How to "Plus" Disneyland and DCA without much capital

[CAspace]

Ok, armchair Imagineers: Your task if you should choose to accept is "How to plus Disneyland and DCA without spending much capital?"

What would you do that would enhance the guest experience and overall feel of the parks without spending much money?

For example: One poster recommended putting up attraction posters alongside the tram route from the parking garage to the main entrance. This is a low cost way of enhancing the tram ride for the guests.
Great Idea.

Remember think low cost.

[DLDan]

I love the idea of posters or some type of entertainment on the trams. maybe even ones with moving parts... like a tower of terror that has an elevator door that falls or MIKE and sully in a taxi....

[JiminyCricketFan]

Well, paint is cheap. I would add some more color to Tomorrowland. The buildings have been through a terrible period of the Pressler years. They do look better today, but the blue and white look is too much like black and white to me. I think it needs more color.

I would paint the ground in tomorrowland to add some splashes of color in certain areas. I think that the gray color is used a bit too much. Colored walkways seem futuristic to me.

For DCA, I would add flags to the Paradise Pier area, maybe to some other areas too. I think that the park needs more movement. Flags or colorful banners that flop in the breeze add interest and color. I think that the original design of Disneyland's castle had flags at the very top. I remember drawing it and found that with the addition of the flags at the top, the castle looked a lot more interesting.

There are two cheap ideas.

[pancakesaregood]

I like the posters. There are some DCA posters, particularly the really cool California Air Tours, which all I have is the 50th Poster Tickets version of. For the poles, they should have them like this \ o /...the pole is the "o", and on the left side is a DCA poster and left a DL poster, or reverse for what way you are coming in. Since if you come in from Harbor Blvd, Disneyland appears on the left and DCA on the right, while the reverse if you are walking off of S. Disneyland Drive.


Also they could finally build the planned fountain in the esplanade. That gives it some motion, so that when you look at no-lines at DCA, from the back of your giant line into DL, you'll see some movement.

[MasterGracey]

I like the posters. There are some DCA posters, particularly the really cool California Air Tours, which all I have is the 50th Poster Tickets version of. For the poles, they should have them like this \ o /...the pole is the "o", and on the left side is a DCA poster and left a DL poster, or reverse for what way you are coming in. Since if you come in from Harbor Blvd, Disneyland appears on the left and DCA on the right, while the reverse if you are walking off of S. Disneyland Drive.


Also they could finally build the planned fountain in the esplanade. That gives it some motion, so that when you look at no-lines at DCA, from the back of your giant line into DL, you'll see some movement.

I'd love to see a fountain come to the esplanade. It was part of the original plans, but instead we got the compass that nobody even notices/cares about.

[Tedi Bara]

A couple more benches in the Tiki room entrance maybe. I will have to think.

I love the poster parking lot idea.

I also think it would be great to have another little bakery type place in the esplanade rather than just La Brea.

[nish221]

ok. Couple of things that are relatively cheap....
* In DCA & DL, I would put more "streetmosphere" esp in DCA things with lots of color & movement. Ex. in the wharf area, you could have magicians, jugglers like
there are in SF Fisherman's wharf. Even in-prov comedy. Skate boarders and
roller bladers. Even Remote Control vehicles in areas would be neat.
* Definitely more flags in areas.
* I would create a DCA tour.
* I would create a treasure hunt type events for kids in DCA. (I know they used
to do this.)
* Some kind of collectible (stamps book?) for all the 50th "50"s i.e. go to the
50, find the nearest CM or store, get a stamp. Also drive some traffic
into some stores.
* I would have a service at the Photo Shop to create a DVD of the photos taken by
Disney through the day.
* Get rid of the coffee smell at DCA entrace. :-) Pump smell from the hot dog
place into HPB. Similarly, cotton candy smell in PP.
* Enable DL/DCA for that Mickey dolls that they sell in WDW (hmmm. maybe
this costs lots of money...)
* Put in a kiosk where you can buy the background music loops via iTunes in
DL/DCA

Hmmm.... that's about it for now....

