City Walk vs. Downtown Disney

On a rainy Southern California Monday, you do not expect a huge turn out at the parks. Only the diehard tourists who have traveled hundreds miles will turn out for a cold, wet day of themeparking. Such was the case today when I went to Universal Studios Hollywood. It rained all morning, which made for, what I consider, the perfect conditions to visit a park. A week day with enough rain to keep the crowds away but not enough to make playing outside completely miserable.

Walking through City Walk to the park entrance, it was apparent the "entertainment capitol of LA" was sparsely attended. Open, uncrowded walkways leading to empty stores. It didn't seem like anything that wasn't to be expected. A weekday with less than desirable wether shouldn't lead to a huge turn out at an outdoor mall. When I left the park and trekked through City Walk again on the way out, little had changed. The weather had improved, but it was still a slow Monday night for the shopping complex.

As luck would have it, my parents were visiting Disneyland on the same day I was at Universal Studios. We made arrangements to meet at Downtown Disney for dinner after they left the park after their own day of themeparking. When I arrived at Downtown Disney, it was apparent there were far more people at Disney's mall than at Universal's. The pathways were busy, restaurants had less empty tables, and she shops had people coming and going. When compared to City Walk, DtD was quite busy, though not nearly as packed as it can be on a busy summer weekend with beautiful weather.

This leads to the big question. On a rainy Monday night in the beginning of May, why is Downtown Disney so much busier than City Walk. Is it a random occurrence, a one off night where the conditions of the day favored Disney, or has Disney taken the reigns as the nighttime shopping and dining destination from Universal?

It has always been my belief that Universal Hollywood's City Walk began the modern era of theme park shopping districts. While I think Disneyland's Downtown Disney is exceptionally well designed and has a great assortment of tenants, City Walk, to me, still had them beat when it came to support from the local community, variety of offerings, and overall impact. Is what City Walk offers not enough anymore? Is Downtown Disney now finally the new hottness?

What do you think?

--Mike