Disneyland proposes large theme park and shopping district expansion with DisneylandForward

Disneyland Resort has announced “DisneylandForward,” a new, multi-year public planing effort with the City of Anaheim to develop future experiences — which includes a possible expansion for the theme parks.

disneylandforward
Rendering shows westside footprint of Disneyland Resort with possible immersive experiences that could include theme park, hotel, retail, dining and entertainment.

The goal of DisneylandForward is to meet with Anaheim officials to update current development approvals for Disneyland in order to allow for the future construction of entertainment offerings, which Disneyland claims will, in turn, “create thousands of new jobs and help support Anaheim’s funding for important services, such as fire, police, and public schools.”

Disneyland Resort has stated that it will not seek any public funding for these efforts, nor any additional square footage or hotel rooms beyond what they’ve already been allowed. Instead, DisneylandForward is their way of working with the city and local community to update existing development approvals to allow for new experiences to be built.

We are at the very beginning stages of the process. While the project will be refined over time, we hope to explore the creation of integrated experiences featuring new theme park attractions, dining, retail, hotel, and more.

Right now, we don’t have any specific projects planned for the future.

Statement from the FAQ section of DisneylandForward.com
disneylandforward

Though on the surface this announcement seems like a tease for a future third gate, looking deeper, it appears to be framed more as an expansion of the existing parks.

We are not announcing any future projects at this time. Currently, we are focused on meeting with the community to explain DisneylandFoward and working with the City of Anaheim to review and ultimately approve the project.

These updated approvals are necessary as they will allow us to explore new integrated and immersive experiences that could include adding new theme park attractions without having to remove and replace treasured rides and attractions.

Statement from the FAQ section of DisneylandForward.com

On the DisneylandForward website, many of the upcoming attractions planned for Tokyo DisneySea are cited as “perfect inspiration” for Disneyland park, including the “Frozen” land of Arendelle, a “Tangled”-themed land, and a Neverland area.

For Disney California Adventure’s possible expansion, Disney mentions recent developments like the Zootopia-themed land for Shanghai Disneyland, Toy Story Land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Tron Lightcycle / Run at Magic Kingdom as possibilities.

disneylandforward
A new kind of Disney entertainment destination that could include theme park, hotel, retail, dining and entertainment.

Other potential uses of the existing space, should the development permits be altered include a shopping and entertainment district modeled after Disney Springs at Walt Disney World, a new parking destination on the east side of the resort, and hotels.

Should the City of Anaheim not agree to revise their 1990s-era development agreements with Disneyland, it is possible that future expansion of the parks would come at the cost of removing beloved attractions in the parks today.

For now, DisneylandForward is in the early stages of approval. Stay tuned for more updates on this effort as it progresses.

To learn more, visit DisneylandForward.com.

MouseFanTravel

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

2 Comments

  1. This is great! Soooooo tired of hearing g that Disneyland is so tiny compared to Disneyworld.
    I know, it will still be a lot smaller but Disneyland is BETTER. 😁 I’ve been to both!