NobodyElse
Well-Known Member
I never realized there was a full menagerie in 2020.
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All things Anaheim GardenWalk
- Thread starter Phroobar
- Start date
TP2000
Well-Known Member
I'm afraid you are probably right, what with that area being a "World Class Resort District!" and all. Now that I think about it, it's kind of impressive they lasted as long as they did.
I do remember there being a bunch of them, but most were painted in semi-natural colors. For whatever reason, the two Llamas were painted flourescent blue and green and stuck out even worse than usual, and thus they entered my heart forever.
I just love the thought that the guy who bought GardenWalk at bankruptcy auction and a fire sale price took a walk through his new property not long after signing the paperwork, and when he got to the Disney Way main entrance to the mall he thought to himself... "You know what would look good here? A row of incorrectly scaled yet lovable zoo animal statues! That will really drum up some business for my upscale entertainment mall!" The mind just boggles on how that decision was made...
NobodyElse
Well-Known Member
Perhaps like the Snow White 7 Seven Dwarves statues, they were a gift, and the recipient said "Well, we've got to put them somewhere...".
TP2000
Well-Known Member
God bless you! Not just for being so generously kind with your criticism, but for also knowing your Disneyland history so well. Bravo!
chadwpalm
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
Really? Cause I thought it confirmed why we haven't had a Garden Walk thread over all these years.
DLR92
Well-Known Member
This mall has potential, I remember walking in 2011 or 2010. It was half empty with stores. Retailers struggling. I thought the ambiance it better than Downtown Disney.
No H&M or Zara. If those were present in the mall, I would hang there when I need a break from the park. I alway ate at the mall when it was lunch and dinner times.
Crazy to see how current owner does not know how manage this mall.
No H&M or Zara. If those were present in the mall, I would hang there when I need a break from the park. I alway ate at the mall when it was lunch and dinner times.
Crazy to see how current owner does not know how manage this mall.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
I believe the current owner is now the fifth owner of this mall in the last 15 years.
Bob Chapek had a chance to buy this entire mall for pennies on the dollar a few years before Covid, and he passed.
DLR92
Well-Known Member
They have ignored the sale when market tanked too. It just further proves Disney sees no value to add this property into their portfolio they own in Anaheim.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
Very true.
But the last time Disney had an easy ability to buy it in the latter 2010's, a few Disney strategists had proposed turning the entirely unused second floor plus basement levels into a "Cast Campus" with CM child care and pharmacy and wellness center (gym and medical clinic) and Partners credit union and dry cleaning and CM grocery store and Starbucks and various other employee support services a CM would want/need on their way to/from work. Plus 1,000+ CM parking spaces in the six levels of above and below ground 2,000+ parking spaces this facility already has.
Bob Chapek passed on that. He didn't think the CM's in Anaheim were worth that cheap investment. Because Bob Chapek was a total asshat.
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DLR92
Well-Known Member
Wow!
Those resources would greatly benefit the CM. Those thing should still be on the cards with Ball Road Cast Member lot.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
I very strongly agree with you. The average Anaheim CM should have the same benefits and perks that the average white-collar cubicle dweller in Burbank receives.
Unfortunately, Bob Iger and then Bob Chapek and then Bob Iger (again) does not agree with that. Thus, the average Anaheim CM has a noticeably inferior daily work experience with perks, benefits, amenities, food service, parking, and health care options. (I purposely leave out the TDA President Du Jour like Colgazier or D'Amaro or Campbell or Potrock or Whatever Comes Next because they don't have the authority to truly make a difference long-term)
Disney's senior executives had an opportunity to fix that huge discrepancy 7 years ago, but they purposely decided not to.
But at least the CM's can now have tats and black nail polish, which is just as good as on-site child care and health services. Right? Right?!?
It seems like this was the right call honestly.
DrAlice
Well-Known Member
Only if they planned to keep it as a mall. An opportunity to own a large tract of land pretty close to their existing theme park properties seems like a no-brainer. Especially if the price was right.
Fair enough.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
We discussed this on this board years ago, but it's time for a refresher...
