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Marty
03-18-2004, 11:11 AM
Now, I know a lot of you dislike DCA for a lot of reason. Many of which I can’t argue with. If you find the theming of the park sub par, well then that’s how you feel. If you think California is an uninspired inspiration for the park, well then that’s your opinion. But there is one particular objection to the park that I do want to take issue with. Many on this site habitually criticize DCA because it is a “half-day park” – and therefore not worth the price of admission no matter how one feels about its attractions. I couldn’t disagree more.

Obviously Disneyland itself has a lot more to do and see than DCA. But really, what other theme park in the world has as much going for it as Walt’s original. If you are only comparing DCA to DL, then fine. DCA is going to come up short. But DL takes at least 2 days to do properly – and that’s only if the crowds are light. For those of you who believe DCA is a half-day park, let me give you a taste of how we spent our time there on this last visit.

Day Two (Tuesday)

10:00 – park opens, pick up Soarin fast passes the get in line for the Grizzly River Run, get soaked then do it again.

10:30 – Go for a run around Redwood Creek Challenge Trail to dry off. Get pics with Brother Bear Characters

11:00 – Head off to Soarin to use fast passes

11:20 – Make our way down to outskirts of Paradise Pier, ride Golden Zephyr

11: 45 – Do a little souvenir shopping, make our way to Ariel’s Grotto for lunch

12:00 – Reservation at Ariel’s Grotto. Great lunch, kids have lots of fun. Beautiful sunny day on the patio. Before we know it 90 minutes have passed by.

1: 30 – Make our way to Screamin (have some fast passes), Mom and Dad go for a thrill ride, girls make do with multiple rides on the Carousel

2:00 – Get in line for Ferris Wheel, get one of those swinging cars. Never seen my wife so terrified. Have great time.

2:30 – Go for some Ice Cream

2:45 – Get family portrait done on the boardwalk

3:15 – Make our way to bugs life area, do all the rides

4:00 – See the Bug’s Life 3D show

4: 30 Get in line for Aladdin

5: 45: Aladdin gets out, do a little more shopping before the park closes at 6. Head off to DL to see the parade again.

Day Four (Thursday)

Spend Morning doing Splash (again), Big Thunder and Tom Sawyers Island

1:00 PM – Get to DCA. Go directly to Paradise Pier. Do Jumping Jellyfish, play in the Tugboat, do Mullholland Madness. Get a corn dog and relax in the sun.

2:45 – Do soarin again

3:15 More Shopping

3:45 – Take kids to see Disney Playhouse

4:30 – Go see Muppets 3D show

5:00 – Spend time with characters (Lilo, Stitch, Donald,) outside Hollywood Backlot area

5:15 – Go to the Disney Animation Exhibit. Stay there until park closes (way to little time)

6:00 Park closes, head off to Downtown Disney for dinner.

So there you have. We spent a day and a half at DCA and we were never at a loss for what to do. Granted, the park did close at 6:00 – but then we were there on weekdays and the none of the lines were that bad.

My point is that we would not have felt ripped off if we had shown up at the park and purchased a day ticket that was only good at DCA. In fact if we had just purchased one day at DCA, we would have felt the need to return because we couldn’t get it all in on one day.

Irish Badger
03-18-2004, 11:27 AM
My 13 year old son loves DCA

I have never let him go anywhere by himself before but I started signing him in to DCA on Sundays while I work. He has to check in with me every couple of hours and he knows to go to a cast member if anyone bothers him ( plus he is a 2nd degree brown belt who has won several trophies - mother braggin) so I feel comfortable with this.

One time he rode Grizzly rapids 53 times in a row. I mean he just rode that ride for 4 straight hours. He had a blast -a very wet blast but a blast all the same.

Sometimes he just spends the whole day exploring. He has had a lot of fun in the animation thing in the backlot area.

LegolandMC
03-18-2004, 12:40 PM
Pre-AP days, the very first summer that DCA was open, I went to just DCA on two different days. Took my sister one day, and my brother another. Both times, I enjoyed the day a lot, and was never at a loss of things to do. I didn't feel as if my money was wasted.

And now that I've had an AP for a few years, I love DCA even more! More time to appreciate the things that are there.

kijay
03-18-2004, 12:56 PM
As I have said before, if you enjoy DCA for what it is, and not for what it isn't, then there is no reason to not have a good time. We went twice in '01 and we enjoyed it very much. My children totally enjoyed the Animation building. There was a lot to do there just in that area. And it was stuff we all could do as a family together (remind you of what someone had in mind). No, DCA is not DLand, nor will it ever be. There is only one original, and nothing will ever compare to it.

