The View from Scopa Towers

This is my final installment of my impressions of my first visit to Disneyland.
Read Part 1
Read Part 2

I'd like to start by mentioning something important to me, and that is a concept mentioned many years ago.

Disney Zone Effect

It's known as The Disney Zone effect and I was curious as to how this would come into play on my initial visit to Disneyland. I think that each one of us goes through some level of "zoning" when visiting a Disney theme park. Beyond that it may be a certain attraction, image, sound, or even odor, that puts us in that special place.

For me I'm not sure if I ever crossed into that zone while at Disneyland. I have a theory as to why it just did not happen like it often does at Walt Disney World. I found myself working hard at omparing what I was seeing in Anaheim to what I knew existed in Orlando. When you look at anything with that type of scrutiny it somehow takes away from the enjoyment.

I do recall a few moments during my stay where I sensed a bit of a Disney Zone feeling, but not as much as I expected. My guess is the same is probably expressed by those longtime Disneyland fans who for the first time visit Walt Disney World.

Maybe it's a work in progress and my next visit may find me zoning a bit more.

and I think for me it was a case of my trying so hard to compare what I was experiencing to Walt Disney World

Cast Member Experience

I have to admit that I found the cast member experience in Anaheim slightly more enjoyable that what I've lately felt at Walt Disney World. Is there an explanation for this? I don't know. It could be that the Disney legacy is more entrenched in Southern California than it is in Central Florida...or could it be that perhaps there is a bit more pride to being a Disneyland Resort cast member than a Walt Disney World cast member. All I know is that I found the cast members in Anaheim to be more aware of guest needs, more spontaneuos in knowing how to make the guest experience that much better, and always smiling.

Entertainment

There is more entertainment at Walt Disney World for sure but the nod goes to Anaheim for the level of entertainment. For what I saw it just seemed that the performers were more crisp, more refined, more talented, and more into what they were doing....especially at the Hyperion Theater in California Adventure.

This is not to say that the entertainment is not topnotch at Walt Disney World. It just seemed more refined, more polished, and more experienced at the Disneyland Resort.

Shopping Experience

This is a no contest. Orlando offers so many different shopping experiences in so many areas that there just isn't any comparison between the two resorts. This is not to say that the DLR shopping experience is not a pleasant one. The DownTown Disney area has some very nice and interesting places to browse around and the parks of course have their share of places to look for that special souvenir.

The sheer number of places to shop and the diversity of the available merchandise just makes Orlando heads and shoulders above Anaheim in regards to shopping.

Overall Value

Here's where it gets real difficult. When we speak of this thing we call value are we talking about our time, our vacation dollar, our love for all things Disney, or something else?

A close friend of mine, Brian Bennett, has often said that if he was given one day to spend at a Disney resort that he would spend it in Disneyland, but if he had a week he would spend it in Walt Disney World. I tend to agree with Brian.

I think that each resort has many components that appeal to all Disney fans. While at Disneyland resort I found myself thinking the same two thoughts over and over again.

There were times when I thought, "Hmmm, I wish we had this in Walt Disney World" or "Why isn't this as good as it is in Walt Disney World?"

If we talk in terms of value for the vacation dollar I believe that Walt Disney World takes the edge only because of the number of theme parks, water parks, and other areas offered to the guests. YOu can experience more for your dollar in Orlando than in Disneyland.

If you put your time at the top of your list then you should know that the Disneyland Resort offers you the better opportunity to make use of this precious commodity. Its obvious that in a 12 hour day that DLR guests can enjoy more theme park experiences due to the proximity of the DLR parks to each other and surrounding hotels. In Orlando there is traveling time to consider between any two theme parks. Travel time from point to point takes away time spent at each point.

When we talk about love for all things Disney it's a draw. for the Disney purists Disneyland gets the nod here. Why not? It's the only Disney park Walt has experienced himself. It has been around for almost 60 years. It's the first Disney theme park and has been there for several generations of Disney fans.

For others, Walt Disney World, with the number of theme parks, water parks, resorts, hotels, restaurants, shopping areas, recreational opportunities, and much more, offer something special to the Disney fan that DLR does not quite offer yet and that is a diversified vacation experience. The Orlando resort does have an advantage over it's older sibling in CA in that there is a buffer to the outside world that CA does not enjoy. For many that gives them the chance to leave more of what they left behind and to easily escape from reality.

But it would be unfair for me to say the overall value is better at one coast than the other. It all depends upon the individual and the bottom line is that is part of what has made Disney resorts so successful...it's giving each guest the impression that they are special...that he or she is the most important guest on property...both resorts do this...both resorts know the formula that works...both resorts give you value.

For those who have visited one or the other but not both, I encourage you to expand your Disney experience.

