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View Full Version : My first impressions of DCA (long)



Bill Catherall
10-21-2002, 03:34 PM
After having read this board and MousePlanet for just over a year now, with all the differing opinions, articles, and news about DCA, I have reserved judgment for myself. I wanted to wait to see it for myself before I formed my own opinions.

I did, however, not have the highest of expectation based on the predominant negative feedback about the park.

Saturday, after the potluck meet, I went with my family over to DCA to visit A Bug's Land and eat dinner. After entering the park I felt like a Disney newbie, not knowing where I was or how to get where I wanted to go, relying on the map for directions and CMs when I couldn't find things on the map.

We eventually found our way over to A Bug's Land and watched It's Tough to be a Bug. Then we went into Flik's Fun Fair and rode on Heimlich’s Chew Chew Train and Tuck and Roll’s Drive ‘Em Buggies. Afterwords, we headed to Pacific Wharf to eat at the Pacific Wharf Cafe, followed by a walk through Grizzly Peak Recreation Area over to Condor Flats to ride Soarin' Over California. As we were about to leave the park we came upon the Electrical Parade already in progress so we stopped to watch it go by, bought some toys at the Engine-Ears Toy shop and headed back to the hotel with some very tired kids and adults.

Overall I thought the park (what I saw of it) had a very fun feel to it. It was clean, not crowded (a very welcome break), lots to look at, and what I thought was a very good atmosphere. What do I think of all the naysayers who can only find fault? Well, nothing bad if that's what you're thinking. ;) They certainly are entitled to their opinion, but my first impression is very good. I do want to go back to experience more. Does that mean I'm jumping on board with all the "Pollyannas" who can't see anything wrong with it? Not so fast there... :)

A Bug's Land: It opens up with what looks like a great deal of wasted space. Little garden plots with character statues. Whoopee! Really what's the point of that?

It's Tough to be a Bug: First, the queue. They must have been expecting thousands of people to be lined up for that year round. I must have walked a good 1/2 mile just to get to the theater. I love the immersive theming of the queue, but is that thing ever filled? It was completely empty on Saturday, probably one of the most crowded days.

The show was extremely fun. I loved it! A couple of the kids we were with got very frightened though.I was impressed with how fast the theater filled with smoke! Wow! And I also sat forward the whole time to avoid the rumored painful "sting." So I don't know how it felt.
The 3D effects were very good. When I watch Honey, I Shrunk the Audience my eyes water like crazy because for some reason that movie just gets my eyes bothered. I have a hard time watching it. But ITTBAB was fine. No visual irritation at all.

Heimlich’s Chew Chew Train: Dumb Da-da Dumb! That had to be the biggest waste of time ever. A 30 minute wait in line for a 30 second (?) ride. Ugh! The smells were fun, but it was way too slow and way too short. My 4-year-old daughter thought it was fun when we were on it, but made no comment after we got off. We did overhear a rather intelligent 5-year-old boy (not with us) say "That was the stupidest ride I've ever been on," after he got off. :rolleyes:

Tuck and Roll’s Drive ‘Em Buggies: This was okay. The ride vehicles move way too slow, in my opinion. But it lasted long enough for us to at least make a couple laps. I pity the people who got stuck next to someone that thought it would be a good idea to try to drive backward. Because of the very slow cars you couldn't get away from people who just wanted to bump. And the bumps were so incredibly mild that you didn't even know you hit something.

Pacific Wharf Cafe: You know, it's really weird to drive 6.5 hours down from San Francisco to go visit "San Francisco." :rolleyes: The food was good though, and the sun set just as we were getting our food, making for some really nice night views out toward Paradise Pier. (The cashier did screw up the order though. I ordered a cream puff and he rang it up, I paid, then he told me they were all out of cream puffs and I could choose from any other dessert item that I really wasn't interested in. I wouldn't have even ordered dessert if I didn't see "Chocolate Cream Puff" on the menu. :mad: )

Grizzly Peak Recreation Area: Oh, I loved this area! :D I could spend all day there just hanging out. I love the mountains and the trees in the redwood forests of California and they captured them pretty good. The trees aren't nearly big enough, but that was okay. It was close enough. Of course, living here I don't really have to go very far to see the real thing. But in a cement park, it's a nice attraction.

