A 4-year makeover
2008 Toy Story Mania opens. An interactive ride in which guests enter a 4-D carnival midway hosted by characters from the Disney Pixar movie “Toy Story.”
2010 World of Color debuts. A turning point in the overhaul of California Adventure, the nighttime water and fire ballet incorporates animated images, fire, mist and more than 1,000 specialty fountains, all choreographed to musical numbers.
2011 The Little Mermaid – Ariel’s Undersea Adventure, a ride in which guests board a clam shell that takes them through scenes of the animated film.
2011 Goofy’s Sky School: Formerly the Mulholland Madness coaster, which was re-themed 10 years after it first opened, patterned after the animated cartoon “Goofy’s Glider.”
2012 Cars Land Rides: Radiator Springs Racers, Luigi’s Flying Tires, Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree.
2012 Buena Vista Street: The new entrance to the park, Buena Vista is an homage to Los Angeles of the 1920s when Walt Disney first arrived in California. Its Carthay Circle Theatre is the park’s new icon, the same way the Sleeping Beauty Castle is Disneyland’s signature structure.
When John Lasseter, Pixar’s creative force behind the “Toy Story” and “Cars” films, was asked his reaction to this month’s debut of the reincarnated Disney California Adventure, he paused for a moment, thinking hard, and then grinned.
“I see happy faces,” he said.
Clearly, the legions of fans poring into the park since the June 15 opening of the much anticipated Cars Land aren’t the only ones with joyful expressions on their faces.
Disney park executives, who for years have had to live down the disappointment of a park that never resonated with visitors, are likely grinning ear to ear over the record-breaking crowds eager to race a car through fictional Radiator Springs.
While theme parks around the world are continually under pressure to introduce the next great buzz-worthy attraction to sustain and grow their attendance, the “imagineers” at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts had a far more daunting challenge. They had to undertake a wholesale repair of an 11-year-old park that from day one fell far short of Disneyland’s longtime reputation as the “happiest place on earth.”
“Their job was to take a wasting asset and turn it into an operating program that works and benefits the bottom line,” said Dennis Speigel, president of Cincinnati-based International Theme Park Services. “California Adventure was a second-class regional theme park when it was built, and what they’ve done is rehabilitate the entire park.”
The park’s $1.1 billion four-year overhaul, which culminated this month with the introduction of Cars Land and the retro Buena Vista Street entrance, also represents Disney’s opening salvo in what will likely be an ongoing battle royale with Universal Studios Hollywood for amusem*nt park visitors.
The Los Angeles theme park recently debuted its Transformers thrill ride and has announced plans to add the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. That attraction by itself is largely responsible for the meteoric 29 percent increase in visitors last year to Universal’s Orlando park.
“I don’t think Disney could pretend for a moment that this will be enough for them two, three, four years into the future,” said Robert Niles, editor of Theme Park Insider. “By the time Harry Potter comes on line, Disney will have to counter with something to retain its market share.”
Shrinking attendance
In 2007, the same year that Disney announced plans for a multi-year overhaul of California Adventure, its then attendance of nearly 5.7 million fell 4.5 percent while Disneyland, at 14.9 million visitors, grew 1 percent. Not until 2009 and 2010 did the struggling park start to see signs that its new investments were sparking a real turnaround. Attendance, according to a theme park report produced by AECOM, revealed two solid years of gains following the debut of Toy Story Mania and the enormously popular World of Color fountain extravaganza.
Disney executives were responding to visitors’ complaints that the 57-acre California Adventure was a soulless park with little connection to Disney characters and the company’s cinematic creations. Even Disney CEO Bob Iger candidly acknowledged that California Adventure had become a “brand eyesore.”
The introduction of the Toy Story and Little Mermaid rides and now Cars Land has clearly rehabilitated the park’s sagging image, experts agree. On Tuesday, the park broke all previous attendance records, attracting 53,000 visitors, according to All Lutz, editor of the Disney blog MiceAge
“What we heard from the guests is we didn’t capture their hearts,” Mary Niven, vice president of California Adventure, said in an interview. “What was missing was that transportation to a different place in time. Our goal is to continue to drive tourism and lengthen (visitors’) stay with us. At each of the parks you can’t do one or both in just one day.”
Rising price of admission
There are already signs that the changes at California Adventure are driving visitation and multiple-day stays. Niles said he’s hearing from many of his readers who hadn’t previously visited Southern California and were either considering do so or had already booked a trip because of the new attractions at the park, as well as at Universal and SeaWorld San Diego, which recently debuted its new Manta coaster.
Similarly, Lutz, said he’s heard that the hotels that advertise on the blog’s website are already seeing a big bump in business.
All this newfound business and visitation comes in the wake of recent hikes in admission prices, especially so for annual pass holders. While $87 for a one-day visit to either park is a significant outlay, analysts believe Disneyland and California Adventure guests are getting their money’s worth.
“Disney cares a lot more about per capita spending than attendance (growth),” said David Miller, an analyst who follows Disney for Caris & Company. “Disney wants attendance flat or up 1 percent, but if you add a price increase, that’s an increase in revenues. They’re very smart people and they know exactly how many people are in the park every single minute of the day.
“So if you’ve got hour-long waits, why wouldn’t you raise your price?”
While theme parks are loathe to talk about their competition, there’s a grudging recognition that each needs to carve out certain demographic niches to capture fickle fans. The new Cars Land rides, especially Luigi’s Flying Tires and Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree, tend to skew younger, while Universal’s Transformers is more in line with the tastes of thrill-seeking teens.
Xiomara Wiley, senior vice president for marketing and sales with Universal Studios Hollywood, hints at the need to appeal to different tastes.
“We’re in the business of interactive entertainment, which means we’re constantly evaluating how best to create technologically advanced, thrilling rides and attractions the entire family can enjoy,” she said. “As we continue to expand our business and attract visitors from around the globe, a game-changing ride like Transformers drives consumers’ visitation, whether they are theme park aficionados or sampling for the first time.”
These days, though, theme parks aren’t necessarily competing just among themselves for consumers’ discretionary dollars. There are lifestyle malls, beach and ski resorts, even restaurants vying for people’s attention — and spending.
“What Disney is trying to do is present something so compelling that people will want to spend a premium price to come,” said Niles. “Now they have a real one-two punch, and we’ll see what this will do to the rest of the theme park world. If you’re into business brawls, grab a front row seat, this will be a good one.”
Reach me at lori.weisberg@utsandiego.com or 619-293-2251. Follow me on Twitter @loriweisberg.| Subscribe to my blog.
