In my opinion, the most similar thing to DCA Disney has previously done is the World Showcase at Epcot. Those are theme versions of a dozen or so countries. The subtle fact that it's as those countries generally were about 50 years ago (while cultures were still quite separate and distinct) is lost on nearly all visitors, I think. But, to me, it works because you can't really go to all those places - perhaps even in an average lifetime. You may visit Paris or London, but never Norway and Mexico and Italy and China in one afternoon.
Furthermore, the closest country to Florida, Mexico, is still several hours away - and the rest need a plane ride and a passport to experience in real life. So the World Showcase is, to me, a perfectly acceptable (not to mention enjoyable) fantasy environment - even though it's based on real places.
California just doesn't do it for me. Part of it is it bugs me that the real deals are but a few hours drive away, and thus the facsimiles seem cynical. But mostly it's because, since I live in California, the theme seems completely meh to me. And at least half of the Resort's guests also live in California.
But I'm with Alex in that the rides and attractions are not what makes Disneyland enjoyable for me. It's the Park itself. I dig the themes and the beautiful execution of those themes. If DCA is now going to be reasonably beautiful and themically impressive, perhaps it won't matter if I'm less entralled with the theme, but wowed by the execution in fantastic Disney style.
But it would indeed be the first Disney park I enjoyed where the theme meant nothing to me. And to the extent DCA has attempted to downplay the California theme, it's made it even more generic a park. That's always been my main complaint - it seemed like a generic theme park and not a Disney one. Here's hoping it seems much more Disney (or Disney presents Pixar) come June 15th.
