Paradise Pier vs. Pacific Ocean Park

[PragmaticIdealist]

My mother has talked about Santa Monica's Pacific Ocean Park in the past, but, recently, I found a few pictures, videos, and Web-sites that have given me a better idea of the place and just how far Paradise Pier needs to go to capture a similar sense of aquatic whimsy.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ7yugaQF-0

http://naid.sppsr.ucla.edu/venice/articles/pop.htm

[Soarin]

im gonna be veeery frank here

the first time i went to DCA n saw PP, i loved it

it totally reminded of my kiddie days growing up near Santa Monica Pier

the whole thing was soooooooo nostalgic to me

but now after doing DL more often, i feel that this land could've been much better

PP is much better than POP b/c firstly its disney, secondly, its too coolly lit at night, n thirdly it'll hopefully get better with time n lotsa placemaking

maybe they should just put in more disney touches

--maybe having the wave machine on all the time would help and put in a lot more streetmosphere n misters in the lines could help offset the heat radiating from crazy concrete

[PragmaticIdealist]

One of the things that struck me is that some of the ride vehicles I've actually imagined, myself, before, such as the magic carpets and the seashell tilt-a-whirl.



I even imagined a building like this before, as well:



It's surreal to see things one has dreamt actually existed at one time. These things are almost exactly as I pictured they would be.

[Schmielsen]

The last time I went to Pacific Ocean Park, I was seven years old and all I remember is that we had a fabulous time. But we didn't go expecting it to be like a Disney park.

I see where they got the idea for PP, they just needed to put more funding into it to give it that Disney touch.

[pancakesaregood]

This park is really cool but kind of took off from Disney (flight to mars = flight to the moon, nautilis recreation = submarine voyage, ocean skyway = skyway, ocean highway = autopia, etc. )

Some what off-topic.....Maybe they could implement this type of ride (though modernized, by possibly putting the mechanism on the bottom of the car) to build an Aladdin dark ride.

But the

[Schmielsen]

I've seen pictures of an Aladdin flying carpet ride at (I think) Disney World. It's not a dark ride, though, looks more like another Dumbo with carpets instead of elephants.

[Soarin]

yeah, i thinkwe can use that over here in our adventureland

the ride can be squished into that one courtyard space by the oasis building and then they can use the building as the space for the queue

IMO, what a quick fix

[k_peek_2000]

POP by far.

[PumpkinKing!]

WOW amazing if only PP had received the funding it so now desperatly needs.

[filmfreak11]

Wow, thanks for the links!

PP could really use balloon artists, caricature artists, painters, etc

I have to say, maybe jugglers, sword swallowers, fire-breathers, stilt walkers, body balancin acts, etc in that sort of concrete outdoor stage area near Golden Dreams.

Now I can see more potential for PP

[PragmaticIdealist]

Here are a few more pictures.






Neptune's Kingdom


Diving Bells


Sea Circus

[PragmaticIdealist]

Not everything at P.O.P. had an oceanic motif, though, and I believe Paradise Pier makes the same mistake.


This jungle Jeep experience predates both Indiana Jones Adventure and Buzz Lightyear AstroBlasters. The boy has an electronic rifle.


This centrifuge attraction, Flight to Mars, was P.O.P.'s answer to Disneyland's Flight to the Moon. Guests exited onto a Martian landscape.

[PumpkinKing!]

Nice sweet pics... was PP supposed to be modeled after this exact pier? Also what do you mean PP not everythign has an ocean motif? ithought it did.. other then the surf themed restaurant. Very cool though thanks for postign the pics!

[PragmaticIdealist]

Nice sweet pics... was PP supposed to be modeled after this exact pier? Also what do you mean PP not everythign has an ocean motif? ithought it did.. other then the surf themed restaurant. Very cool though thanks for postign the pics!

Paradise Pier is inspired by an amalgam of piers and oceanfront amusement zones, including Pacific Ocean Park.

King Triton's Carousel of the Sea presents tributes to the various California sites that informed the creators of Paradise Pier.

Paradise Pier loses me, though, when it introduces the bees, the space motif, and the roadside tackiness of the Route 66 area. If this region of D.C.A. focused on the beach and the ocean, the area would be so much stronger, creatively-speaking.

[RobotMirror]

Paradise Pier is inspired by an amalgam of piers and oceanfront amusement zones, including Pacific Ocean Park.
...
Paradise Pier loses me, though, when it introduces the bees, the space motif, and the roadside tackiness of the Route 66 area. If this region of D.C.A. focused on the beach and the ocean, the area would be so much stronger, creatively-speaking.

I completely agree! If they were going for the "oceanside boardwalk", and the ocean is a major attraction that guests come to California for, I always thought they should have added a wave machine to the lagoon area, a fake white sand beach nearby, and fake sandcastles or a beach landscape with umbrellas and backdrops on the other side, to complete the illusion.


The "burger invasion", and huge orange, and some other elements, just don't really fit there.