D23 Disneyland/DCA Predictions!

[Rich T]

That might be true, especially since its a British story written by a Scottish author. But we're talking about California students in the US....

Fun fact, Kenneth Grahame the author of the Wind in the Willows is also the author of The Reluctant Dragon which was also turned into a Disney film of the same name.

I just had a frightening vision of a Disney XD tv series “updating” The Wind in the Willows. Toad, Rat and Mole are high school students (Mole is a computer geek). Badger is the Principal AND driving instructor. It’s called “That’s So Toad.”

 

[Disney Irish]

I just had a frightening vision of a Disney XD tv series “updating” The Wind in the Willows. Toad, Rat and Mole are high school students (Mole is a computer geek). Badger is the Principal AND driving instructor. It’s called “That’s So Toad.”

I'd watch it....

 

[Phroobar]

Kristen Stewart is gorgeous and an amazing actor. Don't @ me.

Gorgeous yes. Amazing actor.....

 

[Phroobar]

Well duh of course she'll be at the center of it. But one of the core themes will be her being torn between her love for Edward and her **** for Jacob.

Hmm I wonder why Jacob reminds you of Shark Boy....

Sparkling vampire or shark/wolf boy? That's like deciding between Trump and Clinton.

 

[Disney Irish]

Sparkling vampire or shark/wolf boy? That's like deciding between Trump and Clinton.

Let's not start that, election season is over for now. Let's keep it political-free at least for one day.

Also why does this site censor the word "l u s t". Geez, turn down the censor system already.

 

[Ismael Flores]

Goofy Sky School flies off to Yesterland.

I really hope so, with the success of the limited Holiday stuff for Coco you would think that if they need another IP attraction, they would consider a high tech E ticket attraction for that area themed to that movie.

 

[CosmicDuck]

Since the last D23 was pretty much all about Orlando, I'd expect this one to be a little more Anaheim-centric, but I'm honestly not expecting much given just how much capex they've spent on both coasts.

• Given is the Marvel-Land official unveiling with name, concept-art, and attraction (a C/D ticket that's going to get spun way out of proportion by boasting "revolutionary" new interactive 3-D elements/ A.K.A a shooter that isn't attached to your ride vehicle or something minute)
  • I think you get a tease for "Phase 2" in order to do damage control and make that the focus of the stories coming out, maybe a flash an image up there of an Avengers Coaster in the background. Zero concrete info for that so that when they pull it later it doesn't cause a ruckus.
• Toontown refresh and Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway
• Mickey's Halloween Party moving to Disney's California Adventure
  • New overlay/extended re-furb for Radiator Springs
  • World of Color Villains Announcement

Other than that, I honestly think those are going to be the major/only announcements. Any future plans for the resort will still be in flux given the results from this election, and after the hotel debacle I'm sure they're much more skittish about putting things out before they're sure. I'm prepared to be disappointed, honestly. This isn't going to be the 2017 barrage of announcements that Orlando got.

 

[Disney Irish]

Since the last D23 was pretty much all about Orlando, I'd expect this one to be a little more Anaheim-centric, but I'm honestly not expecting much given just how much capex they've spent on both coasts.

• Given is the Marvel-Land official unveiling with name, concept-art, and attraction (a C/D ticket that's going to get spun way out of proportion by boasting "revolutionary" new interactive 3-D elements/ A.K.A a shooter that isn't attached to your ride vehicle or something minute)
  • I think you get a tease for "Phase 2" in order to do damage control and make that the focus of the stories coming out, maybe a flash an image up there of an Avengers Coaster in the background. Zero concrete info for that so that when they pull it later it doesn't cause a ruckus.
• Toontown refresh and Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway
• Mickey's Halloween Party moving to Disney's California Adventure
  • New overlay/extended re-furb for Radiator Springs
  • World of Color Villains Announcement

Other than that, I honestly think those are going to be the major/only announcements. Any future plans for the resort will still be in flux given the results from this election, and after the hotel debacle I'm sure they're much more skittish about putting things out before they're sure. I'm prepared to be disappointed, honestly. This isn't going to be the 2017 barrage of announcements that Orlando got.

I wouldn't be surprised if the EGW project is back by August....

 

[CosmicDuck]

I wouldn't be surprised if the EGW project is back by August....

