Celebrating 25 Years of Disney California Adventure!

It’s hard for even the most devout Disney Apologist to forgive what was the original Disney’s California Adventure. With a troubled budget from the start, and perhaps the wrong theme for millions of people already living in California, this failed on so many levels when it came out the gate. It certainly didn’t help that it was being built across arguably the greatest park ever built. And yet in the shadows of Disneyland, there is really something magical about Disney California Adventure and with time and investment, it has come around to being the 5th most popular theme park in North America, behind Magic Kingdom, Disneyland, Epcot & Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and yet ahead of Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and every Universal Busch Gardens, Sea World and Six Flags park in the country. It’s been a long 25 years, but with big new attractions coming, Disney California Adventure stands to compete in big ways moving forward. Join us as we celebrate Disney California Adventure!

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The origins of this park are another podcast. But the essence of it was created August 2-4, 1995 when executives and Imagineeers met in Aspen Colorado with Michael Eisner to brainstorm a theme park concept that would replace two other proposals, Port Disney in Long Beach and WestCOT, intended to be built in the same location, where parking had been for decades in front of Disneyland. The name given to it was Disney’s California Adventure.

Beyond the entry plaza leading to Sunshine Plaza, there would be three made thematic lands, Hollywood Pictures Backlot, Golden State & Paradise Pier. Added to this entire effort was a 10,242 car parking garage known as Mickey & Friends, Downtown Disney, and Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel and Spa. These will also cover another time this year.

There were 22 attractions on 55 acres, and described as nearly being the same size as Disneyland in 1955. Construction started in June of 1998. and of course it opened on February 8th, of 2001. Note that at the same time, Tokyo Disney Sea was being built. It would open later in September of that same year.

Entry Plaza

The entry plaza was designed to look like a giant postcard. In some ways, that worked, and some ways it really was bad. Guests loved the big word’s CALIFORNIA in front. The idea of taking photos in front, especially if a letter tied to your name, was cool. When the letters were eventually moved, they were provided for placement at the site of the California State Fair in the capital city of Sacramento.

Behind it and palm trees and turnstiles were two sets of murals totaling some 10,500 square feet, 210 foot-long with 12,000 hand-cast tiles which depicted the mountains and fertile valleys of California. It was created under ceramicist Theodora Kukchiev. This is first thing I wish could have been preserved. The mural was stunning day or night. They were enormous book ends to the entry. I wished they could have been picked up and moved to some other location, perhaps in Downtown Disney. But alas, they were gone.

• Golden Gateway–This pretty well represents the area from the turnstiles through where the monorail passes. only it passes through the poorest depiction of the Golden Gate Bridge ever.
• Sunshine Plaza–This is the Central Plaza of DCA so to speak, and is the area from the monorail overpass to where the Carthay Circle Theater is today. It is its own mini Main Street
• Greetings from California–this is essentially the main gift shop on the right hand side as you exit.

• Engine Ears Toys–Years later the title of this did get somewhat carried over to Toontown to the exit of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway Adventure where it’s called EnginEAR Souvenirs. Curiously, this store offered several of the park attractions in toy form that could be added to a Disney monorail set.
• Baker’s Field Bakery–pretty much where Trolley Treats is today
• Bur-r-r Bank Ice Cream–pretty much where Clarabelle’s Hand-Scooped Ice Cream is today

One very cool feature that is the second thing I wish was still part of Disney California Adventure was the California Zephyr. This was a replica of a luxurious train and its actual locomotive that greeted guests inside Sunshine Plaza. The train was known to have carried millions of travelers across the country to California following World War II. It’s really cool, but alas it too is gone. The train cars were actually stepping off points to some of these places on the right hand side as you entered.

Sun Icon. This stood pretty much where Carthay Circle Theater is. Hard to describe this very shiny 60-foot-high titanium clad sun sculpture shining from a perch above a sort of wave fountain. Six heliostatic mirrors rotated to follow the sun throughout the day. It was shiny and kind of hot–if it even worked. Kevin Rafferty probably put it best in the The Imagineering Story docu-series: “The first statement that you saw when you walked in the gate was this sharp sun. And frankly, you could’ve seen that in a shopping mall in Newport Beach, and it’s like, ‘Why is it here?’”

But from here we step off into the three major lands.

Hollywood Pictures Backlot

Toward the entrance of this land was a pair of stylized golden elephants trumpeting atop two fluted columns. The columns are still there, in part, but not the elephants, which were based on W. D. Grifffith’s black and white 1916 silent film Intolerance. Between the two was a sign stating Hollywood Pictures. Those have all since been removed.

This land worked hard to compete against Paradise Pier as the worst land. And other than the Tower of Terror–now Guardians of the Galaxy Mission Breakout–it hasn’t really changed that much physically on the exterior. There were only three IPs represented when the park opened–and two of them existed in this land. Jim Henson’s Muppet-Vision 3D opened with the park along with Rizzo’s Pop and Pawn Shop. Mickey’s PhilarMagic stands there today.

