Simpsons taking shots at Disney again

Driving home from work today I heard a promo for the Simpsons' season premiere tomorrow, and this Homer quote was prominently featured:

(paraphrasing):

"I'll hide you where there's no one around for miles: Disney's California Adventure!"

It made me laugh, but I'm wondering if the GP (or at least the typical Simpsons' audience) knows how badly DCA is underperforming. It's not very subtle, so everyone will understand the joke, but if you don't know about DCA's troubles, you likely won't think it's particularly funny.

Since Orlando has clearly become the Disney vacation destination of choice for most of America, are most people in the Midwest and East Coast even aware of what DCA is, much less how it is performing? Or is this more of an in-joke for Southern California residents?

The Homer sound bite was clearly the centerpiece joke of the radio ad, which seems odd for an in-joke, at least here in MN.

I was thinking the same thing when I saw the promos for the season premiere... If I weren't an enthusiast, I doubt I would have understood the joke, let alone have known that DCA was an amusement park... Heck even as an enthusiast I haven't heard much about the park!

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-Keith "Badnitrus" McVeen

I thought it was pretty funny, and I would guess that most people here in Orange County, California are in on that joke, which played often on the radio recently.

But yeah, I see what you mean about that not being quite as funny to someone from Minnesota... Its not like DCA is quite as well known as the Magic Kingdom or Disneyland Park.

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Knotts Halloween Haunt- Everyone has to go sometime....

I thought it was very funny... a much better shot than they took at Disney Land Paris about seven years ago...

DCA... one great ride that REALLY needs a new home. Then they can turn that pile of crap back into a parking lot.

-Escher (Not a Disney fan)

I don't think people are as dumb as you think, I am pretty sure most people get the joke,

I heard the preview, too and found it really funny. I just might watch that episode tonight.
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~ http://woaguide.thrillnetwork.net ~

End of Season Picture Update

For all the *****ing and whining about that park I thought it was a very good park. It is a bit bare yet but the attractions that are there are for the most part excellent. I especially like the Paradise Pier area of the park and the true amusement park feel of the area.

I did find it odd however that the place was a virtual ghost town and Disneyland was a madhouse all in the same day.

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Bob Hansen
Operation Wicked Twister 2 - Goal: Lose 100 pounds by next season so I will DEFINATELY be able to ride Wicked Twister. Progress: 25 pounds. Doin' the Atkins!

I thought it was funny even though DCA is one of my favorite parks. Maybe some people just don't get it. It reminded me of Islands of Adventure in a sense of the high quality rides and theming. Once Tower of Terror opens and I get to ride, I'll probably like DCA more than IOA.

There are plenty of excellent attractions: California Screamin', Soarin' Over California, Grizzly River Rapids, Sun Wheel, It's Tough to Be a Bug, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Muppetvision,.. and the kids area they added recently looks great as well.

As for the "ghost town" feel some of the time, that reminded me of SFWOA, which I'm a huge fan of as well for a SF park. For all the wrong things at WOA, there's so much that just feels right.

-Danny
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Coaster Insomniacs- What's Thrilling You?
Coasterer Member #2... Just grab it* and ride!
*handling charges may apply

This case shows you how "quality over quantity" really doesn't work after all.

Besides that Kraxl, I still to this day have never understood why Disney decided to build another park right next to one of their existing parks.

Is Disneyland not enough for them in So Cal? I can think of plenty of places in this country that could have used a park like DCA and would have been very profitable.

I think its coming back to haunt them now.

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Arena football has arrived in the Windy City. Go "Chicago Rush"

I heard this on my way to pick up pizza last night, I never laughed at a commercial that bad in my life. I'll watch it tonight, it will be interesting.

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Dane
Webmaster of PKI-Central.com
http://www.PKI-Central.com

Two items, well, three actually....

First, "taking shots" sounds a tad defensive....perhaps *lampoons* would sound a little less threatened, hmmm?

Second, quality vs. quantity isn't always a losing proposition...HW, IoA, the FL Disney parks, prove that*quality* rides, (shows!) and attractions, will keep them coming, and coming BACK....

