Forget about attention to detail. It’s attention to retail that’s really driving DCA’s Buena Vista Street project

Jim Hill

16 years ago

It’s the part of the DCA redo that Disneyana fans say they
are most looking forward to. When Sunshine Plaza fades off into the sunset sometime
later this year and is then replaced by Buena Vista Street in 2011. Which is
supposed to be this affectionate recreation of the Los Angeles that Walt Disney
encountered when he first arrived in Southern California back in August of
1923.

So if you asked the dweebs what they like best about the
Imagineers’ plans for Buena Vista Street, they’ll tell you that it’s the
attention to detail. How all the shops in this part of the Park will soon pay tribute
to special people, places & characters in Walt’s life.

Take – for example – Doc Sherwood Apothecary. Which will be
named after the very first man to ever pay Walt for a drawing (Back when the
Disney family still lived in Marceline, MO., old “Doc” Sherwood gave this
budding artist a nickel for the charcoal sketch that Walt drew of Doc’s Morgan
stallion, Rupert). Or Julius & Sons
Tailors. Which will celebrate the cartoon cat that co-starred in Disney’s “Alice
in Cartoonland” series. Or Kingswell Camera. Which will slyly tip its hat to the
location of the original Disney Brothers Studio (i.e. a storefront at 4651
Kingswell Avenue in Hollywood).

Of course, if you were to ask the accountants in the Team
Disney Anaheim building why they ‘re looking forward to the Sunshine Plaza
redo, they’d flat-out tell you that WDI’s attention to detail has nothing to do
with their enthusiasm for this $100 million-plus project. What they’re looking
forward to most is what happens after DCA’s new entrance plaza area re-opens. When —
(they hope) thanks to all of these repositioned / rethemed shops & food
service locations — Disneyland Resort Guests will then begin paying a whole lot
more attention to California Adventure’s retail opportunities.

You see, it isn’t just California Adventure’s attendance
levels that have proven to be a disappointment over these past eight years. Guests
visiting this theme park have also missed Disney’s per capita spending projections
by a wide margin as well. Thanks – in large part (Or so Disney’s accountanteers
would have you believe) – to the way all of the shops & food service
locations within the Sunshine Plaza area were initially set up.

As one TDA insider recently explained it to me:

“Look at Main Street U.S.A. That’s one very effective retail
corridor. Whenever you enter or exit Disneyland, you’re forced to walk along
this one very narrow street that then takes you by all these windows
which are loaded with merchandise. In a situation like that, people just
can’t help but shop.

Now take a look at Sunshine Plaza and its wide open spaces.
There’s nothing about this part of that Park that naturally funnels people into
Greetings from California or Engine-Ears Toys. Which is why this two shops
combined don’t do a 10^th of the business that Disneyland’s Emporium
does.”

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So when you take this information into account, suddenly
Buena Vista Street – with that recreation of the Red Car regularly trundling
through (Which will then drive people up onto the sidewalks and then hopefully into
the shops) – doesn’t seem all that magical & nostalgic anymore. Even pushing
out the footprint of this part of the Park to where that giant CALIFORNIA is currently located takes on a whole new meaning. As my TDA contact again explains:

“People look at that recreation of the old Pan Pacific
Auditorium entrance and think ‘How cool. How evocative.’ What they don’t
realize is that – by pushing DCA’s footprint just that little bit further out
into the esplanade — we’ll then be able
to double the amount of retail space that we have towards the front of that Park.”

So where Disneyana fans may see a nostalgic tribute to the
LA that Walt knew back in the 1920s, DLR accountanteers see a chance to fix the
mistakes of the past. To swap out California Adventure’s original poorly
designed retail corridor for something that will (in theory, anyway) do a much
better job of funneling the Guests past shop windows. With the hope that – as they
walk along Buena Vista Street while entering or exiting this theme park –
these people will then feel a stronger compulsion to go buy something.

I know, I know. It just ruins the magic for a lot of you
folks whenever I remind you that the Walt Disney Company is actually a business.
More importantly, that monetary concerns do drive a lot of the Mouse’s
decisions these days.

But that said … I can’t help but think that – at least when
it comes to the Sunshine Plaza / Buena Vista Street changeout – that this is
kind of a win / win situation. I mean, the dweebs get a brand-new entrance
plaza for California Adventure that’s just loaded with obscure references to
Walt. Which is the sort of thing that they love. Meanwhile, Mickey get the
opportunity to radically increase the amount of retail space located towards
the front of this troubled theme park. Thereby giving DCA the opportunity to
finally live up to its profit potential.

So Disneyana fans get more show, while the Walt Disney
Company (in theory, anyway) gets more dough. So what’s not to like about that?

Your thoughts?