Walt Disney once famously said, “Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.” Well, it’s safe to say Walt wouldn’t be shocked by the latest Disneyland news!

The Disneyland Resort is no stranger to change. From the creation of Disney California Adventure in 2001 to expansions such as Avengers Campus, Cars Land, and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Disneyland continues to pioneer theme park innovation not only in Southern California but all over the globe. However, like Walt suggested, the work is never done and Disney plans to continue to create and expand with its latest project, DisneylandForward!

Announced in 2021, DisneylandForward came into play as a multi-year Disneyland and Anaheim Resort expansion and redesign that would expand and update two existing approvals from the 1990s. In layman’s terms, DisneylandForward would not only allow extra theme park development to the land surrounding the Disneyland Resort, but also expand the resort’s lodging, retail, parking, and dining options. Just this week, Disney representatives met with Anaheim’s city council to shed more light on the proposed plans.

 

At the Anaheim City Council meeting, some more details were shared about monetary numbers as well as proposed ideas. The big point of emphasis was that Disney is committed to spending $1.9 billion over the next decade under this proposal and is not relying on public funding to bring this plan to fruition. Not only that, but DisneylandForward is a 40-year-long project when it’s all said and done.

 

The point of DisneylandForward is to provide flexibility for the Disneyland Resort to build more theme park attractions, lands, lodging options, retail locations, and dining spots without the constraints of land obstacles and zoning restrictions. This project would unify the Disneyland Resort and Anaheim Resort areas into one unified entertainment center — essentially a miniature version of Disney World.

Disney’s $1.9 billion investment would go towards these possible resort additions and would primarily focus on locations west of Disneyland Drive and the current Toy Story parking lot. Disney would use DisneylandForward to enhance parking for both guests and cast members while adding a new transportation center.

Expansion would of course require a larger workforce, and Disney mentioned how the theme park district would get its own police and firefighting substations in addition to the possibility of more officer/firefighter jobs and an increase in cast member hirings. 

When it came to theme park expansion, Disney proposed projects themed after Coco, Black Panther, Tangled, Frozen, Zootopia, Peter Pan, Tron, and Toy Story. During the meeting, Disney specifically referenced its other lands in international parks, such as the latest Zootopia Land at Shanghai Disney Resort, the World of Frozen at Hong Kong Disneyland, and the new Rapunzel’s Forest opening at Tokyo DisneySea later this year.  To build more expansive lands and attractions, Disneyland would need these proposed city planning and zoning guidelines to be approved.

It’s important to note that this plan does not purchase additional land but instead allows Disney to modify land it already owns but can’t currently work on because of zoning regulations. To get the ball rolling, Disney has offered to commit to investing between $1.9 and $2.5 billion plus an additional $5 million in street infrastructure improvements if $600 million is not spent within a decade. Additionally, the company has offered the city of Anaheim more funds for sewage upgrades, park upgrades, workforce boosting, and low-income housing among others in this proposed plan. Disney would also move the new Disney Vacation Club rooms into more normal tax operations akin to non-time share lodging in the area to further boost tax revenue for Anaheim.

The Villas at Disneyland Hotel

Disneyland has a few more meetings planned before a vote is held in late spring and we could see adjustments and new proposals made between now and then. The next DisneylandForward proposal is scheduled for an Anaheim Planning Commission hearing in March.

To say the impact of DisneylandForward is huge is an understatement, and we’ll be sure to cover the proposed plan as updates unfold. In the meantime, be sure to stay tuned right here at DFB for all the latest Disneyland news!

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Are you in favor of a Disneyland expansion or are you happy with the way it is? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

The post NEWS: Disney Announces .9 BILLION Expansion Plans, Including ‘Tangled,’ ‘Frozen,’ and ‘Coco’ Projects first appeared on the disney food blog.