I'm surprised no other websites mentioned this new rumor. Perhaps there's nothing to it.
The Eastern Gateway has stalled. The rumor mill (at wdwmagic.com) suggests Disney is planning on submitting a new revised plan soon, but if they fail to win approval, they will delay until well after the next Anaheim City Council in November 2018 when there might be chance of a friendlier business oriented city council.
In the meantime, Disneytouristblog.com reports "A source recently indicated to me that work is underway on a plan (dubbed “Project Cleo”) to nearly double the size of the Mickey and Friends Parking Structure, with a new, adjacent structure taking over the existing Pinocchio surface lot."
"The parking trams would be rerouted so the security and tram loading would be on the ground level of the new structure, and new escalators would be added. All of this is interesting from a space-saving perspective, as it would allow the footprint of this new structure to be significantly-larger than it’d be if it occupied the Pinocchio lot alone. Above is a graphic illustrating how this would look."
Any thoughts?
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Of course both, but timing is the issue. There’s no competing businesses to complain about a Mickey & Friends parking structure expansion.
I may be incorrect, but I thought Mickey and Friends' design had to be redone in order to make sure it was not an eyesore to the neighborhood directly west of it. If that the case I'm sure the same problem would arise. Building another parking ramp south of M&F would also have to be short enough that it would not be visible from Disneyland, although that may also help the issue with it also being too noticeable from the houses to the west. At this rate it might be the only option until Eastern Gateway is approved, but no way could it be finished in time for the opening of Galaxy's Edge.
I expect a setback will prevent the new extension from being seen in Star Wars Land. The new ramp is way too far south to be seen inside the park. I'm sure they will blend in M&F so it isn't seen inside the park.
Since these areas are zoned already, I don't see how Anaheim or the western neighborhoods would have an issue? It just seems like the city is nitpicking at this point. I just see all the future projects stalling until they resolve parking.
I've got a feeling both projects are in the eventual plans, so doing an expansion of Mickey and Friends could be a contingency if the Eastern Gateway can't be completed on time. The main reason for doing the latter project first is because that will open up space for expansion and significantly improve access to the resort for those coming from the south, but if the short term goal is simply to add parking an expansion of the current garage would do that.
Eastern Gateway is officially dead now.
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Why not both?
Disney's going to need a new parking structure near Mickey and Friends to replace the lost capacity of the Downtown Disney surface lot that the fourth hotel will occupy. And it needs the Eastern Gateway garage to handle increased attendance for Star Wars (in DL) and Marvel (in DCA).