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ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Since its 2001 debut, the Walt Disney Co. theme park Disney's California Adventure has floundered in the shadow of its legendary neighbor, Disneyland. To fix it, Disney is now planning a $1.1 billion overhaul -- the most extensive makeover the company has ever given to a theme park.

Disney's board recently approved the investment, which will be poured into California Adventure over roughly five years, according to people familiar with the plan. The sum is particularly significant, considering the theme park cost around $1 billion to build and Disney has already spent more than $100 million trying to improve it.

Originally aimed at luring visitors to spend more time and money at the Disneyland Resort, California Adventure has been criticized as lacking Disney's trademark creative spark. The California theme has fallen flat with visitors from the western U.S., who make up the bulk of attendance. Last year, the park drew just under six million visitors, compared with nearly 15 million at Disneyland and short of Disney's original forecast of seven million visitors a year for the new park.


Disney's California Adventure theme park, next to Disneyland, celebrated its grand opening in 2001.
Now Disney hopes to turn the park around by making it more like its successful neighbor, filled with references to company founder Walt Disney, say people familiar with the plan. A key project will be redesigning the entrance plaza, now a hodgepodge of California icons, and replacing it with something akin to Disneyland's signature Main Street.

Just as Main Street harks back to Walt Disney's hometown of Marceline, Mo., in the early 1900s, California Adventure's new entrance will trace the footsteps of Walt Disney from when he arrived in Los Angeles in the 1920s, these people say. Similar to Disneyland's iconic castle, the redesigned park will feature a replica of Hollywood's former Carthay Circle theater, where Walt Disney premiered the movie "Snow White" in 1937.

The new-look park also will be expanded by around 12 acres and will bulk up its attractions, with a heavy emphasis on animated movies created by Pixar, including "Cars" and "Toy Story."

Jay Rasulo, who inherited California Adventure when he became president of the parks in 2002, says the park has had some success in extending the time visitors spend at the resort as a whole and does have some popular rides. But he concedes: "Guests have told us that when they stand in California Adventure, they don't have an emotional connection to it." Mr. Rasulo declined to comment on the investment Disney is making.

Several of Disney's efforts in recent years have had teething problems that forced Disney to spend big money on efforts to fix them, raising questions about Disney's theme-park strategy. New Disney parks in Paris and Hong Kong -- seen as too small and lacking insight into the cultures they serve -- have needed big additional investments after initially drawing slim crowds.

When Walt Disney created Disneyland in 1955, and the company started the Disney World resort in Orlando, Fla., in 1971 with the first Magic Kingdom park, the parks were powerful brand builders. But it is unclear whether that is still the case in the 21st century, when kids are more interested in the Internet and Disney has more tools to play with, such as the relatively investment-light but popular Disney Channel.

Disney maintains its parks are a good return on investment. In fiscal 2006, they accounted for almost 30% of the company's total revenue of $34 billion and reported 30% growth in operating income. Mr. Rasulo says the parks are long-term undertakings and the company always anticipates having to invest in changes. Walt Disney himself said Disneyland was never finished.

Even so, California Adventure has had special problems. On a recent afternoon at the Disneyland Resort, 18-year-old season-pass holder Megan White made a standard complaint: "Disneyland is a magical place, but California Adventure is just a theme park you can get anywhere." Ms. White, of Valencia, Calif., adds she spends most of her visits at Disneyland, only entering California Adventure for one or two rides because it has "no imagination."

California Adventure was the result of a years-long attempt to build on Disneyland's success. In 1991, Disney originally announced it was working on a plan to build Westcot, a West Coast version of Disney's Florida park, Epcot, which had opened nearly a decade earlier.

According to people involved, Disney's then-chief executive, Michael Eisner, was eager to replicate the successful model of Walt Disney World in Florida, which had grown to include several theme parks, a fleet of hotels and a thriving retail and entertainment district. The expansions created a destination that families sometimes visit for a week.

But Westcot came with a price tag of as much as $3 billion and, according to these people, Mr. Eisner got cold feet after the new Disney park outside Paris became a financial and public-relations nightmare.

In 1995, Disney ditched Westcot. In the summer of that year, Mr. Eisner held a three-day retreat in Aspen, Colo., where about 30 executives came up with an idea for a California-themed park, say people at the meeting. Mr. Eisner chose Disneyland chief Paul Pressler to oversee a $1.4 billion project in Anaheim that included California Adventure, a retail district and hotels.

He positioned the new park as a contemporary alternative to Disneyland. It included three main areas: the Hollywood Pictures back lot; the Golden State wharf, which included offbeat, decidedly sedate features like a vegetable garden and tortilla factory; and the carnival-style Paradise Pier, anchored by a big, traditional roller coaster.

When the park opened in 2001, visitors complained it was light on rides and that the ones there lacked the imagination of Disneyland hits such as the indoor roller coaster Space Mountain. As a brigade of Web sites savaged the park, a perception set in that it was a dud.

