The 60th Anniversary of Disneyland: The Reality of it All

[Californian Elitist]

As a child arcades in Disney theme parks puzzled me to no end. Why would anyone want to play arcade games they can find at home while they're in Disneyland/Magic Kingdom? Always seemed weird to me.

I thought it was strange, too, as a child. I went to Michael Jackson's Never Land Ranch years ago with some friends and he had an arcade. Some of my other friends played the games, but I was way more interested in the zoo and the rides.

I'd be happy to see Starcade go bye-bye.

 

[Mike S]

As a child arcades in Disney theme parks puzzled me to no end. Why would anyone want to play arcade games they can find at home while they're in Disneyland/Magic Kingdom? Always seemed weird to me.

Same with the arcades at Universal for me. They just don't fit the direction Uni is going in imo.

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

Starcade's biggest plus is its name. Which is not much of a reason to keep it around.

It fit well when it was a Wreck It Ralph meet-n-greet. Now it's just overflow merch space, so I'd love to see it used for anything else...permanently.

 

[Sage of Time]

As a child arcades in Disney theme parks puzzled me to no end. Why would anyone want to play arcade games they can find at home while they're in Disneyland/Magic Kingdom? Always seemed weird to me.

80s fad, I think.

 

[Californian Elitist]

I'm at the park now. SBC is definitely noticeably less pink.

 

[Figments Friend]

As a child arcades in Disney theme parks puzzled me to no end. Why would anyone want to play arcade games they can find at home while they're in Disneyland/Magic Kingdom? Always seemed weird to me.

Yeah, it is strange.
When i pass through the Park arcades it is surprising to me that so many people are in there.
The same thoughts cross my mind as yours - why do they waste time in the Park doing this when they could do that back home.
But then a realize...perhaps that is why they are in there.
They do not have such a place at home.

It might be that these particular folks no longer have such old-school arcades back at home.
There is a nostalgic appeal to playing a old classic video game in a arcade for many.

You have to remember that today, most family *arcades* are mostly ticket redemption games of skill ( like WDW*s Resort Hotels, Chuck E. Cheese*s, etc. ).
Finding a REAL arcade with a bunch of original 70s and 80s upright video game machines or (gasp!) pinball tables is a rare treat for many folks.

Perhaps this is why the Park arcades have a audience, despite being located in a place where there are more unique things to do.
Just a theory.


Nostalgia is a powerful thing...and for a lot of people who remember the classic games from that time period it will be just as thrilling to have a chance to play *Pac-Man* or *Galaxian* on a real arcade machine again as it will be to ride *Space Mountain*.
The video game craze of the 70s and early 80s was a cultural phenomenon and anyone who was a older kid, teen, or young adult in that time period remembers the impact.
Like i said, nostalgia is a powerful ( and profitable ) thing!

So from that perspective, i can see the appeal.
If i did not thankfully have a couple of really great full blown old-school classic arcades here where i live, i am sure i would be right in there with those people in the Park arcades for a good hour or so playing.

 

[Californian Elitist]

The pictures are tiny, but I figured I should post them anyway. Here is the new design for the Disneyland popcorn buckets:

Here is the souvenir mug design:

DCA's popcorn bucket design (an homage to the premiere of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Hollywood in 1937):

DCA's souvenir mug design:

Glad they're putting a vintage touch to these designs.

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/bl...ebrate-disneyland-resort-diamond-celebration/

 

[phillip sugarman]

What do you think will take the place of Innoventions when the 60 year anniversary is over and they take out the 60 year exhibit?

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

What do you think will take the place of Innoventions when the 60 year anniversary is over and they take out the 60 year exhibit?

Hopefully a bulldozer.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

I feel like Disney is too cheap to even level it. The cost of demolishing it and constructing anything in its place vs. simply giving it a Marvel refit? My greatest fear is that they don't even use it for something worthwhile and turn it into a Marvel meet and greet/exhibit. The best worst case scenario is that it gets a legitimate Marvel attraction, but I don't want that either. I think the fact is that Marvel junk has kept the place in operation. Everything else is in a sad state and even the Marvel stuff is pretty horribly done by Disney standards. It's like why even keep ASIMO around when they can have their properties in there generating merchandise sales and promoting their films? My feeling is it's doomed.

