NobodyElse
Well-Known Member
Thank you for clarifying. Also, thank you for mentioning that your stories are anecdotal. That's an important component to consider.
(And now for some quick background. I grew up in Anaheim, but haven't been a resident for over 30 years, though I've remained in Orange County. This will color some of my comments, but at this point I'm neither highly protective/defensive nor critical of the area.)
We've now determined that the chains you're referring to are the eating establishments. So, immediately Disneyland adjacent on Harbor I would count Mimi's Cafe, Panera Bread, McDonald's, IHOP, Cold Stone Creamery, (the aforementioned) Denny's, Tony Roma's, and Subway. I'd even include Sabrosada, (and if you wrap around the corner on Katella, you've got five more big corporate chains at Gardenwalk).
While nobody should or could dispute your experience at Denny's or any of the others, I don't think we can conclude (based on that) that they are "bad versions of chains". In my opinion, you and I and several of our peers would need to visit those places multiple times. We would also need to visit other locations of those chains (multiple times) to get a good comparison. In this case, I'm not willing to take one for the team.
(Being a big fan of Denny's, can you imagine if burnt pancake visit was your one and only visit? some people might write-off the entire chain based on that. You might not think that's a fair judgement, but things like that happen.)
Also, you note: "you'd think such a prime location would spawn prime versions of chains." While one would like to think that, the reality could very well be just the opposite. Sometimes places with "pseudo-captive audiences", catering to perhaps one-time visitors might actually have less incentive to step up their game and stand out as a shining beacon of aspiration to their corporate or franchise siblings. Likely not enough profit in something like that.
Being that I live in relatively close proximity, I'm really prone to not visit those places on Harbor. I don't stay at any of those hotels, so I'm not likely to be walking the area and hitting those places to or from the park. On a visit, I'll usually eat in one of the parks, DTD, or one of the Disney hotels. (Or if leaving early enough, I'll go to any number of great places between the resort district and my home.)
So, as you can see from the pictures, Anaheim has done a better than average job of sprucing up the surrounding street-scape. For me, it's an area I drive through. The best they could do is further improve traffic flow. Perhaps even some day update the "uniform resort signage".
Like I said, it has been worse, and can still get better. In that same vein (as others have alluded to) it's also nicer than some areas, and not as nice as others. Welcome to reality.
Agreed, and this is what I was talking about on page one.