Cancer Norm
03-18-2004, 01:43 PM
Originally posted by Marty
Obviously Disneyland itself has a lot more to do and see than DCA. But really, what other theme park in the world has as much going for it as Walt’s original. If you are only comparing DCA to DL, then fine. DCA is going to come up short. But DL takes at least 2 days to do properly – and that’s only if the crowds are light. For those of you who believe DCA is a half-day park, let me give you a taste of how we spent our time there on this last visit.

If DCA is only half the park DL is, then why, oh why do they charge the same price to each venue? Shouldn't they charge only half the price? I think so.

As far as comparing DCA to other parks, I believe Knott's costs less to enter and there is far more to do there. Magic Mountain cannot be done in one day and is roughly the same price as DCA.

...So in conclusion, whether you compare DCA to DL or other parks, DCA will always come up short.

JeffG
03-18-2004, 02:11 PM
It has always struck me that the "half-day park" accusation against DCA usually has been pretty deeply rooted in the preferences of the person using that phrase. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that DCA has more than enough to offer to fill a day. In fact, I have spent several full days there and never managed to do everything in a single visit.

My first two visits to the park were 9 and 14 hours in length respectively and there were still a few attractions that I had not yet seen at that point, including Grizzly River, which we were avoiding because of fairly cold weather and It's Tough to be a Bug, which I had seen in Florida and the others in my party were avoiding due to insect phobias.

Both of these visits were during the pre-opening preview days, which admittedly were busier than most of the regular operating days have been. I don't recall waiting in any excessively long lines, though, thanks to use of Fastpass and careful timing. I also think there is significance in the fact that both of those visits were before the addition of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Flik's Fun Faire, and Playhouse Disney Live. Those visits were also during the re-tooling of "Steps in Time", so the Hyperion Theater was not being used. Admittedly, both visits did include meals at Soap Opera Bistro, viewings of "Eureka!" and rides on Superstar Limo, none of which are available now.

Even more recently, I have had opportunities to visit the park with out-of-towners that had not been before and still had no trouble filling a day. In fact, when I took my parents to the park for the first time last December, the fairly short park hours ended up being our biggest problem. We really only had one day available to dedicate to DCA during that visit and the result was that there were several attractions that they would have liked to have seen, but didn't have the opportunity. Even with the park generally uncrowded, we felt really pressed for time because of the 6pm weekday closing time. On a single day visit, some of the park's nicer luxuries like watching the full loop in Animation building lobby or having a relaxing drink at the Golden Vine Winery seemed impractical.

While I certainly think the park needs more attractions, particularly of the larger E-ticket variety, I also think it opened with a fairly solid starting line-up and has been steadily growing into an even richer experience overall (at least from the standpoint of attractions -- I think it is has backpedaled badly when it comes to dining options). I think that those who call it a "half-day park" simply dislike enough of the park's offerings that they can't fill a full day with the parts that they do like.

-Jeff

Marty
03-18-2004, 02:24 PM
Originally posted by Mr.Zogs


As far as comparing DCA to other parks, I believe Knott's costs less to enter and there is far more to do there. Magic Mountain cannot be done in one day and is roughly the same price as DCA ….

...So in conclusion, whether you compare DCA to DL or other parks, DCA will always come up short.

First off, Knot’s isn’t DCA. I’m not trying to come down on Knot’s or anything. My family and I spent a very nice day there. And it does have its own charms. But the price for adults was about the same as DCA and for my family at least, after about 5 hours we had done everything we wanted. (And unlike DCA and DL, much of the stuff we did we did separately. There just isn’t the number of attractions that can be equally enjoyed by the whole family as there are at the Disney parks.) We couldn’t say this about DCA. As I showed in my original post, we needed a day and a half to do everything we wanted. And even then there are things we still haven’t done at DCA.

The point I was making in my post was that for a full price admission at DCA, a family like mine was easily able to get a full day’s worth of enjoyment. It’s not like you spend your money and are out of options after a few hours.

So no, DCA certainly does not come up short when compared to Knott’s. And though it may have less things to do than DL, the same can be said of virtually every other theme park in the world.

Cancer Norm
03-18-2004, 03:10 PM
Originally posted by Marty
There just isn’t the number of attractions that can be equally enjoyed by the whole family as there are at the Disney parks.) We couldn’t say this about DCA.

Knott's is not really an adults park. It has a section(Camp Snoopy) that small kids seem to love. And the rest of the park, oops farm is basically for teenagers. And there are loads of 'em there. It seems to me that DCA is going after the same audience. It doesn't really seem like a family park to me. Teenagers seem to be the primary draw. There are only a few rides for little kids and I can see parents shlepping young kids around can get old real fast. Maybe DCA is an attempt to compete with Knott's? Though Knott's Berry Farms' attendence is nowhere near that of DL! Not even close.

cemeinke
03-18-2004, 04:19 PM
If DCA is a full day park, why doesn't Disney keep it open for a full day?

