I'm thinking they will make him an animatronic as part of the new "Walt Disney Story" attraction.

I would actually love that. :snap:

But, hell no about making him a face character!

I disagree. Prettier and themed attractions are in fact the essence of the Disney difference. (And what DCA lacked the most)

Well, you and I have a completely different opinion on the Disney difference, then.


The Downtown Disney Shopping Disney District of Disneyland is a pretty shopping mall. But I don't feel the wonder and magic while I'm there.



THEME is the key (to me). Picking a good theme and doing it well is the essense of Disney theme park success, imo. One out of two won't cut it.

The New California Adventure, er, I mean, Walt Disney's California, will - at best - have one out of two.




And I will consider that a major improvement. But mark well me words ... in 2012, there still won't be anyone buying a full-price ticket for DCA. (er, WDC)

But DTD does not have themed attractions, and therefore escapes my description completely. DCA itself is little more than a mall with a smattering of modestly-themed attractions at the moment (hence the nickname, Paul's Mall), but the addition of more attractive elements (and btw, prettier includes theme, because you can only be so pretty before you require a theme to carry you... look at the Monte Carlo in Vegas vs. the Venetian) will help.

I notice how they're timing this to coincide with the launch of the two new cruise ships. :D

FOOMP!

For some perspective ...

The Nokia Theater opened last night in Downtown L.A., with The Eagles and The Dixie Chicks filling the bill. It's the first part of the L.A. Live complex of theaters, clubs, restaurants and hotels. Price tag of the complex - $1.7 billion. That's for an entertainment complex on the scale of Downtown Disney.


$1.1 billion to completely revitalize a Disney theme park is grossly inadequate.

$1.1 billion in 2007 dollars is about the same as $885 million in 1998 dollars (which I believe was when construction started on DCA). I am not what relevance that has, but I thought I would mention it.

It is not a realistic comparison. With the DCA refurb, the basic infrastructure is already in place (utilities, a majority of the structures, property, etc.). $1.1B is a huge budget for redoing DCA. It does not guarantee that they will do it right, but it IS a substantial investment.

I don't know that you can really compare them as they are entirely different types of construction. LA Live includes several high rises, inluding a 50-something story hotel. Building tall is vastly more expensive than building wide (not exactly the scale of Downtown Disney). Plus, the project included purchasing 28 acres of downtown Los Angeles property, an expense that Disney doesn't have.


But yeah, $1.1 isn't necessarily a lot of money.

I'm all for them spending a ton of money to try and fix DCA, but I think there are bigger problems that the money won't be able to fix.

The layout of the entire park is weird. Epcot's layout makes sense, as does DL's etc. The flow is good at these parks. Maybe it has to do with the circular pattern...

DCA is this weird oblong peanut shape with dead ends. Can they fix that? I don't think so.

Also, in my mind, ToT will always be flawed. We have a Cliff's Notes version of WDW's. And I guarantee they won't fix (elevator moving forward and then dropping) that one ever...