In the plan that TDA had cooked up for Bob Chapek's approval in 2017, the first floor would remain a mall refocused on dining and upscale tourist shopping (the original mall plan was supposed to appeal to tourists and locals). But the second floor would become the core of the "Cast Campus", with many amenities and services that CM's need/want, like: subsidized daycare center, Partners Credit Union bank, low-cost grocery store, low-cost pharmacy, medical/wellness clinic, plus some perks like a Starbucks and a dry cleaners and a Company D store, etc. The 24 Hour Fitness gym in the basement (which was closed) would be turned into a CM-only gym and "healthy lifestyle" center.
Disney knew they had to get both of GardenWalk's empty hotel plots built with 500+ room corporate hotels aimed at the convention crowd, and they were confident if the mall was owned by "Disney!" they could do that quickly and relatively easily, which helped the deal pencil out.
The parking garage in that mall goes three floors underground. Plus all the above ground floors that were built to support the second hotel plot and 3-level condo development on the roof that will likely never be added. There would have been an easy 1,000 extra parking spaces for CM's there.
An investment firm in Dubai outbid Disney's very lowball offer, but then the Dubai firm's financing fell apart. It went back to the second place winner, Disney, and they passed on it because Chapek flip-flopped suddenly, as he was never confident in his decision making when it came to the exotic Anaheim culture. So it went to the third place winner at the bankruptcy auction, and that's the guy who installed the zoo animals on Disney Way. Which tells you something about how lowball the offers truly were, and how cheaply Disney could have picked up this big mall property that has a lot of potential as a mixed use development that would have benefited CM's more than wearing black nail polish.
Again I say, with full throated enthusiasm... Bob Chapek was an asshat.
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DLR92
Well-Known Member
The owner need to focus on marketing the mall to potential tenants instead of putting those silly llamas. LOL
TP2000
Well-Known Member
Well, things seem to be going super awesome in Anaheim's World Class Resort District as the weather finally warms up!...
www.ocregister.com
Two men were found dead at the Anaheim GardenWalk near Disneyland early Sunday morning following reports of a large fight inside a parking structure.
Officers just before 2:30 a.m. responded to reports of a shooting at the GardenWalk parking structure, Anaheim police Sgt. Jon McClintock said. As the officers were heading to the area, additional callers reported that someone had been run over outside the structure by a fleeing vehicle, the sergeant added.
One man — identified only as a male in his 30s — was found in the structure with at least one gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at the scene, McClintock said.
A second victim — described as a man in his 20s or 30s — was found lying injured on the ground outside the structure and was taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, McClintock said. The cause of his death has not yet been determined.
According to the preliminary investigation, there may have been a large fight inside the structure prior to the deaths, McClintock said. It wasn’t immediately clear what could have started the fight, or where the participants were prior to the apparent confrontation in the parking structure.
2 men dead after large fight in Anaheim GardenWalk parking structure
Callers reported that one man was shot while another was run over by a fleeing vehicle, police said.
www.ocregister.com
Two men were found dead at the Anaheim GardenWalk near Disneyland early Sunday morning following reports of a large fight inside a parking structure.
Officers just before 2:30 a.m. responded to reports of a shooting at the GardenWalk parking structure, Anaheim police Sgt. Jon McClintock said. As the officers were heading to the area, additional callers reported that someone had been run over outside the structure by a fleeing vehicle, the sergeant added.
One man — identified only as a male in his 30s — was found in the structure with at least one gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at the scene, McClintock said.
A second victim — described as a man in his 20s or 30s — was found lying injured on the ground outside the structure and was taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, McClintock said. The cause of his death has not yet been determined.
According to the preliminary investigation, there may have been a large fight inside the structure prior to the deaths, McClintock said. It wasn’t immediately clear what could have started the fight, or where the participants were prior to the apparent confrontation in the parking structure.
SevenSevens
Active Member
2 dead after large fight, shooting at Anaheim Gardenwalk, police say
2 dead after large fight, shooting at Anaheim Gardenwalk, police say
Police are investigating the death of two men after a shooting and a fight at the Anaheim Gardenwalk.
abc7.com
TP2000
Well-Known Member
Some names of the deceased and a few details have just been released. 
The surveillance footage is still being analyzed by the Anaheim Police Department and hasn't been released yet.
ktla.com
The surveillance footage is still being analyzed by the Anaheim Police Department and hasn't been released yet.
1 shot, 1 beaten in fatal melee at Anaheim GardenWalk: Police
The Anaheim Police Department is continuing to investigate after two men were killed in a parking structure at Anaheim GardenWalk early Sunday morning. Just after 2 a.m., officers responded to repo…
ktla.com