Walt Disney would turn over in his grave - long rumored to be under Sleeping Beauty's Castle - if he could see the piece of theme park trash they slapped his name on in Anaheim across the esplanade from his namesake landmark.
By all honest accounts, Disney's California Adventure is nothing more than a cheap strip mall knock-off of everything the theme park innovator invented back in 1955. But it's nothing a billion dollars can't fix. Or so the Disney suits hope.
For anyone who's ever stepped foot into California Adventure (and the attendance numbers bear out that few have), the initial and resonating universal response is almost always the same: The place has no soul.
It starts at the front door. Ten-foot-tall postcard letters spell out C-A-L-I-F-O-R-N-I-A. A pair of monolithic tile murals depict undecipherable scenes from the Golden State. A broad swath of cement leads under a dwarfed Golden Gate Bridge to a giant tinfoil-esque sun icon. There's nary a Disney reference in sight.
In a few short months, work should begin on the scar that is California Adventure's welcome mat. In its place, sometime around the time of the theme park's 10th anniversary in 2011, visitors will find an extension of Disneyland's Main Street USA representing the 1920s Los Angeles the young animator encountered upon arriving in California to launch his storied career.
At the head of the Mission- and Art Deco-style shopping promenade (which will be detailed in a forthcoming blog post), a replica of Los Angeles' historic Carthay Circle Theatre, where Snow White premiered in 1937, will feature a continuous showing of Disney's life story. Pacific Electric Railway Red Car trolleys and period antique vehicles will traverse the main thoroughfare. A statue in the central square will depict a wiry Disney carrying a cardboard suitcase accompanied by a wide-eyed Mickey Mouse.
With no way to enter or exit the park during the massive $75-million entrance face-lift, visitors will pass through a temporary turnstile in the long-since-vacant "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" show building, according to MiceAge.
