What, specifically, is the issue raised by the city of Anaheim? I've read a few things here and there, but the complaints seemed petty at best and illegitimate at worst.
More to the point, few to none are the city's problem, and the other business along Harbor Blvd there have no claim to Disney's land. But what of the public land, I wonder? Specifically, the city should be concerned with infrastructure, in this case traffic, and the garage is surely going to ease an existing (really bad) problem. So the city seems to be acting against its own interests at least as far as it has responsibility.
But I know the political climate out there can be pretty crazy and corrupt at times, California loves to restrict property usage of private property. I'm guessing somebody knows somebody and complained about the new entrance cutting out access to Harbor Blvd shops, and now Anaheim isn't letting Disney use the air over Harbor Blvd. There's nothing as destructive as using the hammer of government to impose your will. As if Disneyland isn't the overwhelming cause and source of tax revenue for that city. What a fortunate blessing Disneyland is for that city. But a parasite can't survive if it kills its host.
Someone will have to remind me, wasn't the city also threatening the resort with extra taxes if there wasn't many billions of dollars invested in an expansion of the parks? I fail to see how that isn't extortion, and with that as precedence, I don't think it's unreasonable to be suspicious regarding the garage too. If extorting Disney for investment worked the first time, why not double down?
Still, I'm surprised there have been no signs of Disney playing hardball. I would imagine if they lobbied their passholders to call their legislators, things would happen pretty quickly. And wherever the disagreements lie, what prevents Disney from building and even finishing the actual parking structure itself? Is there a plan where the parking structure itself loses its bus stop or walkway?
This is starting to sound like a SDL construction story. And I have a feeling there's way, way more to this story than has been told so far.
I can't speak to specifics of why the City turned it down, but from a general urban design perspective it was a lousy proposal. I'm not talking about aesthetics or finish materials (which left something to be desired, especially considering the restrictions and goals outlined in the Anaheim Resort District Master Plan), but the basic flow of people through the space.
That segment of Harbor Blvd likely has the most pedestrian traffic of any corridor in Orange County. It's not perfect (too many driveway entrances, inadequate sidewalk width for the volume of pedestrians, etc.) but it works surprisingly well, especially for a region that's so deeply connected to automobile travel. Any project that modifies travel through that area needs to take pedestrians into consideration in a major way. Disney's proposed plan did not.
They seemingly designed it as though pedestrians' final destination was the security checkpoint, not the parks themselves or Downtown Disney. Anybody arriving from any of the businesses along Harbor Blvd must walk 1/8 mile east to the security checkpoint, only to turn around and head west, beyond their origin point, to the parks; for someone walking to and from the parks, this adds 1/2 mile to the roundtrip. And that's assuming that all the hotels build access points on their east side (likely requiring the removal of revenue-generating rooms); otherwise, pedestrians will have to backtrack even further to reach the nearest access point
There were plenty of other options Disney could have taken within their existing footprint (such as an additional security checkpoint under the bridge for pedestrians coming off Harbor Blvd, with elevators and escalators to get people up to bridge level), but they didn't do any of them. They literally put forward the most basic concept possible. They designed it for guests arriving in vehicles, whether personal autos or transit, and ignored the rest
This also says nothing about the 1/3 mile path from security to the ticket booths, roughly the same walking distance as between the Main Street and Toontown stations on the Disneyland Railroad. Other than a couple amorphous shade structures and minor landscaping, there was no sense of place, nothing to break up the monotony, and no transportation. It was just an empty corridor to shove guests down to get them to/from the park.
When the original Westcot-era plans showed parking here (and in other far-flung locations), it included moving walkways in the garage and PeopleMovers to get people to the parks; there's a good chance that there are still people working for the City who remember those plans, and noticed the conspicuous omission. Although the Mickey & Friends trams often struggle to keep up with demand, it's really the least Disney can do when charging what they do for parking, especially since there is no internal circulation within the parking structure. A PeopleMover system would be able to keep up with demand better, and could also make the journey more fun and iconic; heck even a gondola would work here.
The City has authority over Harbor Blvd, and Disney needs to work with them to get air rights access for their pedestrian bridge. They also need to coordinate with them for modifications to general traffic circulation throughout the Resort District. Given the icy political climate, you'd think that Disney would put forward a more appealing solution. But instead they came up with a solution that overlooks major urban design elements and has underwhelming-at-best aesthetics. The City has the wrong priorities much of the time and occasionally picks the wrong battles, but they were right to stop this plan.
It's not a plan that couldn't ever work, but it seems like a rough draft that never got finished. And now, for whatever reason, Disney seems to have abandoned it completely.
