True-Life Adventureland
"Placemaking" at Disney's California Adventure

 

I've always liked California Adventure. The word "liked" in that sentence is a deliberate choice, and for me, an accurate one. A good time can be had at DCA, though it would be an exaggeration to call the place an amazing experience. Fun? Yeah. Charming? Not as much. And it's that charm-deficit problem that the recently-announced upgrade to the park is designed to fix. (Al Lutz has a nice overview here.) From all indications, it seems like the upgrade will do its job nicely.

The term "placemaking" came into vogue at Imagineering not long after California Adventure opened. Turns out Imagineering wasn't, as many might have supposed, in the business of building fun amusement parks; their business was creating an atmosphere, "making a place." I don't disagree with that assessment. And, in fact, I suspect this new definition of Imagineering came to be because "placemaking" was exactly what WDI hadn't succeeded in doing at California Adventure. It must have felt like it was time to re-focus, and "placemaking" was the way to do it. The 1920s-era, Walt-arriving-in-California theme overlay should, in theory, make park guests feel like they're in a different place and time, the first goal of any placemaking mission, and, indeed, the first mission that any Disney park has to succeed at. Here's hoping it works.

 

And here's hoping that they avoid one misstep I noted in the announcement. The entrance plaza--at least according to Al--is going to be modeled after L.A.'s long-gone Pan-Pacific Auditorium. WDI is supposed to be the master of spot-on theming...but the Pan-Pacific Auditorium, well, doesn't look like the '20s. In fact, a quick look in Wikipedia indicates that it wasn't built until 1935. The entrance plaza is supposed to invoke Walt Disney's arrival to California in the mid-'20s, yet it's styled after a Streamline Moderne building that wouldn't be built for another decade? Maybe this is a nitpick, but it would seem like the first goal of placemaking would be to not hit any false notes; hopefully WDI will think this one through a little more.