The Walt Disney Company is working with the City of Anaheim to expand the Disneyland Resort in California. Their proposal, DisneylandForward, is a multi-year planning effort to update existing development approvals to meet future demands of entertainment, according to the company.
So… Disney wants to buy more land?
No, they want permission to have flexibility when it comes to how to use their existing land— They want to use it in a different way than what’s currently permitted. After Disneyland opened in 1955, the City of Anaheim’s tourism boomed and many businesses like hotels, restaurants, and other theme parks bought land and opened up near Disneyland Resort before the Walt Disney Company could buy more land.
In 1993, the City of Anaheim adopted the Disneyland Resort Specific Plan (DRSP). The plan provides guidelines for Disneyland Resort when it comes to various expansions and developments, the big one at the time being the development of Disney’s California Adventure. The DRSP also gives guidelines for development and expansion for “…additional hotel and entertainment areas, administrative office facilities, back-of-house facilities, new public, and private parking facilities, an internal transportation system, and the on-going modification of Disneyland,” according to the City of Anaheim. The DRSP has five districts: the Theme Park District, the Hotel District, the Parking District, the Future Expansion District, and District A.
Each zone was created with the intent of keeping a variety of things to do to keep tourists in the area. Each district also has its own rules for buildings and structures. What’s most important to note about these districts, however, is that each district’s developments have to stick to their purpose; theme parks can only be in the Theme Park District, hotels must be placed in the Hotel District, etc. This is what the Walt Disney Company has proposed to change in DisneylandForward.
DisneylandForward is an announcement for a new theme park?
Not yet. Nothing has been approved by the City of Anaheim yet so no announcements of definite plans can be made. (For context, the DRSP was approved in 1993, CEO at the time Michael Eisner pitched the idea of a second park in 1995, California Adventure began construction in 1998, and opened in 2001… it’s a long process.)
The Walt Disney Company wants the Disneyland Resort to be able to keep up with the new innovations being implemented in other parks around the world that have more land without removing or replacing current attractions. Walt Disney World Resort, for example, has 25,000 acres of land, not of which all is being used. Disneyland Resort sits on a property of only a little over 500 acres. New attractions, parks, resorts, shopping areas, and more can be added to Walt Disney World without the worry of running out of space. Disneyland Resort’s limited space doesn’t allow for easy expansion so that’s why they want to use what ‘little’ space they have to its best use.
If they don’t add a new theme park, what could Disney do with the space?
Below is a concept map of what could be done with the land. Check it out!
It’s certainly an interesting concept. The map includes sites for possible Disneyland and California Adventure expansions past Disneyland Drive connected by what could be a pedestrian bridge. Where the Toy Story parking lot currently stands, concept art highlights “A New Kind of Disney Entertainment.” They haven’t decided what could go there yet, but the possibilities are endless; a new theme park, more shopping, and maybe even a new hotel could fill the space.
More specifically, the DisneylandForward campaign emphasizes the need to keep up with the ever-changing technologies and innovations of the themed-entertainment industry. Walt said himself on Disneyland’s opening day in 1955, “Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.” They highlighted some of the new themed areas and attractions coming to Disney Parks around the world and said that these new lands and attractions are the perfect pieces of inspiration for the Anaheim resort.
Again, DisneyForward hasn’t explicitly said they want to bring these attractions and lands to the Disneyland Resort and California Adventure. They want to use their storytelling and immersive technology to bring something to Anaheim, whether that’s one of these lands from abroad or something completely new.
How will this impact the City of Anaheim?
It’s hard to say at this point how this will impact Anaheim, but the Walt Disney Company is confident that it will benefit the community from construction to actual operation. In research conducted by California State University Fullerton before COVID-19, the Walt Disney Company provided 78,000 jobs to Southern California. Since the layoffs and furloughs, the exact number of people employed by the Walt Disney Company is unknown. We do know that some cast members will be back to work soon since Disneyland Resort will be opening back up at the end of April.
On the DisneylandForever website, the company states that they want to “use union contractors for the majority of future development, implement a local hire program to benefit Anaheim and Orange County residents (including a veteran hiring component), have diversity outreach including hiring minority/women/LGBTQ/disadvantaged businesses, and use environmentally responsible techniques.” At this time, there are no step-by-step plans on how to make those goals a reality, but again, this is in very early development.
Anaheim’s touristy area is already PACKED. How will this impact parking and transportation?
Anaheim is a very congested city when it comes to touristy locations. To prepare for more visitors after the completion of developments like Galaxy’s Edge in Disneyland, the resort added a new parking garage and a pedestrian walkway to the property in September 2019. If the Disneyland Resort wants to expand, they also need to account for more tourists traveling to the property.
Disney says they have “…plans to significantly invest in transportation, parking, transit, and pedestrian safety measures to improve mobility throughout The Anaheim Resort.” Again, there are no plans set in stone, but the DisneylandForward project envisions a new garage to the east with another pedestrian bridge. The Walt Disney Company also says they “…will continue to work with area businesses and the city to invest in and encourage the use of public transit and ride-sharing for our cast and guests.”
What does this mean for my experience at Disneyland right now?
Absolutely nothing.
But really, this entire proposal is so early in development that it shouldn’t impact anyone’s visit to the Disneyland Resort for quite a while. There are no plans set in stone. Everything DisneylandForward proposes is for the distant future.
Right now, the only thing impacting guests will be COVID-19 restrictions when the parks reopen on April 30.
Elizabeth Pfeiffer is the senior editor of Boardwalk Times.
