In Honor of DCA's 4th Birthday, a special link

[Darkbeer]

Somebody over at has posted the Top 100 Reasons why DCA SUCKS (or sucked)!!!!

http://www./default.asp?WCI=MsgBoard...0208154219&C=1

ENJOY!!! :monkey: :devil:

[squinky]

1/2 the things on that list could apply to disneyland

"10. Putting in "Millionaire" AFTER the show hit it's peak."

like Indiana Jones, 10 years after the last Indy movie was released?


16. Can see outside of the park in TOO many PP rides.

this reminds me of the time I was on big thunder and I saw the maliboomer and I complained to a CM about it

48. Stairs should be INSIDE the Hyperion theater.

my response to this one is "get a new hobby"

73. TOT seems good, but much too short and inferior to the original.

oh phew thanks for clarifying I thought I had enjoyed it the five or so times I rode it, my mistake

81. Seeing one district of the park while being in another is a theming no-no.

I can see tomorrowland from Splash Mountain



Seriously, why do you people even go to DCA anymore? It's like you walk in the gate with a frown and frown at everything and everybody possible until you get home to post about how horrible DCA is on a message board for the 30th time. It is far from being the best park in the world but for APers (which is almost surely you if you're reading this) it's great, because it's free and the few good attractions are really good. That and it's never crowded which is more than I can say for DL.

[Jspider]

well I could agree on most of it or that the park will one day grow to be better (it is a new park but it does have many many mistakes in it)

anywho I dissagree on the Indy remark, Indy was a genre defining film that became pretty much a classic (well Raiders of the Lost Ark is a classic, the rest of the Indy films arn't that great) Millionare on the other hand was a gameshow (I don't think Gameshows can become classic) and worse millionare was obviously based on a fad, generaly if your going to build something on a fad you don't want to build a permenant structure and you want it up fast and you want to be able to take it down jsut as easily (rumor has it though that the Millionare building was designed to be able to be taken apart very easily so who knows) I suppose the flaw was that Disney didn't react to the fad fast enough to really catch the audience before it faded (and such is the risk of a fad)

[LiTtLeMeRmAiD]

I do think its sad that people are down on DCA so much. I haven't been yet, and unfortunatley a lot of my perceptions of the park are only what I hear and read on these boards. I don't want to be someone who goes into the park with a frown. I am trying to be really open-minded about it.

Don't get me wrong, I can say for the most part that the complaints I've read about DCA are valid opinions, but they are just that--OPINIONS. For example, I already know that I thoroughly enjoy IASW. Ok maybe I'm nuts, but I know many people don't care for it in the least. Will I henceforth think of the attraction negatively? Of course not!

From what I see, DCA is not necessarily consistent with the Disneyland park atmosphere, but so what? It wasn't meant to be Disneyland Part II. Yes parts of the park (some would argue the ENTIRE park) were created with minimal funds, but as long as the attractions aren't killing people in mass and are still providing entertainment to some degree, we are all entitled to our own opinions of quality and interest.

I am fairly certain I will enjoy Screamin', Soarin', ToT, Muppets 3D, and Grizzly River Run as I can tell they are popular on the whole, they appear (from pictures) to have great theming, and seem to be overall emersive enjoyable attractions. Aside from those, there are some dark horses I will likely enjoy: Jumpin' Jellyfish (I love the Mermaid themes), Heimlich's Chew Chew Train (just plain looks cute), and the Sun Wheel (I'd imagine its very pleasant at night).

I'll certainly post my first-hand opinions once I have them, but for now it does seem that a lot of people expected this park to be Gold Medal, and are now not giving it credit for getting a bronze.

[Cuzco-topia]

...I'll certainly post my first-hand opinions once I have them, but for now it does seem that a lot of people expected this park to be Gold Medal, and are now not giving it credit for getting a bronze.

LittleMermaid - Please go into DCA with a fresh perspective and make it of it as you wish at the end of the day. Forget all that you've been told. You might find you actually enjoy the park on a different level.

~Have fun!

[Monorail Man]

I don't think Gameshows can become classic.

