Current News on the possible Disneyland's 4th Hotel

[VJ]

Also, if TDA suits could stop worrying about the new cover sheets on the weekly TPS Reports for two minutes and get off their pathetic duffs and use my Walt Disney Presents! idea for the abandoned AMC theater, they have to introduce each movie presentation with a little pre-show that includes this classic "Walt Disney... presents!..." line.



Sitting in a dark theater munching popcorn with a bunch of Disneyland fans, that intro would be magic. And I hate using the word "magic".

Like... this?

 

[Disney Irish]

Are there still anti-trust rules that affect studios owning movie theaters? After the 1948 Paramount case the studios had to divest in the US. But Disney bought a stake in a unit of Pacific Theaters to redevelop the El Capitan and Crest theaters. I'm a little unclear on the specifics and the timeline. Of course, Disney could always bring in another theater-chain as a partner, depending on their exit agreement with AMC.

Actually the Paramount Consent Decree didn't prevent Studios from owning theaters. It came short of a full ban, but it did require studios to divest any current theater assets. So really Disney could use it if it wanted to.

Also the Justice Department currently looking into it to see if it still applies in today's modern studio/theater market.

Here is a good write up on it:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/real-impact-getting-rid-paramount-consent-decrees-1134938

 

[choco choco]

Are there still anti-trust rules that affect studios owning movie theaters? After the 1948 Paramount case the studios had to divest in the US. But Disney bought a stake in a unit of Pacific Theaters to redevelop the El Capitan and Crest theaters. I'm a little unclear on the specifics and the timeline. Of course, Disney could always bring in another theater-chain as a partner, depending on their exit agreement with AMC.

https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2018/08/03/disney-warner-universal-et-al-to-own-theaters-again

 

[THE 1HAPPY HAUNT]

They should reopen the AMC theater as a haunted abandoned movie theater and show 50's B horror movies for Halloween.

Why bother? from sept.-jan they will just be showing NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS over and over again.

 

[Darkbeer1]

http://www.anaheimblog.net/2018/09/12/what-us-worry/

>>Last month, the Anaheim City Council majority made clear it would rather kill the TOT rebate agreement for Disney’s 4-Diamond hotel than accommodate a minor siting change. Consequently, Disney put the $700-million, 700-room project on indefinite hold.


This prompted Fred Brown, chairman of the Anaheim/Orange County Hotel and Lodging Association, sent the following e-mail on August 21 to Mayor Tom Tait and Councilmembers Jose F. Moreno, Denise Barnes and James Vanderbilt:

Hello Mr. Tait, Mr. Vanderbilt, Ms. Barns and Dr. Moreno,
Please take a moment to reflect on the bullet points below:​

• 5050 construction jobs for 2 years
• 1150 permanent hotel jobs
• $25,000,000 in NET TOT general fund revenue over 5 years
• $1,000,000,000 (a BILLION) dollars in general fund revenue over 40 years.

Don’t buy the figures? Then cut it in half for argument sake:​

• 2525 construction jobs for 2 years
• 575 permanent hotel jobs
• $12,500,000 in NET TOT general fund revenue over 5 years
• 500,000,000 (a half BILLION) dollars in general fund revenue over 40 years.

Look a bit more realistic to you at half of the loss? We could cut it in half again but we would come up with the same conclusion. ​

Your actions in this matter are NOT in the best interest for the residents of Anaheim. Maybe you are gambling that Disney will move forward without the agreement? I would not take that bet but I guess it is easy to gamble with a BILLION dollars when it is not your loss if you lose.
​

Please help me understand how this helps the residents or businesses of Anaheim. This is not a rhetorical question. I would really appreciate a response because I can think of no fathomable explanation to your actions other than revenge. Your hatred of Disney has gone far beyond looking after the rights and well-being of the residents of Anaheim.

