Disneyland 1991 - Vol. III

[Outbound]

^ I like this approach as well. A larger 2nd gate to front the marketing campaign, a boutique 3rd gate centered around animation, a water park, hotels, and a shopping district. My only question is would it all realistically fit? Below is the original WestCot plan. Looking it over, we can definitely cut out the lake at the center of the resort and maybe one of the larger resorts for the water park or third gate. We would also have the entirety of the expansion area to work with, but it looks fairly detached from the rest? If we put the third gate or shopping district there instead, any ideas for how to connect it more with the rest of DLR?

 

[DisneyManOne]

^ I like this approach as well. A larger 2nd gate to front the marketing campaign, a boutique 3rd gate centered around animation, a water park, hotels, and a shopping district. My only question is would it all realistically fit? Below is the original WestCot plan. Looking it over, we can definitely cut out the lake at the center of the resort and maybe one of the larger resorts for the water park or third gate. We would also have the entirety of the expansion area to work with, but it looks fairly detached from the rest? If we put the third gate or shopping district there instead, any ideas for how to connect it more with the rest of DLR?

View attachment 733486

Honestly, I feel that some of the more extraneous portions of the 1990 plan can go. Outbound, you mentioned the lake surrounding Downtown Disney, but I feel that we could do without the amphitheater.

If we do decide to go all-in on the Jules Verne theme for the water park, I propose we put it north of the Disneyland Hotel (9 on the plan), which is near the portion of Disneyland where Discovery Bay was slated to go. That way, it can be a nod to what could have been.

And if we do decide to go all-in on WestCOT, maybe we could cut the idea of having themed hotels in each section of the Four Corners of the World. I know too many hotels was a factor in what made DLP flop, and we're dealing with an alternate timeline where the necessary research was undertaken to ensure DLP was a success, so that's something we should look towards.

As for how to connect the "Future Expansion Area" to this resort, I recall @D Hulk really went into detail about it when he created DisneySky. Basically, he converted the Anaheim GardenWalk into a satellite extension of Downtown Disney (Rancho Disney) and turned a few of the motels on the corner of Katella and Harbor into a deluxe resort (Villa Cielo).

If we were to implement something similar, we'd have to get rid of the southern parking garage in order to allow this thematic link to happen.

 

[cdunlap]

I just came up with this concept for a Mayan themed water park area. It’s called Mayan Coast and it’s basically a Lost River Delta/Typhoon Lagoon hybrid with historically accurate Maya theming. I have managed to buy a file of research papers about the Mayan civilization and will be using them as research material for the area. The only attraction as of now is a set of four water slides called The Bacabs. They are named after the Mayan gods of the directions and set out from a pyramid in their respective direction. The pyramids surround a large tree in the center of the park, The Tree of Life, which the Mayans believed the world was in the center of, with the heavens on the branches and Xibalba, the underworld, below. Guests will follow a path lined with stone tablets depicting ancient Mayan rituals with educational signs giving guests a PG at most explanation as to what is going on inside the art. There are also tablets using the real Mayan alphabet, which will be posted throughout the path so guests can read them. This could work in our water park if there are some Non-Discoveryland aesthetic areas, but I can’t think of anywhere else to put this.

 

[Disney Dad 3000]

^ I like this approach as well. A larger 2nd gate to front the marketing campaign, a boutique 3rd gate centered around animation, a water park, hotels, and a shopping district. My only question is would it all realistically fit? Below is the original WestCot plan. Looking it over, we can definitely cut out the lake at the center of the resort and maybe one of the larger resorts for the water park or third gate. We would also have the entirety of the expansion area to work with, but it looks fairly detached from the rest? If we put the third gate or shopping district there instead, any ideas for how to connect it more with the rest of DLR?

View attachment 733486

The original idea was to put the waterpark in that future expansion area, but I think it makes a lot of sense to use that for a potential 3rd gate instead. The waterpark could be placed similarly to how we did the Port Disney waterpark next to Paradise Pier a while back?

