PDA

View Full Version : Just got home -- I like DCA



GeminiAngel
03-14-2003, 06:00 PM
I found it pretty relaxing, and a breath of fresh air to get away from the very crowded DL park. DCA had a decent crowd all by itself, But nowhere near what DL had.
We had a great room at Desert Inn and Suites right across the street from the main gate. I LOVE Soaring!!! Pirates looked great, When did they put the 1st drop in the dark? And, The climb in Matterhorn is also dark. The haunted manison looked very bright and clean. Space Mountain was aweful!!!! we usually love SM, but this time we were tossed around like rag dolls so we only rode the one time!!! OUCH!!!! Very rough!!!

Went to Downtown Disney late Wed. nite and had a blast at ESPN. Very nice down there. fog was rolling in around midnight, spooky and cool at the same time.

Thursday, We had a suprise B-Day Breakfast at Story Tellers with Pluto, Chip and Dale for a very young 52 year old in my group. it was awesome!! What a beautiful job they did. Later, we took her to City Hall for a singing of Happy B-Day via phone call from her favorite, Goofy. All the CM's were wonderful!!! and I was sure to always thank them, even told them what a great job they are doing. I asked a CM on the Railroad about Pooh (pun intended) and he told me the ride was desinged mild, so everyone can enjoy it (meaning the young'ins).

My daughter 17 months old, really had a great time!!! she was clapping on all the dark rides. And, totally went nuts in Small World!!!! her other notable loves were the Railroad, and monorail (cried when we got off both). she was unfazed by anything in A Bug's Land.

Too bad I didn't get to meet any of my fellow padders, I would have loved that. I'll be going back for the 50th!!!!

:D

Brat
03-14-2003, 06:25 PM
Congrats on a great trip! Glad you liked DCA, my family loves it too. Our last trip was a great one, it was the first time I visited DCA not pregnant, so I got to do way more than before. We also love soarin' and my son (6yrs) had a blast taking mommy on Grizzly River. It is good to hear that you had a great trip!

newhdplayer
03-14-2003, 07:13 PM
You are not supposed to like DCA.

GeminiAngel
03-14-2003, 07:43 PM
Too Bad! I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT!!!! :p

Disneyfreak
03-14-2003, 08:57 PM
I love DCA as well. It offers the scenery and relaxing environment that Disneyland cannot offer with its narrow walkways and high capacity crowds. It will be equal to Disneyland in the future, give the darn park a chance to develop. Already they are building Tower of Terror. They just need to start developing dark rides. I love those. Although I think DCA deserves a better maintinance job. Especially on Screamin and Soarin. Screamins track is decaying before my very eyes with all that water hitting the track. Soarins movie screen is getting very bad with the quality and the screen is very dirty. I dont think they have ever cleaned them!:eek:

DisneyFan25863
03-14-2003, 09:27 PM
I like DCA as a "place to relax". It is very calming to just go over there when DL is crowded, catch MV, Sorin', and maybe a ride on GRR, then grab a churro and watch the waterfall and spy on the popcorn vendor secently playing with his walkie-talkie (really, I saw and heard him talking to his friend at the churro cart all of 15 feet away!)

merlinjones
03-14-2003, 09:39 PM
I LOVE DCA because it doesn't have any crowds or people or customers or rides or atmosphere or characters or fantasy elements or parklike walkways or scenic views or tasteful details or storytelling or stimulation or escapism or amusement or theming or design or layout or "weenies" or much of anything else that Disneyland has... that's why my family and I enjoy going there for free after we have spent a few days at Disneyland, we really need a break, so rather than go to Denny's we simply walk across to DCA!!! I just LOOOOOOOOOOve it!

Ghoulish Delight
03-14-2003, 11:24 PM
Something is rather telling when the best thing people say about a park is, "It's not crowded." If you ask me, that sounds like a death nill for an amusement park.

Tink0706
03-15-2003, 04:17 AM
We really liked DCA as well. We go to WDW so often that the different atmosphere was a nice change. We have gone to other amusement parks (mostly Six Flags) and they didn't have the charm and cleanliness of DCA. I can't wait to eat bread bowls at the bakery this summer!!

innerSpaceman
03-15-2003, 07:11 AM
Originally posted by Disneyfreak
II think DCA deserves a better maintinance job. Especially on Screamin and Soarin . . . Soarins movie screen is getting very bad with the quality and the screen is very dirty. I dont think they have ever cleaned them!:eek:
I know they used to clean the screen. There is a big rig that they have to employ to get the workers way up there with their toothbrushes or whatever cleaning equipment they use. On at least one occassion that I know of, the rig broke down and the workers were stuck way, way up there for over four hours.*

So maybe that's why they don't clean it often enough anymore.



Or maybe they're just cheap.



[ * - no workers were decapitated. ]

Tigertail777
03-15-2003, 11:15 AM
I think the big problem with Soarin is that the film itself and not just the screen gets dirty. They did a neat little cost cutting feature in that area: there was supposed to be this sweeper gate type thing that cleans the film as it is used much like the kind in Imax theaters...well it was a bit pricey so they thought they could get away without using it, and do something a bit cheaper instead.

