Any unused California Adventure Imagineer concepts out there?

[Knave of Hearts]

I have looked, and can't seem to find any mention of any unrealized attraction concepts that were designed for DCA.

There surely must be some out there, since the park was underbuilt, but even Jim Hill hasn't dug up anything yet, from what I've seen. I realize this was the low cost alternative to Westcot, but there is always more designed than is actually built.

I am sure there are many out there who would appreciate hearing about any ideas that were kicked around for this park. I would like to hear about original ideas and not just attractions lifted from one of the other parks.

Clearly these Pixar attractions were an afterthought, and never intended to be part of the park. So there must be unused concepts floating about that are actually themed to your wonderful state of California.

Just because, "California Adventure sucks," as it seems, doesn't mean that there isn't/wasn't a very broad range of attraction ideas that could work within the original theme. The park clearly takes influences from MGM, Epcot, and Animal Kingdom, as well as various resorts on the Disney World property which have met with much success. But I don't want to get into the merits of the concept in this thread.

Thanks for any information you might pass on.

[pineapplewhipaddict]

Western River Gold Rush Expedition.

I don't know if it was officially worked on in Imagineering but it was mentioned in some places online as an idea. It would have been similar to Marc Davis' Western River Expedition plans that never made it into WDW, but some changes to relate more to the gold rush in California in the 1800's.

It was Marc's baby...it was his plan to top Pirates of the Caribbean. But WDW guests demanded a Pirates of the Caribbean attraction in their own park, so it got shelved...and then finally shelved again when Tony Baxter came up with Big Thunder Mountain.

[njacobus]

I think that is just a lie from disneyLIES.com

[MickeyMoose]

It is a shame that they never made "The Taco Factory Tour featuring Bob Seaget, Mr.T, and Ellen".

Any way, I have heard rumors of a Little Mermaid attraction and some smaller rides like a Ursula's Spinner.

[Jay618]

I have been pondering this question for a while. If they are going to rework the areas I have one major suggestion at this point, others I might share later in. In Bug's Land, I would like them to remove the juice kiosk and the two water spouts and replace the center section with an attraction. As per the water, there is already a large venue in the "Farmers" area that guests take advantage of. They should remove the Jumping Jelly Fish and place it in the center of Bugs Land. However, retheme it to the flower, (I forget what they call it) that flick jumps off with. Ya know, those that are yellow and then turn into a round ball of seeds (or vice-versa). Since kids ride that the most near the pier anyway, have them move it to the kids land.

[Redsix]

Western River Gold Rush Expedition.

I don't know if it was officially worked on in Imagineering but it was mentioned in some places online as an idea. It would have been similar to Marc Davis' Western River Expedition plans that never made it into WDW, but some changes to relate more to the gold rush in California in the 1800's.

It was Marc's baby...it was his plan to top Pirates of the Caribbean. But WDW guests demanded a Pirates of the Caribbean attraction in their own park, so it got shelved...and then finally shelved again when Tony Baxter came up with Big Thunder Mountain.

To bad they can not figure out a way to get that one going once again. I have seen the concept art for WRE and really looked good. They even had it in mind for DL at one time. It would have taken up a lot space. They could of made room for it in the plans for DCA.

[Ghostbuster626]

[quote=Redsix;1267354]To bad they can not figure out a way to get that one going once again.[\quote]

Finding Nemo: Western River Expedition.

Only way something will be greenlit now adays is if its a pixar or big franchise tie-in. No original attractions.

[MickeyMoose]

[quote=Ghostbuster626;1267663]

To bad they can not figure out a way to get that one going once again.[\quote]

Finding Nemo: Western River Expedition.

Only way something will be greenlit now adays is if its a pixar or big franchise tie-in. No original attractions.

I heard it was up to these three themes for Western River Expedition.

1. Stich's Western River Expedition Escape
2. Jack Sparrow's Western River Expedition Escape
3. Piglet's & Pooh's Western River Experdition

[sleepyjeff]

[quote=MickeyMoose;1267681]

I heard it was up to these three themes for Western River Expedition.

1. Stich's Western River Expedition Escape
2. Jack Sparrow's Western River Expedition Escape
3. Piglet's & Pooh's Western River Experdition

You would think Woody might have been mentioned too

[Aladdin]

From BEFORE day one at DCA, it has been lacking
the HM or Pirates attraction that are are the
the most popular attractions of guests of ALL ages
at DL. It's criminal that DCA did not have an
attraction such as one of those two on opening day,
and Western River Expedition would have and still
can BE that "Disney" attraction for DCA ~ or whatever
that park will be called in the future. It is EXACTLY
the type of attraction that would bring some sort
of respect to the old parking lot.