I wouldn't either but I'd be surprised if they dropped that at D23 and not in a Disney Parks Blog post or Sentinel article. It's a touchy topic for the city and involves a lot of parties, tossing it in as part of an announcement there would come off as insensitive.

 

[Disney Irish]

I wouldn't either but I'd be surprised if they dropped that at D23 and not in a Disney Parks Blog post or Sentinel article. It's a touchy topic for the city and involves a lot of parties, tossing it in as part of an announcement there would come off as insensitive.

I guess it all depends on how much the city wants to listen to outside parties, like last time. Really there aren't all the many parties involved, its Disney and Anaheim involved. The Harbor business don't really get a say because it was already in the Resort Master Plan.

 

[Old Mouseketeer]

I guess it all depends on how much the city wants to listen to outside parties, like last time. Really there aren't all the many parties involved, its Disney and Anaheim involved. The Harbor business don't really get a say because it was already in the Resort Master Plan.

It isn't so much that they get a say. The problem this year was the threat of a lawsuit which Disney couldn't afford to bet on from a time perspective. After the Cleo structure is complete, Disney is less vulnerable. But I'm not sure if we'll see this at D23. I would bet that they retool the project to include the lot containing USCIS whose lease is said to expire in 2020.

 

[Disney Irish]

It isn't so much that they get a say. The problem this year was the threat of a lawsuit which Disney couldn't afford to bet on from a time perspective. After the Cleo structure is complete, Disney is less vulnerable. But I'm not sure if we'll see this at D23. I would bet that they retool the project to include the lot containing USCIS whose lease is said to expire in 2020.

I still don't buy the whole lawsuit idea, not sure on what grounds it could be filed. The bridge was on the Master Resort Plan that was agreed to in the 90s. So Disney just designed it as outlined in the MRP.

Anyways that a moot point now.

Point is moving forward I don't see there being much opposition now to the EGW project. You may still have some of the Harbor businesses speaking out publicly, but that shouldn't prevent it from moving forward now. So once the new Council gets sworn in, and after a couple months of calming period, I expect the EGW to be brought up again and eventually approved (maybe with a few modifications).

 

[Old Mouseketeer]

I still don't buy the whole lawsuit idea, not sure on what grounds it could be filed. The bridge was on the Master Resort Plan that was agreed to in the 90s. So Disney just designed it as outlined in the MRP.

Anyways that a moot point now.

Point is moving forward I don't see there being much opposition now to the EGW project. You may still have some of the Harbor businesses speaking out publicly, but that shouldn't prevent it from moving forward now. So once the new Council gets sworn in, and after a couple months of calming period, I expect the EGW to be brought up again and eventually approved (maybe with a few modifications).

I was never aware of the pedestrian bridge being part of the resort master plan, or blocking pedestrian entrance from Harbor Blvd. I always assumed that there would be a tram/bus overpass on the North side of the Disney Way/Harbor intersection with the Eastern ramp running parallel to the (then) Ramada Inn and the Western ramp covering the current Toy Story bus approach to end at the existing drop-off/turnaround. This, of course, was before Toy Story Lot was opened.

 

[BrianLo]

I do think the EGW will be revived earlier than later for the new council. At least for generalized approval before any risk of changeover again. Waiting until 2020 makes a lot of sense though for actual construction. I also think when it does come back there will actually be some generalized softening in the plan on Disney's part.

Either allowing some ground level traversal through the Camelot plot to access the entrance, or exit only ramps to exit onto Harbour. Or perhaps a sister bridge or something to still allow street facing access. Routing guests down to Disney Way doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

Technically speaking Disney wants to move the entrance to the same side of the street as all these businesses, I'm sure there exists a modified plan that will serve both parties. If everyone was actually forward thinking they could change the entire back egress into basically a new pedestrian street, but that requires money.

 

[Old Mouseketeer]

There are some creative possibilities. The most ambitious would be to make the Carousel access way and the security screening area two levels. The upper level would be inside the security area and the lower level would be public access to and from Harbor Blvd. The parking structure escalators would deliver guests to the upper level to process through security. There could be exit-only stairs/elevator/ramp from the pedestrian bridge down to the East side of Harbor. This would add to the cost, but make access more versatile and accessible. Of course, I still favor speedramp walkways like Universal Orlando.

