Pixar Pier from Adorable Snowman to Silly Symphony Swings is .2 mile long. SCBB is twice as long. If we double back around towards Mermaid, the comparison would be more apt.
 
SuddenStorm

SuddenStorm

Well-Known Member
Dr. Hans Reinhardt said:
Excellent commentary. One could apply a similar argument to the aspirational (and pretentious) foundational theme of Tomorrowland. In reality, instead of delivering on Walt's promise to be a "living blueprint of our future", the land has largely been nothing more than superficial futuristic set dressing since the park opened.
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I'd say Tomorrowland in 1967 was pretty darn close to what Walt envisioned- with the addition of Space Mountain further enhancing it.

Of course, this all started to go downhill when they replaced Adventure Thru Inner Space- an attraction that embodies Tomorrowland- with Star Tours- But for a couple decades there, Tomorrowland was pretty darn good.
 
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Deleted member 107043

SuddenStorm said:
I'd say Tomorrowland in 1967 was pretty darn close to what Walt envisioned- with the addition of Space Mountain further enhancing it.
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Adventure Thru Inner Space’s pretentious and poorly executed “shrinking” and Space Mountain’s outer-space themed roller coaster are precisely the kinds of superficial futuristic set dressing I’m talking about.
 
Ismael Flores

Ismael Flores

Well-Known Member
lazyboy97o said:
Towns don’t have themes either. Theme is not nor does it demand a single architectural style.
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that is why i don't consider mainstreet as being themed. To me its just a representation of a small town street with Disney taking quite a bit of liberty in how they represent it
DanielBB8 said:
“All in a stretch not terribly longer than DCA's entire Pier zone”

SCBB is .4 mile long. Pixar Pier from Adorable Snowman to Silly Symphony Swings is .2 mile long. SCBB is twice as long. If we double back around towards Mermaid, the comparison would be more apt.
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I still think they should consider reclaiming some of the area of Paradise Bay that is not being used near the Pal-o-round for WOC and expand the pier a bit.

the areas i marked in yellow around the Ferris wheel could have been used as footprint for the candy shop. would have given them a reason to maybe add a proper structure for the wheel queue as well. The area in yellow that is used for seaside brewery and jumping jellyfish as well as the small sand beach area also looks large enough to relocate one of the eateries from Paradise garden. I nicely themed eatery with roofline seating. Then maybe the goofy sky skool coaster and the mostly empty eatery next to it could be removed and another darkride added there.
 
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SuddenStorm

SuddenStorm

Well-Known Member
Kram Sacul said:
I didn't even go on Adventure Thru Innerspace and even I know it was a charming attraction with an awesome narration.
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I wasn't born until a decade after it closed- but to discount the ride as "pretentious" and "poorly executed" seems incredibly disingenuous.

For starters, the ride used the Omnimover + Paul Frees, so it's essentially the precursor to the Haunted Mansion. It's song Miracles from Molecules was written by the Sherman Brothers, and Walt and the golden age Imagineer's oversaw the creation of the ride. Even if it wouldn't be popular to modern audiences, it should be respected and admired for those reasons alone.

There's a free fan made VR (doesn't require VR to work) recreation of the ride that is supposedly pretty darn accurate.

http://www.disneyhistoryinstitute.com/2018/05/adventure-thru-inner-space-vr-project-snowflake.html

It's far better than some of Disney's other attempts at "edutainment" and the ride has claimed it's spot in Disney trivia books as an excellent place to explore other inner spaces.

I'd kill to see the ride recreated with modern tech.
 
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DanielBB8

Well-Known Member
It was well made, but it couldn’t hold its audience after a few trips. I recall visiting as a kid. What ruined the attraction was screaming kids that overwhelmed the narrator. The tired education attraction doomed it. To suggest modern tech would add to it doesn’t make sense. It had very well done projections and props. The attraction was more a victim of its time. They aren’t timeless. Thus IP are better material for today’s attractions. People just aren’t going to believe people will shrink by entering a contraption like a huge microscope. The plot holes require a complete revamp, but who will pay for it? Not Disney or the sponsor.
 

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