Disneyland Resort Expansion Ideas
Disneyland: Possible Disneyland Resort expansion ideas and thoughts.
First of all before there is another major expansion to the Disneyland Resort, Disney California Adventure is going to need to prove itself worthy of being a true Disney theme park. But let's say everything at DCA goes well, what kind of expansion should we look forward to at the Disneyland Resort.
Now if I was Executive Imagineer of the Disneyland Resort I would:
-tear down Anaheim Garden Walk and transform it into a boardwalk (dining, shopping, entertainment area) with 2 new hotels (built by Disney unlike the Disneyland Hotel and the Paradise Pier)
-attach current plaza (between DCA and DL) to new boardwalk by a waterway, also the monorail would be extended
-then on the old strawberry fields (currently being used as a parking lot) would become WestCOT, or at least something like it with a different name because I don't think people worry as much about city development as they did in the 60's
-on the other side of the resort I would build an Animal Kingdom themed water park on the parking lot around the Paradise Pier Hotel (though because of lack of space majority of the animals in this park will probably be audio-animatronics
-then I would tear down the Paradise Pier Hotel and built a hotel that goes with the theme of the new water park
Those are most of my thoughts and they are obviously very general, many other things would have to be taken into consideration such as money and that this all would be built at different times
Tell me what you think, news you've heard, etc.
The major problem with a major Disneyland expansion is land: it hasn't any. There have been rumors of a possible Disney water park and hotel expansion, but nothing to large, because one, there's no available land nearby, and two, the quaint atmosphere of Disneyland Resort is actually its signature, what makes it more accommodating than the other resorts.
Lastly, Your idea for more shopping/entertainment district could be done as an expansion onto Downtown Disney, but would be a bit redundant as a stand alone, especially if it carried the boardwalk theme currently found at DCA and constantly criticized by most everyone.
The good news is Disney will always expand in some form of the word, be it adding to its resort or merely improving, Disney will never stop innovating. Just don't get your hopes up for the next WDW Resort to be in Anaheim any time soon. (though I prefer DLR to WDW)
Disneyland just can't expand in that area of Anaheim. I would like another Southern California park or "mini-resort" to complement the main Anaheim theme parks. San Diego County near Carlsbad or Oceanside or maybe even closer to the city of San Diego. Quite a few Disneyland visitors like myself make the trip south to Sea World anyway.
There can be expansion if you use off site parking. There is a good amount of acerage surrounding the park that is currently used for parking. Remember that DCA used to be the parking lot. There are areas that are currently being used as employee parking that could become patron parking with themed shuttles. Not the best case scenerio, but an idea.
Is Long Beach still a possibility for Disneyland expansion-- I know Disney was throwing around the idea of building DisneySea there--or has that ship sailed?
Dominick, I have had to defend Disneyland in DL vs. WDW debates aplenty, and will not go into that whole debacle again, but I will tell you I enjoy Disneyland because of its simplicity, size, and quality. WDW has always gained notice for being so large, but Disneyland's quaintness, allowing guests to walk to any part of the resort, is great. Disneyland's smaller size also keeps its quality just a step ahead of WDW, because while WDW does indeed hold high quality attractions, many sections of its resort desperately need refurbishment, whereas Disneyland holds very few such areas, since it has less space to worry about.
From Frankie F
Posted December 30, 2011 at 11:40 AM
Nick you brought up some great points and I can't agree with you more. Theming is such an important aspect of disney parks and Disneyland with its smaller walkways and smaller facades (only in some cases) than WDW can pull of the better theming. Though I would still love to see a westcot go into disneyland but built by disneysea quality
Both DL and WDW have their pros and cons. While I like the idea that DL is more compact it also seems more crowded than it really is. If I had to choose the better park I dont know that I could do it. They are both great in their own right.
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