The West Side of the Kingdom
Page 2 of 3
Consider all that Disney’s California Adventure has to offer; some will say that doesn’t take very long. Now, think about all of the detail and incredible design that has gone into the development and execution of Tokyo DisneySea in Japan. If you’re not yet familiar with the new park, LaughingPlace.com has a ton of images and information and this past week, we put up just under 70 images of TDS on the Theme Park Adventure Magazine site (www.ThemeParkAdventure.com).
The difference in quality is staggering. Disney and some ever-loyal fans will argue to the bitter end that DCA is a "new breed" of theme park experience that was designed to deliver guest satisfaction on the tightest budget. I argue that Disney has never wanted to position itself as a company successful because of its bland, "satisfactory" theme park experiences. This is the company that gave us The Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Tours, Indiana Jones and so on. Yet, company executives maintain that they are proud of the Sun Wheel and California Screamin’ at DCA. This enthusiast says you can keep your "new generation" of theme park. I’ll settle for massive "old-school" type of accomplishments such as Tokyo DisneySea. It will be a while before I can personally afford to visit Japan; but I look forward to that day more than I ever looked forward to any aspect of DCA.
The current argument I have been reading online is that TDS has flat rides in their Mermaid Lagoon area just like DCA has at Paradise Pier. Both parks have Jumpin’ Jelly Fish, to be even more specific. The problem I have with that, is that DisneySea also has massive "E-Ticket" attractions such as Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull, Journey to the Center of the Earth, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Sindbad’s Seven Voyages. The largest attractions at California Adventure are nowhere near that scale. In my opinion, the argument comparing the two parks because there are flat rides in Mermaid Lagoon is null and void.
People wrote in various newsgroups about my opinion of California Adventure that ran in a newspaper article; they said that I had no business commenting on DCA because I hadn’t even been. I expect the same folks out there to say the same about my praise of DisneySea. The way I see it is this: you can see the difference between a Mercedes and a Pinto without driving either one. Drawing opinions about two theme parks is the same way. A friend of mine is coming from Australia for the first time ever to Anaheim in a few weeks and based on all he’s read and heard, he has no desire at all to visit California Adventure. He can’t wait, however, to visit Tokyo DisneySea, which he will do shortly after his California visit. Thanks to the information the Internet affords us, I believe that well-founded conclusions can be formed by reading trip reports, articles and looking at images of these places.
It’s all a matter of money. The Walt Disney Company really invested very little capital into Tokyo DisneySea. It was Oriental Land Company that poured billions into the project; something that Eisner and his pals in Burbank were unwilling to do for California. It’s a pretty sad commentary on Disney’s state of mind when a country we were at war with at one time has more faith in Imagineering than the division’s own company when it comes to building successful theme parks.
But - and it’s a huge "but" - at the same time, Eisner sees fit to spend $3+ billion on Fox Family, with a Disney spokesperson saying (amongst other stupid things) that the move gives Disney the rights to such entities as the Power Rangers. Now, I don’t know about you, but when I see the Power Rangers walking around Disneyland, I am going to throw up in the nearest planter I can find. That will be the end. And when you think about it, does Disney need to even mention something as dumb as the Power Rangers in comments to the media about their latest acquisition? I read that and thought as usual, the company is a day late on that one; when was the last time the Power Rangers were really popular?
The bottom line is, Disney paid over $3 billion for Fox Family; a company that has apparently $2 billion in debt. I’ve never claimed to be a business scholar, nor would I want to ever be one. This common man, however, has a hard time understanding spending that kind of cash on a company that owes nearly as much.
It gets better. Now, there are talks between Disney executives and AT&T executives of a possible buyout of AT&T Broadband at a proposed price tag of $40 billion.
$40 billion buys a lot of things, folks. Just because Disney might be able to afford something like this, the question is should they? Sure, AT&T Broadband is the number one cable company in the United States. But does that justify the Disney company spending that kind of cash on something when its other assets are wasting away?
NASA is fantastic at what it does; maybe Disney should buy that so they are strategically positioned to make a profit once commercial travel is permitted into space. Or perhaps Disney should buy McDonalds, because their fries are the best and it would position them in almost every neighborhood on the planet. Or wait - maybe Disney should buy out Ford; they have problems these days, so why not take them over, pay off the lawsuits and then hundreds of thousands of people would be driving Disney sales - literally!
In all seriousness, just because you have the capital doesn’t mean that you need to spend it. Could you imagine what would happen if Disney decided to invest just one billion into each theme park they currently own for rehabs, new attractions and expansion? Imagine what Disneyland’s Tomorrowland could be with even half of that. Heck, I’ll even go out on a limb here; imagine how much better California Adventure could be with an infusion of $1 billion.
Sure, that is a lot of cash, but the company just invested five of those puppies into Fox Family and is looking to maybe putting 40 just like it into another company other than its own divisions. What ever happened to taking care of business at home before expanding elsewhere?
Imagine if Disney Feature Animation was pumped up and instead of the company’s finest artists being told that they were having their salaries slashed as much as 50%, they were told that they were all getting a 50% raise and that the company wanted to spend 100% more on development of new, good quality stories? DreamWorks and other companies out there would be sweating it out big time. Instead, Disney is slashing salaries and the product is starting to show it. I wonder if Michael Eisner plans on being an example by reducing his salary 50%. After all, Disney is his company, and the company’s progress lies solely on his shoulders at the end of the day.
Tomorrowland at Disneyland is a mess. Rocket Rods is gone and the Park has passed on WDI’s roller coaster-like replacement proposal. The Submarine Voyage will never return and according to company sources, Atlantis wasn’t successful enough to justify re-doing the attraction and breathing new life into it. I happen to like the film, but that’s just me. Innoventions is boring at best after you’ve seen it once. So, here we are again; Tomorrowland is the impossible dream that Imagineering will continue to struggle with for years to come. $1 billion could bring a lot of new ideas to life that could and would last a long time; certainly a lot longer than the poor Rocket Rods. No, the company shouldn’t have to go in and rescue a project so early in its life. However, this is where we are. The question stands; is Disney going to recognize they have a problem and fix it, or are they too busy looking for new acquisitions? My money is on the latter, unfortunately; Disney’s finally trained me to believe in them in such a way. I’m not bitter and negative, folks; I’ve been conditioned over the past 10 years by Disney and its actions. The blame lies completely in Burbank, California.
Feature Animation is hurting; just ask the men and women that work there whose kids have seen Shrek several times already and only saw Atlantis because mom or dad worked on it. Walt Disney Imagineering is hurting; just ask anyone that still works there, if you can find any Imagineers you recognize anymore. Some of the greatest talents behind Tokyo DisneySea are long-gone; their contracts ran out and Disney didn’t need them anymore. Many of the greatest Imagineers behind Disneyland’s best attractions have long since left the company in search of better times and stronger support from other companies.