Soarin' Over California: What an awesome ride! Sure it's "just a flight simulator," but this was much more immersive. What other flight simulator makes it feel like your feet are actually going to take a dip into the ocean or the rapids of a river. I actually felt like I was flying. My favorite part...Yosemite. Man, just thinking about it makes the hair stand up on my neck and my eyes well with tears. No other ride has ever given me such an emotional response. After riding it twice, my daughter said to me (while holding up all ten of her fingers) "I could ride that this many times." That pretty much sums it up for me too. :D

Electrical Parade: It was really nice to see it again! And my kids were able to see it for the first time. When we went into the Engine-Ears Toy shop my daughter bought an Elliot (the dragon) plush toy that plays the parade music and has a light up lantern on his tail. She passed up all other dolls and plushes for that one.

Again, I'm looking forward to another visit there sometime. As much as I love Disneyland, I'm thinking I'm a little more willing to spend some time at DCA for a little more exploring. It really isn't all that bad.

adriennek
10-21-2002, 03:57 PM
Originally posted by Bill Catherall

Tuck and Roll’s Drive ‘Em Buggies: This was okay. The ride vehicles move way too slow, in my opinion. But it lasted long enough for us to at least make a couple laps. I pity the people who got stuck next to someone that thought it would be a good idea to try to drive backward. Because of the very slow cars you couldn't get away from people who just wanted to bump. And the bumps were so incredibly mild that you didn't even know you hit something.[/B]

For the record, the speed on these has been increased since I rode them a few weeks ago. They currently run as fast as they were built to run. Obviously, they're still slow, but they're turned up as fast as they can go!

Adrienne K

Doodle Duck
10-21-2002, 04:04 PM
"It really isn't all that bad."


No Bill...it isn't. Hope to see ya there sometime! Hangin' out by the big waterfalls (the ones in the back on the hotel side) is a pretty cool relaxing break.

Klutch
10-21-2002, 04:25 PM
My first visit to DCA was last week. I liked each area with the very glaring exception of Paradise Pier. Of course, I absolutely loathe carnivals, so just being there literally made me want to hurl. I did like the California Screamin' coaster. Too bad the music was working on only one of three trains.

One other aspect that made me want to hurl was the overwhelming scent of burned coffee near the entrance. I guess the bean roasters still have some tweaking to do. It smelled like somebody left a 50 gallon pot of coffee on a giant burner overnight. I really like the smell of coffee, but not a burning pot. Ugh. I visited the parks 5 days in a row (yes, I'm nuts) and that stench was there every day.

I too really enjoyed Soarin'. Now, am I crazy, or did I really smell grapes while flying over Napa Valley? I thought the California aviation history displays in the queue were wonderful. The line was actually moving too fast for me to read all the captions, but what I did read was great.

In Bug's Land I attende two showings of Tough to be A Bug. Many a tyke had the pants scared off him, but it was great show. I didn't ride any of the kiddy rides, but my wife adored the candy corn garden.

RStar
10-21-2002, 05:25 PM
Bill, I'm glad you had a good time at DCA. I like to spend time there myself. True, it's not the park it could be, but I still enjoy it.

And as for the "waisted space" in Bugs Land, keep in mind that it was something else before they built it. The statues with the flowers around them use to be part of the Bountiful Valley Farm, which is no more. They had crops in those spaces, and rather than just fill them all in, they left some and planted them that way.

I kind of enjoyed showing my kids the crops. And I don't know how they will be able to hold on to the Catapiller sponser without crops and farms, but we will see how long it lasts.

Ghoulish Delight
10-21-2002, 06:05 PM
Originally posted by Bill Catherall
A Bug's Land: It opens up with what looks like a great deal of wasted space. Little garden plots with character statues. Whoopee! Really what's the point of that?
Actually, the little garden plots existed pre-Bug's Land. Originally, that area (minus, of course, FFF which didn't exist) was called "Bountiful Valley Farms." Those little garden plots had actual, live crops. It was meant as an educational look at one of the largest agriculture economies in the world. Unfortunately, the combination of farming's inherent boringness, and the complete lack of effort by Disney to overcome that with interesting interactive displays or CM spiels, or ANYTHING, it was nothing more than some rotting fruit and a few signs. So when they converted the area to theme into FFF, they did away with the costly high maintanance crops, planted a few off the shelf flowers, and put some very nice bug statues in.



