Disneyland Update – Bring It On – OR – The Big Tease!

You can count on unexpected events at Disneyland at any time. Last week brought the milestone announcement that they’ve taken another significant step toward a major resort expansion (DisneylandForward). But this week’s blockbuster news tops that: a massive increase in spending on Disney Parks and Resorts over the next 10 years, which could potentially double Disney’s parks business… and a big chunk of that will likely be spent right here at Disneyland. We have an abundance of exciting updates for you today from Disneyland. Join us to see what’s new this week and to gain insights on what appears to be on the horizon! There’s even a bit of good news about World of Color 🔥🔥🔥

The BIG Tease – Disney’s $60 BILLION Dollar Carrot 

In perhaps the most hopeful moment since Michael Eisner took Disney’s top spot in 1984, there’s hope for the theme parks. While we’ve learned to temper our enthusiasm when it comes to Disney delivering on their promises, Imagineers and park planners are abuzz with excitement this week as the money spigot is just about to be turned on in full force. 

Disney filed a report with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week indicating its intention to spend $60 BILLION on a significant expansion of the company’s Parks, Experiences & Products (DPEP) segment over the next decade. To put that sum into perspective… Disney could build 12 theme parks with that kind of money (they won’t, but that’s an example of how far that sum could go). 

But Disney will likely build some new parks at home and abroad. Several foreign resorts already under the Disney banner are poised for new parks, with entirely new resorts likely to pop up in places such as India and Brazil as well. Other high-density, underserved, regions might see exclusive Disney experiences (not necessarily theme parks). Within the US, plans for new parks at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland have been in the works for years. Barring significant governmental resistance and given the necessary approvals, massive investments could be headed to Anaheim and Orlando, with potential developments in other US areas as well.

Recently, Universal Studios announced their intention to build a regional family park in Texas and a horror experience in Las Vegas. This move marks the beginning of their plan to expand their parks business and bring the Universal brand to more communities.

Universal Rebrands Parks Division as Alternative Destinations & Experiences Ramp Up

 

Disney has been exploring the idea of regional small parks and experiences for decades. Past ventures included Disney Quest, a sophisticated video arcade, kids’ play spaces (named Club Disney), even Mickey-themed resturants in malls. One of the larger unbuilt concepts was the idea of building compact California Adventure 1.0-style parks in various US communities, each with local flair. However, these concepts either weren’t compelling enough or lacked the quintessential ‘Disney’ feel and they all failed.

Instead, Disney has banked on their most successful formula: large parks featuring major attractions and new cruise ships. And it’s worked for them. With each significant new attraction, Disney revenue surges.

Disney’s best often emerges in the face of competition. With Universal constructing a new theme park in Florida and planning a multi-park resort, coupled with the emergence of local parks, Disney is reinvesting in their smaller projects. Everything from real estate developments (like residential communities and Vacation Club expansions beyond the parks), to entertainment zones, and smaller parks and family entertainment options are being explored for communities all over. 

Disney already has projects in the pipeline for which they need to start buying land and/or seeking permits and approvals. And some of the projects are actually strategic partnerships with other companies and developers, which could help Disney get the projects off the ground quicker than Disney is known for.  

Many Disneyland aficionados may be skeptical about how much of that $60 billion will be allocated to the Disneyland Resort. Historically, Disneyland has seen smaller projects while Walt Disney World and overseas parks receive grander attractions. This trend isn’t coincidental. Disneyland’s profitability and consistent traffic, combined with space constraints, have necessitated a balance between attracting local visitors and managing the crowd. It doesn’t make sense to build a huge new attraction if there isn’t enough infrastructure to support the influx in guests. To meet future growth goals, the expansion of all aspects of the Disneyland Resort is essential. And that will mean the largest and most expensive expansion in Disneyland’s history. 

Last week, we discussed Disneyland’s plans to introduce an entertainment zone on the resort’s east side and a new theme park on its west. The DisneylandForward initiative (everything about DisneylandForward HERE) is progressing, and Disney aims to seek city approvals in 2024. This colossal project, encompassing a new park, entertainment zone, parking structure, extended resort transportation, additional hotel rooms, and myriad restaurants and shops, could cost between $8 to $10 billion. If you had questions about whether DisneylandForward would really happen or not, Disney’s $60 Billion spending initiative should answer that question for you. This is one of the many projects Disney intends to spend significantly on which will as much as double how much money Disneyland Resort makes every year.

