Disney has a bit of good news today. Their one big project state-side, the DisneylandForward expansion, has been approved by the Anaheim Planning Commission, with the voting coming in at 5-1.
This now will clear the way for the proposal to move forward to the City Council for approval. It could be a while till that happens, but Disney is hoping to get approval by the end of 2024.
What is DisneylandForward?
The new expansion is something that Disney has been trying to get approval on for a while. It’s over 1,000 acres. Disney estimates the cost would be around $2.5 billion, which is only a fraction of the $60 billion Disney is supposedly spending on theme parks in the next ten years.
It was presented in 2021 and again in 2023.
There are two areas that Disneyland wants to focus expansion on.
One area is parallel to the Disneyland Resort, and another is near Disney California Adventure, where the Toy Story parking area now sits.
On their website, they show blue sky art of some IP that could include attractions from ‘Tangled’ or ‘Peter Pan.’ The site also teases that the expansion could see attractions from new areas overseas like ‘Frozen’ in Hong Kong Disneyland or ‘Zootopia’ in Shanghai Disneyland. They also tease Toy Story Land and the Tron coaster that are already in Walt Disney World.
Of course, most of these involve attractions they already did the work on and could replicate and move to Disneyland, which would be a lot cheaper for the company than starting from scratch. It’s lazier, but that’s what they’ve been doing. The Tron coaster at Walt Disney World is a clone from Shanghai, and yet it still took them years to put it up.
Disney is focused on showing Anaheim what they can offer in the area both on their website and at the meeting.
According to Disney’s FAQ on the project, Disney promised these key commitments.
- Invest a minimum of $1.9 billion in new theme park and lodging experiences in the first 10 years.
- Contribute 30 million to Fund Affordable Housing Projects in Anaheim within the First Five Years.
- Provide $8 million to park improvements in Anaheim outside the Anaheim Resort Area.
- Contribute $85 million to improve traffic flow, pedestrian circulation and safety. (Which would include payment for the assessed value of selected street abandonments and removal of future planned roadways and a portion a the sum going to the general fund.)
- Continue Disney’s successful jobs, mentorship and career development program for Anaheim residents.
Disney also presented the results of a study they paid for (so keep that in mind) from Cal State Fullerton. This study was meant to show how the area would benefit from the projected—stating that for every $1 billion invested by Disney, more than 4k jobs would be created, as well as over $1 billion in “economic output” for the area within the four-year construction phase.
Disney says there will be 8,960 jobs created for construction and then 4,584 jobs when the new expansion moves into operation. To sweeten the deal, Disneyland president Ken Potrock promised those in attendance that Disney would hire “100% union labor with a focus on hiring Anaheim residents and veterans.”
Now, the proposal moves toward the next step towards approval. Once approved, Disney can begin adding to the Disneyland Resort.
Source: Deadline, DisneylandForward
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