​

Thank you,

Fred​

To date, none of the recipients have responded to Brown’s e-mail – with the exception Councilmember Denise Barnes, who sent him this reply:

Thank you for your email. I’m sure this will be handled properly.
Sent from my iPhone​

That’s it: “I’m sure this will be handled properly.” When a nearly $1 billion economic development project is put on ice – the tax revenues from which factor significantly in the city’s five-year spending plans – it merits a meatier, more concerned response than a nonchalant I’m-sure-someone’s-handling-this brush-off from her iPhone, as if it were someone complaining about a missed trash pick-up. In fact, that would probably prompt a more engaged response.


At the same time, at least Councilmember Barnes actually replied to Brown.<<

 

[jmuboy]

I just hope that Santa ( Anaheim ) brings DL an approval on the Eastern Gateway project and Bridge. If that could happen so much could move forward more easily.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I just hope that Santa ( Anaheim ) brings DL an approval on the Eastern Gateway project and Bridge. If that could happen so much could move forward more easily.

I don’t think Disney is maintaining an application.

 

[Old Mouseketeer]

I don’t think Disney is maintaining an application.

I expect them to wait until USCIS vacates in 2020 and then we see a revised plan after SW:GE opens.

 

[Darkbeer1]

I just hope that Santa ( Anaheim ) brings DL an approval on the Eastern Gateway project and Bridge. If that could happen so much could move forward more easily.

Disney needs to go back to the city's Planning Commission with a plan. They hope to do that in early 2019 if the November election goes their way. The plan includes a revised bridge, but more than likely still requiring guests to go the back side (well, actually middle side) to go through security, but might add an exit that directly end the east side of Harbor Blvd. (two options, either head to Manchester and the Security area or onto Harbor Blvd.) It would take a few months for the application to be approved. That would allow construction to begin in late 2019 or some time in 2020.

I happened to run into one of the commissioners last night in a meeting. Happens to be one I disagree with in political views, and came in due to Dr. Moreno. Depending on who wins the Mayor's seat, he might get replaced. If my choice for Mayor, someone who came over to Lisa and I to talk for a few minutes before the meeting, it could easily happen.

But as I said before, the removal of the Transportation Plaza and the moving the Eastern Security Check is a high priority, as Disney wants the land for expansion. Many City Staff also wants the move. So it can happen next year if things go right.

If the project starts construction in late 2019 or early 2020, you might have the land available on Harbor sometime in 2021 or 2022. But that is now just empty land, and the construction can begin on a new project, more than likely a DCA expansion. Being close to the berm, it would have to have a low height design (always can dig a pit for more space).

 

[Old Mouseketeer]

Disney needs to go back to the city's Planning Commission with a plan. They hope to do that in early 2019 if the November election goes their way. The plan includes a revised bridge, but more than likely still requiring guests to go the back side (well, actually middle side) to go through security, but might add an exit that directly end the east side of Harbor Blvd. (two options, either head to Manchester and the Security area or onto Harbor Blvd.) It would take a few months for the application to be approved. That would allow construction to begin in late 2019 or some time in 2020.

I happened to run into one of the commissioners last night in a meeting. Happens to be one I disagree with in political views, and came in due to Dr. Moreno. Depending on who wins the Mayor's seat, he might get replaced. If my choice for Mayor, someone who came over to Lisa and I to talk for a few minutes before the meeting, it could easily happen.

But as I said before, the removal of the Transportation Plaza and the moving the Eastern Security Check is a high priority, as Disney wants the land for expansion. Many City Staff also wants the move. So it can happen next year if things go right.

If the project starts construction in late 2019 or early 2020, you might have the land available on Harbor sometime in 2021 or 2022. But that is now just empty land, and the construction can begin on a new project, more than likely a DCA expansion. Being close to the berm, it would have to have a low height design (always can dig a pit for more space).

