[Chat] On DCA and DAK.

[WDW1971]

Remember this post is subjective on my opinion, you are free to share your own opinion and disagree but remember opinions cannot be wrong.

Has anyone else noticed the similarities that exist between Disney's Animal Kingdom and Disney California Adventure.

[sbk1234]

Re: On DCA and DAK.

I can see all your points.
I think another reason why DAK succeeded was the nature of WDW. WDW is a vacation resort. People travel there for 4, 5, 6 days or more. They buy multi-day passes, so it matters less which parks they go to, since Disney has their admission money already. Once there, they'll have to eat anyway, so they'll get that money.
In DCA, they catered much more to the locals who would pick one park. Most would pick Disneyland. There wasn't enough for people to pick DCA over Disneyland. It seems now that may be shifting. We'll see after the novelty of Cars Land has worn off.
Also, DAK has also had a far superior immersion effect than DCA. Even the nature of the settings helps. Even though they are both in modern days, Africa and Asia are still much more exotic and
"unreachable" destinations for most visitors. Not so for modern California.

[WDW1971]

Re: On DCA and DAK.

I can see all your points.
I think another reason why DAK succeeded was the nature of WDW. WDW is a vacation resort. People travel there for 4, 5, 6 days or more. They buy multi-day passes, so it matters less which parks they go to, since Disney has their admission money already. Once there, they'll have to eat anyway, so they'll get that money.
In DCA, they catered much more to the locals who would pick one park. Most would pick Disneyland. There wasn't enough for people to pick DCA over Disneyland. It seems now that may be shifting. We'll see after the novelty of Cars Land has worn off.
Also, DAK has also had a far superior immersion effect than DCA. Even the nature of the settings helps. Even though they are both in modern days, Africa and Asia are still much more exotic and
"unreachable" destinations for most visitors. Not so for modern California.

Very good insight. Thanks for the comments.

[WDW1971]

Re: On DCA and DAK.

In addition, I think that Restaurantosaurus and Pizza Oom Mow Mow were designed so similarly and had similar set decoration.

[RegionsBeyond]

Re: On DCA and DAK.

I don't really see the 'plain queue' thing for DAK, given the 'museum' waiting area for Dinosaur, the tree of life animal carvings for Bugs, the temple and mask displays for Kali River Rapids, the Yeti Museum for Everest, etc. Yes, they are sometimes outdoor path like, but all four mentioned have very deliberate designed elements the line works around.

[WDW1971]

Re: On DCA and DAK.

I don't really see the 'plain queue' thing for DAK, given the 'museum' waiting area for Dinosaur, the tree of life animal carvings for Bugs, the temple and mask displays for Kali River Rapids, the Yeti Museum for Everest, etc. Yes, they are sometimes outdoor path like, but all four mentioned have very deliberate designed elements the line works around.

I know, DAK has some of the most beautiful queues in all of the parks. I'm not talking about Everest. I am just comparing the parks as the opened.

DAK's lines and DCA's lines are for the most part outdoors. However for It's Tough to be a Bug! the line is through the carvings of the Tree of Life and you get taken away. DCA's lines are also outdoors a lot but for Golden Dreams it is a barren, plain switchback queue which made you feel like you were in a dark alleyway.

[24601]

Re: On DCA and DAK.

Something vitally important about the difference between the two parks is that Animal Kingdom has more than rides, stores and food. Animal Kingdom has animals. Real ones spread out in exhibits throughout the park. These require a very different viewing experience than the average theme park. Watching and observing are key to really getting enjoyment out of the experience. This includes possibly returning to an exhibit multiple times in order to finally see an animal that may be a little more shy.

At California Adventure the only animals to watch are people. Which can be just as interesting now that I consider it.

[WDW1971]

Re: On DCA and DAK.

I just think that Disney looked at Animal Kingdom and it reassured them that California Adventure would be a success because they both shared many similar traits but it was failed to realize that AK has more space, better landscaping, animal viewings, and the built in benefit of being in WDW where people have been going for week long vacations for almost 30 years. Disneyland had none of those things and that is why DCA failed.

[MANEATINGWREATH]

Re: On DCA and DAK.

Animal Kingdom is a fantastic park in my opinion. The Harambe Village and Asia alone make the park for me. Dinoland could be better but at least DINOSAUR is there. Everything about the park is beautiful and magic to me. It may not be the Magic Kingdom or Epcot but it is a great park and I would be more than willing to spend an entire day there. When I went back in 2002 we didn't stay the whole day unfortunately. We ended up staying for a good portion of the day then going to the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue that night for dinner. I was sad. :'(

As a native of Southern California, I have been to DCA MANY times. There was a point in time when I still had my pass that I think was going to DCA more so than DL. The thing about DCA back in the day (and still to an extent today) is because there were so few attractions and immersive environments that locals with passes or hoppers would spend most of the day at DL then go on over to DCA to do whatever they want and leave. To me that is one of the reasons why the park was never really that crowded. People were just going to DCA for an hour or two then leaving. I'd always leave DL to go to Pizza Oom Mow Mow which compared to Red Rocket was nothing in crowd levels. It was practically an instant dining experience.