Credit: DisneyRumor has it that a massive change is coming to Disneyland Resort – or, to be more specific, Disneyland Hotel.
First opened in 1955, just three months after Disneyland Park, Disneyland Hotel has the honor of being the oldest Disney hotel in the world.
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While it’s totally unrecognizable today compared to its 1950s aesthetic – in fact, none of the original hotel buildings from 1955 remain today – the hotel remains the prime destination for those wanting quick access to Disneyland Park, especially since the recent addition of the 12-story The Villas at Disneyland Hotel tower in September 2023.
These new villas added a whole other level of luxury to the hotel, offering 344 duo studios, deluxe studios, one- and two-bedroom villas, and grand villas themed around animated classics such as Fantasia (1940), Princess and the Frog (2009), and Sleeping Beauty (1959) in a mission to “blend timeless Walt Disney Animation Studios classics with contemporary designs, delicately curating a celebration of Disney history in the place where it all started—the Disneyland Resort.”
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As if the villas weren’t enough, recent reports suggest that Disney isn’t done with its Disneyland Hotel makeover just done yet. According to Mickey Visit, Disneyland Hotel is set to soon receive its own dedicated security checkpoint – meaning it will gain its own private entrance into Downtown Disney.
As construction in Downtown Disney continues, Disneyland Hotel will apparently change its general entrance – which currently sits across from the Disneyland Hotel Sorcerer Mickey Hat – to a private checkpoint for hotel guests.
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Non-hotel guests wanting to pass through to Downtown Disney from the hotel will instead need to use a new general entrance located at the former site of the AMC Theater, where a new lawn area is also being constructed.
Of course, these security changes won’t happen overnight. Mickey Visit claims that work will begin on these new entrances in the next few months. When they do debut, Disneyland Hotel will finally share the honor of having a private entrance with the freshly-renovated Pixar Place Hotel (once Paradise Pier Hotel) and Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel, both of which already have their own respective entrances to Disney California Adventure.
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Disneyland Resort could be welcoming much more than a new security checkpoint soon. The resort is currently in the process of passing its DisneylandForward proposal, which would allow it “to update where types of development can go and how it mixes together on land Disney owns around its Anaheim theme parks.”
This requests zoning changes that would allow for theme park attractions alongside existing hotels on the west side of Disneyland Drive, as well as new attractions and other experiences to the southeast on what is currently the Toy Story Parking Area. It would also give Disney permission to construct additional parking east of Disneyland Park and California Adventure, and potential footbridges across Harbor Boulevard and Disneyland Drive.