I too, am a Disney freak. I’ve been to Disney twice in the past year (first time ever). Once with the band, and once w/ my family. I love Disney stuff and Eeyore is the best! Ughh… it kills me when people think that Anastasia is a Disney movie. lol. I dont know too much about Disney trivia, but I love almost all of their movies.
When you say “Animotions” I think you mean the Animation Building.
It is absolutely one of the top three things in DCA along with Soarin’ Over California (IMAX ride) and California Screamin’ (roller coaster). Baglady and I like to just go into the Animation building and sit, watching the movie clips and slides projected onto the walls. Combined with the music it is really very well done.
One thing to say for DCA is that it is still a notch above most theme parks (if you aren’t a big ride fanatic) and I would say that any Disney fan should visit at least once to make up their own mind. One thing about an underperforming park is that lines are short. Give it a shot, it might work for you (as it does with dogsbody).
But just remember, the tortilla making machine is listed as an “attraction”. I just hope Chevy’s doesn’t start charging $43 to look at their machine.
Thank you! I had utter brain damage and couldn’t remember anything…
and along those lines…
OMG I’m so embarrassed :o How could I forget Soarin’ - that was the first ride my roommate and I did.
Of course, the first time I went on it they didn’t quite have the scents queued up right so Malibu smelled like oranges. 
Is it really? I’ve never been in the park with a brochure (somehow they just assume I know what I’m doing, I guess). The Sourdough bread thing is probably an atraction too, then, with scary RosieO and whatshisface from What’s My Line.:eek:
Yes, on the attractions list you will find both the tortilla and sourdough attractions.*
Those fresh, still-warm tortillas are damn good though. I just wouldn’t call it an attraction.
*Note: It is possible that Disney has changed this due to the general laughter it prompted. I haven’t looked at a park map in a while.
I dunno, Epcot and Animal Kingdom got bad raps when they first opened, but now people pretty much accept that they’re decent parks. No park is ever going to match the magic of the Magic Kingdom, so you just have to accept them for what they are - theme parks, done Disney style.
My only kvetch about DCA is the theme itself - California. As a friend pointed out, why put California in California? It would have been better suited to Orlando, or even better, overseas in Paris or Tokyo, and instead done a different theme for Anaheim. Still, for what it is, they did a pretty good job.
Here’s the breakdown, going counterclockwise from where you enter the park:
[ul][li]Sunshine Plaza - This is where you enter the park. Couple of stores, of course, and eateries, with the big golden sun and wave pool - good photo spot. (No attractions.)[/li]
[li]Hollywood Pictures Backlot - There’s a large animation attraction with a lot of hands-on technology (and a fun movie with Mushu from “Mulan”); Muppets 3-D, a duplicate of the one at Disney/MGM in Orlando; Superstar Limo, an ABC-laden ride with some cartoonish animatronic celebrities (Jackie Chan, Tim Allen, etc.); and Hyperion Theater, which had a show called “Steps in Time” which I’ve not heard good things about (and I think it’s being replaced soon).[/li]
[li]Golden State - Has a bunch of little “districts” that focus on different parts of California: Bountiful Valley Farm (focusing on farming, and includes It’s Tough To Be A Bug, the “Bug’s Life” 3-D movie that’s the same as the one in Animal Kingdom in WDW), Pacific Wharf (seaport theme, with mostly eateries and two tours, one of how to make sourdough bread and the other of how to make tortillas), Condor Flats (aviation theme, including the premiere attraction Soarin’ Over California, which is a 360[sup]o[/sup] movie that you’re suspended in front of as if sitting in a hang glider), the Bay Area (cities of California, including the movie attraction Golden Dreams, which I did not see), Golden Vine Winery (saluting the wine industry, and where you can drink some and see how wine is made, but where I also didn’t visit), and Grizzly Peak (“natural beauty” place, including a kiddie nature/challenge trail and the big water ride, Grizzly River Run).[/li]
[li]Paradise Pier - Boardwalk theme with all the rides, including the swings, the rockets, two roller coasters (including the signature California Screamin’, with the loop inside Mickey’s head), huge Ferris wheel, carousel, kiddie rides, and typical boardwalk games.[/ul][/li]
Things are changing at DCA - they’re changing some shows around, and they’re bringing back the Disneyland Park/WDW Magic Kingdom Main Street Electrical Parade (re-dubbed Disney’s Electric Parade) this summer, according to [url="http://www.mouseplanet.com]MousePlanet**.