Oh...one more thing...I did not leave Disneyland without getting one of these...

It is very appropriate that Sam Gennawey’s much-anticipated book, “Walt and the Promise of Progress City”, available at Amazon.com, has been released within several weeks of the recent celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the opening of Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. Why appropriate? Although Gennawey’s book focuses on EPCOT, one realizes, once diving into this book, that what this California urban planner is telling his audience is beyond the design of EPCOT but the evolution of Walt Disney’s understanding of what a theme park should be.

Gennawey devotes much of his book to explaining the learning curve Walt Disney and his imagineers experienced while designing, building, and maintaining Disneyland. The author sweeps up his audience and scoops them into his own monorail of progress and cites the influences, the people, the places, and the lessons learned that eventually led to what we now have in Orlando.

Gennawey, an urban planner by profession, makes it all very clear that a theme park was not built in a day, and, in regards to Epcot, was not being built even in a decade but perhaps over a period of 25 years.

How does Gennawey get us on board with his thoughts? Very simply he takes us back to the beginning. One of the most overlooked aspects of Walt Disney’s legacy is that although he was a visionary, in many ways, he defined the building blocks for what makes a visionary…and that is...experience and education. Walt was very much a learner and a student of family entertainment and amusement parks. He studied his guests and tried to understand what made them tick.

Gennawey brings us to the inner circle of Walt Disney’s mind and uses his words to paint for us a portrait of how Walt’s thought processes took place. Along the way with each stroke of his author’s brush Gennawey slowly unveils the curtain that indicates exactly what the forces were that led to the concept of Epcot.

One of the most interesting points made in this book was the revelation as to the number of people and influences that impacted how Walt and his staff envisioned what Epcot should be.

Those who are students of the theme park industry and especially all things Disney would serve them well to dive into Gennawey’s work to discover the not so well known influences that led to the design of Epcot.

For example, Gennawey points out how the obscure Disneyland episode, Magic Highways, USA which focused on the American highways system, required extensive research and brought with it dividends to Walt’s staff in terms of insight into how transportation technology has played a part in how America’s highways and cities have evolved. That insight led to other areas of research, which helped Walt, and his staff realize their need to understand what the future would not necessarily bring, but would require.

Gennawey’s book, often serves the audience as a remarkable time machine where the Disney fan can go back and experience what Walt and his creative team experienced in producing television shows and how this work influenced the construction of Disneyland...and thoughts of what should happen beyond Disneyland.

The design and development of Disneyland was truly an exercise and learning path in itself, as Gennawey implies, and the lessons learned from that experience would fuel many of the approaches that would be taken in what Epcot should be.

Gennawey is quick to point out that Walt was never formally trained in urban planning but has made a significant impact in the way we perceive how to design and build cities. Walt understood the “…timeless way of building.” More importantly, Gennawey tells us that not only did Walt want to tell us timeless stories but that he also wanted to create timeless places.

The author brings all the concepts of urban planning to the level of Disney fans that will find themselves entertained by how he uses familiar Disney theme park landmarks to bring his readers to a deep and complete understanding of how these concepts work to appease the needs of the Disney guest.

Site lines, patterns, perspectives, and colors all play into what makes things work for Disney and Gennawey does his best to inform his readers on how all what is learned through Disneyland went a long way towards the design of Epcot.

The best way to describe Gennawey’s book is to imagine walking down a long corridor and as you stop and admire each painting and get a new understanding for how the corridor was constructed, the corridor becomes more lit and you can admire another painting that gives you more information and more understanding until you reach the end and say, “Ahhh, now I understand how I got here!”

Unlike any other book written on Walt Disney World, “Walt and the Promise of Progress City” is the complete chronicle of the influences that took place, the lessons learned from Disneyland, and the obscure experiences of Walt Disney and his staff that led to the concept of Epcot.

What’s more impressive is that Gennawey’s mastery storytelling makes this book a candidate for reading by anyone, be it a Disney fan, an aficionado of urban planning, or anyone interested in how an American success story can evolve over so many years.

Gennawey quotes author Ray Bradbury who says that Walt was “…an optimal behaviorist...” who “…knew that he could function in architecture, and later he used that power and raised it to its highest degree.”

Gennawey says, “Walt wanted to build an entire planned community based on this belief. He wanted to change the public’s expectations of what a city—and happiness—could be.”

In closing I need to admit that reading “Walt and the Promise of Progress City” made me all too aware of gaps in my knowledge of how Walt Disney and his staff were influenced in theme park design and development. Sam Gennawey has very eloquently filled those gaps for me and has helped me fully understand and appreciate even more, the amazing visionary of the 20th Century, Walt Disney.