Image: Disney

Disney had warned that the roads around Anaheim would likely be clogged for months as guests rushed to explore the new Disney’s California Adventure. They estimated that the park would close most weekends due to reaching its maximum capacity – 33,000 people.

On its opening day, the park saw 8,000. That's less than a quarter of what it was built to hold.

On weekends, it averaged 10,000 to 15,000 – about a third of its capacity.

In its opening year, the park saw only 5 million visitors. The same year, the original Disneyland saw 12.3 million. Think about it: that means that in its inaugural year – when interest should be at its peak – only 40% of people who came to Disneyland bothered to see California Adventure, too.

Of those who did try out the new park in 2001, only 20% reported being “satisfied” or better by the experience. In 2002, attendance dropped 15%, no doubt thanks in part to the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, which crippled the tourism industry... but it was now undeniable: California Adventure would never be an equal partner with Disneyland.

Band-aids

Right away, Disney had to have recognized that California Adventure could not survive. The slump post-September-11th was devestating all of the tourism industry, and California Adventure couldn't take the hit.

Disney at once began to add attractions to the park, like the hastily-constructed "a bug's land" in 2002, built as a quick fix for the park's need for more attraction capacity... and for rides suited for young guests.

The deck was still stacked against the park. It wasn’t just that poor word of mouth would keep California Adventure from attracting guests. California Adventure had been the backbone of Disney’s push to make Disneyland into an international destination. A national marketing campaign was pared down to a regional one as Disney offered deep discounts to Southern Californians who would try the new park. But this would not do. After the investment in the park, Disney had to choose: either let California Adventure wither and throw away any hope of Disneyland becoming a multi-day destination, or change.

That's when Disney began adding piecemeal additions to the park, all in an effort to draw more guests to Disneyland's starving little sister.

The park map above is from 2006. Five years after the park's opening, you'll see some very important additions: a Monsters Inc.: Mike & Sulley to the Rescue dark ride (filling the disgraced space left by Superstar Limo), The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, and Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular in Hollywood Pictures Backlot joined A Bug's Land.

And sure, there’s no denying: Disney’s California Adventure needed those rides. It needed well-themed rides and family rides and rides for kids. It needed shows. It needed more Disney characters. But even as Disney invested heavily in adding new experiences to the park, it would never be enough. It was like putting Band-Aids on a broken bone.

The problem with Disney’s California Adventure was foundational. It was in its identity. The park was too modern. It tried too hard to be “hip” and “edgy” and “irreverent.” It reached too far to be “MTV” and “young.” People didn’t want a Disney park modeled after a Six Flags. They didn’t want modern music and rock concerts and puns and irreverent mockery of California. They wanted a park modeled after Disneyland: reverent, thoughtful, historic, idealized recreations of California. And even if they added a dozen new rides, a hip, edgy, modern California was not ever going to be a fitting companion to Disneyland. 

A new direction

Image: Disney / Pixar

By 2007, Disney’s California Adventure was still weighing heavily on the Disneyland Resort. Still more piecemeal additions were on the way, like Toy Story Midway Mania under construction in Paradise Pier. But even with its upped attraction count and new shows, the park simply wasn’t ever going to hold its own, much less be a worthy partner. Not without a major change in direction.

Under the guidance of then-new CEO Bob Iger, Imagineers began to toy with what to do to Disney’s California Adventure. He noted: “Steve Jobs is fond of talking about brand deposits and brand withdrawals. Any time you do something mediocre with your brand, that's a withdrawal. California Adventure was a brand withdrawal.”

Bob Iger reported in retrospect to the Wall Street Journal that there were two options: the first and simplest was to combine Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure into a single, massive park. He had Imagineers develop plans for how the two could be united into a single gate with one ticket required to experience both. The new mega-park would require new internal transportation systems, to reroute the monorail, and rebuild the infrastructure of the resort. The cost? About $1 billion.

The second option was more aggressive. It was to completely redesign Disney’s California Adventure from its foundation; to strip the park’s themed lands to the steel and rebuild them in the tradition of Disneyland, with historic, reverent, romanticized stories. Not just new attractions, but a new spirit. A new backstory and a new identity. The cost to bring the park back to life? Upwards of $1 billion.

With the prices approximately equal, Iger opted for the second: a complete redesign of the park from the ground up.

On October 17, 2007, Disney announced something absolutely, positively unprecedented: Disney’s California Adventure was going to change. Big time. The $600 million park would undergo nearly $1.5 billion as part of an aggressive five-year plan. Yes, it would add rides, shows, attractions, restaurants, and more. But more importantly, this unprecedented project would rebuild the park’s narrative; its foundation. Absolutely everything would change. Each of its themed lands would turn back the clock and become timeless, romantic versions of themselves. No more puns; no more top 40 hits; no more modern California.

For five years, the park was a circus of construction walls, drained lagoons, heavy-duty machinery, and steel framework.

Rebirth

On May 28, 2010, the park officially received a new name and logo: Disney California Adventure. The removal of the possessive “’s” brought the park in line with Disney’s current strategy but more than anything, it signaled the beginning of a new story and a new style.

The park closed for a single symbolic day and re-opened the next morning – June 15, 2012 – with eight themed lands (the same number as Disneyland) and a new grand dedication ceremony overseen by Bob Iger.

To all who come to this place of dreams: welcome. Disney California Adventure celebrates the spirit of optimism and the promise of endless opportunities, ignited by the imagination of daring dreamers such as Walt Disney and those like him who forever changed – and were forever changed by – The Golden State. This unique place embraces the richness and diversity of California... Its land, its people, its stories and, above all, the dreamers it continues to inspire.

— Bob Iger, June 15, 2012

Click and expand for a larger and more detailed view. Image: Disney

Are you ready to step into the reborn Disney California Adventure? That's where our story is heading next, and it's in an in-depth feature all its own. Make the jump to Declassified Disaster: Disney's California Adventure – Part II to walk through the park as it appeared after its re-opening in 2012... and see why Disney may be making its most costly mistake all over again...