In response to last week’s “Why For,” Lou P. writes in to say:
Your latest column just doesn’t make any sense to me. Back in the earlier 1990s, the Imagineers were given $1.4 billion and told to do something spectacular with Disneyland‘s old parking lot. Working with that limited amount of money, they were then able to build the Disney’s California Adventure theme park, the Grand Californian Hotel as well as Downtown Disney.
So now the Imagineers have been given $1.2 billion and are being told to retool DCA. Given how far WDI was able to stretch virtually the same amount of money the last time around, I don’t understand why you’re now being so downbeat about the prospects of California Adventure revival project. Surely some good will come from the Walt Disney Company pouring over a billion dollars into this troubled theme park.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Lange
Dear Lou P.
First of all, I don’t see myself as being downbeat when it comes to WDI’s DCA revival. I’m just trying to be realistic here. More importantly, I’m trying to set some realistic expectations for JHM readers about what the Imagineers will be able to do (And — more importantly — will NOT be able to do) with $1.2 billion over the next 10 years.
Secondly, your e-mail actually touches on one of the biggest problems that Bob Weis and his California Adventure redevelopment team are facing right now. In that it is far easier to turn an empty parking lot into a theme park than it is to build up, over & around a previously existing set of rides, shows and attractions. As anyone who has ever worked in construction will tell you, retrofits can get expensive fast.
Don’t believe me? Okay. Then let’s take a look at the $30 million that WDI spent in 2005 to convert DCA’s defunct “Superstar Limo” dark ride into “Monsters, Inc. Mike and Sulley to the Rescue!” Or — better yet — the rumored $150 million that the Imagineers had to spend in order to pull Disneyland’s old submarine fleet out of mothballs and then convert this long-closed Tomorrowland attraction into the “Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage.”
Photo courtesy of Jeff Lange
Now keep in mind that Weis is supposedly under specific orders to use as much of the pre-existing theme park as he possibly can. So in a lot of these cases, you’re going to see Bob & his boys strip standing DCA buildings down to their bare steel. So that they can then build brand-new rides, shows or attractions right on top of the skeletons of those old structures.
This type of construction (While it may have minimal impact on DCA’s previously existing infrastructure) will be incredibly costly. And did I mention that the suits back in the Team Disney Anaheim building want to keep as much of California Adventure open as possible while Weis and his design / construction team are completely reinventing this theme park from within?
Speaking of keeping things open … Disneyland Resort managers want this soon-to-get-underway DCA redo project to have next-to-no impact on the guests staying at the Grand Californian. After all, people pay top dollar to get a spectacular view of the Disneyland Resort‘s newest theme park (Not to mention their exclusive back door access to DCA). So Grand Cal managers don’t want any construction cranes standing on site for months at a time, mucking up their hotel’s view.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Lange
And let’s not forget about the Monorail. One of the key selling points of the Disneyland Hotel is that this resort features a future-that-never-was transportation system that zooms its patrons (At a not-so-astounding 10-35 MPH) right into the heart of Tomorrowland. Thereby giving Disneyland Hotel guests the jump on all of the other folks who are visiting “The Happiest Place on Earth” that day. So whatever Bob & the guys from Glendale are planning on doing at DCA, it has to have a minimal impact on the Monorail. Otherwise WDI is going to be creating a lot of heartache for the people who operate the Disneyland Hotel.
You getting a sense yet, Lou, of all of the logistical problems that Weis and his team are having to deal with? This redo / retheming project is one very complicated set of dominoes that has to fall in just the right way in order to limit the negative impact that all this deconstruction / reconstruction work will have on the Disneyland Resort, both from an operations as well as a guest experience point-of-view. Which more than likely means that a lot of this work will have to be done after-hours by someone who’s then being paid triple overtime pay.
