News Avatar Experience coming to Disneyland Resort

[SplashJacket]

True, but what's really interesting is that the map on the Disneyland Forward website shows half of that backstage area as "existing" Disneyland.

View attachment 702925

So either they mean that this current area is designated for Disneyland-related functionality, or that they are willing to continue expanding Disneyland into that area sometime in the future.

Theoretically, if they use this space, it could fit a full-size pandora with entrances from Toontown and Galaxy's Edge.

AFAIK, this plot is for the SW dinner-show restaurant:

This plot is for a third major attraction:

A land back there would obviously use up that plot.

I don't think they would build a land up there, with far less destructive plots to the west, and the need to relocate demolished buildings, but it would successfully integrate Toontown in a greater loop and remove the dead-end.

 

[SplashJacket]

Universal Orlando did one a few years back to connect the resorts and it does a pretty good job at using landscaping to hide the road below.

It's not that hard, Disney could probably theme it to a rock tunnel as a transition.

Even Atlanta has a berm-bridge "park" that hides the mega-highway below. It's been sufficiently successful that they're about to cap the highway with a legitimate park with socialization venues.

 

[SplashJacket]

Using the DisneylandForward plots,
Disneyland has roughly 22 acres for easy expansion

DCA has 30 acres for easy expansion

The Toy Story lot plot totals about 125 acres if consuming cheap 1-2 story apartment blocks (apartments are easy to acquire because you're dealing with one landowner and not 100.

Then for something I've never seen mentioned as an expansion area: Angel's stadium. There have been talks of the team being sold or moved, but regardless, even without a move, a theme-park could easily pop-up around the stadium in its 161.5 acre complex. Parking garages coould easily house the demand for the ballpark and a theme park, especially if effort was made to avoid ball-games on the 10ish busiest days of the year. The angels would likely love it, because in theory, people could catch a game for a few hours then hop to the park or vice-versa.

They could easily build a park on the western and southern-end, with a huge shared parking deck on the north eastern end. They could reconfigure the main angel stadium entrance to the north-eastern end, and the amount of ballpark interaction (hotels, restaurants, etc) could be up to both tenants.

To me, a third park at Disneyland seems like a no-brainer, and something that should soon.
With the above plots, they could build massive expansions, two theme parks, and a water park or two (at the Angels stadium or one of the Forever plots) quite easily. The utterly fantastic Volcano Bay is only about 26.5 acres, so they could even fit it in some of the random smaller parcels they own/can aquire.

A water park and third park at Disneyland seem like no brainers that should've happened yesterday, and they clearly have the capacity to build them. DCA would benefit from the DisneylandForward plot more than Disneyland, so if I had to vote, build the Avengers E, build something in the DCA Forever plot, and then have a third park open a couple years later. They have room for more decks north of the existing decks that could account for all lost parking associated with the Forever plots, so honestly, there's not really a single route of expansion in Disneyland that's blocked.

 

[J4546]

If disney used the Disneyforward expansion play on the CA side for its own 3rd volcano bay type park, I think that would be chill. Have its own entrance off the new DD expansion

 

[mickEblu]

Theoretically, if they use this space, it could fit a full-size pandora with entrances from Toontown and Galaxy's Edge.
View attachment 702931
AFAIK, this plot is for the SW dinner-show restaurant:
View attachment 702929
This plot is for a third major attraction:
View attachment 702930
A land back there would obviously use up that plot.

I don't think they would build a land up there, with far less destructive plots to the west, and the need to relocate demolished buildings, but it would successfully integrate Toontown in a greater loop and remove the dead-end.

Interesting. I’d rather them save that space for a Star Wars coaster and dinner show though.

 

[Disney Analyst]

 

[MisterPenguin]

Iger's been saying this for years on the quarterly calls:

• Overcrowding hurts the user experience which hurts The Brand. Thus the reservation system. Which means they don't have to aggressively raise prices to control crowds. And thus they can still keep an 'affordable' tier of access for people with less resources.

• The Brand is Disney's chief asset, It's what people want to buy into at premium prices (and to sell stuff that's merely 'meh.') And that means more IP.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Universal Orlando did one a few years back to connect the resorts and it does a pretty good job at using landscaping to hide the road below.

