The Anaheim City Council today gave final approval to DisneylandForward, Disney’s $1.9 billion, decade-long expansion plan for Walt’s original park. Today’s 7-0 procedural vote came after a unanimous vote to approve the project in April. The zoning and other changes included in the plan are scheduled to take effect in 30 days.
Those changes include zoning that allows mixed-use development where it doesn’t currently exist. The proposal allows for the rezoning of approximately 57 acres of parkland and unused land. Artist renderings of the plans provided by Disney, while conceptual, show a major development west of the current parks near the Disneyland Hotel and another southeast of California Adventure. Both properties are currently primarily intended for parking.
Disney
This would allow theme park attractions adjacent to hotels on the west side of Disneyland Drive. See rendering below.
It would also allow for theme park attractions as well as new shopping, dining and entertainment options in the Southeast at what is now the Toy Story parking lot at Katella Avenue and Harbor Boulevard. See rendering below.
Earlier this year, Disney CEO Bob Iger offered a brief first look at the “possible” new thing Avatar-themed area in Anaheim Park. Pandora – The World of Avatarhas been operating at Disney World in Florida for years and Iger said it was the company’s “intention” to make it a new feature of Disneyland. “We’re excited about many potential new stories for our guests to experience at Walt’s original theme park, including the opportunity to embark on all-new Avatar adventures while visiting the world of Pandora,” he said. “Possible” is the key term there.
At a sixAt the roughly hour-long meeting of the Anaheim City Planning Commission in March about the company’s request for “flexibility” in zoning related to the city’s 1994 “Resort Specific Plan,” which governs the area in and around Disneyland, questions were raised A number of residents told the commission and Disneyland boss Ken Potrock why they are being asked to approve a $1.9 billion makeover of the park without details about what specific attractions and experiences will be added . (The company’s plan for the park was called DisneylandForward.)
“With DisneylandForward and more flexibility within our existing properties, new lands and adventures like those currently taking place at Tokyo DisneySea and Shanghai Disneyland could inspire new experiences here,” reads the copy on DisneylandForward.com. Examples given are: Frozen country and the Tangled And Peter Pan Attractions for the original park and Zootopia, Tron And Toy Story Elements for Disney’s California Adventure. However, these are just examples. Disney executives, including Potrock in his responses to Anaheim residents, have not committed to any of these.
Disney needs the project for its flagship park because while its Parks and Experiences division continues to churn out cash, most of its stellar 10% revenue growth over the past three months has come from its overseas properties.
Despite rising attendance and rising per capita spending, Disneyland’s results fell year-over-year due to higher costs, including labor, CFO Hugh Johnston said in a second-quarter earnings conference call with analysts earlier today.
A big surprise – he said Parks’ growth in the current fiscal third quarter would be stagnant for several reasons, including “some normalization of post-Covid demand in terms of demand.” While consumers continue to travel in record numbers and we continue to see healthy demand, we are seeing some evidence of a global slowdown since the peak of post-Covid travel.” Wall Street didn’t really know what to make of it , and the stock fell as a result.
Disney is just beginning a 10-year, $60 billion investment cycle for parks and experiences. The first step is the $1.9 billion DisneylandForward plan. “We are incredibly excited about the many potential new stories our guests will be able to experience at Walt’s original theme park,” Iger said in his opening remarks on the conference call.
More information about DisneylandForward can be found here.
Among the positives for Anaheim residents is that Disney must invest at least $1.9 billion in theme parks, lodging, entertainment, shopping and dining within 10 years. Also included is $30 million for affordable housing in Anaheim, including $15 million in the first year and $15 million in five years; $10 million: for sewer improvements along Katella Avenue; $8 million for Anaheim parks within the first year.
Depending on what is built, Anaheim is expected to generate $15 million to $244 million in additional annual revenue once the buildout of funds allowed under DisneylandForward is complete.