Oh, they can. The real problem Millionaire had was due to the fact that it was a locals park, too many locals were going to Millionaire (sometimes even every day!).

And If they need a place to put that set, I've got a barn out back.

[LiTtLeMeRmAiD]

LittleMermaid - Please go into DCA with a fresh perspective and make it of it as you wish at the end of the day. Forget all that you've been told. You might find you actually enjoy the park on a different level.

~Have fun!

Thanks, I'm sure I will. I'm so excited about the 50th in general and going to DCA for the first time that I'm sure I'll be nothing but positive about my experience there. I mean based on the pics I've seen, DCA still has more and better theming than any NON-Disney park I've been to, so its not like Disney totally dropped the ball right? Besides, I'm going to have a good time, not over-analyze everything and take notes for pie-chart comparisons of the Disney parks.

[Darkbeer]

Thanks, I'm sure I will. I'm so excited about the 50th in general and going to DCA for the first time that I'm sure I'll be nothing but positive about my experience there. I mean based on the pics I've seen, DCA still has more and better theming than any NON-Disney park I've been to, so its not like Disney totally dropped the ball right? Besides, I'm going to have a good time, not over-analyze everything and take notes for pie-chart comparisons of the Disney parks.

See, I disagree, I have more fun at Knott's, USH or SeaWorld San Diego than when I visit DCA.... It was poorly designed, and the budget was cut many times....

http://www.themeparkinsider.com/parks/allparks_rating.cfm

DCA is an Amusement park, and since I get in free with my Disneyland AP... no big deal... But I happly pay for my USH, Knott's and SeaWorld AP's, and looking forward to renewing my SFMM SP later this year... But just got my Disney renewal notice.... I can get every other park's basic AP/SP for less than the price of a DLR Premium AP..... Why can't we get a Disneyland only AP at a discount????

[Tigertail777]

I dont have the luxery of going to the park often enough to make a AP worth it, I live too far away, plus I dont have the funds to go that often I am lucky if I get to Disneyland once every 5 years. Maybe its a great AP park I have no idea I cant see it from that perspective. The only thing I know is I paid the same price as Disneyland to get in, and its way way way not worth that price. There were only a handful of enjoyable things to do there, that were unique and I couldnt do somewhere else. Most of paradise pier was "broken" the entire 2 days I was there, but I didnt feel like I missed much it looked like the same old carny rides I can get at the county fair, mostly. The roller coaster looked pretty tame compared to Magic Mountain's coasters and we were going to go there in a few days anyways so why bother? (which I have to say the superman ride almost gave me a freakin' heart attack). I was also with my parents and both cant really do "extreme" rides, my mother in fact freaked out on Soarin'. We ended up going back over to Disneyland after about 4 hours of DCA.

My only regrets about DCA; I didnt get to see golden dreams I think we all would have enjoyed that, but we couldnt find it due to the very odd layout of the park, and the cast members at the info booth were not even sure where it was. And I would have liked to have ridden the sun wheel, and the mullholland madness ride. I havnt yet rode a true "mouse" coaster, and I think I would have enjoyed mullholland, but it was closed, and there are only about 5 wonder wheel rides in the world (which the sunwheel is one) and as a old amusement ride connoussier I know I would have enjoyed that, but the line was insane and barely moving and again not a ride my parents could really do. I would have liked to have ridden the old buck rogers spaceship style ride too, but the notorious tiny amount of wind that causes it to close down was happening.

If paradise pier would have had more things for us all to do it might have been better, even themed shopping areas would have been fun, like a old fashioned taffy store we always have fun going to those here in Oregon when we hit the coast. It would have been nice if they would have had one of those mini aquariums where you pet the hermit crabs and see anenomes and stuff like that, just about every coast tourist town has one of those, but they are always fun and the experience always varies.

Tower of Terror, and Bugs land were not even thougth of yet when we went, but it would have divided our group again; I would love riding TOT but again it would leave my parents sitting on the side lines, and thats not why we visit Disney parks. My folks never come with me to Magic Mountain like they used to because MM has reduced itself to almost nothing but roller coasters. In the old days they had a variety of rides so they would sometimes tag along. The only thing they will do at MM now is the waterpark because it has a variety of things to do for all age levels.

