The Blunder and the Beauty of a Downtown Disney Christmas

In  the middle of coming to SoCal for a funeral, I was able to sneak away for a brief dinner at Downtown Disney. As you can tell from the photo above, three cuties got away for a morning there as a birthday celebration fell in the midst of all the memorial services. 

These sweet little guys are beautiful, but their surroundings in this photo show the blunder of what Disney did to a lovely little area for the Christmas season of 2019. Even at night, it just isn't attractive!

Much like the awful Pixar Pier transformation at Disney California Adventure, you have to wonder exactly what they were trying to accomplish and at how much of an expense. 

 Splitsville looked much nicer with its indoor Christmas tree visible on the upper level. Yet, something charming and worthy of the name Disney was missing from it all. When you add in the wasteland that is the area around Rain Forest Cafe, Disney Springs in Florida comes into focus as the finest example of retail art outside any Disney theme park. It's truly a shame as the Grand Californian and the iconic Disneyland Hotel are so nice in their own very different ways.

Things look better when you see the park entrances. However...Our youngest daughter hadn't been to DCA 2.0 since right before Cars Land and Buena Vista Street or even Mermaid. Hadn't seen World of Color either. She and her husband chose to go to DCA so she could see the changes, Radiator Springs Racers in particular. They went shortly after opening time. She found Buena Vista Street beautiful but with nothing to do. Saw and loved the popular Cars Land, declared RSR great, walked the park after doing Soarin'. 

She absolutely hated the Pixar Pier transition (she has a strong love for classic Imagineering as does her Dad). They soon decided DCA was still not worth the money of a full day ticket. Thinking Disneyland was still much was better, they went to guest services for a park hopper. Arrived on Main Street shortly after 12 Noon. Both had a great time at DL (loved Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge and Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run) but will not go back to Anaheim's second Disney Park for a very, very long time.

The Grand Californian lobby was as stunning as to be expected! Its elegance speaks of classic Disney and is worth a visit on its own. Just the beauty piece the resort area needs this time of year. When will the suits learn that hip and edgy do not win out over classic Disney done well? Maybe in 2020.

(Photographs copyright Mark Taft.)