Written by Kevin Baxter
Published: July 19, 2004 at 3:20 AM
Right about now many of you will be shrieking, "Kevin has an AP?!?!?!!!" Yes, I do. I have a friend who bought me one. Normally I would have said no thanks, but we made plans to visit in December and I had never seen all the Holiday hoopla. I wanted to not only see the Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay again, but I also wanted to see the decorations, the snow, the holiday fireworks and the Small World overlay. Plus, although I think DCA is mostly useless, I do enjoy Millionaire and California Screamin'. With an AP, I could do this, and come back after the Tower of Terror and Snow White got going.
Well, Disney also sent me a card allowing me to buy up to five two-day Park Hoppers for $79, so I will take a few friends before my AP expires, and then I won't be heading back for quite some time. In fact, I may not return for at least seven years, or until I think my nephew and his future sibling become old enough, which may be even longer.
This is really sad, considering I grew up less than 15 minutes from the park. Like all kids I loved Disneyland with a fetishistic passion and couldn't go enough. In fact, whenever we drove near it, even on non-Disneyland related trips, my face would be glued to the window for that heart-stopping view of the Matterhorn.
Like most kids who grow up in Southern California, I outgrew Disneyland. I actually outgrew it earlier than many, for I was done with it before I turned ten. By that time I had discovered movies were my one true passion, so Universal Studios became the place I wanted to go. I simply could not get enough of that tram tour. Usually I also begged to go to Magic Mountain (it wasn't a Six Flags park back then) but its distance made that a very rare experience. Yeah, USH is far away too, but relatives always wanted to go to Disneyland and/or USH, so we got to do USH more than we normally would have.
Then we moved north. The cliche claims that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and it did, for Magic Mountain only. There was still a little USH residue in me, but like most teens, coasters and thrill rides filled a void for me that USH's show-heavy park didn't and that DL's "baby rides" certainly couldn't. As state law demands, I did return to DL for Grad Night, which was probably my first visit at least six years.
I had fun that night but apparently not enough since I didn't return for another nine years. I had returned several times to USH and SFMM in those nine years, but not to DL. ToonTown and Splash Mountain were exciting changes, but little had changed otherwise. It took me ten years to return and even less had changed this time. Sure, Tomorrowland had changed, but certainly not for the better. And Indy - which was being built on my previous visit - was now open. But the rides I grew up with held little excitement for me.
My biggest problem is that I don't have the Disneyland nostalgia so many other people seem to have. The Haunted Mansion was the ride I always ran to when I was a kid, but now I only like it when it gets the Nightmare Before Christmas treatment. I never much cared for Pirates of the Caribbean and age has just made me loathe it. The Matterhorn is too jerky for my elderly body now, and you couldn't get me near Big Thunder Mountain Deathtrap with a flamethrower.
As much as I love theme parks, I never got the nostalgia bug that has kept Disneyland so popular. My nostalgic leanings are more media-oriented, so all my fondest childhood memories revolve around books I read or movies and television shows I watched. There's no room up there to get all aflutter over Space Mountain anymore.
In fact - and I hate to admit this - I find more to do at DCA. That isn't saying much, considering all I like to do at DCA is California Screamin' and Millionaire and maybe It's Tough to Be a Bug every so often. All I like to do anymore at DL is Splash Mountain and Indy, and that one only if I can walk right on.
Yeah, DL is definitely a nicer place to walk around. While Tomorrowland still needs extensive help, most of the rest of the park has great character, something that certainly didn't transfer to the Magic Kingdom when it was built. But I don't want to pay $159 for character alone. (For all of Matt Ouimet's posturing to have fewer APs by the start of the 50th Anniversary, offering $20 off if you renew isn't the way to do it.) I want great rides and attractions along with the theming. Disneyland has built all of two in the past 15 years! And their next biggie is really just new theming added to a golden oldie. DCA has very little character so it definitely needs the rides, yet for every ToT they build, look at all the garbage we've had to suffer through to wait for it: A Bug's Land, Playhouse Disney, Aladdin, crappy outdoor shows and even crappier parades. Okay, we got Millionaire, but the good is still outnumbered by the bad and mediocre.
