OpenTube

The Disastrous History of Disney’s California Adventure - Part 1

Yesterworld Entertainment

1,155,819 views

Explore the troubled history of Disney’s California Adventure. From the Burbank Disney Park, its origins as Westcot, to the original abandoned plans for the Disneyland Result, and what led to one of Disney’s Worst Theme Parks.

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Music sourced from MusicVine.com:

Adi Goldstein - Mysterious Thoughts

https://musicvine.com/track/adi-golds...

Thanks to Davelandweb for digging up the amazingly detailed initial conceptual rendering of the original California Adventure.

INFORMATION SOURCES:

Yesterworld: The Disastrous History of Disney’s California Adventure - Part 1

https://www.themeparktourist.com/feat...

https://disneyandmore.blogspot.com/20...

http://angryap.blogspot.com/2013/03/d...

https://www.yesterland.com/dcapreview...

https://davelandblog.blogspot.com/200...

https://alchetron.com/WestCOT

https://www.themeparktourist.com/feat...

https://www.sfgate.com/offbeat/articl...

https://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_ch...

https://www.mouseplanet.com/12123/The...

http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chi...

http://progresscityusa.com/2009/04/29...

http://samlanddisney.blogspot.com/200...

https://www.yesterland.com/westcot1.html

VIDEO SOURCES:

“The Imagineering Story: The Midas touch”

“The Imagineering Story: Hit Or Miss”

Disney Decade News - Disney Decade News 1990

ProgressCityPublicTV - Disney-MGM Backlot Presentation 1987 - watch

v=BHoHFQFUkNs

ProgressCityPublicTV - Mickey’s Birthdayland 1988 - Mickey's Birthdayland, 1988 Walt Disney Wo...

Resort TV1 - 1993 WDW Vacation Planner - WDW | 1993 Vacation Planner | Be Our Guest...

Sam’s Disney Diary - The Best of Disney | 50 Years of Magic | 1...

ProgressCityPublicTV - Grand Opening of Euro Disney - The Grand Opening of Euro Disney (1992)

DisneyParkVideos - Celebrate 40 Years of Adventures - Disneyl...

Fantasy on Skis - GrassRoots Community Network - Fantasy on Skis - A Fred Iselin Film (Aspe...

The Disneyland Story - DisneyParkVideos - The Disneyland Story

RetroWDW - WDW Concept Art from Imagineering - WDW Concept Art from Imagineering (1991)

David Oneal - 1998 Disneyland Tomorrowland Press video - Video

Disneyland 40th Anniversary - Disneyland 40th Anniversary | 1995 | Celeb...

Resort 1TV - Backstage magic - Video

Disney’s California Adventure Teaser Promotional Video - Disney's California Adventure Teaser Promo...

MouseSteps / JWL Media - Disneyland Monorail 1998 Ride w/ Views of ...

ozzyray - Re-Dedication of Disneyland's New Tomorrowland in 1998 Rocket Rods - Re-Dedication of Disneyland's New Tomorrow...

Laughingplace - Main Street Electrical Parade Farewell - Main Street Electrical Parade Farewell: Li...

20 Comments

@Morbos1000 5 years ago

I wonder if there was anyone ever that actually decided "I don't need to see the Golden Gate Bridge, Hollywood, Yosemite, etc. because I've already been to California Adventure"!

@dletetdchanel6104 5 years ago (edited)

Disney: “yo dawg i heard you like california so we put california in california so you can california while you california”

@Agent_X_31 5 years ago (edited)

"GUYS! LETS BUILD A CALIFORNIA THEME PARK IN CALIFORNIA!" - Some big brained individual

@FakeNameJohn1123 5 years ago (edited)

I believe a wise philosopher once called this park a "California-themed theme park located in the already California-themed California." I heed his words, just as I heed his words about powerful rats.

@blakeeeee10 5 years ago

Eisner's voice crack at 7:09 sums up his last 5 years as Disney CEO

@lolalotta2687 5 years ago

Who needs Ancient world history when you’ve got Disney history

@BacchaeOphanim 5 years ago (edited)

Me: *Already well familiar with the disastrous history of Disney's California Adventure *
Also me: Oh boy, a video on the disastrous history of Disney's California Adventure! click

@MrLlamajockey 5 years ago (edited)

It's really tragic how the death of Frank Wells seemed to cripple Eisner. Despite his faults, Eisner was creative in his early days and seemed to encourage that in the Imagineers. After the one-two punch of the EuroDisney rough start and Wells' death, he seemed to get lost. If Wells was still alive, I wonder how quickly Eisner would have bounced back.

@SammEater 5 years ago

I love how everything wrong with the parks at that era can be traced back to Eisner and EuroDisney. It is almost a running joke now.

@robotocelots 5 years ago

"Mom, I'm gonna hide you in a place where there's no-one around for miles... Disney's California Adventure!"

@tvforeverus 5 years ago (edited)

I can’t think of a better way to spend an evening than quietly watching this new video from Yesterworld in a dark room all by myself!

@jaquesspot 5 years ago

I really will never forgive them for the Tractor Yard, 7 year old me was inconsolable upon arriving and it not being there.

@ExplorerDS6789 5 years ago

Superstar Limo is undoubtedly the biggest skidmark on Disney theme park history. Even if it hadn't tanked, it would've become outdated in 5 years.

@cupriferouscatalyst3708 5 years ago (edited)

There's something ridiculous in hindsight about building a California-themed resort in California to bring in all the tourists who came to see the whole state. Imagine landing in, say, London, only to drive to a London-themed resort outside of London. Inside you can see a replica of the Big Ben, the London Eye, Greenwich Observatory, etc. There's actors playing the roles of typical London residents, overpriced fish n chips on every corner, and a boat ride you can go on called the Thames Experience. Meanwhile, the actual City of London is only a few hours away, but instead the expectation is that you spend your whole trip at the resort and then hop on a plane back home, thinking to yourself "wow, I really got to experience all the best London has to offer".

Edit: is that the Santa Barbara mission at 11:34?

@CmotDribbler 5 years ago

Disneyland built in 1955. Residents in the area in 1990: “Fireworks! Traffic! Tourists!” Like, really you only noticed this now?

@ryanahr2267 5 years ago (edited)

Every time I see DisneySea mentioned I wanna cry a little. I love all things ocean related (especially ocean based mythology) and this place is on my bucket list but I'd kinda like to have a version of it that doesn't require some poor translator having to babysit me or having to rely on a translator app and possibly miss things

@Dreaklock 5 years ago

What a disgrace that Westcot never happened (the original grandiose idea for it). That looked amazing.

@andrewraphael3800 5 years ago

The original California Adventure was a masterpiece compared to the Walt Disney Studios park in Paris.

@shinkoryu14 5 years ago

In and of itself a water park themed after Yosemite isn't an awful idea and might have been really cool if it was actually finished, but couched in the concept of "giving consumers all of the experiences of California so they don't actually have to go elsewhere in California," it's just laughable.

"I want to go to a beautiful natural wonder and experience the raw majesty of nature. But this loud, bustling theme park where I have to stand in a line for two hours to actually do anything and the animals are all animatronic is just as good!" Said no one ever.

@MatecaCorp 5 years ago (edited)

Honestly, the original plans for DCA and the included resort revitalization were really not that bad. If they had just gone with that instead of the visibly lazy final version I think the project would have had a chance at success.

As a side note, I honestly I think that if Walt had lost Roy (Essentially his equivalent to Wells) and then Disneyland became a failure he would have spiraled too.