SANTA ANA, California –
Visitors to Disney parks in California will someday be able to walk through the snow-covered village of Arendelle from “Frozen” or the bustling, bug-filled metropolis of “Zootopia” under a park expansion plan approved by the Anaheim City Council.
Disney would spend at least $1.9 billion over the next decade to transform its 490-acre campus in densely populated Southern California. It would be the largest expansion of Disney theme parks in Southern California in decades, with the goal of creating more immersive experiences for guests. Disney would also have to spend tens of millions of dollars on street improvements, affordable housing and other infrastructure in the city.
The council unanimously approved the project at the end of an eight-hour meeting that began Tuesday night, the Orange County Register reported. A second council vote is required in May for final approval of Disney’s plan.
The plan would not expand Disney’s footprint in tourism-dependent Anaheim, but it would help it add attractions and entertainment by allowing the company to relocate parking to a new multi-story structure and redevelop the massive lot, as well as make other changes to its use. His properties.
Disneyland, Disney California Adventure and the Downtown Disney shopping area are surrounded by highways and residential areas in the city 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles, so the company sees the plan as vital to continue creating new attractions Large size. .
A significant portion of the public testimony before the city council focused on Disney’s plans to purchase a public street near the theme park and convert it into a pedestrian walkway, as well as its intention to add a crosswalk on another neighboring street.
Scott Martindale, who lives nearby, said the crosswalk would improve safety.
“No change or project is perfect. But in this case, I think the benefits outweigh the benefits,” he said. Martindale added that Disney conducted community outreach about its expansion plans for three years.
Another neighbor, Cassandra Taylor, said she is looking forward to the new attractions the expansion will bring. But she is concerned about Disney’s plans to privatize a city street, and she adds that she first heard the idea last month in a newspaper article even though she had attended two Disney briefings.
“They may have a pedestrian path planned now, but once it’s theirs, they could just as easily remove it,” Taylor said. “It will be theirs and entirely theirs. Voters will have no say over its future use.”
Ken Potrock, president of Disneyland Resort, said at the meeting: “We are ready to bring the next level of immersive entertainment here to Anaheim.” Over the past two decades, Disney investments have included Cars Land, Pixar Pier, Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge and Avengers Campus.
Disney has not committed to what stories it plans to feature given that new development will take years.
It is the first time Disney has sought a major change at its California theme parks since the 1990s, when the company won approvals to convert Disneyland, its original theme park called “the happiest place on Earth” and built in 1955, in a tourist center. He later built the Disney California Adventure theme park and the Downtown Disney shopping and entertainment area.
Disneyland was the second most visited theme park in the world in 2022, with 16.8 million people passing through its doors, according to a report from the Themed Entertainment Association and AECOM.
Anaheim is the most populous city in Orange County, home to 345,000 people, as well as a major league baseball team and a National Hockey League team. Hotel revenue typically accounts for about half of the city’s revenue and is expected to rise to $236 million this year, according to city estimates.