Saturday, October 27, 2007

But Names Will Never Hurt Me...


This is companion piece to the "Sticks & Stones" post from a few days ago.

There's been a great deal of talk lately, and a good amount of e-mails asking me about DCA. In particular, the name. Like, will it stay? What will it be if they change it? And a few others.

Four and a half years from now is a long way off, friends...

A lot can happen, a lot can change.

But as far as the name...

Will DCA be DCA in 2012?

The answer is no, both in name and appearance. You've already seen some of the artwork. Some of it quite good, others that are just preliminary and concept type stuff, but the gates you walk through and the experience you have four and half years from now will be like visiting two different parks with different souls. Presuming that DCA ever really had a soul, which is what many complain about. The lack of that magic that's embalmed in Disneyland and the total lack of it in most of California Adventure is one of the most commonly heard complaints of the Disney faithful.

And as to the name. No, it won't be called "Disney's California Adventure" when the park celebrates it's 10th anniversary in about three and a half years. It's more than likely that that will be when the changeover occurs.

What will it be called? That I can't say, because I really don't know. They haven't decided yet as to what to call it. There are almost a dozen names that they are flirting with and none has been decided on for the new name yet. About half, actually a little under half still have the California name as part of it. Several others focus on the "Disney" aspect of the park... "adventure" is working its way in a couple, but they won't make a decision for a while. It's really going to be a while before the decision is made. Look how long they took to decide on "Disney's Hollywood Studios" and you can see it's not an imminent action. After-all, there's a park that needs to be rebuilt right now.

Now I personally have felt it would be better to move away from the California name, but WDI and others still want to work with that theming and as I mentioned several have the state in the title. I won't list them all, actually I've only heard of a few of them, not all, but there is one that sticks out. One that a good percentage of the Imagineers like. Remember the rumors about "Disney's California Adventure" becoming "Walt Disney's California Adventure" a while ago? Well, that's not it... from what I've been told. But it's close. The one several in Glendale want to fight for is "Walt Disney's California". This is the clear favorite of all the names that still contain the Golden State in its title. How can it be Walt's Cali, you say? Well, from what I hear... it's reflective of how the Old Maestro perceived the state and how his vision created all that Disney is today and how much of the park's creations are California based(yes, even Pixar which is now part of Disney). That's used as an explanation of characters not having to do with the state, but Disney in general.

Will this one win out?

Who knows. Like I said in the beginning of this post... four and a half years is a long, long time. Anything could happen. But one things for sure. Disney's second park is about to get a second wind. And this time it's going to have a much better chance of winning the hearts and minds of the guests who enter its gates.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like paying homage to Walt, but am unsure about having the California in the park's new title. Although I like "Walt Disney's California" better than the current DCA title.

Speaking of name changes, let's hope they change the name of "Cars Land" to something less generic. How about Route 66, since that land will no longer be there? They could nick-name the road leading into the land the "Mother Road". That would be cool.

Anonymous said...

Actually, if they are going to keep the California, they should just stick with "Disney's California".

There are VERY FEW elements they are adding to the park that are any way related to Walt. The Partner’s statue (a version of the one in Disneyland), the Walt Museum in the Carthay Theater replica (similar to the Walt’s history in Disneyland’s Opera House) and the overall tenuous tie in to the 20’s-230’s era of the area themeing enhancements.

Overall, those elements do NOT convey any overall relationship to Walt that would signify a valid reason for “Walt” to be in the park’s name. If Disneyland, the true significant Walt park, that truly deserves the name, doesn’t have it, it just seems sacrilegious to actually apply it to one of the parks that has been vilified as one of the worst parks the Disney Company has ever developed.

Anonymous said...

I completely conquer. ^^^
The naming will indeed be tricky. Also, as of now I believe the only attractions that bear Walt's name are those in which he personally worked on, in addition to the Walt Disney World Resort.

John Quebacle said...

Stay away from any name with California in the title! With key attractions like Little Mermaid and Bugs Land which do not take place in the golden state taking center stage, it would be foolish to include the state's name.

It would also be a good idea to stay away from the most disappointing theme park the company's ever built. Remember EuroDisney... Disneyland Paris. So, let's all agree the only name that should be in the new title is "Disney."

Some suggestions... The Disney Studios, The Walt Disney Studios, Disney*Pixar Studios, Walt Disney's California (Ok, so I used California!), Extreme Makeover:DCA Edition.