The show was extremely fun. I loved it! A couple of the kids we were with got very frightened though.I was impressed with how fast the theater filled with smoke! Wow! And I also sat forward the whole time to avoid the rumored painful "sting." So I don't know how it felt. To reproduce the stinging effect:
Take one (1) ball point pen in your prefered hand in a fist, back end of the pen protruding from the "thumb side" of the fist.
Position said hand behind you with back end of pen facing your back.
Select a random position, approximately 1/3 of the way up your spine, and within the range of 1" of either side of your spine (including the possibility of it actually bein directly lined up with your spine).
With a short, quick, motion and moderate force, jab yourself in the back one (1) time.
Congratulations, you have been stung.

When I first saw this attraction I sat next to my sister. When Hopper says "prepare you stingers," My sister cocks her head and says, quizically, "Stingers??" (think of a cartoon dog making that "arrrrr?" motion and noise) and an instant later, LEPT out of her seat as she was stung. Hillarious!! :D)

RStar
10-22-2002, 09:22 AM
Didn't I just say that?:confused: ;)

Bill Catherall
10-22-2002, 09:57 AM
Thanks guys. :) I'm aware that those garden plots used to be part of the farm exhibit, but I think they should have done more than just plop in some (very nice) bug statues. The Flik's Fun Fair area could have been expanded and those statues dispursed throught the area. That could have made the Chew Chew train ride longer with some more fun effects.
I asked my brother one time what the sting feels like. He went behind me and gave me a sharp poke in the back. No thanks!

malin
10-22-2002, 11:09 AM
Great report Bill.Like you Im going to be visiting DCA for the first time on Nov 7th.And while I have heard all the criticism I try not to take to much notice.I heard the same criticism when Disney's Animal Kingdom and the Walt Disney Studios in Paris opened.And have have visited both parks and was happy with what I got.And don't see why DCA will be any differn't.

Ghoulish Delight
10-22-2002, 12:01 PM
Originally posted by RStar
Didn't I just say that?:confused: ;) doh! Not sure what happened. I think I started my post, walked away, then finished it and in the mean time you posted. Yeah, that's my excuse ;)

mad4mky
10-22-2002, 03:46 PM
Bill...I am glad that you, Tammie and your kids had a good time in DCA.

For the three days we were there, we didn't go into the park until about 2 hours before we had to leave to go to the John Wayne Airport...yesterday.
My daughter was kind of upset that they hung a big Rallymonkey on the Golden Gate Bridge...she felt they went just a little too far at making fun at us Giants fans by hanging that monkey on "our" bridge.
:rolleyes:

She is a BIG Giants Fan...and I mean BIG. (Her father has Giants season tickets, and she and he live at PacBell Park when they can).

Anyways, We did get to see something in DCA we had never seen before (Besides FFF, which is why we went over in the first place. We wanted to see the new section). Drum roll please...

We got to see DCA's First Aid Station!!
:rolleyes:

As we came out of FFF...my daughter was commenting how cute the little bug statues were, and was running her hand along the wood railing. All of a sudden I hear OUCH!! She got a huge splinter from the wood...and I mean big and deep. I of course, don't have a needle on me to get it out...besides, it was in good. So we ask a CM where the First Aid Station was...and we head off there...as she is trying to hold back tears.

When we got there, the place was empty...and a nurse came right out to help us. I noticed the nice leather chairs in the waiting room...and how clean and neat everything was (they must not see a lot of action...except on hot days). The nurse could not have been nicer...
It took her a while to get the splinter out, as it was in quite deep...but after several tries, she got it out...we all ooohed and aaahhhed at how big it actually was. Daughter got a band-aid and stickers and we went merrily on our way...
But, I of course told the nurse, that perhaps she should notify park matinence that they should sand and varnish the wood better. Having a 12 year old get a splinter is no big deal...but I can just imagine cute, little 18 mos or 2 year olds running there hands along that wood. Ouch.:(
Let alone kids who put their mouths on things like this.
I know its wood folks...and with wood comes splinters...but since it is the "kiddie" area...they could do a little more work there.
I am not complaining. Just the opposite...I felt we got A+ service there...with the nicest of people to help us. If my kid had to go to the first aid office...I am glad it was at a Disney Park...:D . And thank goodness for only a splinter.:)