Okay. Taking all of this new information into account, do you now understand why this $1.2 billion may not go as far as Disneyana fans originally thought it hoped? Given how much of this money will actually have to be spent on issues that are totally unrelated to show (i.e. Construction fencing, on-site demolition, the clearing of debris, rewiring, etc. ), those of you who are now expecting Tokyo DisneySea II may be in for a bit of a disappointment.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Lange
Look. There’s no two ways about it. What Bob Weis and his DCA urban renewal team are about to attempt is going to be extremely difficult, very time consuming and prohibitively expensive. And those of you who are now picturing — once all of this work is completed in 2017 — a park that’s bulging with state-of-the-art, supremely themed, hyper-detailed E-Tickets just aren’t being realistic. Because the $1.2 billion that’s been budgeted for this project will only go so far.
Mind you, what we’ll end up with will be a vastly improved DCA. One that will now tell a semi-coherent story as well as feature a full day’s worth of entertainment. But — that said — California Adventure still won’t be as good as Disneyland is.
Which is perfectly understandable. Given that (When all of this work is completed in 2017), Disneyland will be 62 years-old while DCA will only be 16 years-old. It’s going to take another few decades worth of construction — with lots of new rides, shows and attractions being added & then removed from California Adventure’s line-up — before that theme park finally becomes a worthy companion for “The Happiest Place on Earth.”
Photo courtesy of Jeff Lange
Of course, in today’s instant-messaging culture, where people want everything right now … I know that this message of …
A) $1.2 billion isn’t going to go as far as Disneyana fans originally thought it would, and
B) We’re still decades away from DCA being as good as Disneyland is today
… isn’t going to play all that well with Disneyana fans. But I guess that’s what comes of being the online equivalent of a killjoy. Being the guy who brings up reality whenever everyone else wants to talk about Fantasyland.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Lange
Speaking of the more down-to-earth aspects of this project … You want proof that $1.2 billion isn’t going to enough to cover the complete overhaul of California Adventure. Okay, then. Then let’s talk about the budget for this redo project that the Imagineers originally asked for. Which was $1.7 billion.
“Why $1.7 billion?,” you ask. Because Weis and his team knew going into this California Adventure overhaul that there were lots of infrastructure / back-of-the-house issues that had to be dealt with. Which were in addition to all of the new rides, shows and attractions that DCA so desperately needed. And $1.7 billion would give Bob & his boys just about everything that they needed in order to address both the show as well as the non-show related aspects of this project.
But Disney’s Board of Directors balked at that $1.7 billion price tag. And only after much negotiation did they agree to give WDI $1.2 billion for the California Adventure overhaul. So because that $500 million has been cut out of the budget that was originally proposed for the DCA redo project … Well, Weis and his team will now have to be that much more creative. Carefully pick and choose what gets built where.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Lange
Of course, once the revamped version of DCA opens and meets with public approval, Bob is hoping that Disney’s Board of Directors will then agree to pony up that additional $500 million. But that may take ’til 2022 – 2027 to actually happen.
“Why will Weis have to wait ’til then?,” you query. Because once Phase One of California Adventure’s overhaul is complete, it will then be time for Disneyland to get some TLC. And let’s not forget about that third theme park that the Imagineers eventually want to build on top of the the Fujishige family’s strawberry fields. Senior Disney Company officials certainly haven’t forgotten about Park No. 3. That’s why they’ve been so desperately trying to mend fences with the Anaheim City Council lately. So that — in the future — the path will then be clear for that particular Disneyland Resort expansion project.
But — of course — none of that can happen until Park No. 2 finally gets straightened out. Hopefully, that project will officially be able to get underway sometime after October.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Lange
Anyway … Here’s hoping that today’s “Why For” column gives you a better understanding of why I wrote what I wrote last week.
Your thoughts?
Special thanks to Jeff Lange for provding the photos of Disney’s California Adventure that were used to illustrate today’s article. For further information on Mr. Lange’s popular series of Disney theme park DVDs, please follow this link.