I had a good time. No, the park isn’t as big as DLP. Yes, some of the attractions are off-the-shelf and weren’t developed specifically for Disney. Yes, the price is a little much. But all in all, it’s a good park, and, in time, it will grow and develop like Epcot and Animal Kingdom (for example, I know they’re adding the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire attraction from WDW in between Muppet 3-D and Superstar Limo).
Another rumor I’ve heard is that they’re in negotiations to buy the Anaheim Convention Center across the street and build a water park there that will connect with DCA, but we’ll see how that goes…
Esprix
It’s been replaced already, though I don’t remember the name of the new show.
And ugh, superstar limo - I actively tell people to SKIP IT when they go.
Didn’t I mention this earlier?
Ooh, that’s a new one on me…
No frellin’ way! I just recently found MousePlanet, and boy, what a great site! I’m very impressed. Between that and Hidden Mickeys, I had much fun preparing for my trip back to WDW. 
Esprix
Esprix, I agree for the most part. DCA is a Disney theme, and as such is better than most other theme parks. MGM and Animal Kingdom both started out slowly (as did Disneyland Paris) but while MGM eventually dropped in some e-tickets and improved the park overall, Animal Kingdom is still suffering from very low attendance and mediocre response to their new attractions.
I think one issue with the general grumbling about DCA is the emotional baggage tied to Disneyland. It was the first. It was overseen by Walt himself from beginning to end. While the other parks grew into “Resorts”, Disneyland has held its own. Many people feel, then, that if Disney is going to add a gate in Anaheim it should be the best thing since Disneyland. It isn’t. The best thing since Disneyland is going to be Tokyo DisneySea in Japan (opening this September). Add to that the fact that most of the rides are off the shelf or Disney World transplants and a lot of die-hards are turned off.
Steps in Time was terrible during previews before the park opened (I was able to see the very last show). They replaced it with . . . Steps in Time. They revamped it, made it worse, and as far as I know there are no current plans to remove it.
The big current addition is the a version of the interactive Who Wants to Be a Millionaire that was installed at MGM last year. They had to do this because with Superstar Limo and Steps in Time both underperforming that corner was dead at night. There is lots of talk that eventually Tower of Terror will be dropped in as well and perhaps an Armageddon ride.
As for the water park, Disney is already in the proposal stage with the Anaheim city council. Don’t get too excited about anything they say at this stage, though, as at the same stage for DCA they were selling Westcot (a much different idea than DCA). The third park will be built, however, in the empty lot next to the Disneyland Hotel (formerly the strawberry patch and a motor home park). I really doubt that Anaheim would sell the Convention Center as that is one of the main ways the city makes money off of the presence of Disneyland (but weirder things have happened). I really hope, though, that it isn’t a water park as I hate water parks (and even in LA, February isn’t a great time for it).
Thanks, glad you liked it. I’ll have to pass that along.
Oh, man, I remember the talks about Westcot center. I remember meeting Imagineers who were working on the project and weren’t happy about the whole thing.
ob, it wouldn’t surprise me if a water park were put in. After all, Eisner (grrr, gnash) expects Disneyland (which is NOT in a location that can support year-round tourism - we do have weather in so cal) to make exactly the same profit margin for him as DisneyWorld.
:covering mouth with hands: I wasn’t going to say anything about this…I really wasn’t.
Nevermind! No politics! No business kvetching!
Disney rules!
So, have you spit on Paul Pressler’s stone in the Esplanade?
Anastasia was released by 20th Century Fox.
During an Ice skating show on ABC (owned by Disney)Tara Lapinsky was doing a routine to a song form Anastasia but Fox could not buy an ad during the show because they were ‘all bought up’.
Even though Disney is a very tough company I too am a bit of a Disney nut. I really enjoy the parks and I consider Disneyland to be my own Mecca. That comercial about the grown man who pouts because his parents are going to Disney without him, reminds my family of me. I went to Disneyworld on my honeymoon and we loved it. You want fun? Wear the bride and groom mouse ears at DisneyWorld. People let you cut in line, the restaurants give you free deserts, and all the guests treat you as nice as the park employees do.
Oh and Tom Sawyer Island is a great make out place. (in the caves)
Spit? Me? That would hardly be ladylike.
No, but I did get to visit his office in the ugly yellow building.
