Disney looks home for renewal
Since California Adventure made its debut six years ago, billed as Disneyland’s hipper, edgier younger sibling, the entertainment colossus founded by Walt Disney has wandered far from the Orange County city where he launched his first park in 1955.
Now, with Disney executives planning a massive retooling of the struggling California Adventure, the company is showing a renewed push to transform Anaheim’s Resort District -- as much as possible -- in the image of the spectacularly successful Walt Disney World.
Rather than a one- or two-day stop for guests, Disney hopes to keep visitors at its Anaheim attractions for longer stretches.
“They see a hub here they didn’t realize they had,” suggested Al Lutz, who owns and edits the popular fan website Miceage.
While the California Adventure makeover is the clearest sign yet that Disney is looking homeward, there have been recent signals the company was reinvesting in Anaheim.
Last month, Disney announced it was adding 50 time-share units to the Grand Californian Hotel & Spa and broke ground on a 250-room expansion.
There are also plans to bring its popular cruise line to the West Coast and capture big-spending consumers with boutique hotels. And there is continued speculation about a long-awaited third park on what is 53 acres of strawberry fields and parking lots.
The California Adventure remodel comes at a time when tourism is booming in Orange County, with a reported 45 million visitors last year -- a six-year high -- and a record $8 billion in visitor spending.
“This will be kind of a second renaissance for the area,” said Elaine Cali, a spokeswoman for the Anaheim/Orange County Visitor and Convention Bureau. “The first came when they built California Adventure, Downtown Disney and expanded the Convention Center.”
At the same time, Disney and Anaheim city leaders have been locked in a stormy yearlong dispute over a proposal to build condominiums and low-cost apartments near the parks.
The battle has fueled a lawsuit, competing ballot initiatives and regular protests at council meetings -- odd behavior in a city that had a cozy relationship with Disney.
Disney has found itself face-to-face with union and religious leaders who have demanded that the entertainment giant do more to provide affordable housing for its low-wage earners. It seems certain to be a campaign issue in next year’s city elections.
Long criticized for its shortage of children’s rides and its failure to connect emotionally with visitors, California Adventure has seen disappointing attendance since its 2001 opening.
At a news conference Wednesday, Disney executives confirmed plans to overhaul, and perhaps rename, the struggling park in the image of the Los Angeles that Walt Disney experienced when he arrived in the 1920s, complete with a Main Street and a replica of the Carthay Circle Theatre where “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” premiered.
Disney executives refused to say how much the overhaul -- which is expected to begin in late 2008 and run until 2012 -- would cost, though sources put the figure at roughly $1 billion.
Asked whether the new plans represented an acknowledgment that California Adventure was a flop, parks and resorts Chairman Jay Rasulo replied: “I don’t consider that on any level to be a failure.” He portrayed the overhaul as an “incremental investment” rather than as a top-to-bottom reimagining of the park.
Disney observers say the resounding success of Disneyland’s 50th anniversary spurred the company to reinvest in Anaheim.
“It woke them up to the fact that this park has always consistently performed,” Lutz said. With Disney’s focus on Orlando, Fla., and on overseas parks, he said, “They forgot about Anaheim.” But now, “they see this is as such a rich market that they haven’t even begun to tap.”
Though California Adventure has fallen short of expectations, David Miller, an analyst with Sanders Morris Harris, said the park’s poor performance has not affected the company stock price, mainly because Walt Disney World in Florida accounts for about 80% of the company’s theme park operating income.
If Disney’s plans to remake California Adventure prove successful, industry observers say, it could spur the company to revamp a struggling companion park to the Disney park in Paris, to add a second park in Hong Kong or to launch the long-rumored third park in Anaheim.
“I think Disney sees an opportunity to make Anaheim a stronger overall product,” said Ray Braun, senior vice president of Economics Research Associates, a real estate development consulting company.
Still, some remain uncertain about the depth of Disney’s commitment to the area. Anaheim Councilman Bob Hernandez said he was not certain that Disney would follow through on its big plans for California Adventure.
“They said they were going to build the third gate, and they didn’t,” he said. “They said they were going to build 500 affordable-housing units before they built California Adventure, and they didn’t. They said California Adventure was going to be superlative, and it wasn’t. I’m very skeptical.”
Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle said he heard this summer that Disneyland planned to tweak California Adventure, but he had underestimated the project’s scale until he got a call Tuesday night from Disneyland President Ed Grier.
“The magnitude of the investment in our community did pleasantly surprise me,” he said. “Disney is not going to invest unless they have a keen knowledge they’re going to get a strong return on that. Other tourist-related businesses are going to see that and be encouraged to come to Anaheim too.”
From the time guests got their first peek, many have complained that California Adventure was short on magic.
David Koenig, who has written extensively about Disney, said that since the park’s opening, there has been “continuous, nonstop backpedaling away from its hip and edgy roots.”
“People went to Disneyland for nostalgic reasons, to be with their families, to be transported to exotic environments that they couldn’t [find] anywhere else,” said Koenig. “You could fly your own magic carpet, or flying elephant or end up in a cannonball fight between pirates.
“California Adventure took you to California, and you were already here,” he said. “Maybe if you were in Kansas, it would have worked. Why do you want to see fake mountains when you can see real mountains right outside the park?”
Fawn Bekam, 18, of Laguna Hills, who holds season passes to both parks, visited California Adventure on Wednesday but decided to leave after two rides. “California Adventure you want to come to if you have extra time,” she said. “No one comes just to go to California Adventure.”
Beth Andrea, 36, of Phoenix, who won a trip to the park from a radio station, said the park lacked the qualities that make Disneyland special.
“In Disneyland, you’re in another world, and here you’re in more of a theme park,” she said. “This is just rides.”
Michael Eisner, then Disney’s chief executive, opened California Adventure as part of a broader strategy to help Anaheim become a destination resort that would replicate the success at Walt Disney World in Orlando, which has been a cash cow for Disney and is one of the world’s busiest tourism centers.
Critics complained that California Adventure was built “on the cheap” and dubbed it a Wall Street park.
At the time, Eisner had faced heavy pressure from investors to keep costs down as Disney’s earnings slowed and the company faced heavy losses from its Euro Disney operation.
“They really shot themselves in the foot by trying to do it on the cheap,” said Orlando-based theme park industry consultant Steve Baker.
david.mckibben@latimes.com
christopher.goffard@latimes.com
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Times staff writers Richard Verrier and news assistant Nardine Saad contributed to this report.
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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
A new look
The new California Adventure will look something like the Los Angeles that Walt Disney experienced when he arrived in the 1920s, complete with a Main Street and replica of Carthay Circle Theatre where “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” premiered, company officials said.
Among key additions will be Cars Land, featuring the world of Radiator Springs and three attractions inspired by the animated film “Cars.”
Other new attractions will include Toy Story Mania and Little Mermaid “underwater ride,” also based on films.
There will be new retail, dining and other features designed to remind visitors of the visionary who started it all.
“Our Disneyland guests have a deep emotional connection with Walt Disney, whose life story really captures the pioneering spirit of California in the 1920s,” said Jay Rasulo, company parks and resorts chairman. “The creative evolution of Disney’s California Adventure will connect guests to Walt’s own California adventure and reflect the place that he found when he first arrived with a cardboard suitcase in his hand and a head full of dreams.”
Source: Los Angeles Times