Mr. Pressler, who left Disney in 2002, says the park suffered from comparisons to its successful neighbor, but he denies the budget was ever a problem. "What we missed the mark on was not having enough for young kids compared to the Magic Kingdom," he says. He quickly added new rides: The vegetable garden was replaced by A Bug's Land, based on the 1998 Pixar movie "A Bug's Life." Disney also later added a $100 million attraction called The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.

The Disneyland resort as a whole, especially the Downtown Disney retail district and hotels, succeeded in increasing visitors' average stay from one day to two. But attendance at California Adventure languished, while Disneyland was bursting at the seams.

Bob Iger, who took over as Disney chief executive in 2005, asked the company's legendary theme-park designers -- known as Imagineers -- to come up with a plan about a year ago, according to people involved in the planning. An initial idea was to combine Disneyland and California Adventure, creating a massive park that required one ticket. But the investment in infrastructure to transport visitors around that area was prohibitive, so they focused instead on creating a second Disneyland.

This summer, Disney hired theme-park consultant Bob Weis to oversee the new project. The remake is a complex undertaking, according to people familiar with the situation. Disney plans to keep California Adventure open during the five-year project, a plan that will require visitors to navigate construction zones and initially go in through a temporary entrance. Disney has no plans to discount ticket prices during that period, they say. Though prices vary, an adult ticket for a day at either park now costs $66, while a combined ticket is $91.

Mr. Weis will add a new area called Cars Land, which will re-create the fictional town of Radiator Springs from the 2006 Pixar movie "Cars," say people familiar with the plans. The centerpiece will be a cutting-edge attraction in the style of Disneyland's popular "Indiana Jones" ride.

Addressing criticism of Paradise Pier, Mr. Weis plans to add a flagship ride based on the 1989 animated movie "The Little Mermaid" and another on the 1995 feature "Toy Story," the people say. The Mulholland Madness ride, which re-creates a careening drive along a famous Los Angeles street, will be rethemed featuring Disney characters. Others, like the Maliboomer thrill ride, are likely to be axed.

It is still unclear what will happen to the name, as the company sees appeal in the words "Disney," "California" and "Adventure," these people say. But there is a big risk in leaving it the same. That said, some unusual relics will be left untouched for now, including the tortilla-making factory and a bread-baking demonstration. A person familiar with the plan says the Golden State area isn't considered as thematically out-of-place as others in the new plan and won't be changed in the near-term.

AND

Disney to spend $1.1 billion to overhaul California Adventure
Don Kelsen / Los Angeles Times
Crowds of people fill California Adventure's Hollywood Pictures Backlot area in 2004. The park's makeover will include several new attractions based on Pixar animated films such as "Cars" and "Toy Story."
The Anaheim park had been a disappointment since its opening six years ago.
By Richard Verrier and Dave McKibben, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
October 17, 2007
California Adventure is getting a $1.1-billion makeover -- with Walt Disney Co. planning to spend more than it did to build the theme park just six years ago.

The struggling park, which sits in Disneyland's shadow, was a disappointment from the start, failing to draw the crowds the company had anticipated. The idea behind the overhaul recently approved by the board of directors is to give it new attractions and a sharper identity -- and make it more like Disneyland.

"They're trying to give it some heart," said a person familiar with the plan who asked not to be identified. "Right now, you go through California Adventure once, and that's about it."

Rob Doughty, a Disneyland spokesman, declined to comment on the plans. Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger is scheduled to appear today at a news conference to provide details.

Like much-bigger Disneyland, sources at the company said, California Adventure will have more clearly defined theme sections and will tip its hat more frequently to the late Walt Disney, who built the first park in an orange grove and opened it to rave reviews in 1955.

Favorite California Adventure attractions -- including the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, one of several added in an effort to address criticism that the park had too few blockbuster rides -- won't be dismantled. A host of new attractions will include several based on Pixar animated films such as "Cars" and "Toy Story."

The entrance plaza will be redesigned and iconic structures reminiscent of old-time Hollywood will be added, including a replica of the Carthay Circle Theatre.

Disneyland's younger sibling, which is loosely focused on the Golden State, attracted fewer than 6 million visitors last year -- short of the 7 million people the company said would attend every year and a far cry from the 15 million who bought tickets to Disneyland.

The brainchild of former CEO Michael Eisner, the park opened in February 2001 and soon became known as Eisner's misadventure; critics seized on its poor performance when they campaigned to oust him in 2004. Walt Disney's nephew Roy Disney accused the company of building the park "on the cheap."

Even California Adventure enthusiasts were pleased to hear about the refurbishing, first reported on the Wall Street Journal's website.

"I love it but not in the same way as Disneyland," said Taylor Rockwell, a visual-effects production assistant who is an annual Disneyland Resort pass holder. "They tried to work the California angle but it wasn't successful. What is there now just isn't up to Disneyland standards."

Al Lutz, who owns and edits the popular Disney fan website Miceage, said a renovation was long overdue.

