DCA, Future Expansion
Topic: Barry Braverman Interview

#	Author	Message
1	Anacon Sun 5/25/2008 9:46a	You can listen to a very good and informative interview with Barry Braverman at this link: http://seasonpasspodcast.libsy...d=341267 I have always read the rumor that Barry thought people "just didn't get DCA." As with most rumors I was skeptical until I heard this podcast. At the end he talks about Superstar Limo and how people just didn't get it. Anyway, I really did enjoy the interview and Barry was very informative, especially about Westcot and Soarin'.
2	k_peek_2000 Sun 5/25/2008 6:27p	I'm pretty sure people got how crappy Superstar Limo was. :)
3	Skellington88 Sun 5/25/2008 8:50p	Isn't Braverman the dude who was rude to cast members and thought he was some kind of big shot?
4	ArchtMig Sun 5/25/2008 11:36p	Interesting interview. Based upon what Braverman admits was his strongest interests, I think it's clear why he was not the right choice to lead a team designing a "themed environment" type park. The tough thing about DCA is that it's so undecided about what it is supposed to be. Is it a thrill park? An educational park? A "theme" park? Is it contemporary? Is it period? WHAT is it? I think it tries to be all of these things, and does none of them well. If all that DCA was supposed to be was an Innoventions/Epcot Future World/contemporary edu-tainment type assembly of experiences, then I think Braverman might have been the right choice. But throw in the "Hollywood" aspect, and the "farm" aspect, and the "historic amusement pier" aspect, and the "wilderness experience" aspect, and the "cannery row" aspect, and it's pretty clear to see that Braverman was taken way out of his league. He's proof of the saying that "one rises to his own level of incompetence". But then again, I'm not sure that ANYONE would have been able to successfully pull off the mishmash that is today's DCA. DCA is so troubled, that I don't think that even the improvements they claim they will make will even do a complete job of pulling it all together. The improvements will certainly add depth and substance to DCA. But I don't think they amount to a comprehensively uniform, wide scale improvement. Add good things here and there to a bad park, hopefully, and in so doing, make it a better park. But it still won't be as good as if they just did a good park in the first place. Disney sure did the "bait and switch" move on Anaheim with the whole Westcot/DCA stunt they pulled. They pitted Anaheim in direct competition with Long Beach, serving up Westcot in Anaheim vs. Disney Sea in Long Beach. Once they got the commitment from Anaheim to establish the resort district and pay for the freeway improvements and area enhancements, Disney pulled the plug on the grander, more expensive Westcot, and dished out the less ambitious and considerably lower budget DCA, leaving Anaheim feeling foolish, cheated, and used.
5	ArchtMig Sun 5/25/2008 11:50p	I pause the interview in places as he admits things and type comments here, then go back to the rest of the interview, and wow... Braverman admits that the theme park was "less than half" of what was done for the expansion. He says that the hotels and Downtown Disney and the perimeter and circulation improvements all cost as much as the park itself, maybe even more than the park itself. All very true. And certainly it was very very important to do all of that stuff. I don't have a quibble with that, and in fact, other than DCA, I think they did an amzingly good job with all the rest. What I have a problem with is that they should have placed greater emphasis on making the THEME PARK better than what they did. Isn't THAT their core business there? Isn't THAT what brings the people there in the first place?? What if they just built the hotel and the shopping district and the parking structure and the tree lined boulevards WITHOUT adding the second park? Even if they did the other improvements as good as or even better than they did them, is that enough ALONE to bring in more people to the resort? I think not. And I think Disney knows what a mistake they made in building such an inadequate and badly planned and designed park in the midst of an otherwise spectacular urban renewal. A very expensive mistake.
