Disney can finally put behind them the embarrassing spectacle of their Disney California Adventure theme park after finally completing the five-year long $1 billion-estimated overhaul to the attraction. The park was looking like an albatross around the company's head upon its opening in 2001, with many complaining who visited it that it bore little relation to Disney and appeared to have been done on the cheap - not great for something that was supposed to be the equal of the hugely famous Florida attraction.
However, The Press Association reports that everything has completely changed. As Lisa Girolami, senior show producer of Walt Disney Imagineering, said on a recent tour, "If you're a little kid and you just want to have that visceral enjoyment ... you'll have that, but if you're a Disney-phile and you really want to get those deep, deep, deep stories, they're here too." It is estimated that attendances are up 12 per cent from a low point in 2007, with a reckoned 6.3 million coming through the gates in California.
Changes included 'The Mulholland Madness Rollercoaster', named after an infamous Californian water baron, now being changed into Goofy's Sky School; 'Golden Dreams', an animatronic ride, is now Little 'Mermaid and Ariel's Undersea Adventure' and there is also a new ride based on the franchise 'Cars'.