Orlando has played a major role in my decision also. While I have grown seriously irritated with Disney/MGM Studios and have never liked MK, the other Disney parks shine even more light on DLR's problems. Animal Kingdom, like DCA, is too damn small. But unlike DCA, there are actually things to look at after you've done the few attractions it has to offer. Outside the Hollywood area, DCA is the worst-themed park in SoCal. Epcot, like both Anaheim parks, doesn't have a lot of attractions I slobber over, but it offers other entertainment like great restaurants/bars and live entertainment that is actually entertaining. Imagine that!
Things only get better outside WDW. SeaWorld proves that shows and exhibits can be entertaining, even on subsequent visits. Universal Studios Hollywood proves that greatly themed attractions can be surrounded by great theming and that you can have more than three of them be fantastic. Islands of Adventure has probably spoiled me the most, as more than half of its attractions are spectacular, as is the extensive theming.
And yet, with how much there is in Orlando, I probably won't be heading back for at least five years. Seven parks in the area, with an eighth an hour away, and they still don't build enough to encourage a cross-country trip. Considering they rely more on tourists than DLR does, shouldn't they be doing more to obtain my hard-earned dollars?
And that may be my main reasoning for bailing on my AP. There are so many vacation alternatives out there, so many places I haven't been, so many places I have been that offer a lot more than DLR. $159 can buy me plane tickets to almost anywhere in this country. Hotel prices are cheaper in most of these places too. Theme parks have more competition than just each other, yet that's where most of their focus seems to lie lately.
Disney has been relying too much on the Disney name lately instead of the long-gone Disney quality we all grew to love. Although they complain about too many APs, everyone seems to conveniently forget that Disney drastically lowered AP prices after DCA opened because APs were the only ones bothering with the park and they weren't going to bother at the exorbitant prices Disney was charging. What happens after the 50th Anniversary when AP prices have been jacked up and the two parks don't have anything new to offer for a couple years? I think many APs are only renewing to take advantage of the 50th offerings, so we'll see what happens in 2006. Only I'll be seeing it from the outside.
But not to worry if you don't like it...word from the cast is that it may soon ride it's carpet all the way to Orlando. Disney-MGM Studios may soon be hosting. It was designed for Broadway, but doesn't seem to be heading that way just yet. I hope it stays around here a bit longer....I'm not sure everyone agrees that it's as bad as you say it is. It's a good show, has great sets and effects, good music, and gets the audience going. Sounds like a success to me.
Anyway, enough on that junk. I admit it: I've outgrown Disneyland, and I want to mature. My Dad doesn't like USH because he grew up loving Disneyland, but when we went there, I felt like I had a great time! When we ordered double hamburgers, they were thick! Now that is quality. I was blown away by Jurassic Park- The Ride and rode that twice, and I loved BTTF (despite that it needs a new ride film),and also rode that twice, and the Studio Tour was awesome. I thought some of shows were cool, especially Terminator 2:3D. I didn't like Honey, I Shrunk the Audience because it had mice (I'm admit that I'm squemish), so I was built for explosions and water. I just think they need at least 2 more rides.
So, overall, I feel like I have outgrown Disney, and I've been pressuring my parents to take me to SFMM, despite that it is a long drive. I've sort of come to like roller coasters all because of Disney. Have I outgrown Disney? And answer this: is that good or bad? Oh, and the suggested AP pass price should be $90.00.
But my main problem is a show, no matter how spectacular isn't going to save DCA. In fact, Aladdin is probably less popular than Blast, the show it booted from the theater. Blast was actually the type of show people would want to see more than once. Any visit to the Hyperion proves that Aladdin isn't doing that. And that NEEDS to be done.
I still say that Disney has gone from a good creative company with a vision and magic to a bloated corporate shell of it's former self...with no interest in anything but the bottom line. Did they lower and discount some prices?? yes, but only because the parks aren't doing as well as they once were. Hotel rooms at WDW are easier to come by these, and 159 bucks for a AP is pretty steep for a park system that has continually added very little to their attraction lineups. I can go to a good restaurant or show for far less than the cost of an AP+cost of food. Kids don't buy AP's, adults do, and how much is really there for an adult to do in a Disney park?? Orlando has way too much competition for Disney to be slacking off now. Universal and Sea World and even BGT are better places to go at this point in time. Disney's name may be it's greatest draw, but a name that was made years ago doesn't carry for long when the current product is nothing like it used to be.