Disney Animation is still there and is one of my favorite places to hang out when I’m in this corner of the park–perhaps it’s the only place to hangout. But it is magnificent with its visual depictions of Disney and Pixar films shown in its creative and finished formats. Originally, the Robin Williams Back to Neverland was one of the showcases in that building. Off the Page, Fairfax Market, Award Wieners and Schmoozies are nearby.

Today there is a Playhouse Disney show at the front of the land, but originally it was a restaurant known as Soap Opera Bistro. Yes, you too can dine in the sets of soap operas like All My Children, General Hospital and One Life to Live. I give credit to the originality of the idea, but it didn’t last.

While in some ways it looks like Hollywood Boulevard at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, in truth this is a studios backlot, and everything is essentially a facade. It gets worse when you head down the street and vere left. This was the home of what is arguably the worst ride ever created for a Disney park, Superstar Limo. It’s about paparazzi chasing uninteresting Hollywood stars. There is much to share about this in another podcast, but they should have stopped the idea after the death of Princess Diana in a paparazzi chase in 1997. Instead it was modified and made no sense. In the end it was overhauled in 2006 to become Monster’s Inc. Mike & Sully to the Rescue! It was DCA’s only dark ride. Better in the form of a Monster’s Inc. attraction, but it is ending in the weeks to come.

The end of the street when the park opened was the 2000 seat Hyperion Theater, which is a solid theater complex, if it wasn’t that the exterior is represented by a facade of a theater in front of a blue sky. A show called Disney’s Step in Time premiered there. It did not last long. Note that with no Tower of Terror–which would be one of the first things added to the park, there was one dead end. Not good.

Golden State

Here’s the best part of the park, and much of it still remains, in some ways more than any other section. Golden State was a term for a very large section of the park–one that is now occupied in large part by Grizzly Peak, San Fransokyo Square, Radiator Springs and Avengers Campus. It will take four additional podcasts to cover all of these, but in the early days, this themed area of the park was more about six smaller districts. Let’s look at those:

Condor Flats

This is the home of Soarin’ Over California. And while this year it is being played (until Soarin’ Over America starts this summer) I consider this to be one of the lost attractions I missed. Soarin’ Over California is by the so much better than Soarin’ Around the World. It is a fantastic attraction, and indeed it was the best attraction that opened on opening day. It is surrounded by Condor Flats which suggests sort of a part desert airfield that set the stage for the airline field. You see aviation equipment and jet engines and such everywhere to include Taste Pilots Grill next door. It’s now more appropriately called Grizzly Peak, which is really the centerpiece of the next district.

Grizzly Peak Recreation Area

This is the home of Grizzly River Run which is in many ways a better white water rafting expedition than Kali River Rapids, although it could use more theming. It sits within Grizzly Peak, which has traditionally been the icon to Disney’s California Adventure–though its easier to see the peak from the other side of the mountain, along the main thoroughfare that now takes you from Buena Vista Street out and beyond to Avenger’s Campus, Radiator Springs and San Fransokyo.

There is also the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, now more themed to Brother Bear. It’s back sits adjacent to Disney’s Grand Californian Resort & Spa, and includes an exclusive entrance from that resort into this area of the park.

Bountiful Valley Farm

On the direct opposite side of this area, lies Bountiful Family Farm, which is one of several attractions that takes its cue from Eisner’s idea of The American Workplace, where you could see how things are made. Here you get to see things grow! Unfortunately, you need an annual pass to do so, as all things grow so slowly. Literally it had farms and scarecrows and tractor equipment on display. It represented California’s Central Valley, and the irrigation pipes offered a sort of splash pad and water play area. but it was sad.

The only thing of real interest was that “It’s Tough To Be a Bug” was housed in a theater here. Not a Tree of Life theater, just a theater with a big mural of farms on it. It ultimately inspired the farm area of the attraction to be uprooted and replaced by a Bug’s Land. And that has since been replaced by Avengers Campus.

The Golden Vine Winery

In the shadows of Grizzly Peak lies The Golden Vine Winery, which included some 350 grapevines grown in rows around a Mission-style restaurant. It was sponsored by Robert Mondavi Winery, and had a little show called “Seasons of the Vine”. I don’t drink, but I loved the film, in particular the score. The one souvenir I took out of Disney California Adventure. This was on the CD and I still love it today. I still wish you could see the film.

Pacific Wharf

Remember that American Workplace idea of Eisner? You find it big time here at Pacific Wharf, which is really modeled after the fisheries and factories of Monterey and San Francisco. Think Cannery Row by John Steinbeck. Here we have a chance to see how tortillas are made at the Mission Tortilla Factory, and how sourdough bread is made at Boudin Bakery Tour. Better yet! You get free samples for going on the tour! This is now so much more clever as San Fransokyo, a theme from Big Hero Six. But all the remnants of Monterey are there.

