Guest Column - Beyond the Berm
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The perimeter of the park is also experiencing change, with the biggest aspect being the park’s transformation into just one piece of a much larger “resort”. The parking lot and large electric power line towers are gone, replaced with the soon-to-be-built California Adventure park, the Disneyland hotel is finally getting a much needed rebuilding, and a new multilevel parking structure is rising along West Street. Alas, the huge Disneyland marquee that greeted so many visitors on Harbor Blvd. has been removed.

But once inside the park, the change is more superficial and thankfully so. While guests have new attractions to enjoy, lands have been built and rebuilt, tickets have been replaced with a single paid admission, and you can no longer get a glass of fresh-squeezed Sunkist orange juice on Main Street, what hasn’t changed is the underlying concept that Disneyland is a place where families can enjoy a day together. The park is still basically a park for everybody, young and old alike. And even in this era of “extreme” excitement, Disneyland has stayed true to the ideal that it’s the storytelling, theme, and guest immersion in the story and theme that are most important. Toss in a little excitement every now and then but do so in a way that allows the majority of guests to enjoy each and every attraction. It’s a formula that has served well for a long time.

Contrast this to Knott’s Berry Farm, which was once a free, wide-open, laid-back recreation of an old west ghost town that included a couple of “rides”, and is now a gated collection of thrill rides and roller coasters. I can remember, as a kid, sitting on a concrete bench, surrounded by covered wagons, as my other grandparents square danced on the stage below. I have friends who visited the park during the school day because a visit was considered educational. Panning for gold was big, as was riding a stagecoach and looking through the walls of the house made of bottles. The biggest excitement came from riding the Calico Mine Train, and later, the Log ride. Mostly, though, visiting Knott’s meant wandering the streets of day’s past and eating a great chicken dinner. Now, coasters and thrill rides dominate the park, and “kiddie” rides are generally segregated into a special section and built for small folks, which means that parents become more spectators than participants in their child’s experience.

Another example of a changed park is Sea World, right here in San Diego. Sea World was originally built with a South Seas theme. Long-time visitors will remember the ama girls diving for pearls, the hokey lagoon show featuring happy shipwrecked boat passengers cavorting with dolphins, and the luau style restaurant that served “tropical” drinks and “island” food specialties. Today, Sea World is an Adventure Park, complete with ride simulators, a huge playground for kids, a new soaking raft ride, Clydesdale horses, and a beer tasting class. Oh yeah, there’s also fish and sea mammals.

Don’t get me wrong. I think both Knott’s and Sea World are fun parks, but like Southern California itself, the personality of those parks has changed 180 degrees over the years. Not so with Disneyland. Disneyland is fundamentally the same park that Walt envisioned 45 years ago and the genius of that vision is what allows me, as a father, to actively pass on the tradition of enjoying Disneyland to my son. I know that on any given day, we can sail through a whale’s mouth, watch a great parade or show, climb to the top of a treehouse, and say hi to Mickey and his pals, and that we can do so together. That’s really what makes Disneyland look so unchanged to the long-time visitor. It may cost more today than it did 45 years ago, but then again, cost is also relative, isn’t it?

-- Scott Garner (December 23, 1999)