While the Disneyland Park that we’ve known for over five decades hasn’t operated as a traditional amusement park for the past year, it doesn’t mean that Disneyland has remained stagnant. Today, the resort announced DisneylandForward, a multiyear public planning effort with the City of Anaheim to update existing development approvals that will allow Disney to meaningfully invest in Anaheim for years to come and meet the future demands in entertainment.
“Thinking big and leading the way is both our legacy and our best path forward,” said Ken Potrock, President of Disneyland Resort. “Now is the time to be bold, to dream, to believe, and to lead! The world-renowned Disneyland Resort is poised to bring back jobs to our community as well as new entertainment and experiences to loyal fans and new audiences for generations to come.”
With the increased popularity of Disneyland, Anaheim grew up around it, featuring motels, restaurants and other tourist-facing businesses that still line the streets around the Disneyland Resort. Over time, it became clear that a cohesive vision was needed for the area to create a resort-like environment that would pave the way for the future. In the 1990s, the City of Anaheim approved specific plans that would guide the growth of the Disneyland Resort and businesses in the newly formed Anaheim Resort area. These specific plans created districts or zones that largely specified what type of development could be built where. It also established strict guidelines regarding development size, height limits and streetscape standards.
The results were dramatic: a second Disney theme park, Anaheim’s first luxury hotel, a Downtown Disney District, a world-class Anaheim Resort with consistent signage and landscaping, an expanded and improved Convention Center, and transformative infrastructure, including parking areas, first responder services and utilities to accommodate future tourist-serving growth, and a comprehensive regional transportation plan.
To this day, Disney continues to invest in the Anaheim Resort with exciting additions like Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, and the soon-to-open Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure Park. Unfortunately, the addition of more attractions and experiences in the future may be limited under current inflexible planning restrictions unless Disney is forced to remove and replace treasured rides and attractions that are in their parks today.
1990 Uses and Approvals. Blue: Theme Park District: Gold: Parking, Green: Hotel District; Pink: Future Expansion District
Today’s Uses and Approvals. Blue: Theme Park District: Gold: Parking, Green: Hotel District; Pink: Future Expansion District
The existing Disneyland Resort Specific Plan, approved in the 1990s, created districts for growth and limited the types of uses allowed in each district. Approvals generally required new hotels to be located in the Hotel District and traditional theme park uses to be located in the Theme Park District. But guests now seek a more integrated experience for the entirety of their stay.
From Cars Land and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge to the new Pixar Pals parking structure, Disney has spent billions of dollars over the last two decades investing in theme park experiences and infrastructure. While Disney has the development rights and the desire to continue investing in Anaheim, the space to develop integrated offerings is severely limited. Without broadening the uses allowed within each district or demolishing and replacing many beloved theme park attractions, further integrated development and theme park investment are not possible.
Disney is wanting to bring more investment to Anaheim. However, this simply isn’t possible under (in Disney’s words) current inflexible planning restrictions. Without updates, new Disney experiences and placemaking, created from their beloved stories, will likely never find their way to the Disneyland Resort as they have to other parks throughout the world. With DisneylandForward and more flexibility within their existing properties, new lands and adventures like those underway at Tokyo DisneySea and Shanghai Disneyland could inspire new experiences in Anaheim.
Disney notes properties like Frozen, Tangled, and Peter Pan could fit within an expanded Disneyland Park, while properties like Zootopia, Tron, and a clone of Disney’s Hollywood Studios Toy Story Land could find a home in a nearby expanded California Adventure, noting the latter “could be home to some of Disney’s most technologically advanced, immersive and cutting-edge entertainment, taking cues from these exciting lands and attractions around the globe for inspiration.”
As part of the DisneylandForward expansion, the company has presented a potential map for construction that would see expansion to both Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure, across Disneyland Drive. The expansion plot would exist, interspersed with the current locations of the Disneyland Hotel and the Disney Paradise Pier Hotel. Disney has also proposed a “New Kind of Disney Entertainment” that includes a combination of theme park, hotel, retail, dining and entertainment.
Disney notes that this “new kind of entertainment” property could be the perfect location to cater to locals, conventioneers, hotel and Disneyland Resort guests with restaurants, hotels, live music, shopping, ticketed shows and theme park experiences modeled after the popular Disney Springs at Walt Disney World Resort.
As part of the DisneylandForward plan, the Resort also plans to enhance parking and pedestrian access throughout the resort area. As part of the plan, Disney will also focus on investment into the surrounding area to help the local workforce, who were all greatly affected by COVID-19. Details for this plan can be found by clicking here, but including hiring union contractors for construction, hiring local Orange County residents, Diversity outreach and green initatives, while creating thousands of new jobs.
While the plan is still in the very early stages Disney encourages interested parties to get involved by clicking here.
It’s important to note that Disney is not seeking any public funding for DisneylandForward, and it will all be privately funded by the Walt Disney Company. They are not seeking additional square footage or hotel rooms beyond what is currently approved and allowed. They are simply asking to update their existing approvals to allow for integrated development to be located and built on Disney properties.
For more information, visit DisneylandForward.com. Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure are scheduled to re-open on April 30.
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