Curious Constance
Well-Known Member
Access to be VIP booth? Try WORKING the VIP booth.
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A Pictorial Of An Abandoned Anaheim Resort District - How Does It Recover?
- Thread starter TP2000
- Start date
Oh, I misunderstood.
Tomorrow I'll go through the storage boxes in the garage and try to find my old Bicentennial Hotpants.
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D
Deleted member 107043
OH my....
Those plastic neon llamas .....
These photos are surreal, TP.
It is stunning to see this area so devoid of movement and other people bustling about.
Just wow.
I think it is a good thing that this is being documented.
Disneyland fans in the years to come will probably never believe that this area could be so quiet, yet we shall have your stunning photographs as undisputed proof!
Thank you. It really hit home for me when I wandered out into an empty Harbor Boulevard as far as the eye can see and could have just laid down there in the street.
I know we are all concerned about the park itself, and the CM's. But after this little field trip today, I am now more worried about the Non-Disney businesses big and small that surround Disneyland. Disneyland will survive, and five years from now this will be an interesting footnote in park history like 9/11 or Light Magic or Rocket Rods or when the Yippies took over Tom Sawyer Island.
But I really do worry about all the mom n' pop businesses and their employees in the Resort District. I even worry about the employees of the big corporate chains in all the new hotels, as it was stunning to see all of them completely shuttered and closed.
I'm not sure I can go back to the Anaheim Resort District ghost town again because it was just too unnerving and creepy as some of those photos probably display. But I wonder how this mighty economic engine in Anaheim can restart itself? How does it recover? And how long will the recovery take once the all-clear is given to reopen non-essential businesses like theme parks? Does that recovery take a few months? A few years? A decade? How long will the scars be visible?
And God only knows what's happening out in Orlando! At least Orange County, California has a very affluent and diversified economy. The economy of metro Orlando is markedly less affluent and extremely less diversified than SoCal. Orlando basically only exists to operate theme parks and their associated businesses. What must their streets look like? What must their bank accounts look like?
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brb1006
Well-Known Member
It was my pleasure, and it was a beautiful spring afternoon to take a walk. I have half a mind to send a couple bottles of vodka and a few pizzas to the new Homeless Party Zones in the bus stops on Harbor.
Mr. Chapek, I know you'll take care of the CM's short term (next 60 days), but I fully expect Disney to roll out mass layoffs for Disneyland in the mid term (60 to 180 days from now, through the end of Fiscal Year 2020).
My real concern now is the small businesses and hard working employees in the greater Anaheim Resort District. It looked and felt like the end of the world there this afternoon. It was very creepy and sad.
ProfessorPepper
Active Member
- In the Parks
- No
TP2000 went above and beyond the postcard......600 foot perimeter!!!
Looks like a beautiful day for a walk, but yes it's quite surreal....most especially those neon llamas....noone has made off with them yet....
. Thank you for being our eyes....
.
Looks like a beautiful day for a walk, but yes it's quite surreal....most especially those neon llamas....noone has made off with them yet..... Thank you for being our eyes.....Garden Walk was the most uninteresting part of my California trip. I do not know what I was expecting, but it makes even the premieum and premier outlet malls look interesting, and I am not a fan of those either. It was 2013 when I visited but it seemed run down and awkward then.
I ate the Mimi's cafe with some west coast local friends, and I realized it was just a west coast Bob Evans.
I ate the Mimi's cafe with some west coast local friends, and I realized it was just a west coast Bob Evans.
The Empress Lilly
Well-Known Member
^^^ That's Katella after Covid-19Because I spent the morning with contractors in my house ripping apart my guest bathroom, I went for a walk late this afternoon for some peace and quiet. Something told me to go check out Disneyland, and I'm glad I did. I knew the place was shut down, and I knew the neighboring businesses were mostly closed. But nothing prepared me for the apocalyptic ghost town that I found in the streets directly surrounding Disneyland.
I snapped some amateur photos with my iPhone and a shaky hand, so don't expect glamour shots, but I think pictures tell the story here perfectly.
As you'll see in the photos in the several posts below, the normally busy streets of Harbor Blvd., Disney Way, Katella Avenue, and various side streets were nearly abandoned of all cars and pedestrians. And the humans I encountered on my walk were easily divided up into only three categories:
1. Security guards, both Disneyland Security CM's and generic security guards at closed motels and restaurants.
2. Homeless People. Several bus stops had been entirely taken over by up to a dozen homeless folks, who seemed to be having a rather grand time talking and laughing and sharing bottles of mystery beverages.
