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Credit: Edited by Inside the MagicIt appears that Disneyland may be expanding larger than anyone ever expected.
When Walt Disney created Disneyland in 1955, while he expected the theme park to continue to evolve, he would have never anticipated the global phenomenon that would escalate out of The Walt Disney Company. While Disneyland has expanded, most recently by adding Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, and of course, with its second gate, Disney California Adventure, there is even more room to grow.
When Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that Pandora — World of Avatar would be coming to Disneyland Resort back in 2023, guests were very confused as to where it could go, as both parks seemed to be at capacity. Yesterday, Iger set the record straight, ensuring guests and fans that there is room not only to add Pandora as a full new land but also multiple more.
Iger doubled down, noting that the company is “willing to make big bets,” and made it public knowledge that there is room for seven new lands across Disneyland Resort. That means that Disneyland can not only add Pandora, but also, six other lands between Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure. In total, Iger continued to share that this means Disneyland can grow by 50%.
With Disney adding Disney’s Pixar Place Hotel to the California park, and Disneyland Hotel and Disney’s Grand Californian already in place, this future expansion could have the power to pull in a lot more guests, with many of them being tourists, and not the local folk that tend to fill up the park. We do know that Disney is planning to invest $60 billion into both the theme parks and Disney Cruise Line over the next 10 years, with a lot of that money going toward adding capacity and adding an extra 50% of theme park space to Disneyland would do exactly that.
As the DisneylandForward website notes, “The proposal calls for allowing theme park attractions alongside hotels on the west side of Disneyland Drive and theme park attractions alongside new shopping, dining and entertainment to the southeast on what is today the Toy Story Parking Area. The proposal also calls for additional parking east of the theme parks and potential footbridges across Harbor Boulevard and Disneyland Drive.
The proposal does not request any new acreage, square footage or hotel rooms to be developed. Instead, it would shift already approved development amounts across land Disney owns. The proposed zoning changes could allow for the building of attractions in Anaheim like those seen at Disney parks across the world.”
We have been hearing rumors of Disney World expanding, specifically in Magic Kingdom, with a project called Beyond Big Thunder, which guests and fans are hoping to hear more about during this year’s D23 event. Disneyland Paris is expanding Walt Disney Studios Park with their Frozen land, and Iger even teased of more Pandora — World of Avatar style lands to come to Asia and Europe; however, he did not say if that would be in the existing Disney parks, or in a new park entirely as he just noted the continents.
Would you like to see Disneyland grow by 50%?