New Beginnings on Flickr.Disney California Adventure It’s a big week for Disney California Adventure. The biggest since the park opened in 2001, without a doubt. The park officially re-opens on Friday with the public reveals of Buena Vista St. and Carsland, although most who really care will have visited long before then through various preview events (seriously, Friday will be the least “opening” opening day I can think of since DCA’s original opening day in 2001). That said, the photos and reviews of the two new crown jewels, Buena Vista St. and Carsland, are beginning to flood in. However, I don’t want to join that specific cacophony just yet. I want to to talk about the park as a whole. I want to talk about Disney California Adventure, at the end of five years of attempting to fix it’s most glaring flaws. The end result of the last five years of work is that DCA truly is a new place. A place with a different soul. A place with a different heart and feel. Not perfect by any means, but DCA finally has that necessary intangible, that mix of history, spectacle, design, and detail that turns a place from amusement to something more. In essence DCA is now an alternative take on Disneyland, but one with a slightly different target. Like Disneyland, DCA has its Main Street now (Buena Vista St.), and it’s nighttime spectacle (World of Color), as well as its lush dark rides (Little Mermaid) and it’s detailed E-ticket (Radiator Springs Racers). But DCA also plays a few notes Disneyland never did. Many of DCA’s must-dos are restaurants and lounges which evokes a bit of Epcot’s World Showcase “stroll and hang out” mentality. DCA’s nighttime parties, while divisive, provide a unique nighttime energy not found in any Disney park. DCA is a family place through and through, but it makes concessions to not just our inner chid, as Disneyland does, but makes a few concessions to our inner teenager and inner adult as well. DCA plays many familiar notes, but they’ve never been blended in quite this way at a Disney park before. So Friday June 15th will be an exciting day, one deserving of celebration. To any braving the crowds that day, I wish you well. Wall-to-wall crowds and waiting hours to ride a trolley is my idea of hell so I’ll be far away from the Disneyland Resort that day, but you can be sure I’ll be enjoying a cocktail at the Carthay Lounge very soon after, toasting to new beginnings. Twitter: photojames Instagram: jdhilger High-res

New Beginnings on Flickr.

Disney California Adventure

It’s a big week for Disney California Adventure. The biggest since the park opened in 2001, without a doubt.

The park officially re-opens on Friday with the public reveals of Buena Vista St. and Carsland, although most who really care will have visited long before then through various preview events (seriously, Friday will be the least “opening” opening day I can think of since DCA’s original opening day in 2001). That said, the photos and reviews of the two new crown jewels, Buena Vista St. and Carsland, are beginning to flood in. However, I don’t want to join that specific cacophony just yet. I want to to talk about the park as a whole. I want to talk about Disney California Adventure, at the end of five years of attempting to fix it’s most glaring flaws.

The end result of the last five years of work is that DCA truly is a new place. A place with a different soul. A place with a different heart and feel. Not perfect by any means, but DCA finally has that necessary intangible, that mix of history, spectacle, design, and detail that turns a place from amusement to something more. In essence DCA is now an alternative take on Disneyland, but one with a slightly different target. Like Disneyland, DCA has its Main Street now (Buena Vista St.), and it’s nighttime spectacle (World of Color), as well as its lush dark rides (Little Mermaid) and it’s detailed E-ticket (Radiator Springs Racers). But DCA also plays a few notes Disneyland never did. Many of DCA’s must-dos are restaurants and lounges which evokes a bit of Epcot’s World Showcase “stroll and hang out” mentality. DCA’s nighttime parties, while divisive, provide a unique nighttime energy not found in any Disney park. DCA is a family place through and through, but it makes concessions to not just our inner chid, as Disneyland does, but makes a few concessions to our inner teenager and inner adult as well. DCA plays many familiar notes, but they’ve never been blended in quite this way at a Disney park before.

So Friday June 15th will be an exciting day, one deserving of celebration. To any braving the crowds that day, I wish you well. Wall-to-wall crowds and waiting hours to ride a trolley is my idea of hell so I’ll be far away from the Disneyland Resort that day, but you can be sure I’ll be enjoying a cocktail at the Carthay Lounge very soon after, toasting to new beginnings.

Twitter: photojames
Instagram: jdhilger

11 months ago