 

[Disney Irish]

I was never aware of the pedestrian bridge being part of the resort master plan, or blocking pedestrian entrance from Harbor Blvd. I always assumed that there would be a tram/bus overpass on the North side of the Disney Way/Harbor intersection with the Eastern ramp running parallel to the (then) Ramada Inn and the Western ramp covering the current Toy Story bus approach to end at the existing drop-off/turnaround. This, of course, was before Toy Story Lot was opened.

Anaheim has always wanted pedestrian bridges in the Resort District to get as many pedestrians over the traffic as possible. The Anaheim Resort Specific Plan had called for three pedestrian bridges with two being within the Disneyland Resort area. The street level crosswalk at Harbor was identified as one of the areas that would best be handled by a pedestrian bridge. That is why during the recent meeting regarding the Cleo pedestrian bridge there were questions about making sure the Cleo pedestrian bridge wasn't taking the place of the others. This question was to make sure the Cleo bridge wasn't taking the place of the Harbor bridge. Anaheim still wants the bridge over Harbor.

 

[Disney Irish]

There are some creative possibilities. The most ambitious would be to make the Carousel access way and the security screening area two levels. The upper level would be inside the security area and the lower level would be public access to and from Harbor Blvd. The parking structure escalators would deliver guests to the upper level to process through security. There could be exit-only stairs/elevator/ramp from the pedestrian bridge down to the East side of Harbor. This would add to the cost, but make access more versatile and accessible. Of course, I still favor speedramp walkways like Universal Orlando.

I don't think a double decker bridge would be possible, it would be too high. Unless I'm misunderstanding what you mean by two levels.

 

[Disney Irish]

I do think the EGW will be revived earlier than later for the new council. At least for generalized approval before any risk of changeover again. Waiting until 2020 makes a lot of sense though for actual construction. I also think when it does come back there will actually be some generalized softening in the plan on Disney's part.

This is what I think as well. Get it approved maybe in the second half (first half is probably too ambitious) of 2019 and construction starts in early 2020.

Either allowing some ground level traversal through the Camelot plot to access the entrance, or exit only ramps to exit onto Harbour. Or perhaps a sister bridge or something to still allow street facing access. Routing guests down to Disney Way doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

I made a similar suggestion of having pedestrians having access from the Harbor sidewalk along side the ramp.

Technically speaking Disney wants to move the entrance to the same side of the street as all these businesses, I'm sure there exists a modified plan that will serve both parties. If everyone was actually forward thinking they could change the entire back egress into basically a new pedestrian street, but that requires money.

I think this was what Disney was hoping the Harbor business would see when it was mentioned in one plan would be to add entrances at the back of their properties to allow access to the pedestrian walkway. Though I don't think a fee to access it was one part of their plan.

 

[Old Mouseketeer]

I don't think a double decker bridge would be possible, it would be too high. Unless I'm misunderstanding what you mean by two levels.

I was unclear. I mean the approach through the Carousel Motel site would be double decker. The bridge itself would be as proposed. There would be traffic in and out at ground level, but the upper level would be within the security perimeter. Screening would now be on the upper level of the plaza at the Eastern end. Escalators from the parking structure would terminate at the upper plaza level. Access from the lower level would require ramps for 1. Foot traffic from Harbor (West) through the Carousel property, 2. New access from the parking lots for the hotels and McDonald's (North), 3. The new bus drop-off (East), and 4. the proposed pedestrian entrance behind the Harbor Motels (South). This is all theoretical, but it could solve some problems that weren't addressed in the original EGW plan.

 

[Disney Irish]

I was unclear. I mean the approach through the Carousel Motel site would be double decker. The bridge itself would be as proposed. There would be traffic in and out at ground level, but the upper level would be within the security perimeter. Screening would now be on the upper level of the plaza at the Eastern end. Escalators from the parking structure would terminate at the upper plaza level. Access from the lower level would require ramps for 1. Foot traffic from Harbor (West) through the Carousel property, 2. New access from the parking lots for the hotels and McDonald's (North), 3. The new bus drop-off (East), and 4. the proposed pedestrian entrance behind the Harbor Motels (South). This is all theoretical, but it could solve some problems that weren't addressed in the original EGW plan.

Ok, I see now. I think that makes it more complicated, and expensive, than it has to be. But now understand where you're going with that idea, sort of like an approach interchange if you will.