GLENDALE, Calif. — Disney's California Adventure is taking a detour.

The Walt Disney Co. said yesterday it will overhaul its underperforming theme park — a project that could even result in a new name for the property.

The company acknowledged that the park next door to Disneyland in Anaheim has not attracted as many guests as planned since opening in 2001.

"It hasn't performed up to expectations, and they have had to add new items to the park over the years," media analyst Harold Vogel said. "They didn't invest as much as they should have at the time."

Disney CEO Robert Iger and other executives would not disclose the cost of the overhaul, but it will exceed $1 billion, according to a person familiar with the plans who was not authorized to speak publicly about it. The figure eclipses the original cost of California Adventure.

The inability of the park to attract even half as many visitors in most years as its famous neighbor Disneyland is a misstep for the company.

Disney originally billed California Adventure as a more adult-themed experience, with a winery exhibit, tour through a sourdough bread factory and an upscale restaurant from Wolfgang Puck.

The overhaul, which will take five years, will be designed to make the park look and feel more like it was conceived by Walt Disney himself, complete with a recreation of the movie theater that hosted the 1938 premiere of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."

It will also add a new, 12-acre section, based on the hit Pixar Animation movie "Cars," including a thrill ride that re-creates the film's high-speed race.

Disney executives acknowledged the need to rethink and expand the attractions at California Adventure to lure new visitors.

They pointed to growing attendance at Disneyland as proof that a similar approach would work at California Adventure.

"If you build it right, they will come," Iger said during a news conference. "Disneyland is telling us that loud and clear these days."

Erin Willis, 28, of Cincinnati, was visiting Disneyland yesterday with her husband and toddler son. She said she had found California Adventure to be "kind of boring" on previous visits.

"The rides were fun, but it didn't have a lot of the excitement Disneyland had," Willis said.

California Adventure had problems even before it opened, with critics questioning the decision to build a park that at first didn't even include Disney's signature characters such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.

Disney also scrimped on the park, recycling attractions from its Walt Disney World resort in Florida and using some of the historical and educational elements from its "Disney's America" park that was proposed in Virginia in the 1990s but never built.

Tourists balked when Disney initially charged as much to visit California Adventure as it did for Disneyland, which had many times the number of rides and attractions.

Almost immediately, Disney began to tweak the park, adding characters, new sections designed for kids and a big-budget thrill ride called the "Twilight Zone Tower of Terror."

But the park has never fulfilled the original vision of making the Anaheim complex a multi-day destination similar to Walt Disney World in Florida or the company's dual-gate parks in Paris and Tokyo.

Eventually, Disney had to offer discounted admission packages known as "park hopper" tickets.

A single day's adult admission to either Disneyland or California Adventure is now $66. A "park hopper" ticket that allows visits to both parks on the same day is $91.

Executives acknowledged that the park has struggled to reach its original goal of 7 million visitors annually but said it has been popular enough to rank as the state's second-most popular attraction, beating out San Diego's Sea World and Universal Studios Hollywood.

"I don't consider that on any level to be a failure," said Jay Rasulo, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.

A sampling of guests at the Anaheim complex said they preferred Disneyland but would give California Adventure a second look after the renovation.

Disney will also replace some of the park's less popular sections with new attractions based on the Disney film "Little Mermaid" and the Pixar film "Toy Story."

The park will also add a new high-tech nighttime show that projects animated images onto water and mist shot into the air from fountains in the park lagoon. A viewing plaza that can accommodate 9,000 people will also be built.