I think one of the more annoying things is the limited hours - especially during the week. I think the park is way cooler at night, but most of the time it closes before nightfall. What a waste.

sleepyjeff
03-18-2004, 04:39 PM
Originally posted by cemeinke
If DCA is a full day park, why doesn't Disney keep it open for a full day?

I think one of the more annoying things is the limited hours - especially during the week. I think the park is way cooler at night, but most of the time it closes before nightfall. What a waste.

I agree. Now if I were a running things:

Summer and Holiday periods--------------------------------------

DCA------------11am - 1am M - F
9am - 1am Sat- Sun

Disneyland-----9am - 12m M - F
8am - 12m Sat-Sun

Off Season---------------------------------------------------------------

DCA--------------11am - 11pm M - F
11am - 12m Sat-Sun
***closed on tuesday***

Disneyland------10am - 9pm M - F
9am - 11pm Sat-Sun
***closed on Wednesday***

Of course I am not running things(such a pitty) ---:rolleyes:

CarlieB
03-18-2004, 04:56 PM
2:00 – Get in line for Ferris Wheel, get one of those swinging cars. Never seen my wife so terrified. Have great time.

:D That mad me laugh. I've never been on the Sun Wheel - heights terrify me. There's no way you'd ever get me on one of those swinging cars on that thing - I'd have to be unconscious first.

Freerider127
03-18-2004, 05:38 PM
The park is a complete joke. The first time you go there maybe it can be a whole day park but your 2nd or third time there it gets really old. If you want to go on things like a bugs life then consider a full day park but I found it hard just being there for a few hours. When Tower of Terror opens maybe you can say its a full day park but I still will not think its a full day park thats worth paying 47$ for.

Snappyjo
03-18-2004, 05:45 PM
Knotts has Ghostrider and that’s all that needs to make it far better then DCA.

Untill TOT opens at least :D

cstephens
03-18-2004, 07:19 PM
Originally posted by cemeinke
If DCA is a full day park, why doesn't Disney keep it open for a full day?

Because whoever is making that decision is an absolute idiot.

zapppop
03-18-2004, 07:50 PM
Originally posted by cemeinke
If DCA is a full day park, why doesn't Disney keep it open for a full day?

Be realistic; how could they afford to operate DCA for a full day AND give you a free tortilla and slice of bread ? ;)

What I found interesting about Marty's little trip report is that he/she said there wasn't enough time in 1 day to do everything in DCA yet spent at least 3 hours or more each day not going on the rides or seeing the attractions in DCA, despite the shorter operating hours than Disneyland.

Darkbeer
03-18-2004, 08:09 PM
SLICE of bread, I swear I get a croûton sized piece, just not toasted....

But then again, I am a fan of the Ten Pound Buns sold at county fairs....

http://www.boston-baden.com/hazel/Pix/p.cgi?2002+1455-9+ocf059.jpg

Give me a dang LOAF, and not a nibble....:fez:

EandCDad
03-18-2004, 08:21 PM
My problem is that we usually do just a one day trip to DL and DCA. The kids like the Fantasyland rides and then we usually at least do Big Thunder, Pirates, Pooh, and a few others, so by the time we even make it over to DCA, half the day is shot. But I could see how we would easily spend a day over there.

We like

Soarin' (and could easily ride it twice)
Grizzly
Redwood Creek Challange Trail
Screamin'
Golden Dreams (little "C" insists)
Golden Zephyr
Sun Wheel
King Triton's Carousel
Animation Building
Aladdin Show
Muppets 3-D
Francis Lady Bug Boogie
the Chew Chew Train
The Buggies
The Tortilla and Bread tours (I'm pretty much familiar at this point with how to make bread, but the kids insist on going)
The Electrical Parade

Combine that with a stop for lunch and ice cream or something and that will easily fill a day, more if it's crowded.

Marty
03-18-2004, 10:29 PM
Originally posted by zapppop

What I found interesting about Marty's little trip report is that he/she said there wasn't enough time in 1 day to do everything in DCA yet spent at least 3 hours or more each day not going on the rides or seeing the attractions in DCA, despite the shorter operating hours than Disneyland.

I’m not really sure what to make of this. When my family spends time at DL we don’t just hop from ride to ride and attraction to attraction. We like to poke around in some of the shops, stop for goodies, search out nice places for meals, try to interact with the characters and just make sure we generally soak up the atmosphere. So I guess it comes as no surprise that we bring a similar attitude to DCA as well.

