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(continued)
Photo: David
"Darkbeer" Michael
It should prove interesting to see if they can pull this one
off, especially for the menu at the Blue Bayou. The good news is
that the Pavilion complex will be left with a new modern
kitchen, which would be perfect for whipping up Teriyaki steak
and fried rice for, oh say, an adjoining Tahitian Terrace?)
And that takes us to 2009, doesn't it? That's a year that no one in
TDA is really looking forward to right now. There will be no new attraction to
open, except for the new version of It's A Small World that has quickly become a
PR nightmare for Disney (current reports from the facility under renovation are
that it won't make the Thanksgiving deadline and will reopen in winter '09).
DCA
will be heavily into the construction phase, with lots of walls and construction
mess taking away what little charm that park currently has. Disneyland would
also have lots of construction going on, with plans to replace the aging
streetcar tracks and cracking pavement all up and down Main Street, greeting
incoming visitors on Main Street USA with walls everywhere instead of old
fashioned Midwest charm.
To make things worse, the latest economic forecasts
have TDA worried just how much attendance could dip in a major recession,
especially with local housing prices dropping like a rock.
Hello Main Street
Electrical Parade
So what is Ed Grier's plan to counter this one-two-three punch of
theme park misery? He's going to bring back the Electrical Parade to Disneyland!
Really.
At least that's the current plan, to create a marketing campaign to
run from spring through Christmas of 2009 that focuses on the entertainment
offered at Disneyland. The campaign would tout the new daytime "Wonder" parade
that will debut at Disneyland in '09 once the Main Street paving is complete.
And at the same time in the spring the Electrical Parade would move from DCA
back over to Disneyland, where it was supposed to have "glowed away forever" 13 years earlier.
Photo: David "Darkbeer"
Michael
A
new lead float to replace the Blue Fairy is being proposed for the Electrical
Parade, and thus far a sparkling Tinker bell unit is the favored proposal. A new
finale is also to be cooked up for the popular Remember fireworks show,
and Fantasmic will continue with the impressive lighting and pyrotechnic changes
from this year, plus the sharp new digital projectors that are going to light up the mist screens
this fall.
The only substantial offerings in all of this is the new
daytime parade, the Tinker bell float, and the reworked fireworks finale (which only diehard fans will pick up on). But the whole campaign would be built
around the concept of visiting Disneyland specifically for all of the
entertainment offerings.
Now certainly Disneyland has the biggest and best
parades and night spectaculars of any one theme park in America, no one could
argue that. Only Tokyo Disneyland outdoes Disneyland USA when it comes to
parades, but Tokyo has no Fantasmic and a wimpy and short fireworks show
hampered by gusty wind off of Tokyo Bay. And the similar offerings at WDW are
spread between four different parks that make it virtually impossible to catch
it all in one day.
Photo: David "Darkbeer"
Michael
So it should be interesting to see if a campaign reminding people
of the basic Disneyland entertainment offerings that have been around for 15 or
30 years will really drive attendance. And the concept of the Electrical Parade
returning to Disneyland might be controversial to some, while others who have
seen it repeatedly in DCA might not even care, all to the chagrin of the TDA
planners who are hoping the return engagement packs 'em
in for 2009.
Let's just hope we can muddle through to 2010, when the 55th
Anniversary party offers a more cohesive marketing message and some legitimately
exciting offerings. But that's for another update.
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