I think there are several things Disney can do to make this project more appealing. They could add incentives for the Harbor motels to add passages to the new pedestrian lane on the back of their properties--essentially buying them off. They could also package it as a "Good Neighbor Plus" package that essentially downgrades non-participating properties. I think the option of allowing pedestrian EXIT to Harbor is potentially good, if the City buys in. Could it be a ramp from the East side of the overpass? This would eliminate the volume of pedestrian traffic crossing Harbor. Again, if Disney offers to pay for an easement in the front yards of the properties to the North and South of the former Carousel Inn, this could be a win-win.

If Disney gets creative and uses more carrot and less stick, I think there some options that could tilt this thing their way, beyond a positive outcome in the election. My biggest problem with the overpass is that there are no speed ramps. The original master plans for Westcot had high-capacity shuttles from both the East and West parking structures. They would have been higher capacity, allowed standing for most passengers, and wheelchair and disabled access at-grade. But Disney cheaped out and opted to keep their outdated parking lot trams. But Disney makes dollars, not sense.

 

[nevol]

The new aerial tramway at walt disney world seems to be growing rapidly. If monorails and trams are too expensive, is this an alternative disney should be looking at to zip people from the parking lots to the esplanade? The tracks would be so short, which would limit their cost. The feasibility would come down to capacity and regulations.

 

[Darkbeer1]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-disneylands-hometown-once-warm-relations-have-frozen-1537801201

>>“It’s as if somehow we should feel fortunate that Walt Disney chose Anaheim,” said city council member Jose Moreno, who was elected in 2016 as part of what locals call the first “anti-Disney” majority. “Maybe we should, but they should be grateful for a city that has helped them grow.”<<

>>The tipping point in Anaheim came after the city attorney told Disney in August that its decision to move a planned luxury hotel’s location by 1,000 feet disqualified it from a previously approved 20-year, $267 million tax rebate. Disney saw the relocation as a technicality, but the city council wouldn’t renegotiate, so the company suspended construction.


Rather than keep fighting, Disney tried to quell the political hostility by asking the city to end two major incentive deals because they had become “a flashpoint for controversy and dissension in our community,” Disneyland Resort president Josh D’Amaro wrote in a letter to the city. Anaheim officials voted to terminate both subsidies a week later on Aug. 28.


Still, Disneyland executives warn that tax deals were critical to the resort’s multibillion-dollar expansions this century and that the recent political volatility puts future investment at risk.


“The evolving environment in Anaheim makes it difficult for us to set and execute long-term strategies,” Mr. D’Amaro said in a statement. “We will always invest in the Disneyland Resort, but what’s at stake now is the level of that investment, particularly relative to other cities where the business climate is more stable.”


Disneyland, which opened in 1955, drew nearly 28 million visitors last year and employs 30,000 people. Hotel tax revenue, driven largely by Disney visitors, more than tripled in the past 20 years to $155.6 million and accounts for nearly half of the city’s general fund.


Tom Daly, who was Anaheim’s mayor at the time of a key 1996 financing agreement with Disney, said mutual investments transformed the city into a global tourist destination. The city’s current leadership, he said, “inherited very healthy revenues, and now they are critiquing the source of those revenues.”<<

>>Council member Lucille Kring, who voted to cancel the agreements to avoid conflict with her colleagues, said she hopes incentives like the hotel subsidy will be restored under new leadership. “Even those who supported this are going to rue the day this happened in Anaheim,” she said<<

 

[Texas84]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-disneylands-hometown-once-warm-relations-have-frozen-1537801201

>>“It’s as if somehow we should feel fortunate that Walt Disney chose Anaheim,” said city council member Jose Moreno, who was elected in 2016 as part of what locals call the first “anti-Disney” majority. “Maybe we should, but they should be grateful for a city that has helped them grow.”<<

"You didn't build that"

 

[TeriofTerror]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-disneylands-hometown-once-warm-relations-have-frozen-1537801201

“It’s as if somehow we should feel fortunate that Walt Disney chose Anaheim,” said city council member Jose Moreno, who was elected in 2016 as part of what locals call the first “anti-Disney” majority. “Maybe we should, but they should be grateful for a city that has helped them grow.”
<<

Um, you should feel fortunate. I've never understood the disdain some locals in Anaheim and Orlando feel for Disney. While there may be some inconveniences, the benefits to the local economies are undeniable.