It's not that hard, Disney could probably theme it to a rock tunnel as a transition.

Disneyland can just keep building outward over roads, highways, and other properties, and then another layer over all that.

And then theme it all to Coruscant.

 

[chadwpalm]

And then theme it all to Coruscant.

 

[TP2000]

I'm cool with them adding a new Avatar land at the Disneyland Resort under certain conditions:

1. If at Disneyland Park, I'd prefer it be outside the berm (like Galaxy's Edge where acquired IP's should be).
   
   
2. I don't want the subs and autopia removed for it. They are quintessential classic Disneyland to me. If those attractions had to be replaced, I'd prefer it be for an updated Tomorrowland or amazing FL expansion, not Avatar.
   
   
3. It's not a direct replica of WDW. I don't want a clone, I want something unique. Perhaps something leaning toward The Way of Water, but NOT in the sub lagoon. DCA can use a cool underwater attraction.

I can agree with all of those points, although I'm not thrilled with it going in to DCA even if it's on the other side of Disneyland Drive south of the Pixar Pier Hotel ugliness. This could go better as a new land at Disneyland, leaving DCA to try and regain its theme footing after Bob Chapek's idiotic DCA decisions circa 2018-2022.

But your valid points also remind me that we're talking about something that would open at the very earliest for Christmas 2027. More likely 2028 if they bring in bulldozers by the this fall (Fiscal '24).

 

[MisterPenguin]

View attachment 702971

That's totally fresh.

 

[BasiltheBatLord]

Don't they still need city approval for any of the DisneylandForward stuff to happen? Or did that happen already and I missed it?

 

[TP2000]

True, but what's really interesting is that the map on the Disneyland Forward website shows half of that backstage area as "existing" Disneyland.

View attachment 702925

So either they mean that this current area is designated for Disneyland-related functionality, or that they are willing to continue expanding Disneyland into that area sometime in the future.

Great point about that finger of land labeled "Disneyland" that goes all the way to Ball Road! And to the west of it is "Backstage". They could move what remains of backstage warehouses along Ball Road over to that existing huge surface parking lot. If that's an area slated for a Pandora Land, that would actually fit okay thematically as a branch off from Star Wars.

There is 10 acres of land available for Disneyland expansion just north of Star Wars and northwest of Toontown.
Pandora at Animal Kingdom is 9 acres. Filed under Things That Make You Go Hmm...

Let's go see what Sputnik has captured for us on a recent flyover, and maybe that will help explain it...

The Blue box is the area in Disney's own map above that shows potential "Existing Disneyland" where backstage warehouses currently are. The two Gold boxes are "Existing Office/Parking/Backstage", and the Gold box on the left is mostly surface parking and small modular buildings where the exixting backstage warehouses in Blue could be moved to. This would open up the Blue box for a full 10 acres of park expansion (technically 10.5 acres according to Google).

*The use of blue and gold is purely coincidental and in no way endorses or supports the University of California at Los Angeles or any of their scholastic or athletic endeavors. Fight On Trojans!

 

[TP2000]

Theoretically, if they use this space, it could fit a full-size pandora with entrances from Toontown and Galaxy's Edge.
View attachment 702931
AFAIK, this plot is for the SW dinner-show restaurant:
View attachment 702929
This plot is for a third major attraction:
View attachment 702930
A land back there would obviously use up that plot.

I don't think they would build a land up there, with far less destructive plots to the west, and the need to relocate demolished buildings, but it would successfully integrate Toontown in a greater loop and remove the dead-end.

Oh, hell. Why didn't I click on the next page of this thread before I did the same thing you already did?!?

But I think the point is now quite clear, they can expand Disneyland all the way north to Ball Road if they want to. And they're obviously thinking seriously about it, if they aren't already booking moving trucks for those existing warehouses.

They've got an easy 10 acres to work with there. And Pandora at DAK is 9 acres.

