I don't think Disney will ever remove a gate. So I feel the opening of it to DTD is not ever going to happen. There was, however, talk about the option of conecting it to Disneyland. That would also mean removing a seperate ticketed gate, something the suits won't redaliy let go of, and the bean counters at DL would have to absorb the costs of DCA. So that too is an uphill battle. Although opening it up to free entrance will allow the shops and resturants to do much more buisness.

So, as I see it, the concept with the best chance is to do one of two options.

1) Raze and rebuild

2) Massive overhaul

The rebuild could be like the overhaul on fastract closing the park for a year and using most of the infrustructer and buildings, but with heavy re-theeming and additions. Or it could be dozed to the earth and start all over again. It would be nice to get a burm!! Not to mention better CM facilities, extra restrooms, ect.

But the costs to raze and rebuild are so high, and NO income from the area dictate to the slow overhaul one area at a time with the costs spread out over many years looks like the best option for Disney.

I don't know why so many of y'all think that razing and rebuilding will be an improvement. I have zero faith that they'd do it "right" a second time around. More likely, they'd just cut different corners.

Yeah, Disney Imagineering and Walt Disney Company need a cultural raze and rebuild...

The sad thing is that, I don't CARE about DCA and I've lost hope that Disney can make anything good out of the mess they've created with DCA. DLP was a long time ago and TDS had OLC money. Disney on it's own has lost the ability to be great (probably because they've fired their most talented creatives).

I don't think either the bulldoze or free entry plans are going to work. So let's focus on the real issue (as I see it anyway)

DCA has some cool stuff:

Tower-of-terror
Soaring
Grizzly Rapids
Hyperion Theater
Screaming
Mailiboomer
Sun Wheel
Monsters, Inc.

and possibly others I've never visited like the adventure trail, or flicks play area, etc....

If DCA was a Six flags in Kansas I think we'd all be holding it out as a shining example of a cool park. DCA's real problem is location, location, location. Sitting snack dab next to the "one and only" is a tuff place to be.

Let's face it MGM studios ain't no great shakes either, in fact I'd take DCA over MGM any day of the week. However it gets great attendance because WDW is a destination resort. If you are there for four or five days and you have a park hopper you go to MGM. At DLR you still have too high a percentage of AP'ers and day trippers so DCA is a tuff sale.

So what can be done? Clearly the issue is theme. As has been discussed to death, DCA falls flat on it's face in the theming department. It's just not Disney. Attractions at Disneyland are "Disney" simply because they are at Disneyland. The Matterhorn, Space Mtn, Autopia, they don't need movie tie-ins because they are the very fabric of Disney. DCA is not so lucky. I think the only way to infuse some Disney magic into DCA is to blatantly steal it. Rework soaring , Grizzly, and the others to fit a Disney theme. PixarLand if you like or perhaps some of the animation classics. How hard would it be to give grizzly a brother bear theme, or Soaring an Incredibles makeover?

Then all you need to do is fill in the spaces in between these attractions with some good food and a few magical touches. Oh, and keep the booze of course.

Moonliner has reminded me of other thing I wanted to say -- Maybe I'm misremembering, but it seems to me that when DCA opened they wanted to emphasize it's non-Disneyness. One way they did this was by not having the Disney characters there. And so forth and so on.

And that didn't work. As Moonliner points out, what makes Disneyland Disneyland is that it's Disneyland. If you make DCA non-Disney, it's never going to have that magical spark that makes Disneyland special.

I thought much of the giant re-do proposal, as described in Al's column, sounded great. It kept the bits I liked most and ix-nayed the bits I hated most.

Moonliner has a point - but the counterpoint will always be TDS. It's hardly "Disney", it's not truly a resort, and it's butted up against TDL, which is clearly the more familiar park - yet it's incredibly popular and a marvel to behold. For me, it's all about the execution...

TDL - Teh Disney Land!

They need to give the Oriental Land Company a call.

Ahh, I was also assuming a budget in the low $100's of millions not billions. However if you can talk the suits into it, then that works for me. :)