California Adventure first came to exist because Disney Exec’s saw that tourists weren’t spending 100% of their time in Anaheim when they visited the state of California. Instead, tourists would travel up and down the state, seeing the various landmarks and attractions the great golden state had to offer. From seeing the golden gate bridge in San Francisco to traveling down Hollywood Boulevard, tourists had a lot of land to cover to see it all.
So Disney came up with a solution. Why not build a themepark that combined all the greatest hits that California had to offer. With everything in one location, tourist would definitely reconsider actually traveling outside Anaheim. There would be no way that someone traveling to California for the first time would want to spend their whole trip seeing the real deal. Instead they could spend all their time in one themepark and see all the best landmarks.
Well, that idea sounded good on paper but when the park first launched it definitely wasn’t a hit like executives first thought it would be. Many of the rides just didn’t feel like Disney and weren’t popular. Much of what was first launched when California Adventure opened has since been changed or is going to be changed in the next year.
Not much actually ties the park to California anymore. Gone is Superstar Limo which once took you down Hollywood Blvd and let you see the stars, that’s been replaced with Monsters, Inc. Mike and Sulley to the Rescue! The huge lettering in front of the gate that once spelled out ‘California’ is gone as well. Soarin has gone global and is no longer focused on California. California Screamin is now going to be an Incredibles rollercoaster. The swings that once took place inside a giant orange have been replaced as well.
Overall, almost everything that tied California Adventure to California is gone. I share the same theory as others. Sometime in the near future Disney will change the name of it’s 2nd gate at Anaheim. Maybe they will just drop the word ‘California’ and have the park be called Disney’s Adventure. They might even mark the announcement with Russell and Carl(From Up) announcing that they want to go on a new adventure.
Even if they don’t rename the park ‘Adventure’ I would bet money that they change the name within the next 5 years.
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