3. TP2000. In my 45 minute walk, the only other humans I saw were bored security guards and the homeless folks. Seriously.
I started at an empty GardenWalk at about 4pm and noticed a few restaurants like PF Changs and Cheesecake Factory were trying bravely to offer "take out" to absolutely no one. All the hotels are closed, all the business is shuttered, so who is left in this neighborhood to order take out?
View attachment 459627
GardenWalk was blocked off just past the big restaurants facing Katella. All stores and restaurants further inside the mall are closed and not offering take out.
View attachment 459626
Across the street the old employee parking now turned into visitor parking was empty and blocked off.
View attachment 459628
After 12 years of delays from developers and a healthy dose of bungling by Anaheim City Hall, GardenWalk finally got its first hotel, a swanky JW Marriott. It was supposed to open this month, but it didn't make it. That lone silver car in the porte cochere belonged to a bored security guard sitting in the car guarding the empty hotel, which was a concept that would repeat itself at other hotels and restaurants around the area.
View attachment 459629
Walking north from the JW Marriott alongside GardenWalk, I forget the name of this side street, but as you can see it was empty. Very, very quiet! The only sound you could hear were birds chirping.
View attachment 459630
At the intersection of Disney Way, an OC Bus (that you'll notice had no passengers) was waiting at the light and the smaller corporate hotels built there a few years ago were all closed and empty.
View attachment 459633
More photos to come from this afternoon's bizarre walk through the Anaheim Resort District, because the closer you get to Disneyland the worse it gets!
vvv And here's Katella after Galaxy-19
NobodyElse
Well-Known Member
Depending on how deep STC's pockets are, perhaps we'll see another opportunity for Disney to revisit that idea.
TheDisneyDaysOfOurLives
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- Yes
Asking the important questions right here!
First, best trip report this site has ever seen.
Second, there will be a number of businesses that don't recover from this and that's the scary part, especially when you have ineffective politicians and feckless hacks not really doing much of anything (@Darkbeer1 is not included in that company from the info he has posted for us here)! The problem is shutting down was the right decision, but the lack of support from the government has not. There's been no answers or redirection of funds thus far to make people whole during this unprecedented time. It's sad and disgusting all at the same time.
Anaheim would be nothing without Disney. Orlando would be nothing without Disney. I lived 20 years in Orlando and can promise you the areas surrounding Disney (such as I-Drive, Kissimmee, 535) are all desolate right now without the 50K+ that are normally there. Even Kirkman Rd + Vineland area must be a desert town right now.
My hope is that some of the seedy motels in Anaheim close up shop and we can get some nicer accommodations for those wanting to enjoy DLR. My mother and I have been talking about how that strip looks exactly the same some 30 years later for the most part.
Phroobar
Well-Known Member
The area will recover. The stuff that doesn't will be replaced very quickly with new businesses. There is too much money to be made leaching off the resort. Maybe the city will zone out strip clubs like Sahara on Ball for something better. It's the rest of the cities businesses that will have problems.
Ismael Flores
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the pictures, It is amazing how out of touch the people dealing with governmental ideas in Anaheim are when it comes to design. All those new hotels must be the ugliest additions i have ever seen, add to that all the new condo and apartment complex that are being built near the Stadium and you probably have one of the ugliest developments in the country within a tourist destination.
No sense of design that might help distinguish the Anaheim resort as an innovative tourist desitination instead just a bunch of boxes all painted the same ugly hugh of brown that remind you of places like Pripyat minus the nuclear plant
No sense of design that might help distinguish the Anaheim resort as an innovative tourist desitination instead just a bunch of boxes all painted the same ugly hugh of brown that remind you of places like Pripyat minus the nuclear plant
I briefly considered it, but there was no use in crossing the street. The big metal mesh gates were all closed at the pedestrian and vehicle entrances to Disneyland property off of Harbor. And the Disneyland Security Guards they had stationed there in their bright yellow vests were having such a nice time standing in close groups talking to each other about Not Social Distancing, I didn't want to bother them by having some random pedestrian walk up to their closed gates for photos.
I'm afraid you ate at Mimi's Cafe during what we call The Bob Evans Dark Ages.
During the Great Recession the Bob Evans chain launched a hostile takeover of Mimi's Cafe as a way to get Bob Evans a presence on the West Coast. But something got lost in translation at the Bob Evans headquarters in Ohio as they didn't quite understand what Mimi's Cafe had been about for the previous 30+ years in California. Bob Evans bean counters messed with the Mimi's menu and tried adding a bunch of corporate menu items and a Bob Evans sensibility to the operation and hospitality. Gone were the the longtime French comfort food recipes, lots of little French touches, and in were Bob Evans recipes and a corporate mindset from Ohio. The result was fairly disastrous.
