Apr. 4, 2008: Seasons of the Vine

[Werner Weiss]

The seven-minute film that provided a "behind-the-scenes introduction" to winegrowing has moved from Disney's California Adventure to Yester California Adventure. So head over to the Barrel Room at the Golden Vine Winery for Seasons of the Vine.

Link to Seasons of the Vine, A Window onto Wine Country, Presented by Robert Mondavi at Yesterland

Please discuss it here.

[Katella Gate]

Thanks Werner for posting on this little corner of the "old" DCA. I've had annual passes for both Disneyland and DCA since the latter opened, but never felt the least interested in seeing a wine commercial (or most of the rest of DCA come to think of it....)

Thanks for letting me know what I was missing for all these years, and also for the catcall at the end of the article about the now defunct Disneyland preview center on Main Street. I used to look forward to seeing that on my trips to the park. That and the Disney Gallery.

[dgmoran]

Thanks, Werner, for another great article!

By the way, you might want to add one piece of information to your article: the narrator was Jeremy Irons.

Dan

[JiminyCricketFan]

What a great article! Thanks for the information.

I don' t know why this attraction did not go over. I know so many kids who would love to go to a theme park to find out how wine is made.

I bet that many adults went over and over to see if there was any new information on grape growing that they could take home.

WHAT WAS DISNEY THINKING?? Of course, it is an easy answer. It was just an attraction a millionaire Disney executive would love.

[Werner Weiss]

By the way, you might want to add one piece of information to your article: the narrator was Jeremy Irons.

Thank you! I was wondering who provided the aristocratic narration.

I just confirmed it. On the Google-cached version of the official DCA page about Seasons of the Vine, it says, "Seasons of the Vine is narrated by Academy Award®-winning actor Jeremy Irons."

Also, according to www.brucebroughton.com, the score for Seasons of the Vine is by Emmy Award-winning TV and film composer Bruce Broughton.

I'll update the Yesterland article later today.

[cromag]

As a wine enthusiast I kind of liked the idea. What turned me off is the fact that if you actually wanted a glass of wine the prices were astronomical for the mediocre selection they served.

FAIL.

[Werner Weiss]

WHAT WAS DISNEY THINKING?? Of course, it is an easy answer. It was just an attraction a millionaire Disney executive would love.

If there had been free wine after the film, it would have been a great success!

One problem was that it was just a film. It lacked any "gimmick" that might have made it into a real theme park attraction. (And, no, the barn doors in front of the screen don't count.) It was a nice, well-made educational film. And nothing more.

However, changing the mission of the Barrel Room theater building to a preview center further reduces the cohesiveness of the Golden Vine Winery "story." The original concept of offering a multi-faceted California Wine Country experience at DCA was one of the better ideas at DCA. It failed for several reasons, including lack of attendance at DCA, financial and family problems at Mondavi (beyond their DCA involvement), a lack of multi-generational appeal in the way it was implemented (how about wine for adults, grapes for kids?), a restaurant that was too expensive for most guests, and the Seasons of the Vine film that just wasn't a theme park attraction worthy of being in a Disney park.

[mcow1]

If there had been free wine after the film, it would have been a great success!

I thought they did offer a free sample, once upon a time? A lot of Micechatters went to Seasons for it's last day on Sunday. It was certainly the most crowded it's been in there in a long time.