However, it’s not all about DisneylandForward. Several projects for the two existing parks also need attention. DCA is slated for another Avengers Campus attraction and a new Avatar-themed land.

Hollywood Land in DCA is ripe for redevelopment. Proposed plans aim to revive this neglected section of the park, which could potentially host an Avatar Land. No matter the final decision on theme, the rejuvenation won’t come cheap. Aside from all the large abandoned buildings in the area, there’s also a vast expanse of concrete. This area is an ugly leftover example of what was wrong with DCA 1.0 and why it just didn’t live up to Disney standards. It’s long overdue for a complete makeover. 

Tomorrowland at Disneyland has had several ambitious projects and options in the pipeline for years. But funding, timing, and agreement on which direction to go have been an issue— until now. Disney Parks is in serious need of a creative with enough power and vision to make final decisions on projects so things don’t get bounced around and languish for years. The amount of money wasted on the design of projects which never see the light of day is staggering. Quicker and better decision making could save the Disney Company a bundle and result in faster and less chaotic project planning. Once budgets are approved and projects pitched, a chief creative should have the power to work with Josh D’Amaro on approving which direction to go and green lighting construction. Sadly, that’s just not how things work these days, and endless committees result in years-long delays, project shift, loss of interest, and a general malaise and the sense that Imagineering is broken.

The fan community has grown impatient regarding Tomorrowland’s fate. Each announcement from Disney about any major projects is met with queries about Disneyland’s Tomorrowland. The consensus is clear, even among Imagineers and park executives: Tomorrowland can’t remain stuck in the past. A myriad of options is on the table. Primary considerations include a major attraction at the land’s rear, a solution for the old PeopleMover, and renovations for the abandoned theater & Starcade. And the gas-guzzling Autopia must also be modernized or replaced! Unfortunately, there’s no way to do this project without a lengthy construction period, which will have a huge impact on park capacity and guest flow. (Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, and Star Tours remain popular and have a daily capacity higher than all of Galaxy’s Edge – any disruption would be a disturbance in the force.)

Beyond Tomorrowland, another section of the park requires attention. Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge hasn’t lived up to expectations. Many of the planned elements of the land were cut by Bob Chapek, gutting the emotional core of the land. Despite a couple of popular attractions, vast portions of the sprawling land remain underutilized. There’s potential for more entertainment, attractions, and interactive experiences. Enhancements to this area are easier to implement than a Tomorrowland overhaul since they would be less disruptive to guests during construction. Over the next decade, Galaxy’s Edge is likely to witness significant enhancements. 

Of course, there’s more to all of this. And lots of competing ideas and projects. Disney has always had trouble with decision making. The revolving door of leadership means projects find champions and are just as easily dropped when someone new comes to the helm. So a lot can still change over the next 10 years. 

NEWS: Disney Parks $60 BILLION 10 Year Expansion!

Disneyland alone requires substantial funding to complete the DisneylandForward initiative, develop Avatar Land, revamp Tomorrowland, enhance Galaxy’s Edge, and undertake various smaller projects. This includes updates, overlays, significant maintenance on older attractions, the creation of new shows, parades, fireworks development, and more. When considering the scope of these projects, it’s easy to see how the $60 billion will evaporate quickly, especially when factoring in projects for WDW’s new park, enhancements for the other four parks, and projects at Disney resorts in Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Paris. Add to that the expansion of Disney Parks, Resorts, and Cruise Line into burgeoning markets in South America, Southeast Asia, and regional developments in the United States and beyond.

Which projects at the Disneyland Resort top your wish list (we have a listing of potential projects in the poll below)? Keeping in mind that construction can disrupt the guest experience, how would you like the projects to be staggered to ensure minimal disruptions? Beyond just Disneyland, how do you envision the $60 billion being distributed (Disneyland can’t keep all that money)?