 

[TP2000]

If disney used the Disneyforward expansion play on the CA side for its own 3rd volcano bay type park, I think that would be chill. Have its own entrance off the new DD expansion

The weather is too cold in SoCal for a water park six months out of the year. The land is too valuable to use for a water park that would be closed half the year, even if the tourists from Seattle would sit there shivering in 58 degree weather saying "This is great! That's the sun, right?!"

 

[SplashJacket]

Interesting. I’d rather them save that space for a Star Wars coaster and dinner show though.

I think there's a near-zero chance they use the dinner show plot for anything other than a restaurant, but if they chose not to use the ride plot, it realistically could be consumed into a larger land without much hassle (relatively speaking)

 

[Old Mouseketeer]

Great point about that finger of land labeled "Disneyland" that goes all the way to Ball Road! And to the west of it is "Backstage". They could move what remains of backstage warehouses along Ball Road over to that existing huge surface parking lot. If that's an area slated for a Pandora Land, that would actually fit okay thematically as a branch off from Star Wars.

There is 10 acres of land available for Disneyland expansion just north of Star Wars and northwest of Toontown.
Pandora at Animal Kingdom is 9 acres. Filed under Things That Make You Go Hmm...

Let's go see what Sputnik has captured for us on a recent flyover, and maybe that will help explain it...

The Blue box is the area in Disney's own map above that shows potential "Existing Disneyland" where backstage warehouses currently are. The two Gold boxes are "Existing Office/Parking/Backstage", and the Gold box on the left is mostly surface parking and small modular buildings where the exixting backstage warehouses in Blue could be moved to. This would open up the Blue box for a full 10 acres of park expansion (technically 10.5 acres according to Google).

View attachment 702972
*The use of blue and gold is purely coincidental and in no way endorses or supports the University of California at Los Angeles or any of their scholastic or athletic endeavors. Fight On Trojans!

Theoretically, if they use this space, it could fit a full-size pandora with entrances from Toontown and Galaxy's Edge.
View attachment 702931
AFAIK, this plot is for the SW dinner-show restaurant:
View attachment 702929
This plot is for a third major attraction:
View attachment 702930
A land back there would obviously use up that plot.

I don't think they would build a land up there, with far less destructive plots to the west, and the need to relocate demolished buildings, but it would successfully integrate Toontown in a greater loop and remove the dead-end.

Congratulations. You have eliminated fireworks, parades in both parks, parking lot trams, and live characters in Galaxy’s Edge (bye-bye Grogu). Like most of these backstage discussions you overestimate the available space by double.

 

[Practical Pig]

Let's go see what Sputnik has captured for us on a recent flyover, and maybe that will help explain it...

OMG, a Sputnik reference! That means something to me.

Sputnik and I were both launched a few hours apart. I was among the very first Space Age babies.

 

[mickEblu]

OMG, a Sputnik reference! That means something to me.

Sputnik and I were both launched a few hours apart. I was among the very first Space Age babies.

By launched do we mean conception or birth?

 

[SplashJacket]

Congratulations. You have eliminated fireworks, parades in both parks, parking lot trams, and live characters in Galaxy’s Edge (bye-bye Grogu). Like most of these backstage discussions you overestimate the available space by double.

I don't disagree there are easier places to build, but I'd argue the level of disruption would be comparable to Galaxy's Edge or MMRR construction.

Even leaving the current firework launch site (which is immediately north west of the north western corner of MMRR), it's still 10.15 acres.

As for the trams, I thought they were housed immediately north of the Mickey and Friends deck. which I assume will eventually be turned into its own parking structure.

The current main parade building is about 1.43 acres.

There is an empty lot north of the current cast parking that could become a new parade building, albeit downsized.

I'm not really sure about the comment regarding the Galaxy's Edge characters, but regardless. If they needed more storage (likely) they could build a service bridge over Disneyland Dr (similar to Tokyo DisneySea) that connects to a structure that houses parking on some levels and backstage services (like parade storage) on others or just have two entirely separate structures.

As I said, there are definitely easier areas to build (especially the area north of the Disneyland Hotel), but the area north of Galaxy's Edge is hardly untouchable. I'd argue the main barrier to building would be the firework-mandated closures, but they could build their given the desire.