The above links brings you to Disney's California Adventure Park on Memorial Day of this year and despite the fact that the new ride Twilight Zone, Tower of Terror ride has opened the park appears to lack the throngs of people that the original park is surely to have on the same day.
As a frequent guest of the Disneyland resort, I thought I'd give my 2 cents about California Adventures. It's not a bad park it just lacks the same magic that resides in Disneyland. Basically, the park lacks any soul. Try as they might by bringing the once retired Electrical Light Parade to its agenda, it just doesn't have the same Disney sensibility. The Winery is nice sure, the roller coaster rocks!, Ariel's Grotto is kinda fun, but the highlights of the park is the Rocky Mountain Water Ride, the Muppets and A Bug's Life 3-D movies and personally I enjoy the Animation Exhibt. But still I'd rather be over at Disneyland with the Mouse that started it all.
How can the Disney execs bring the magic to California Adventure? Bring Mickey Mouse over in full force. Make the Hollywood area less cheesy and more 'period' along the lines of Main Street at Disneyland. A theatre showing old Mickey Mouse cartoons would be nice. I can't tell you how many times in the midst of the summer sun that we've taken solace in the air conditioned theater that shows the animatronic Lincoln spewing his wisdom. There are many fixes to the problem that is California Adventures. One fix might be to be rid of Eisner,yes. But if Eisner was smart he'd assign a magical task force of sorts to fix the souless park. As Eisner is learning this year, just because it has Disney on the label, doesn't necessarily mean success. Fixing wrongs would be bringing Disney blood (Roy) back to the fold and start viewing new projects with the same wide-eyed childlike wonder that Walter Elias Disney's vision did for Disneyland. Sure the bottom line is a serious issue in the business of making things work, but why deviate from what was working?
Paradigm shifts and ever-fluctuating trends are making my own home office do stupid shit, too many cooks in the kitchen and BAM, you suck and struggle to survive. When one goes back to the basics and remembers the original concept of a project the purity of invention inspires creativity, but first and foremost there must be magic, wonderment and a heavily sprinkling of fairy dust wouldn't hurt a thing.