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

I feel like Disney is too cheap to even level it. The cost of demolishing it and constructing anything in its place vs. simply giving it a Marvel refit? My greatest fear is that they don't even use it for something worthwhile and turn it into a Marvel meet and greet/exhibit. The best worst case scenario is that it gets a legitimate Marvel attraction, but I don't want that either. I think the fact is that Marvel junk has kept the place in operation. Everything else is in a sad state and even the Marvel stuff is pretty horribly done by Disney standards. It's like why even keep ASIMO around when they can have their properties in there generating merchandise sales and promoting their films? My feeling is it's doomed.

With Marvel Studios on the table for DCA, I'd think that post 60th they'd be gearing up to move the Marvel presence there, freeing Innoventions to become the literal trash heap it has figuratively been since 1998.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

freeing Innoventions to become the literal trash heap it has figuratively been since 1998.

Don't forget the building sat empty and closed for 10 years before Disney settled on reopening the space as Innoventions. That for over 25 years the carousel theatre has been such a lackluster presence in the park is really depressing to think about.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Maybe somebody will pen a blockbuster film about Plectu.

 

[TP2000]

Don't forget the building sat empty and closed for 10 years before Disney settled on reopening the space as Innoventions. That for over 25 years the carousel theatre has been such a lackluster presence in the park is really depressing to think about.

My God, that is really depressing to think about. Innoventions has been there underwhelming audiences for three years more than America Sings was there.

It would be funny (and prove that TDA has a personality and isn't so blandly and boringly corporate as TDO) if they put up this sign on March 31st, that I distinctly remember being there in the late 1980's after America Sings closed. The Carousel Theater was closed for a full decade before it reopened, after this sign went up in April, 1988...

Wow, do I miss America Sings, Presented by Del Monte. I miss it much more than I have ever missed the Carousel of Progress, Presented by General Electric.

Why on earth can't Disneyland get a big, splashy Tomorrowland show that's "Presented by Apple" here in the 21st century???

 

[Californian Elitist]

I want Innoventions gone, but I want the building saved. It's been there for years and I'd be really sad to see it go.

 

[Figments Friend]

Agree.
It*s not the building that is the issue, it is what is contained within it.

*Innoventions* is a waste of space.
Something far more worthwhile of the space it takes up needs to be placed in there.
Enough with the shallow video game marketing, M&Gs, and Seimens stuff cloned from Epcot*s SSE post-show area.

Disneyland deserves better!

 

[Twilight_Roxas]

The building could still be use for Iron-Man, Thor, and Captain America meet & greets or a Marvel attraction. Heck this building almost became the Tardis when Disney tried to buy Doctor Who during the 90s for a Americanized version.

 

[IowaHawks7]

The building could still be use for Iron-Man, Thor, and Captain America meet & greets or a Marvel attraction. Heck this building almost became the Tardis when Disney tried to buy Doctor Who during the 90s for a Americanized version.

I've never heard this rumor before.. but now I wish it wouldve came true, even if it could have turned out bad

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

I've never heard this rumor before.. but now I wish it wouldve came true, even if it could have turned out bad

Dr. Who was on the table in the early 80's for Tomorrowland when Eisner was trolling for something to license. Star Tours happened instead.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

I'm torn because I dig on the Carousel Theater. It's an historic structure and despite the gaudy paintjob and junk added in the 90s, it's the only structure housing an attraction in Tomorrowland besides Space Mountain that actually has a unique appearance and works, despite the garbage inside. All the other structures are awful. Tomorrowland is just so horribly designed. The main drag leading up to the skeleton of the old Rocket Jets is awful, as is basically everything aside from the aforementioned structures/buildings. They have no good facades. It's like you're in a mall or something. You know, Star Tours, Buzz Lightyear, Star Trader...it all looks the same and it's extremely bland. I'm kind of a hypocrite because I dig on the 1967 Tomorrowland, which this stuff is basically all held over/retrofitted from, but it doesn't work anymore. It's all generic and nothing calls attention to itself like you find when you approach all the other attractions in Disneyland. It really all needs to be completely demolished and rebuilt.