 

[MisterPenguin]

“We will always invest in the Disneyland Resort, but what’s at stake now is the level of that investment, particularly relative to other cities where the business climate is more stable.”

Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Beijing are more stable governments than Anaheim.

 

[TP2000]

“It’s as if somehow we should feel fortunate that Walt Disney chose Anaheim,” said city council member Jose Moreno, who was elected in 2016 as part of what locals call the first “anti-Disney” majority. “Maybe we should, but they should be grateful for a city that has helped them grow.”

Direct from his mouth, that just confirmed my worst fears. I'm afraid Dr. Moreno is at best a man who doesn't think much beyond his tiny world, and at worst he's a nut.

If Walt had chosen Pomona instead, Anaheim in 2018 would be a clone of Stanton but with more freeway noise.

Without Disneyland landing in Anaheim in 1955 and almost instantly becoming an international driver of visitation and visibility, you could also easily lay out an alternate timeline for all of Orange County from 1960 to 1990.

• No Anaheim Stadium in 1966, instead delayed until the 1970's and landing in master-planned Irvine.
• No Anaheim Convention Center & Arena in 1967, instead delayed and split; Arena in Irvine in 1970's, Convention Center in Huntington Beach in 1980.
• John Wayne Airport expansion circa 1970 delayed at least a decade, smaller daily operation in 2010's, fewer daily flights from Pacific Northwest, British Columbia, Salt Lake, Phoenix.
• Does South Coast Plaza get built in '67? Does Welton Becket master-plan Newport Center in '65, or is that delayed a decade or more? Where does UC Irvine land in '64 if Orange County is less developed and less populated without Disneyland? Without Disneyland, does Children's Hospital of Orange County become one of the finest in the nation? Etc., etc., etc.

If Walt had chosen Pomona, or Rowland Heights, or San Dimas instead of Anaheim, you could easily see how the growth and expansion of Orange County from 1955 to 1990 would have taken a very different track, making the entire county look different in the 2010's. Perhaps that alternate timeline would have been better for Orange County, with Irvine as the de facto "downtown" for the county and with a less known presence on the American psyche and global marketplace?

But for a public official to make the statement "It's as if somehow we should feel fortunate that Walt Disney chose Anaheim" tells me that public official has a very limited grasp on the positive impact Walt's choice made on Anaheim and all of Orange County. It also tells me he's not really a thinking man, but a man with limited scope and vision.

 

[TP2000]

In happier hotel news that should please even Dr. Moreno, the Disneyland Hotel housekeepers union (the infamous Unite HERE Local 11) has just allowed their members to vote on the new contract that Disney proposed months ago and it has passed!

Those housekeepers and bellhops and custodians almost immediately get a raise to $15 an hour!

And they immediately get the $1,000 bonus that the 75,000 other Disney Company employees already got due to the passage of President Trump's tax cuts earlier this year!

A big raise and a $1,000 bonus for those hardworking Cast Members! If you ask me, this calls for a little Rip Taylor...

 

[nevol]

Disney has had a year of bad press, but this news and this recent news tells a different story!

 

[TP2000]

Disney has had a year of bad press, but this news and this recent news tells a different story!

Disney is not entirely blameless for this mess in my opinion, especially a couple of the arrogant decisions from the TDA executive suites run by Michael Colglazier circa 2012-2017. (Cough! That cheap and ugly Harbor Blvd. skybridge design done by interns. Cough!)

But there is always two sides to every story. The quotes from Dr. Moreno speak volumes on what TDA is currently up against.

 

[justinliew]

Is there any chance a Star Wars hotel is ever built for Disneyland?