The Bay Area

The last district takes us from Grizzly Peak and transitions us to Paradise Pier. The short street of row houses has really only two things–restrooms and a replica of The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. this is the home of Golden Dreams. This was supposed to be something even more spectacular than The American Adventure at Epcot. It was not. Definitively not! And having Woopi Goldberg’s face projected on a statue of the goddess Queen Califia did nothing to help that. Not that she didn’t bring a terrific thread through the film and a little bit of humor, but the projection on a statue was simply lame for Disney. But it had some things that were endearing and I wish that it was still represented in some way. Here you saw a cinematic portrayal of the history of California in 22 minutes. And it’s a really good story, from the earliest natives to Jobs and Wozniak creating the Apple Computer. The song Just One Dream (remember that Golden Dreams is actually the name of the song at American Adventure) is sung by Heather Headly, a Disney Broadway star known for her title role in Aida and as Nala in the original Lion King musical. It’s great music. And music is what I love most about this park.

Paradise Pier

Paradise Pier is now known as Pixar Pier, and has gone through two reiterations, making it so much better than it originally was. But at the end of the day it is a boardwalk carnival. And every Walt-loving Disney fan knows that carnivals were the very thing Walt hated when he went 180 degrees in a different direction building Disneyland. Well the carnival is still 180 degrees from Disneyland. And again, it’s better than it was, so let’s talk about it.

There were many rides built for this–most of which were just dressed up versions of what you would buy off the market shelves, but some stood out. California Screamin’, known today as Incredicoaster is a fine looking wooden roller coaster, or at least it looks like it, because it’s actually an iron coaster. But with its quick 2.5 seconds to the top of the hill start. It’s a great coaster. Sun Wheel is also still today one of the most iconic pieces at the pier, though it’s been repainted and re-themed to Pixar with a Mickey Mouse Face. Then there is Mailboomer. Think of the midway game where you test your strength to see if with a mallet you can move a puck up. toward a bell. Now make it about 180 feet high and put people on it and send it up and down as fast as possible. Then add vomit cones in case people puke, or were they really to stifle the screams? Either way it was horrible.

Another icon was the Orange Stinger, Golden Zephyr and Jumpin’ Jellyfish. Actually there was a fourth IP in the form of The Little Mermaid. It’s still there along with another couple f things I miss. it’s King Triton’s Carousel. The horses were really cute, and it paid homage to California piers up and down the coast. It’s replaced by Jessie’s Critter Carousel. Also really cute, but Triton’s assortment of fish and sea life were good to. I also miss a cute little play area called the S. S. Trustworthy. It was a play area for kids that they could romp around in. It was sponsored by McDonald’s but despite that, it was a cute area for kids to enjoy. That’s all gone. Oh…and the music. Think Beach Boys in Carnival Calliope tones. Very cool. Very California.

And originally, the made waves in the water. Technically the kind you could surf on. Kind of cool, but it didn’t last long. Lots of problems with that. World of Color is far better anyway.

Opening on February 8th, 2001 The park was expected to hold 33,000 guests. On opening day only 8,000 guests showed up. Back then it wasn’t too expensive to get a park hopper as I recall. And you wanted one, because it wasn’t long after lunch you would want to leave and go back to Disneyland Park.

From there it went south–especially when 911 came around later in he year, freezing attendance across both American resorts. In the months to come we’ll talk about each of the lands and how they evolved, and of new lands built such as Radiator Springs and Avengers Campus.

The fault for this poor pathetic park’s start–yes money–Disney was tight for years after the opening of Euro Disneyland. But it was a leadership issue. The whole thing was undertone leadership of Paul Pressler, whose retail thinking led to Disney building more of a retail/dining/entertainment center than a really great theme park.

Joe Rohde – lead designer on Disney’s Animal Kingdom – later said of the Pressler era that it was “probably the bleakest” time at Imagineering in his memory; “dominated in a forceful way by this: ‘We’re the business guys. We know this; we have data here. The data says this. We’re following this data. You’re doing this because that’s what it says here. This is math.’”

And of course, the buck stops at the top and the top was Michael Eisner. He alone allowed this kind of work to be done. Remember that he was brought in at a time when Epcot’s overspending, led to his predecessor’s departure and his taking over the throne. He always was concerned about delivering at the end of the day a return to the shareholder. But that was not enough, and this really is a key milestone in his ultimate departure a few years later.

It’s funny to mention all these things that are a problem, but yet it’s the sixth most visited park in North America. Go figure. I’ve enjoyed the evolution of it, much of which couldn’t have come sooner. And I hope to share more of it in the months to come.

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