I have some friends in commercial real estate, and they were furious with Bob Evans for killing off the business at various Mimi's Cafes in retail centers in SoCal.
By 2014 Bob Evans finally had enough as they were driving Mimi's Cafe profits into the ground, Californian's were staying away from the Bob Evans version of Mimi's in droves, and several Mimi's had been forced to close in SoCal. A French bakery called Le Duff bought the chain from Bob Evans (Bob Evans took a huge financial loss on their Mimi's disaster, and they'll probably never try California ever again) and Le Duff quickly removed all the Bob Evans menu and operational changes. By 2015 many original menu items were back with some new additions, and the French comfort food influence and style had been reinstated. Mimi's Cafe was saved, just in the nick of time!
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RobWDW1971
Well-Known Member
Hey, don't talk about Batuu like that!!!
I briefly considered it, but there was no use in crossing the street. The big metal mesh gates were all closed at the pedestrian and vehicle entrances to Disneyland property off of Harbor. And the Disneyland Security Guards they had stationed there in their bright yellow vests were having such a nice time standing in close groups talking to each other about Not Social Distancing, I didn't want to bother them by having some random pedestrian walk up to their closed gates for photos.
I'm afraid you ate at Mimi's Cafe during what we call The Bob Evans Dark Ages.
During the Great Recession the Bob Evans chain launched a hostile takeover of Mimi's Cafe as a way to get Bob Evans a presence on the West Coast. But something got lost in translation at the Bob Evans headquarters in Ohio as they didn't quite understand what Mimi's Cafe had been about for the previous 30+ years in California. Bob Evans bean counters messed with the Mimi's menu and tried adding a bunch of corporate menu items and a Bob Evans sensibility to the operation and hospitality. Gone were the the longtime French comfort food recipes, lots of little French touches, and in were Bob Evans recipes and a corporate mindset from Ohio. The result was fairly disastrous.
I have some friends in commercial real estate, and they were furious with Bob Evans for killing off the business at various Mimi's Cafes in retail centers in SoCal.
By 2014 Bob Evans finally had enough as they were driving Mimi's Cafe profits into the ground, Californian's were staying away from the Bob Evans version of Mimi's in droves, and several Mimi's had been forced to close in SoCal. A French bakery called Le Duff bought the chain from Bob Evans (Bob Evans took a huge financial loss on their Mimi's disaster, and they'll probably never try California ever again) and Le Duff quickly removed all the Bob Evans menu and operational changes. By 2015 many original menu items were back with some new additions, and the French comfort food influence and style had been reinstated. Mimi's Cafe was saved
I briefly considered it, but there was no use in crossing the street. The big metal mesh gates were all closed at the pedestrian and vehicle entrances to Disneyland property off of Harbor. And the Disneyland Security Guards they had stationed there in their bright yellow vests were having such a nice time standing in close groups talking to each other about Not Social Distancing, I didn't want to bother them by having some random pedestrian walk up to their closed gates for photos.
I'm afraid you ate at Mimi's Cafe during what we call The Bob Evans Dark Ages.
During the Great Recession the Bob Evans chain launched a hostile takeover of Mimi's Cafe as a way to get Bob Evans a presence on the West Coast. But something got lost in translation at the Bob Evans headquarters in Ohio as they didn't quite understand what Mimi's Cafe had been about for the previous 30+ years in California. Bob Evans bean counters messed with the Mimi's menu and tried adding a bunch of corporate menu items and a Bob Evans sensibility to the operation and hospitality. Gone were the the longtime French comfort food recipes, lots of little French touches, and in were Bob Evans recipes and a corporate mindset from Ohio. The result was fairly disastrous.
I have some friends in commercial real estate, and they were furious with Bob Evans for killing off the business at various Mimi's Cafes in retail centers in SoCal.
By 2014 Bob Evans finally had enough as they were driving Mimi's Cafe profits into the ground, Californian's were staying away from the Bob Evans version of Mimi's in droves, and several Mimi's had been forced to close in SoCal. A French bakery called Le Duff bought the chain from Bob Evans (Bob Evans took a huge financial loss on their Mimi's disaster, and they'll probably never try California ever again) and Le Duff quickly removed all the Bob Evans menu and operational changes. By 2015 many original menu items were back with some new additions, and the French comfort food influence and style had been reinstated. Mimi's Cafe was saved, just in the nick of time!
Some friends they were. They could have told me that.