Tag: Expansion

More permits have now been filed for a massive expansion coming to Disneyland Resort.

Disneyland Resort is home to two theme parks in Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure, as well as the Downtown Disney shopping and dining district. All three of the experiences are in walking distance of one another, and take Disney Park Guests on magical journeys at “The Happiest Place on Earth.”

Disneyland Park is home to many iconic attractions like Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones Adventure, Jungle Cruise, “it’s a small world”, Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, and Matterhorn Bobsleds. Next door, Disney California Adventure houses rides like The Incredicoaster, Guardians of the Galaxy– Mission: BREAKOUT, WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure, and Radiator Springs Racers.

While visiting Disneyland, you have the opportunity to completely immerse yourself in the magic regardless of if you’re in a theme park, or if you’re in Downtown Disney enjoying some excellent food and shopping options.

Those options are about to get even bigger in the future.

Disney has filed several construction permits for a $5 million expansion to Downtown Disney.

A report from the Orange County Register indicates what the new expansion will entail:

“The commercial construction permits filed with the Anaheim Planning and Building Department call for a new 8,300-square-foot retail building with room for five shops. Also in the works: A new bathroom and employee break room. An event space with a 1,250-square-foot stage, shade structure and 21 lights are also in the plans, according to the permits.”

While the shops or attraction offerings for the event space with a stage have not been announced yet, this is a huge development as Disneyland continues to look to expand.

Downtown Disney’s West End– where this expansion will happen– was once envisioned as the fourth Disney hotel project, but was later canceled.

We previously shared the news that Disney has announced plans to transform much of Disneyland over a multiyear project named “DisneylandForward”. Disney has now released their own information and website with all the details. Check out the details as shared below by DisneyParksBlog.

On March 25, the Disneyland Resort filed an application with the city of Anaheim to begin the process of updating our existing development approvals to start to lay the groundwork for future development and expansion in the decades to follow. These updated approvals will allow for future flexibility and the opportunity for more integrated experiences to be built and located throughout Disneyland Resort properties. 

Although the Disneyland Resort currently has the development approvals to build additional theme park attractions, hotel rooms, entertainment, retail, dining, shopping and parking, our existing development approvals severely limit the ways in which we can expand and locate offerings.

That is why we are launching DisneylandForward, a multi-year public planning effort with the city of Anaheim to update development approvals that meet the current and future demand in entertainment. With these updated approvals, Disneyland Resort will continue to be an industry leader in bringing first-of-a-kind offerings to Anaheim, which in turn will create thousands of new jobs and help support Anaheim’s funding for important services such as fire, police and public schools.

While there are no specific plans to share at this time, the possibilities for the future are nearly endless. Other Disney theme parks around the world are introducing new magic like Zootopia, currently under construction at Shanghai Disneyland, and Tangled- and Frozen-themed lands at Tokyo DisneySea. With more flexibility in planning, projects like these could serve as inspiration as Disney Imagineers dream up what’s possible for the Disneyland Resort. 

It is important to know that Disneyland Resort is not seeking any public funding in this effort and is not seeking to develop any additional square footage or hotel rooms beyond what is already allowed. We will be working with the city and community to update existing approvals to allow for future integrated, immersive experiences to be appropriately placed and built throughout Disney properties.

If you would like to learn more about exciting plans for the future of the Disneyland Resort, please visit DisneylandForward.com.

Disneyland has unveiled plans for a theme park expansion, as well as new retail, hotel, and parking projects.

“DisneylandForward” is Disney’s effort to work with the city to grow the Disneyland Resort post-pandemic. Disney will be asking the city to approve plans to add a mix of theme park, hotel, retail, dining and entertainment on the eastern and western edges of the existing Disneyland Resort. The plans also include a new, large-scale parking garage on Harbor Boulevard and Disney Way.

The westside expansion envisions new theme park lands on the Downtown Disney and Lilo and Stitch parking lots, situated between the existing Disneyland Hotel and Paradise Pier Hotel. Originally, there was some confusion amongst news outlets if this was a new park, but it appears they are actually large expansions of both Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure.

Concept art of the west-side site shows a central mountain surrounded by water with buildings interspersed on the south end of the property. A mountain ridge to the west separates the theme park from nearby neighborhoods. The west-side site links up with Downtown Disney near the unused AMC Theater and ESPN Zone.

The existing Toy Story parking lot on Harbor Blvd, just across the street from the Anaheim Convention Center, would be turned into a new shopping and dining district, much like Disney Springs at Walt Disney World or DisneyTown at Shanghai Disneyland.

Concept art of the east-side retail area features a central lagoon surrounded by shops and a small hotel.