I am wondering how much you people who love DCA will love it if it gets the kinds of crowds that Disney wants? Sure it has wide walkways and is open NOW, but so was Disneyland once. As soon as they started doing all the add ons is when it became crowded and congested, because lets face it, there is only so much room to work with. So if we do indeed wait for DCA to "grow up", and it becomes almost as crowded as Disneyland, what then? Will you still like it as much? (its a definate hypothetical question, I dont think it will ever get that crowded, but I am curious).

Wizard69
03-15-2003, 03:06 PM
I am wondering how much you people who love DCA will love it if it gets the kinds of crowds that Disney wants? Sure it has wide walkways and is open NOW, but so was Disneyland once. As soon as they started doing all the add ons is when it became crowded and congested, because lets face it, there is only so much room to work with. So if we do indeed wait for DCA to "grow up", and it becomes almost as crowded as Disneyland, what then? Will you still like it as much? (its a definate hypothetical question, I dont think it will ever get that crowded, but I am curious).

Yes I will still love it.


I think the big problem with Soarin is that the film itself and not just the screen gets dirty. They did a neat little cost cutting feature in that area: there was supposed to be this sweeper gate type thing that cleans the film as it is used much like the kind in Imax theaters...well it was a bit pricey so they thought they could get away without using it, and do something a bit cheaper instead.

The film is indeed the problem. It is an IMAX movie essentially and they do clean the film. The closer you get to closing time, the more dirty the film is and looks like little black "birds" are flying with you when you watch the film.

dgdisney
03-15-2003, 05:52 PM
My family enjoys DCA too--it is something different. I look at it as an additional land-especially since there was very little for my 2 and 6 year old in Tomorrowland (although this year the now-7 year old is trying to get ready for Space Mountain). They both have always enjoyed DCA (and we haven't seen the new bugs world rides yet)--they liked the big rapids, the innovative areas to climb and play and the music (go figure)

DCA has a different pace-and we have been there when the wait for Rapids ride was 90 minutes and 20 minutes. I'm sure it will become more crowded and then we will all scheme about when is the best time to go over--but we will probably all go over because when you're at the land for more than 1 day why not go to both!:)

merlinjones
03-16-2003, 05:11 AM
>>I'm sure it will become more crowded <<

I'm not.

Doodle Duck
03-16-2003, 07:23 AM
For So Cals...As long as it's FREE, WHY NOT LOVE IT?
I don't get it.

Basically Disneyland's Big Coaster is a bunch of extra steps away.
So is what ever else you DO like in DCA. Hello?

As an extention, it's a nice place...it's FREE...enjoy it while you can!

Did I mention it's FREE?!

You have no control over it's future...you have no say in what people from Indiana or Florida think or do...they will either like it or not. If not, it's not the only thing in their lives they will run into they have to pay for that's not perfect.
So feel lucky you're a SoCal or passholder of two parks for ONE... relax and RIDE.

YellowMan
03-16-2003, 08:57 AM
Originally posted by DoodleDuck(A.E)
For So Cals...As long as it's FREE, WHY NOT LOVE IT?
I don't get it.

Basically Disneyland's Big Coaster is a bunch of extra steps away.
So is what ever else you DO like in DCA. Hello?

As an extention, it's a nice place...it's FREE...enjoy it while you can!

Did I mention it's FREE?!

You have no control over it's future...you have no say in what people from Indiana or Florida think or do...they will either like it or not. If not, it's not the only thing in their lives they will run into they have to pay for that's not perfect.
So feel lucky you're a SoCal or passholder of two parks for ONE... relax and RIDE. Well, back in April of 2001 my family went to the Disneyland Resort and only visited DCA. Not Disneyland on the side, just DCA. We paid full admission and we enjoyed ourselves a lot. I know many people who have done the same thing as I did. Sure, now that I have an AP it's nice to be able to hop back and forth throughout the course of a day, but I have been there when it wasn't free and I still enjoyed myself.

Doodle Duck
03-16-2003, 09:22 AM
Me too Yellowman...we paid full boat twice before getting passes.
But the point stands I believe.

Tigertail777
03-16-2003, 12:28 PM
I did enjoy SOME things at DCA, but it is NOT I repeat NOT worth the same price or even close to the same price as Disneyland. I personally felt very ripped off paying that price. Especially since several rides were down almost the full day... I never got to ride the screamin coaster it was broken for the day, I couldnt find that show thing with whoopi goldburg anywhere and the CM's were not helpful on that matter (they were helpful on other things). I really hated the way the park was laid out I had the hardest time finding things and even some of the CM's seemed confused. Traffic flow was NOT planned out well it was almost as bad as Universal (except there was no scary mile long escalater to ride).
I did like: the animation building (once I found it tucked away around a bend) that was fantastic easily the best thign at DCA! I spent a good 3 hours there. I also liked soarin the first time, the second time it wasnt so thrilling. GRR was kinda fun it really needed a lot more to look at visually besides faded life vests and camping gear. I loved tough to be a bug that was the best 3d I have ever seen, and I loved the intereactive things, and the great AA's.
But DCA was really only about a half day park, and as such it should not have a full park price. Even if some of the attractions that I missed were working it still wouldnt have been much more than a half day park. I was sorely dissappointed since I dont get to go to Disneyland but once every 10 years or so.
I was absolutely thrilled with Indy, and Fantasmic across the way though they were almost worth the price of admission alone!:D