Romance is a great word to use. And the park is slowly losing that sense of taking us to another time and place. Now we re just brand hopping our way across the park.
Take Bugs Land for example. The rides were terrible but the land (and ITTBAB) made you feel like a bug with all the clever props and trees. Now we ll get to go to the mysterious Marvel campus/ business park/ Circuit city with the oil refinery/ museum/ fortress/ warehouse looking over the land. Oh ya, and it’s all ACTUALLY at Disneyland. The Fortress appeared out of nowhere and then they decided to build the campus/ brewery/ circuit city next to it.
The park is going from a theme park to just a collection of rides and brands. Pixar Pier is terrible. At least the generic Paradise Pier could still disguise itself as being of a different time and place. The agenda of Pixar Pier is so in your face and tasteless.
I get it. They need a park where they can plug and play. A place where they can stay edgy (like Universal Studios) and showcase some of the new IP they re acquiring. Unfortunately, aside from Star Wars, they are taking the lazy and easy way out.
A mish mash Marvel Land with no clear vision that’s opening in 3 phases? The downgrade and ugly GOTG sitting in Hollywoodland for years? Pixar Pier? Even Soarin over the world was a huge downgrade in its experience AND thematically.