Disney spends $ 1 billion to tune up stalled theme park
LOS ANGELES – The Disney California Adventure theme park in Anaheim, a dud since it opened in 2001, will unveil the fruits of a five- year, $ 1- billion renovation next week — and there’s a lot more riding on the effort than ticket sales.
Disney is counting on the overhauled park to entice visitors at adjacent Disneyland to stay another day or two, preferably in a Disney hotel. It is also a riposte to rival Universal Studios, which just launched a ride based on the movie Transformers.
The revamped park underscores the emergence of Pixar’s chief creative officer, John Lasseter, as a force within Disney — a colourful counterpoint to the company’s technocratic chief executive, Bob Iger.
Indeed, with the opening next week of a themed area called Cars Land, the park is fast becoming Pixar- land. Nine of 20 rides will now be based on films from the computer animation company, which Disney bought in 2006.
The prominence of Lasseter and Pixar, as well as the emergence of such major franchises as Marvel Entertainment’s blockbuster film The Avengers, marks a shift for the venerable entertainment conglomerate.
Since taking over in 2005, Iger stressed the need to build brands, and acquired Pixar and Marvel in a bid to count on companies it acquired for the iconic characters that drive everything from theme park attendance to merchandise sales.
As part of the Pixar acquisition, Lasseter, who once worked as a Disneyland guide and is known for wearing loud Hawaiian shirts, was also named “principal creative adviser” to Walt Disney Imagineering, the company’s highly regarded and super- secret design unit for its theme parks.
It was Iger who suggested the idea of using Cars rides in the California Adventure park, according to people involved at the time. It was Lasseter, who flew in for twice monthly meetings from Pixar’s Emeryville, California, headquarters, and the Imagineers who made the rides come to life.
Lasseter’s creative chops beyond animation will be put to their first big test at Disney California Adventure. The park has suffered from poor attendance since its 2001 opening, with patrons complaining of too few attractions at too high a price. Even with two- for- one specials, just six million people spun through its turnstiles in 2011, compared with 16 million at the company’s flagship Disneyland next door, according to the Themed Entertainment Association trade group.
In remaking California Adventure, Disney replaced rides based on the California lifestyle with attractions such as a moving shooting arcade ride based on Pixar’s Toy Story .
Disney used part of the park’s parking lot to create the 12- acre Cars Land, based on Pixar’s 2006 hit movie.
T o promote the opening, Disney is spending lavishly . A grand- opening party will feature a celebrity- studded redcarpet. It’s an opening worthy of a big summer movie. Disney has a billion reasons to hope it’s a hit.