Third, read the sig. I don't do enough "adverts" for Cartoon Network, but Weinstein is on at 11, a special episode of The Family Guy that was apparently SO *controversial* that even Fox (yes, *that* Fox Network) refused to air it. I don't pretend to know more than I've seen in the promos, but it looks....delicious....:)
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Weinstein is coming, tonight at 11, Cartoon Network! Don't be the one standing around the water cooler that doesn't know what *everyone* is talking about....;)

I don't really see too much problem with DCA. I am one of those people who prefers quantity over quality when it comes to rides , but if a park has just a few good rides , i'll be busy all dya.

No one ever complains about MGM Studios , but it only has TOT and Rockin' Rollercoaster as it's star attractions. DCA has California Screamin , Grizzly River Run , and Soarin. Now it's getting Tower of Terror (plus all of the theming), which makes it a park that really is very good.

I still say a clone of Rckn' RC would do wonders for the park after TOT.

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Gotta(heavy breath) get myself(breath)funnier for(breath) offseason.(breath)So unfunny(breath) must.....try....harder.

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kRaXLeRidAh said:
This case shows you how "quality over quantity" really doesn't work after all.

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I think it's more like skimping on quality doesn't work. Look at DisneySea....that's what quality is! If American Disney would have ponied up the dough and resources to build a park like the Japanese did, I don't think the park would be the butt of jokes like this.

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- "I used to be in the audio/visual club, but I was kicked out because of my views on Vietnam........and I was stealing projectors" - Homer Simpson

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Chitown said:
Besides that Kraxl, I still to this day have never understood why Disney decided to build another park right next to one of their existing parks.

Is Disneyland not enough for them in So Cal? I can think of plenty of places in this country that could have used a park like DCA and would have been very profitable.

I think its coming back to haunt them now.

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Arena football has arrived in the Windy City. Go "Chicago Rush"

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Actually, Chitown I went to Disneyland on a weekday and the place was wall to wall people with no where to move. I have a feeling they built DCA to make the guest experience at DL a bit more pleasant and to further increase their attendance.

I think the thing that hurts DCA is that it is decidingly un-Disney like. They have a lot of rides that fit more in a traditional theme park and appeal less to the small tots.

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Bob Hansen
Operation Wicked Twister 2 - Goal: Lose 100 pounds by next season so I will DEFINATELY be able to ride Wicked Twister. Progress: 25 pounds. Doin' the Atkins!

That was the whole idea. DCA was billed as the park for adults, trying to attract that demographic.

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The Phoenix, its Schmecktacular!

And that was a bad idea for a Disney park. Because thats not why people visit their parks. The idea that has always worked for Disney is that their parks were places that entire families could enjoy together- not just adults or only kids- everyone together.

Obviously, they have dramatically changed their approach to DCA, steering away from the "park for adults" idea.

As for the park itself, its good and has a couple of outstanding rides, but if I wasn't an annual passholder and had to pay for a one day pass, I'd probably be much more inclined to go to Disneyland rather than DCA.

However, I had little trouble spending all day there with my girlfriend, who had never been there before. Its not like there is a lack of things to do for the first time visitor, but aside from its awesome E-Tickets, there isn't a whole lot for the more frequent visitor at this point.

I think that Tower of Terror will be a huge step towards building a good reputation for the park.

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Knotts Halloween Haunt- Everyone has to go sometime....

It was a bad idea for a Disney park in an already congested area for parks. However, I believe this park could easily succeed in a market that is lacking a major park.

If Disney would get out of the thinking that they have to run parks year round, they could have created a seasonal park somewhere that would have gotten a good reception.

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Arena football has arrived in the Windy City. Go "Chicago Rush"

Wasn't Disney's America (here near Baltimore) supposed to be a sersonal park, or was is year round? (for those that don't know Disney came *this close* to building a park here in MD in 95 or 96)

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- "I used to be in the audio/visual club, but I was kicked out because of my views on Vietnam........and I was stealing projectors" - Homer Simpson

Now, I just don't think the park's whole central California theme was a great idea. Why did they have to put a California themed park *in* California? If you wanna see the Golden Gate Bridge just go to San Francisco. The California Screamin is an ugly coaster IMO.

Also, I really don't think there was any attempt at DCA to raise the bar on what had been done before. We all know what IOA raised the bar with the Spiderman ride as well as the other countless technological wonders the park has. DCA really needs something unique and exciting to give people a reason to wanna go there.

*** This post was edited by Scream Machine 11/10/2003 1:06:00 AM ***