All in all we didnt find DCA very fun at all, even my dad whose idea it was to try out "the new park" decided he would stick with Disneyland.

DCA is one mixed up park honestly, first it was billed as an adult park so all of the original infrastructure except for possibly the animation building is really designed with that kind of crowd in mind. Then they changed their mind and put in kiddy rides so now you have a park that disntinctly and purposefully seperates families even though it now supposed to be a "family park", the same kind of billing that they use for Disneyland. Sure Disneyland has some rides that do that, but its nowhere near a majority of the park, and it still has a variety of family offerings that everyone can enjoy as a unique experience. Sure there is bugs land, but we can get practically the same experience at the county fair. We did all enjoy the bugs life movie, and the animation building, and we as a family enjoyed riding GRR, but three family attractions does not make a family park. Not even four if you count Soarin' our experience was iffy on that one I liked it, dad liked it, mom freaked. And for some reason none of us really enjoyed it much the second time riding it, maybe because we already knew what to expect and had seen it and there were no other details that we could notice that we didnt the first time?

As a non AP "tourist" I have to say DCA does not give much bang for the buck whatsoever if you are going as a family. Thats a hard thing to get around, because thats why we go to Disneyland; to enjoy being together with friends and family, but we cant walk right across from the park into the other park and expect the same thing, instead we have to absolutely count on being broken up for pretty much the entire time we are in the park, with the only exception being eating time, and the handful of attractions that are family oriented. I dont think its fair to leave my folks sitting on a bench or being forced to shop for hours because thats all thats left for them to do while I go ride the other offerings. I will not subject my parents to that, or any of the kids in the family either, so we as a family will more than likely not be going back to DCA for quite a long time.

For us the magic of Disney has always been being able to have fun together. And its always neat to be able to visit old favorite rides that you notice things on that you didnt before because there is just so much detail you cant take it all in, like pirates, or Haunted Mansion. Funny thing is too; even though my folks cant ride really extreme rides, they could still ride Indy it was close too being too much for them, but didnt quite cross the line, and they loved it.

Well anyways thats my take on DCA. And frankly if they are in their 4th year, there should be a LOT more there now; compare to where Disneyland was in its 4th year and how much it had expanded. If you love it, then great, but its NOT a Disney park by any stretch of the imagination simply because it breaks up families to such a large degree with its attraction offerings. Perhaps Disney affiliated would be a better description of it; "Disney's" makes it sound too much like it IS a add on to Disneyland, and its far from that.

So happy birthday DCA, I am glad you have your fans, I am not one of them. I hope you dont get so short changed on presents during your 5th year, because whether I like you or not you need to grow and become your own park.

[SoCal]

1/2 the things on that list could apply to disneyland

"10. Putting in "Millionaire" AFTER the show hit it's peak."

like Indiana Jones, 10 years after the last Indy movie was released?

And the Buzz ride in DL

And the Nemo subs (if they are made).

ANd if they really want to "hide" one land from another for the most part they jsut need big trees and some tall buildings like DL has. That would not solve it 100%, but still make a big difference.

[Jspider]

Oh, they can. The real problem Millionaire had was due to the fact that it was a locals park, too many locals were going to Millionaire (sometimes even every day!).

And If they need a place to put that set, I've got a barn out back.

that's... debatable


anywho just thought I should add that really DCA isn't a locals park (neither is Disneyland really) they're both tourists destinations, it wouldn't make since to add a second park and still target locals Disney's goal was to start a mini WDW I think (if it was a locals park why kill things that attract locals? why bring up AP prices?)

the problem with Millionare was that the locals were so into going to it that it was dissapointing any tourists who went over to it only to find themselves owned by everyone else who went there every day (so then said tourist was dissapointed at not even having a fair chance and starts avoiding that ride from now on)

[sediment]

And the Buzz ride in DL

And the Nemo subs (if they are made).

ANd if they really want to "hide" one land from another for the most part they jsut need big trees and some tall buildings like DL has. That would not solve it 100%, but still make a big difference.

And the Snow White ride -- 20 years after the movie.