Disneyland Wants $2.5b Anaheim Expansion

Disneyland plans to invest over $2.5 billion in expanding its 100-acre Anaheim resort, including new hotels, retail spaces, and attractions. The Disneyland Forward project, currently in conceptual stages, seeks relaxation of Anaheim's zoning rules to redesign existing properties, encompassing Disneyland, California Adventure, and Downtown Disney.

"This property could be the perfect location to cater to locals, conventioneers, hotel and Disneyland Resort guests with restaurants, hotels, live music, shopping, ticketed shows and theme park experiences modeled after the popular Disney Springs at Walt Disney World Resort," reads a description from the Disneyland Forward website.

Reconfigurations of Disneyland and California Adventure could introduce new attractions inspired by popular Disney franchises like Frozen, Tangled, Peter Pan, Zootopia, Toy Story, and Tron.

Additional plans involve constructing a 17,000-space parking garage, pedestrian bridges across Harbor Boulevard and Disneyland Drive, and potentially a further $40million investment to take over control of Magic Way, Hotel Way, and part of Clementine Street. Disney also intends to invest $90 million in street improvements.

The project commits to community benefits payments to Anaheim, including $30 million for affordable housing projects and $8 million for local park upgrades within the first five years. It is expected to generate nearly 4,600 operational jobs and almost 9,000 construction jobs.

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