Regarding losing interest- KEVIN, YOUR RIGHT- This may be the wrong site to say this on, but, the more you visit a park, the less exciting it becomes...I think it's part of getting older...There is too much out there in the world to waste your life re-visiting theme parks...Whenever I tell someone that I'm planning a trip to Orlando to go to the parks there (AGAIN), I just start to get embarrassed...others are out seeing the world and I'm here planning my 6th trip to Orlando in 10 years...There is some excitement in planning the perfect trip, but, if I would just put the money from 2 of these trips together, I could go somewhere I've never been before and is probably a lot more interesting...I think it makes you a lot more interesting as a person to visit lots of other countries, rather than visiting the same theme parks over and over...
Plus, you could take in the beauty of the Smoky Mountains and maybe try your hand at some real whitewater--the Nantahala River is fun.
That said, why can't this article help someone make a decision they might be having about renewing their Annual Passes? Also, check out how other people have also questioned whether or not they would be better off spending theme park money on a new destination. And if people do choose a new destination, they can use this site to find a park nearby.
J, I probably shouldn't have used Aladdin in my garbage category, because I really don't find it all that bad. I just don't think it is what the park needs. The park needs stuff that will excite people and bring them to the park. Aladdin, no matter how good, was never going to accomplish that. Had the money spent on Aladdin, A Bug's Land, Playhouse Disney, LuminAria, every dreadful parade and most of the live shows had been spent on a couple more Tower of Terror-like attractions, the park might be a worthy destination.
Oh, and people weren't all spastic over the songs and story of the film version of Aladdin. They were spastic over Robin Williams' performance. Just as most people who see the stage version at DCA mention the Genie first when they mention it at all.
Despite that, the park experience is phenomenal. It starts when you get to the lot and they let you park for free. Then you find the 25 dollar ticket price to be nice, then all you have to do is walk to the nearest drink stand to get your free Pepsi products all day. The two wooden coasters they have are top notch, and their waterpark is one of the flat out best in the country. They get the awards for best customer service and cleanest park every year, and there is a good reason for that. The Koch family is doing a bang up job out there in the middle of nowhere, and the numbers show. Holiday World's attendance is up 25 percent this year.
Why should I be banned? You don't like the tenor of my comments? They're neither particularly eloquent nor the most positively contributory to this dialogue, but then again, I don't mean them to be. The "ZZZ" bit is used all over the blog-o-sphere, and many writers and comment-ers seem to handle it without demanding the poster be banned.
On the other hand, I won't make any high-falutin' demands for free speech. Seeing as this is a privately funded and operated site, the moderator/owner can do whatever he or she sees fit. If that includes banning me, that's the breaks.
You want a contribution? Fine, here goes:
Robert's piece on DCA was well-writen yet didn't lack for caustic wit. One clearly understood his criticisms, and could easily compare his criteria for enjoyment to one's own, thus provoking further thought, reflection, and/or discussion. I find your writings repetitive, screechy, and grating, and it appears (to this reader anyway) you are overly pre-occupied with telling your readers just how himilayan the heights of your ennui have reached, without saying very much of why.
Others may disagree to the extent that the terms of service allow.
Shorter Billy Barf: more Robert, less Kevin
;-)
(Other than that, I ain't sayin' nutin'. Y'all can work it out.)
And I don't care what is accepted in the "blog-o-sphere" (honestly, how damn retarded is THAT?) because most of the "sphere" of which you speak is populated by witless teens on even more witless websites. Just in case your Word-of-the-Day Calendar hasn't had "witless" yet, the definition would involve using "ZZZZZ" as a response to anything.
But let's get into exactly how full of crap you actually are. You find my writing "screechy and grating" yet you wittily added your multiple Zs to my Vegas trip column, which was filled with the fun I had in Vegas. How "Himalayan" (which is the correct spelling, by the way, Mr Dictionary) was my "ennui" there? Yes, I had some complaints, but I had a lot of good stuff to stay.
The best part is that the Vegas column was the first one you gave us the "pleasure" of your witlessness and it wasn't "screechy" or filled with "ennui." If you have actually been lurking for a while and you got to the point where you could no longer stand it and you felt the burning desire to say something, why choose that column as your first foray into pre-pubescent puerility?
I've said it before and I will say it again: I honestly don't give a sh!t if everybody on this site loves my ass. That isn't who I am and if you can't deal with it, then either seek professional help or don't read my columns. I'd suggest you do both.
"Disney has been relying too much on the Disney name lately instead of the long-gone Disney quality we all grew to love"
Amen