6	ArchtMig Mon 5/26/2008 12:20a	He was asked if anything at DCA was replicated from other existing attractions or came from projects or ideas that were developed but "shelved" and never saw the light of day elsewhere, only to be resurrected and implemented into DCA. His answer was that "Muppets" and "Bugs Life" were direct lifts from WDW, a move justified by the company's attitude that WDW and Disneyland were really catering to separate markets, so there really was nothing wrong with duplicating attractions from one park to the other. But he said that, other than those two attractions, nothing else at DCA was adapted from earlier ideas, citing Soarin' and Paradise Pier as being fresh and unique ideas to DCA. Which is totally, patently false. Other than Soarin' almost EVERYTHING at DCA is a lift from ideas that were first proposed for parks elsewhere. Eisner's disappointment that he could get his Disney's America history/edu-tainment park off the ground was what lead to so much of what eventually got resurrected into DCA. Paradise Pier is a DIRECT adaptation of the land first proposed for Disney's America. Golden Dreams, Seasons of the Vine, the "factory tours", even Grizzly Peak Recreation Area and the educational display aspects of Pacific Wharf - all of it is what came to DCA as a lower budget fallback to what was originally intended for Disney's America. And the Hollywood section is essentially a stripped down pocket sized replica of ideas first developed for Disney/MGM studios. And the Jumpin' Jellyfish ride is a clone of a much better themed albeit similar ride system attraction that was developed for Tokyo Disney Sea at the exact same time. So when Braverman claims that other than Muppets and Bugs, nothing else at DCA was an adaptation of ideas that were originally developed for other Disney parks, he's either being disingenuous, or uninformed, or both.
7	ArchtMig Mon 5/26/2008 12:47a	Re: Superstar Limo. He said that the basis for the ride was celebrity and all of those trappings. He said that the ideas and gags in the ride probably didn't translate all that well in a "dark ride" environment, and that's why people "didn't get it". Well duh. Who's fault was that, Mr. Braverman? If you design a ride that's essentially a string of unrelated gags and nonsequitur references to a bunch of loosely modeled celebrities, and fail to write in a reason for being or even a unifying storyline, and then you wonder why people scratch their heads and say "huh?" upon exiting the ride, then what do you expect is going to be the result??
8	ArchtMig Mon 5/26/2008 12:57a	For the first time that I've ever heard this admitted from a Disney exec, Braverman admitted that DCA was designed more with the tourist market in mind, but that DCA's real market is more the local repeat customer. Probably as close as we're ever going to get of an admission that miscalculations were made in response to not knowing who their audience is. This was all made in reference to the discussion of Superstar Limo, which Braverman admitted was not very much a "Disney" type attraction, and therefore maybe didn't appeal to the customers who, after fifty years of going to Disneyland, have a certain expectation of what a "Disney" attraction ought to be.
9	ArchtMig Mon 5/26/2008 1:11a	He also admitted that they were surprised that Muppets and Bugs Life were not the runaway hits at DCA as they are at WDW. He attributes that to the repeat, local audience, and "tons of annual passholders" who all get "burned out quickly" on movie based attractions. Well no s***, Sherlock! That plus you built a whole theme park FILLED with movie based attractions, including stale old ones like Muppets, (or in the case of New Tomorrowland, HISTA). So they designed DCA with tourists in mind, many of whom already have seen the movie attractions that they put into DCA, because they are TOURISTS, so more than likely, they are already familiar with these attractions at WDW. So the movie attractions aren't really a draw to the tourist, and they really don't bring in the locals anymore after one or two viewings. Hmmmm... Where did they go wrong? See... THIS is why I am NOT a proponent of bringing in Philharmagic, or some silly Narnia based 3D movie, or any other walk in sit down put your glasses on and watch the 3d movie and get spritzed in the face with water type attraction to the Disneyland resort ever again. Period. They just don't have the staying power here in Southern California.
10	ArchtMig Mon 5/26/2008 1:35a	And now finally those of us who have been on these boards for many years have the answer to whatever became of Barry Braverman after he got shown the door at WDI. He's now doing private consulting for mostly non-profit civic and cultural organizations like schools and museums, helping them with the thematic aspects of their new facility developments. And he's worked on a project for a real estate developer helping them incorporate historic themes relevant to their "new town" development somewhere. Well good for him. I wish Barry well in these endeavors and future ones like them. He's probably very well suited to these types of projects. I don't hate Barry Braverman. I just hate that he was chosen to lead the design and development of the second gate theme park at Disneyland.

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