How Disneyland Will Officially Undergo the Biggest Expansion in Its History — Without Growing Its Footprint
Disney’s nearly $2 billion expansion plan, known as DisneylandForward, received its final vote of approval from the Anaheim City Council on May 7
Getty Images Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California
Disneyland is about to become even more magical!
Now that Disney’s $1.9 billion expansion plan known as DisneylandForward was officially approved by the Anaheim City Council on May 7, the theme park can start preparing for some major changes.
Disney has committed to fully fund the additions that the proposal calls for, including new theme park attractions, potential new lands, lodging, entertainment, shopping and dining. The company will invest in these changes in the next 10 years and development will be carried out over four decades, per the City of Anaheim’s official website.
Despite the massive undertaking, the proposal confirms that the park’s footprint will not grow in order to complete the transformation.
Disney Concept art for DisneylandForward
According to a press release from the city, “The proposal does not request any new acreage, square footage or hotel rooms to be developed.”
Instead, the company plans to reimagine specific areas that already belong to the theme park in order to make way for these additions.
“DisneylandForward calls for allowing theme park attractions alongside hotels on the west side of Disneyland Drive and for theme park attractions alongside new shopping, dining and entertainment to the southeast on what is today the Toy Story Parking Area at Katella Avenue and Harbor Boulevard,” per the release.
The initiative, which was first introduced in 2021, also notes the expansion of parking east and new parking northeast of theme parks, with the potential for foot bridges to be built across Harbor Boulevard and Disneyland Drive.
Additionally, Disney is planning to pay the city $36.9 million to take on full responsibility of Magic Way, a 1,150-foot public road located on the west side of the resort.
Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images Disneyland entrance sign
DisneylandForward also proposes structures to be built at even taller heights.
According to the resort plan, Disney would be allowed to build “three additional structural thematic elements (for a total of four) to have a height of up to 300 feet” within Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.
The parks were previously permitted to build one structure at a height of up to 250 feet.
On March 11, the Anaheim City Council Planning Commission approved zoning and planning changes of the proposal, followed by the city council unanimously approving the full proposal on April 17. The May 7 city council vote officially marked the final approval for DisneylandForward. However, changes cannot go into effect for another 30 days after that, according to the release.
Abigail Nilsson/Disney Tron Lightcycle at Walt Disney World
Now that the proposal has been approved, park guests can look forward to some beloved franchises finally making their way to Disneyland.
In September 2023, Disney Products Chairman Josh D’Amaro teased the possibility of introducing themes from Frozen, Coco, Black Panther, Tangled, Peter Pan, Zootopia, Toy Story and Tron at Disneyland within the next decade.
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Steven Diaz/Disney Pandora – The World of Avatar at Walt Disney World
Disney CEO Bob Iger also confirmed that a new land would be coming to Disneyland during the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference in March.
“We have one Avatar-based land, Pandora, in Florida. We’re going to put a second one in California,” he shared at the time.
Read the original article on People.