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Disneyland Walkthrough

Before we do a deep dive on the news from this week, let’s start with a chance for you to see much of it in video! In this week’s Disneyland Live @ 5, we ran into the organizers of Gay Days (Eddie and Jeffrey), looked at current construction, and discussed the $60 billion expansion of Disney Parks and Resorts. You won’t want to miss this: 

Every Friday at 5pm, you can catch me at the Disneyland Resort as I live stream the week’s biggest stories and share current conditions in the parks. You can tune in this Friday on our Facebook and YouTube pages (be sure to follow so you don’t miss out). We hope to see you there!

Juggling Seasons and Budgets

Just because Disney intends to spend $60 billion in the next 10 years doesn’t mean they aren’t still going to abide by occasional extreme budgeting. 

Disney hasn’t shared an end date for Disney100, but we’re hearing rumors that Wondrous Journeys may not be returning after the holidays and that it could be replaced by the much less expensive Mickey’s Mix Magic. That would be a shame to lose Wondrous Journeys so soon, if not the best Disneyland fireworks show ever, it’s very close. 

Magic Happens was offered as a Disney100 offering as well. But its run will end after its performance on October 15th. Then it will be almost a month until A Christmas Fantasy begins its run on November 10th. Likely a budget cut to offer no parade during the busy Halloween season. 

What we don’t know is if and when Magic Happens will return.  

Meanwhile, many departments have cut shifts and are understaffing and over-working their employees. Also a budget cutting move as Disney approaches the end of its fiscal year. 

Avengers Vault Now Open

We can check another construction project off the list. The newest store in Avengers Campus is finally open. The new shop is small and offers a more limited selection of items than the old Avengers Super Store in Hollywood Land. Avenger’s Campus now has two small stores and a merchandise cart. 

Take a look at the new shop in my live video from opening day: 

Meanwhile, the giant Avengers Super Store in Hollywood Land’s Stage 17 has now closed. There is no sign out front letting guests know that the store is closed. They’ve simply changed the banners outside the building and closed the doors. Guests don’t seem to even notice. It wasn’t a huge draw. 

Villas at the Disneyland Hotel

Something new opens this week. The new Disney Vacation Club tower at the Disneyland Hotel opens this week on September 28th. We’ll be staying at the hotel that night and hope to bring you phtos, news, and video. The new tower is a big upgrade from the vintage Disneyland Hotel towers around it. The tower brings with it a new bar, pool, themed splash pad for the kids, and new mid-century vibes. 

Stay tuned. We’ll be back later this week with live news from the new tower. 

Construction Updates

We have a much reduced list this week… thank goodness! But this is just the calm before the storm once those new projects we spoke about above begin construction…

Adventureland Treehouse

Let’s see what’s going on with the Treehouse. We just need to navigate through a busy Adventureland to get there. 

Most of the work on the new Treehouse is complete. The lighting is done, show scenes installed. There’s just a bit of work on a small portion of staircase, and the new waterwheel and contraption is being adjusted. But this should be ready for guests very soon

We caught the water system in action during our live video this week. Whether you end up climbing the stairs or not, the treehouse will add a lot of energy to the land. 

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure

There isn’t much to share this week. Everything looks just about the same as last week. 

ToonTown Troubles

ToonTown isn’t even a year old yet and ToonTown Park is closed for a second time this year for adjustments, along with the Mickey and Minnie Fountain. 

The pavement around the fountain has been removed and the lower interactive elements of the fountain have been removed so they can work on the mechanisms. The fountain has never worked as designed. It was supposed to have had programmed shows. But they could never get all the elements working and it has never done anything other than just run in B-mode since the land opened. 

The splash pad at Donald’s Boat is the other water element of the land. It remains closed and has never opened to guests. Not sure why this is taking so long. Entire water parks could be built in the length of time it has taken them to do this one tiny splash pad. 

Goofy’s How To Play Yard also has an embarrassing number of broken elements. 

Trash cans are even being used to hide some broken elements. 

Downtown Disney

And Downtown Disney remains a mess of construction projects (and will remain so until next year.)