But if zapppop spends his\her time at DL single-mindedly marching from ride to ride, I have to presume he\she does the same at DCA as well. And that being the case, I have to similarly expect that Mr\Mrs zapppop can barely fill half a day at the new park.

daannzzz
03-19-2004, 01:38 PM
I am one of those who finds DCA very disapointing. I think it was ill concieved and not excecuted particularly well and not added to in a good manner. There are some real bad spots in the park and a few good ones and a couple great ones. Irregardless of my opinion, I can spend a whole day in there doing the stuff that they do have and in fact can skip a few things and still go from opening to closing.

Quinten27
03-19-2004, 01:48 PM
As bad as some people may think the DCA is, I for one, can't wait to go back! The park could be much better, and one day maybe it will be, but until then, if you don't like it, don't go. That keeps the lines shorter for me.......

Pat-n-Eil
03-20-2004, 09:34 AM
If DCA is only half the park DL is, then why, oh why do they charge the same price to each venue? Shouldn't they charge only half the price? I think so.

As far as comparing DCA to other parks, I believe Knott's costs less to enter and there is far more to do there. Magic Mountain cannot be done in one day and is roughly the same price as DCA.

...So in conclusion, whether you compare DCA to DL or other parks, DCA will always come up short.

One word (3 times): Location, Location, Location.

(p.s. I'm a big fan of DCA anyway, it is a breath of fresh air compared to the madhouse DL often becomes).

dlazechk
03-20-2004, 01:24 PM
we are in our mid forties and we treat the 2 parks as if it was one. for us, when dca opened, they just added more attractions for us to see. of course in our one visit to wdw, we visited all 4 parks on new years eve 2000 which was our last day there. i do not understand the idea of a half-day park at dca just as i do not understand buying just a single day pass. having the ability to parkhop makes the 2 parks just 1 big happy fun place with 2 seperate gates.

averagecuppajoe
03-20-2004, 03:30 PM
I took my 1 1/2 old daughter and wife to Disney Resort in '02. We purchased "Park Hopper" tickets with our vacation package.

We went into DCA in the late afternoon. (In DL I took my daughter on most of the attractions.) In DCA, she could ride only 3 attractions. We spent 25 minutes waiting for The Golden Zephyr. Yawn. Waste of 30 minutes. My daughter wasn't even amused. We then spent an hour and twenty minutes in line for the Sun Wheel. The ride was fine. We got some good pics.

Then what? That was it. There was nothing left to ride on with my daughter. Now it's early evening and we decide to "hop" over to DL since there's nothing left for us to do as a family at DCA. We get to DL and we're told that our Park Hopper Passes can be used for only one park per day. The "hopping" part means we can go to either park but not both on the same day. Now we've just wasted a whole day at the Disney Resort on a mere 3 1/2 hours at DCA. A day we can't get back because our vacation is only so long.

Our trip was 4 days. We wanted to go back to see the ELP but not at the cost of missing an entire day at DL. The whole thing still ticks me off. We haven't been back. Maybe next year. I hear that they've added a few things for kids but I've also heard that the added things are underwhelming. I think going into DCA I expected the same family friendly environment as DL and by far, it wasn't. I think I'll wait until they can get their ---- together.

I'd like to have the DL of my youth back. (Make that the innocence of my youth back) The one that wasn't falling apart because of a cost-cutting iron fist.:crying:

I look forward to Michael Eisner's retirement from Disney. The sooner the better.:)

mikala
03-20-2004, 06:05 PM
quote

I’m not really sure what to make of this. When my family spends time at DL we don’t just hop from ride to ride and attraction to attraction. We like to poke around in some of the shops, stop for goodies, search out nice places for meals, try to interact with the characters and just make sure we generally soak up the atmosphere. So I guess it comes as no surprise that we bring a similar attitude to DCA as well.






Hi Marty,

I absolutely love all your trip reports, and we share your views. At the time I was a CM when DCA opened, and from the CM Preview (a couple of months prior to opening) we were hooked. The atmosphere is one of the best parts of both parks. We stroll...and I mean we stroll.

Thank god, my husband loves to shop. One of our trips, we rode 17 rides in 3 days. That is it. We have been AP's for a long while, and totally enjoy this park. We wouldn't even think of coming there without dividing our time between both. EQUALLY.

So, unfortunately everyone doesn't share our views, but IMO it was NO waste of money.

Mikala

Quinten27
03-22-2004, 03:41 PM
I took my 1 1/2 old daughter and wife to Disney Resort in '02. We purchased "Park Hopper" tickets with our vacation package.

We get to DL and we're told that our Park Hopper Passes can be used for only one park per day. The "hopping" part means we can go to either park but not both on the same day.

Wierd. When I went at the end of '02, we had park hoppers and we had no problem "hopping" from park to park several times through out the day. I wonder if they changed their policy after you went or if you just happen to have a rude uninformed CM?