[sediment]

1. Remove the gates at DL and DCA, and create gates on either side of The Esplanade. One price for both parks, take it or leave it. Add some cafes or restaurants or snack shacks in Esplanade area.
2. Skyway from Tomorrowland to DCA, say ending near the Golden Dreams Theatre.
3. Get rid of Fastpass, so guests will experience the queues that were already imagineered for that use, and to increase capacity of DL.

Slightly more expensive:
Use people movers between M&F parking structure and Esplanade. Have them constantly moving between the two places. Take some offline during slower hours.
I hate the smell of the trams, and using electricity, or, heck, even partial use of solar power, would smell better (at least around DL).

The rest of my plusses do not involve any imagineering. They involve adjusting the current pricing schemes.

[FI183]

^^ It would also be a good idea to have Fast Pass lines in the Queue(the fast pass would be the line part, like it is in Space Mountain!)
another, is to have interactive things in Queues like in my space mountain(i wont say just yet!) and maybe in the castle(if they ever bring the walkthrough back again) the rest of my ideas require a lot of mula!

[CAspace]

*. List the flag lowering ceremony in the park entertainment listing.
*. Update the tommorow land music.
*. Bring back more penny arcade devices into the penny arcade.

*. Analyze the current main street ice cream shop for creative ways to decrease wait time's.

*. have some decent male characters that can give male guest a character to relate to, seems like almost all the human characters are female except for the occasional peter pan.
*. Fix some of the spanish dialogue tracks to better match the english
counterpart (I.E train spiel departing mainstreet, the Spanish track could be done better, same with the Haunted Mansion spanish Spiel.
*. Bring back the Blue Bayou reservation cards

*. Fix the "fun phones" or remove them.
*. Consider switching back to the old style multipage park guides (expensive)

*. Remove the strobe effect in the matterhorn.
*. Add steam or mist effect to the matterhorn.

*. Reimagine the "lightning" effect for the buzzards prior to big drop in splash mountain (currently it is just a random flashing, cheap christmas like effect).

[cellarhound]

My list of Cheap Pluses for DL:

1. I would place a string of lit posters along the tram route, sort of like bill boards as you go both ways... If one is really creative you can do a series that sort of tell a story and promote differant aspects of the resort...

2. DCA desperately needs more character integration into the park... It is a lot of California, not enough Disney... I remember how great it was last year when it hosted the InspEARations exhibit was hosted because it actually placed Disney in the park... I don't think it would be a bad idea to find a way to incorporate some sort of permant collection of character sculptures along the seemingless empty and never ending walk areas...

The can be static, or they can tell a story as you are walking down a path, but something people would want to take a photograph by...

3. I would like to see elements of the more elements of Country Bears return to Critter country some how... Even if the attraction will not be restored, it would be nice if somehow the charaters are more visably honored in some way in that area....

4. I would like to see more signs naming stuff and pointing to things in Fronterland...

I will think of some more things... this is enough for now...

[Aladdin]

This sounds like the old realm of "Building on the Cheap"

This is a new day! Don't Cheap Out.

[CAspace]

Not all good ideas need to take lots of money to make happen! That way there will be money left over for "Big Capital Improvement's!" Like new rides or shows etc.

[Druggas]

I like the idea of more photo ops. I also like the witch of Narnia entrance with the snow and music. That didn't cost much. Besides, the little things at DL appeal more so than the e ticket rides to the people who come for the magic. I would really like to see Cinderella's carriage in the park for photos. Or just view her in it riding through the park. Couldn't cost too much either!

[Hyperbole]

2. Skyway from Tomorrowland to DCA, say ending near the Golden Dreams Theatre.

That is a fabulous idea!!!! It would bring back a much beloved attraction at DL, and help get some bodies over to DCA! Excellent!