Count me in!
I love disney, admittedly, my littlest sister beats me out on true focus toward the whole deal. (She has 67 Mickey dolls. And counting.) I’m a Tigger girl (I asked the ER people to tape my plastic Tigger action figure to my hand during sugery last year. They did.)
My sisters and I are aiming for a trip with just the three of us in a few years. (For WDW, we’re in MI, not really keen on the idea of Cali.)
I like the singing mostly. Easy to do and easy to listen to and pretty happy. Mulan is a family favorite. (We tell each other to “go save China” as a sort of “you go girl!”) Toy Story is also big here.
Poor Pressler. I saw the picture - not very nice, IMHO.
I had heard they would simply move the convention center elsewhere, but you know how these things go. It’s got to be hard for the imagineers there to come up with new ideas knowing their space is so limited. That’s one of the reasons I found DCA to be inventive - with what they had, they really did a great job.
Tower of Terror? In Anaheim? Who the frell would bitch about that?
Esprix
I knew that. Blame it on:
- Bad synapses between the brain and typing fingers.
- Couldn’t think of the name.
- Opal’s fault.
Well, I guess it’s time to come out of the closet. I think I may just be a Disney Freak.
I went to DL twice a year, every year as a kid. (My dad worked for a company that did the after-hours DL thing.) The first trip I took as an adult - i.e., with my loved one, we planned it, no family-of-origin members along - was to Disneyland. Later, we went to WDW. Now, when we’ve moved back to the LA area, we are annual pass holders and go when the spirit takes us (in other words, never during the summer, but often when it rains).
I remember (and love) the way the interior of Space Mountain smells. I have decoded all the words on the interior of Indiana Jones. I have played count-the-skeleton, and I have chanted the words to the Haunted House intro with everyone else on Friday nights. I have a t-shirt or sweatshirt from every visit; something about going just compells me to buy souvenier clothing, and I suspect I am not alone in this.
Even the bad times at Disney parks have been fine. I remember (with fear) being assaulted by a giant chipmunk when I was four; it gave me a fear of giant animals that persisted for years - several times I ran crying and fleeing from Goofies and Mickeys - but it was still a good trip.
I even enjoyed the Karmically Cursed trip we took to DL - during the four days we a total of 12 rides broke down while we were riding, some multiple times, for a total of 29 break downs altogether. I just regarded it as a chance to hear the Doom Buggies message in the Haunted House and learn all the words to the Pirates song. (Though the first time Pirates broke on us was not so fun; it was in the “Dead Men Tell No Tales” part, and there was a three-year-old sitting behind us who, after five minutes, was fairly convinced his time had come.)
In WDW, I once got to see where they take people who have nervous breakdowns in the theme parks. That was fun.
Oh, and I see every animated Disney (and Dreamworks, for that matter) film that comes out. I own all the more recent ones.
So, yes, I suspect I may be a Disney freak…
Something about being on a ride while is breaks down is still fun (unless of course it is the “Small World” attraction). I finally went on Test Track, got to the point where the ride speeds up to 64.5 mph, and suddenly SCREECH (the brakes, not me), puff of smoke and the smell of burning rubber - dead stop in 10 feet. Good brakes, good restraint system, and we got stuck in the backstage area of EPCOT - it’s fun looking over the part of the park you normally don’t see.
Same thing happened with Space Mountain - really weird seeing what the ride looks like with the lights on, especially looking at the ground and seeing all the hats and glasses people have lost that day.
And who can forget those words we all know and love from the monorail:
“Please stand clear of the doors.”
“Por favor, manténgase alejado de las puertas.”
I agree. There was some concern at MousePlanet in running that picture because we didn’t want to condone such things. On the other hand, though, it seemed newsworthy that people are expressing themselves that way.
Our compromise was that we didn’t tell people where they could find his brick.
I remember taking my nephew to see “Beauty and the Beast” as our first uncle/nephew outing alone together. Still one of my favorite Disney films.
Favorite characters: Piglet, Sleepy
Favorite rides: Tower of Terror, Rock n’ Rollercoaster, California Screamin’, Haunted Mansion
Favorite attractions: It’s Tough To Be A Bug, The Enchanted Tiki Room, Carousel of Progress (for the memories as a kid, really).
Favorite park: Magic Kingdom in WDW
Favorite parade: Main Street Electrical Parade
Others?
Esprix