As far as "unrealized attraction concepts for DCA" ~
there was a much better themed queue planned for
Soarin', but cut due to Pressler's "build on the cheap",

Tower of Terror was considered to be an attraction on
opening day, but that little project was delayed, due
to the cheapness factor.

Golden Dreams was originally considered to be and audio
animatronic show (but not a ride thru - because that would
have been too expensive) on the history of California, similar
to the Audio Animatronic show in the American Pavillion at
Epcot. But of course, that was cut, due to the cheapness
factor, to a movie with Whoopie Goldberg.

In fact, there were so few attractions originally planned,
that they decided to take "off the shelf" attractions and
place them in an area called "Presslers Pier" complete with
carney games.

So, no. There WERE no original "ideas" planned for DCA, in
fact the whole idea of DCA is really just a re-worked plan
of a previous plan called Disney's America. It's really too
bad we didn't get a re-worked plan of Westcot, because then
we might have had something more like Tokoyo Disney Sea-

One thing that might have been considered for Pressler Pier,
would be to convert it to a King Triton under sea area. OK,
Tokoyo Disney Sea has an area such as this, AND Jumpin'
Jellyfish IS a Carbon copy of the same attraction in Tokoyo.
Already have King Triton's Carousel, and Ariels Grotto, so with
a GIANT makeover, tranform the hideously disguised California
Screamin' into King Triton's castle! THAT would be a MUCH
better icon for this area.

[mrfantasmic]

Beautifully thought out!
Except for the part where the Little Mermaid takes place in Europe, not California.

[Druggas]

The rides are not the answer. Theming has been the problem since day one and it's still not being addressed.

Take the cheapness out of DCA and put a ticket price that makes people want to come there instead of killing time there until the parades and fireworks start at DL.

Walt Disney laid out the plans on how to make a theme park but DCA isn't it! Seems they didn't learn a damn thing from Walt.

[Cousin Orville]

Of course there was the epic scaled "California Adventure". Designed to be just like the American Adventure at EPCOT, the CA was going to take us through the history of the Golden State with 131 AA figures, including Father Serra, Jerry Brown, Ronald Reagan, Caesar Chavez, Brian Wilson, Randy Newman, CP Huntington, Rodney King, Amelia Aerhardt, Robert Louis Stevenson, Tone Loc, and John Fogerty to name a few. The "Golden Dreams" show took it's place.

[Neverlandtink]

Yeah, I heard about that one. They were going to have Schwarzeneggar and Gray Davis having some sort of a fight, kinda like Rockem Sockem Robots, where Gray Davis' head pops up at the end!!

Getting back to the thread, an imagineer friend of mine gave me a tour once and showed me the model for a Beauty and the Beast attraction. Of course, this was for Disneyland, but Eisner nixed it. The concept was cool though - an arena much like the Tiki Room, where you sit among all the characters. Everything would be gray and dark at the beginning, but then as the show progresses the characters come to life and sing and tell stories/jokes. At the end the inside of the room becomes a bright shiny palace.

The model was beautiful, but I guess it wasn't meant to be.

[filmfreak11]

During the WestCOT plans, their "Downtown Disney" (called Disneyland Center?) was themed around Catalina Island (off the coast of CA). Look at WESTCOT: the original disneyland second park: http://mousekingdoms.blogspot.com/

What was Soarin' going to be themed as?

I didn't know TOT was part of the original plans.

Read that Golden Zephlyr was to be inside CA Screamin's east helix. For some reason that didn't happen.

Ursula spinner was definately an afterthought that almost came to fruition. I forgot which disney fan site reported it, but it definately WAS going to happen.

I love Jay618's idea to put that family drop ride of Jumpin Jellyfish in Bug's land Princess Dot's Puddle Park. They could probably keep a large garden hose somewhere to drip water (ala Knott's Berry Farm's at the entrance) with no name for it. Then the space on Jumpin Jellyfish can be freed up and out of the way for future lagoon show viewing and also it wouldn't have to close during shows.

Both attractions and themes are key.

Looking back at "large capacity family dark rides".
Disney-MGM: The Great Movie Ride & Studio Tram Tour.
EPCOT: Rio del Tiempo, Journey to Imagination, Universe of Energy, etc.
Disney's Animal Kingdom: Safari (an alternate version of Jungle Cruise. I'm glad to hear they're taking out that lame "subplot" story about poaching. It was more of an annoyance to me.)
Tokyo DisneySea: Sindbad (glad they're adding musical numbers, that will greatly improve the attraction), riverboat around the park.
DCA really doesn't have that...

Neverlandtink, I never heard that B&B plan, thanks for sharing