The pathway between the oblong stage and shade structure is going in. It’s likely that some of the construction walls will soon be pushed in to open up more of Downtown Disney. They could possibly start using the new stage in a month or two which would really help with congestion in the area between the Star Wars Trading Post and the Disneyland Hotel.  

And Paseo and Centrico construction will remain an obstruction for many months to come. 

However, the area has been beautified a bit with a plethora of pumpkins. 

Refurbishment Calendar

If you’ve got a Disneyland trip coming up soon, please make note of the refurbishment calendar…

Currently Under Refurbishment:

• • Tarzan’s Treehouse Transformation: (September 1st, 2021- Fall 2023)
  • Splash Mountain Conversion to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure: (May 31st, 2023-Late 2024)
  • Schmoozies!: (July 30th-October 1st)
•  
  • Golden Zephyr: (August 28th-September 28th)
•  
  • The Golden Horseshoe: (September 12th-October 2nd)
  • CenTOONial Park: (September 15th-October 22nd)
  • Mark Twain Riverboat: (September 17th-TBA)
•  
  • Space Mountain: (September 18th-October 25th)

Upcoming Refurbishments:

• • it’s a small world Holiday Install: (October 23rd-November 9th)
  • Goofy’s How-to-Play Yard: (October 23rd-TBA)
  • Redwood Creek Challenge Trail: (November 1st-TBA) – 

This & That

And now for just a few more stories from the Disneyland Resort.

The Heat is On!

After the blaze of glory that took the life of the impressive Maleficent dragon earlier this year, Disney suspended all similar flame effects in the resort and at Disney Parks around the world. That included fire jets for fireworks spectaculars and also the flamethrowers during World of Color. This week, we’re happy to report that some fire effects have been reintroduced! MiceChat friend Nik Hong shared this short video clip with us from World of Color. 

 

Halloween Screams had altered its show to use fog and projection effects in place of flamethrowers. We’ll be curious to see if the fire returns there as well. It’s also potentially good news for Fantasmic when it returns. While it won’t have a physical dragon, it may mean flames on the river will be able to return. 

A Little Photo Fun

While I’m in the parks, I always capture things that don’t quite fit the news but are still fun to share. Enjoy this gallery from a weekend at Disneyland.  

Jack and Redd ran into Tiana in New Orleans Square. Jack tried to swindle her out of her ring… but she was too sharp to fall for his tricks. 

I took a late night stroll at Disneyland. Not nearly as much Halloween ambiance as DCA, but what they have is fun. 

I love seeing the villains out and about at Halloween time. 

The Dia De Los Muertos figures out in Frontierland are incredible. They are still using the area for meet and greets as well, but in the evening, this is a great spot to get out of the crowds and enjoy the decor. 

It’s worth visiting DCA in the evenings just to bathe in all the purple lights. My favorite time of year in this little park. 

Happy Haul-O-Ween from Cars Land.

San Fransokyo has really hit its stride. The simple overlay of the old Pacific Wharf is incredibly popular, especially in the evenings. 

Let’s Hear From You

What a week! Hot on the heels of last week’s DisneylandForward news, Disney launched an initiative to spend $60 billion dollars on Parks, Resorts, and Cruise Line. Although the spending is over 10 years, that’s still a massive budget. Disney could DOUBLE the number of parks they currently have with that kind of money folks. But it assures that there is money for Disneyland’s 3rd park, entertainment zone, and major projects at the Disneyland Resort… including Tomorrowland. We work with so many people in the themed entertainment industry and everyone is so excited for the theme park wars to heat up and invigorate the creative community. Of course, we remember the many broken promises of the past. EPCOT alone is a graveyard of Disney promises not kept (Mary Poppins ride, Play Pavilion, Festival Building, Spaceship Earth redo, etc.). But with Bob Chapek now long gone, Bob Iger looking to make some major changes before his contract expires, and Josh D’Amaro wanting to cement his position as a potential heir to Iger, we have a recipe for something big. And if Disney fails to deliver, Universal Studios is moving ahead with major projects of their own and ready to show a new generation of theme park consumers what modern theme park magic really looks like. 

Let’s hear from you, folks!