Disney Shows Off California Adventure
After three years of construction and more than $1 billion spent, Walt Disney Co. pulled back the curtains Wednesday on its new California Adventure park, launching a publicity blitz that will intensify as the February opening approaches.
California Adventure, which opens Feb. 8, is a smaller companion park next to the 45-year-old Disneyland in Anaheim. Disney is betting the new park and surrounding retail and hotel development will help convert the Disneyland Resort into a multi-day destination for tourists.
Disney attractions boss Paul Pressler has said his biggest worry is of a slowdown in the economy. And indeed, it now appears Disney will open its new park in the dead of winter--its other parks have always opened in spring or summer--in the middle of what could be a significant economic slowing.
Still, Disney officials said they were confident that the company’s $1.4-billion expansion of the Disneyland area will be a hit, and they are now moving to drum up public excitement.
And toward that end, Disney officials Wednesday walked reporters and camera crews through the park and beamed a satellite feed to the rest of the world. They showed off the park’s impressionistic roundup of the state’s attractions--from farms, wineries and the Sierra Nevada to the beach, the San Francisco Bay Area and a tongue-in-cheek take on Hollywood.
Spokesman Tom Brocato said a national ad campaign beginning with the new year will counter notions that California Adventure, which will charge a separate admission, is merely a new attraction at the old park.
On Wednesday, Disney executives offered a few new details about their addition, which also includes a 750-room hotel and a nightclub, dining and shopping zone. The hotel and entertainment part are to open in January.
The executives confirmed that tickets for the new park will cost the same as at Disneyland--$43 for adults and $33 for children 3 to 9. The policy is the same as at Walt Disney World in Florida, where tickets cost the same at all four Disney parks.
Officials also said that despite the tight labor markets brought on by the country’s long economic expansion, they are ahead of schedule in hiring 8,200 new workers for their expanded resort. So far, 6,700 have been hired, Brocato said. Nearly all the jobs are part-time work paying $6 to $7.50 an hour.
Certainly Disney executives are hoping the new park will open under sunny economic skies. A series of reports have revealed slower growth in recent weeks. And Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, whose central bank raised interest rates six times to keep inflation at bay, suggested Tuesday that the Fed might reverse course and lower rates to combat a weakening economy. He said the economy “already has lost some momentum” and has slowed “appreciably.”
Nonetheless, Brocato said that in a downturn, California Adventure could look good compared to more expensive Western vacation destinations. “When the economy is great, they might take bigger-ticket trips to places like Hawaii,” he said. “We still think Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure will be high on priority lists.”
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