"Finally, they've acknowledged the elephant in the room," Lutz said. "They are turning it more into a companion to Disneyland as opposed to an afterthought."

Anaheim Councilman Bob Hernandez said he found the timing of today's news conference curious, given the entertainment giant's heated battle with Anaheim officials over the direction of the resort district.

Disney wants to keep the district focused on tourist-related uses, while a majority of the Anaheim City Council supports construction of a 1,500-unit residential project that could help alleviate the city's housing shortage.

Disney sued the city to block the housing project and a Disney-backed coalition has qualified anti-housing initiatives for an upcoming city election.

By touting its plan to beef up California Adventure with a $1.1-billion investment -- more than it has ever spent on a park revamp before -- Disney is clearly trying to sway voters, Hernandez said.

"It's so obvious to those who don't have pixie dust in our eyes," he said.

California Adventure was part of a $1.4-billion remake of the Disneyland Resort that included a luxury hotel, the Grand Californian, and the Downtown Disney shopping district.

Disney has added to the smaller park since with, among other things, the Tower of Terror and "Aladdin," a well-received Broadway-style musical patterned after the animated movie. The Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, a climbing park for kids, was expanded with a tie-in to the animated film "Brother Bear."

To lure visitors, Disney discounts the admission price, selling tickets to the two parks in pairs called Park Hoppers.

"It's basically been half price since it opened," Lutz said. "Nobody ever buys a ticket just for that park."

More news

GLENDALE — Out with the Golden Gate Bridge and in with “Cars.”

The Walt Disney Co. will go back to the drawing board and overhaul its underperforming California Adventure theme park, a project the company said Wednesday could even result in a new name for the property.

The company acknowledged that the park next door to Disneyland in Anaheim had not attracted as many guests as planned since opening in 2001.

“It hasn’t performed up to expectations and they have had to add new items to the park over the years,” media analyst Harold Vogel said. “They didn’t invest as much as they should have at the time.”

Disney Chief Executive Officer Robert Iger and other executives would not disclose the cost of the project, but it will exceed $1 billion, according to a person familiar with the plans who was not authorized to speak publicly about it.

The figure eclipses the original cost of California Adventure, which opened in 2001.

The overhaul, which will take five years, will be designed to make the park look and feel more like it was conceived by Walt Disney himself, complete with a recreation of the movie theater that hosted the 1938 premier of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” It also will add a 12-acre section based on the hit Pixar Animation movie “Cars.”

The overhaul is designed to bolster attendance that in some years has barely reached half the numbers of Disneyland despite attempts to lure visitors with discount tickets.

In 2005, Disneyland drew 14.5 million visitors, an 8.5 percent increase over the previous year, while California Adventure drew only 5.8 million, a 3.6 percent increase.

Figures for 2006 were not immediately available.

Disney executives acknowledged the need to rethink and expand the attractions at California Adventure to lure new visitors.

They pointed to growing attendance at Disneyland as proof that a similar approach would work at California Adventure.

“If you build it right, they will come,” Iger said during a news conference. “Disneyland is telling us that loud and clear these days.”

Erin Willis, 28, of Cincinnati was visiting Disneyland on Wednesday with her husband and toddler son. She said she had found California Adventure to be “kind of boring” on previous visits.

“The rides were fun, but it didn’t have a lot of the excitement Disneyland had,” Willis said.

Revised from the start

Poor attendance forced Disney to tweak California Adventure almost from the time it opened.

Tourists balked when Disney initially charged as much to attend California Adventure as it did for Disneyland, which had many times the number of rides and attractions.

Since then, California Adventure has largely failed its initial purpose of making the Anaheim parks a multiday destination. Eventually, Disney had to offer discounted admission packages known as “park hopper” tickets.

A single day’s adult admission to either park is now $66. A “park hopper” ticket that allows visits to both parks on the same day is $91.

A sampling of guests at the Anaheim complex said they preferred Disney to California Adventure but would give California Adventure a second look after the renovation.

Disney also will replace some of the park’s less popular sections with new attractions based on the Disney film “Little Mermaid” and the Pixar film “Toy Story,” the company said.

Walt will be a presence

The project will include a new plaza greeting guests that more resembles the iconic “Main Street” at Disneyland, and an interactive attraction will tell the story of company founder Walt Disney.

The overhaul will begin next year and take until 2012, Disney executives said.

The park was the brainchild of former Disney CEO Michael Eisner and includes sections dedicated to various California attractions.

The famous Disneyland monorail travels over a reproduction of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge and other sections evoke the memory of 1940s Hollywood.

The park was designed to appeal more to adults and included a restaurant sponsored by a winery.

None of the iconic Disney characters, including Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, made appearances in the park at first.

The park also was built with economy in mind, importing several rides and attractions that had debuted at Walt Disney World in Florida.

— Associated Press writer Gillian Flaccus contributed to this report from Anaheim.


DCA into a Pixar Park interesting.