So, I think we all agree that DCA is a park that inspires complicated and mixed feelings from day 1 until now. Personally, I missed out on the very earliest days of the park, so Supersar Limo had already come and gone when I made my first visit sometime in the mid 2000's. I guess luckily for me, I at least didn't have that travesty of an attraction blemish the place for me, but like many of you, I was definitely underwhelmed, to say the least.
That being said, there were times when it seems like through sheer force of will the Imagineers managed to drag out some of that classic Disney magic from a flawed concept. It seemed like the ship was being righted with what most of us call DCA 2.0 with things like Buena Vista St changing the original entrance plaza into DCA's own version of Main Street USA (and let's be honest, Buena Vista St on "Dapper Day" is pretty awesome), then... well, whatever the hell is going on with DCA now started happening, leaving it a bizarre jumped mess... so, in honor of that, let's talk about our favorite things in the ORIGINAL bizarre, jumbled mess it was.
Grizzly Peak: For me, Grizzly Peak was the high point in theming of the original DCA. The trees, waterfalls, etc had that classic Disney charm to it, even if they housed a pretty average rapids ride. The area itself is still my favorite in the park.
Soarin' Over California: For years, until being replaced with the more generic "Soarin' Over the World", the original attraction was, IMO, the keystone attraction of the entire park. While "Supertar Limo" was the first new dark ride in the park and turned out to be, whatever the hell that was, "Soarin" managed to nail the spirit of what DCA was supposed to be: A love letter to California. As a native Californian, it really reminded me of what I love my home state so much, and why I missed it as much as I did the times I loved in other states.
Muppet Vision 3D: Yes, it was clone of a 10 year old attraction from Disney Hollywood Studios at WDW, bu I love me some Muppets, and as far as I know, this is Jim Henson's last performance as Kermit before he passed away, so it will always have that special place in my heart.
The California Zephyr: Sadly, this was a casualty of the BVS upgrade.. but I really dug the old Zephyr train being used for shops. Was kinda cool to be able to grab an ice cream or something from it.
So, those are a few of mine, looking forward to see other people's responses.
That being said, there were times when it seems like through sheer force of will the Imagineers managed to drag out some of that classic Disney magic from a flawed concept. It seemed like the ship was being righted with what most of us call DCA 2.0 with things like Buena Vista St changing the original entrance plaza into DCA's own version of Main Street USA (and let's be honest, Buena Vista St on "Dapper Day" is pretty awesome), then... well, whatever the hell is going on with DCA now started happening, leaving it a bizarre jumped mess... so, in honor of that, let's talk about our favorite things in the ORIGINAL bizarre, jumbled mess it was.
Grizzly Peak: For me, Grizzly Peak was the high point in theming of the original DCA. The trees, waterfalls, etc had that classic Disney charm to it, even if they housed a pretty average rapids ride. The area itself is still my favorite in the park.
Soarin' Over California: For years, until being replaced with the more generic "Soarin' Over the World", the original attraction was, IMO, the keystone attraction of the entire park. While "Supertar Limo" was the first new dark ride in the park and turned out to be, whatever the hell that was, "Soarin" managed to nail the spirit of what DCA was supposed to be: A love letter to California. As a native Californian, it really reminded me of what I love my home state so much, and why I missed it as much as I did the times I loved in other states.
Muppet Vision 3D: Yes, it was clone of a 10 year old attraction from Disney Hollywood Studios at WDW, bu I love me some Muppets, and as far as I know, this is Jim Henson's last performance as Kermit before he passed away, so it will always have that special place in my heart.
The California Zephyr: Sadly, this was a casualty of the BVS upgrade.. but I really dug the old Zephyr train being used for shops. Was kinda cool to be able to grab an ice cream or something from it.
So, those are a few of mine, looking forward to see other people's responses.
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