Long lost Westcot

[maelstrom]

Westcot would've been amazing. I don't know how they could have honestly decided on good conscience that DCA was a better choice. I remember reading about Westcot and getting excited. I remember being at Disneyland while DCA was being built and for some reason still thinking (at thirteen years old) that it was still going to be a Westcot-like park (despite having had to have read about DCA; we got the Disney Magazine, and that's where I found out about Westcot to begin with) and being excited about what was to come. I remember, then, finally seeing a good deal of info about DCA and wondering what had happened. I finally visited DCA for the very first time last week, at twenty-three years old, all these years after seeing the original construction... and I have to say, it "lived up" to my disappointment. It's sad. I just kept wondering what could've been.

[LittleImagineer]

Originally Posted by Tomorrowland_1967

Eisner got cold feet.

Three things shifted his interest in quality theme parks, attractions, etc:

1. Well's death in 1994
2. Eisner's own health issues around the same time.
3. Lackluster performance at Euro Disney (the hotels, not the park).

Enter - the era of "El Cheapo-land". (DCA, TL:98, Light Magic, etc.)

Another little bit of history Disney does not like to publicize - These "glamorous" ideas (Westcot) was ALSO a ploy to get the city of Anaheim interested in a Second Gate. While ... simultaneously .. Disney made their phony "DisneySea/Queen Mary" plan for Long Beach. But it was just a cocked up scheme to get the city of Anaheim in their back pocket .. which was what they really wanted.

Thank you for answering my questions. I appreciate it :]
I've heard that Well's death effected Eisner greatly. I was unaware that Eisner has or did have health issues. So was Eisner afraid that Westcot would become lackluster such as the Euro Disney hotels?
When was DCA proposed? I can barely remember DCA opening, but I do remember going there and my parents being dissappointed and the only thing my little sister and I could really ride was that SuperStar Limo. Haha. I had no clue Disney proposed a "DisneySea/Queen Mary" idea for Anaheim. Would anybody mind sharing more info on that? Was this around the same time as Westcot? Thanks! :]

[Bob Weaver]

All I can recall right now was that Disney said they had to decide between building a second park in Long Beach or a second one in Anaheim, and they made their decision. How serious they really were about the Long Beach location, I have no idea. In 1994 a brief news story came out that Eisner had quadruple bypass surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in L.A., which is certainly a major operation, but apparently he recovered quickly from it. Around the same time Disney was in a public relations battle over a proposed "Disney's America" theme park in Virginia, outside Washington, DC, which, obviously, was never built. One of the few bright spots at that time for Disney was the release of "The Lion King," which of course was a smash hit.

[Tomorrowland_1967]

Originally Posted by LittleImagineer

So was Eisner afraid that Westcot would become lackluster such as the Euro Disney hotels?

Not lackluster .. per se ..... but, overtop in terms of budget. That's when BIG-BIG spending came to a halt!

Originally Posted by LittleImagineer

When was DCA proposed?

Mid 90s (1994/1995)

Originally Posted by LittleImagineer

I had no clue Disney proposed a "DisneySea/Queen Mary" idea for Anaheim.

Not Anaheim. Long Beach

Originally Posted by LittleImagineer

Was this around the same time as Westcot? Thanks! :]

All at the same time.
It was sort of like a "bidding war" game.
Hedging Long Beach city officials against Anaheim officials .. to get a new theme park.

Disney was very trixy ...... to wager Long Beach against Anaheim!

[Tomorrowland_1967]

Originally Posted by LittleImagineer

Would anybody mind sharing more info on that?

The long forgotten (and bogus) - Port Disney Long Beach

[Tomorrowland_1967]

You can also catch more at this site too .. on this page:

Blue Sky Disney: What Was Gotten Versus What Could've Been (Part One)...

[disneyNEWdad]

That one picture makes port disney amazing. Although how i wish we would have had such a luxurious resort, who knows what would have materialized.

As for CA i like it and it still makes my trip worth it.

[CaliforniaDreaming]

Jim Hill has a very lengthy series of posts on the Westcot idea, the battle between Anaheim and Long Beach, and how the idea eventually "evolved" into DCA. (I would link to it here, but I'm still a bit of a newbie and not sure how kindly outside Disney links are regarded.)

Question for those of you familiar with the history here: How big a factor were citizen group protests by Anaheim residents in scaring Eisner off the Westcot idea? Hill devotes a lot of time to this in his narrative, but it's hard for me to imagine Disney seeing angry protesters as anything more than a mild headache, regardless of how well organized. I'm wondering how much of that was thrown in as a little bit of extra drama to JH's story, as opposed to being a genuine factor behind the scenes.

[OC2Epcot]

I also remember when plans were announced for this ... Being a big fan of Epcot, was excited about the idea of a similar park coming to CA.

I think with any major project some of the locals will protest. Though I wonder how many actually lived in the area prior to Disneyland being built.

[sailerm]

Frank Wells was the brains of the Disney Company. It became very obvious after his passing as Eisner could not make a smart decision on his own.

[Bob Weaver]

Weren't some Anaheim residents complaining about the nightly fireworks shows and the noise they made, and wasn't that at least a contributing factor in Disney's decision to use a compressed air launching system rather than traditional black powder charges to launch the fireworks?

[Ryan120420]

(T)Here is an 5 page artical on the Port Disney, WestCot and DCA that Jim Hill did back in 2001.

Its very interesting.

<link removed>

[LittleImagineer]

Originally Posted by Tomorrowland_1967

All at the same time.
It was sort of like a "bidding war" game.
Hedging Long Beach city officials against Anaheim officials .. to get a new theme park.

Hmm, so all at once Disney said "Let's build Westcot, some lovely Long Beach thing, and Disney's America?" DCA was proposed after all this, right?

Oh, and thank you sooo much everyone for answering all my questions! :]

[dfan07]

It looks like WestCOT's Future World would have had four pavilions: Spaceship Earth, Wonders of Life, The Land (?), and Horizons. What I'm wondering is how they planned to cram it all in the relatively small area.

[I Heart Disneyland]

Weird, I just saw this booklet 2 weeks ago at DL when I met a friend there who had one. I wish they'd gone ahead with it. They'd not be tossing so much dough at DCA now if they had.