It would be expensive, but I'd advocate another monorail spur starting at the DD station running there, maybe down and back lines so that a loop isn't needed. Two hotels in the (10) areas with direct, overstreet access into the park as well.

Edit:
Just saw @DisneyManOne post show up after I posted, but that works well.

 

[Architectural Guinea Pig]

TBH, the California Adventure concept was enjoyable, and if we redesign the layout entirely, think about the possibilities! For example, an entire San Francisco land, but with streets like Little Italy, Little Mexico, and Chinatown. It would power the great amounts of cultural identity to the much needed resort.

 

[Architectural Guinea Pig]

Note - DisneySky isn't the only redesign plan for the entire resort. There also includes one from imagineerland. It's split into eight parts, and here's the link to the first: http://imagineerland.blogspot.com/2016/06/disneyland-resort-phased-expansion-plan.html

 

[DisneyManOne]

TBH, the California Adventure concept was enjoyable, and if we redesign the layout entirely, think about the possibilities! For example, an entire San Francisco land, but with streets like Little Italy, Little Mexico, and Chinatown. It would power the great amounts of cultural identity to the much needed resort.

I remember back in 2015, S.W. Wilson did a version of DCA post-2012 refurbishment, and we could possibly use that to go off of, should we decide to do "DCA, but good from Day One" for the third gate. We'd have to nix Discovery Bay if we go Jules Verne, but it's something.

Check it out!

Oh, and there was also Theme Park Lore's DCA buildout. We could pull from that, as well!

Check it out!

 

[Tegan pilots a chicken]

^ I like this approach as well. A larger 2nd gate to front the marketing campaign, a boutique 3rd gate centered around animation, a water park, hotels, and a shopping district. My only question is would it all realistically fit? Below is the original WestCot plan. Looking it over, we can definitely cut out the lake at the center of the resort and maybe one of the larger resorts for the water park or third gate. We would also have the entirety of the expansion area to work with, but it looks fairly detached from the rest? If we put the third gate or shopping district there instead, any ideas for how to connect it more with the rest of DLR?

View attachment 733486

Yeah the one thing we have to keep in mind is Disneyland Resort is small. Like really small. Granted, Imagineering does an excellent job of getting the most out of the available space.

Have we considered building a bit vertical?
The water park, shopping and dining could perhaps share some space that way? Idk I’m not married to the idea but it could be something to consider.

 

[DisneyManOne]

Note - DisneySky isn't the only redesign plan for the entire resort. There also includes one from imagineerland. It's split into eight parts, and here's the link to the first: http://imagineerland.blogspot.com/2016/06/disneyland-resort-phased-expansion-plan.html

Having started to re-read those posts, I feel like the way he did Downtown Disney would be a nice way to do the shopping district.

 

[Architectural Guinea Pig]

Reiterated second park layout, designed for big lake in mind, space for 7 lands. With a hotel at the entrance, which allows one of the corner hotels to be used as a water park.

 

[Outbound]

Reiterated second park layout, designed for big lake in mind, space for 7 lands. With a hotel at the entrance, which allows one of the corner hotels to be used as a water park.View attachment 733525

This is interesting! A bit early to start planning the new park, but it's helpful to show how much space it will eventually take up. And I like the idea of placing a Hotel MiraCosta type there, it could certainly save space.

Honestly, the DLR hotels are a bit of a swing-and-miss. They're nice, but they are nowhere near the quality of WDW's roster, and while a lot of that comes down to DLR's scale, I also think Anahiem is just a different beast from Orlando in the sense there are so many cheaper options literally across the street. We should give visitors a reason to feel each resort is worthwhile compared to others. Maybe the Hotel MiraCosta type, with a unique location from the parks, could be a good example to draw from.

Yeah the one thing we have to keep in mind is Disneyland Resort is small. Like really small. Granted, Imagineering does an excellent job of getting the most out of the available space.

Have we considered building a bit vertical?
The water park, shopping and dining could perhaps share some space that way? Idk I’m not married to the idea but it could be something to consider.

Maybe take advantage of a more vertical shopping district? Splitting Springs into 2-3 themed areas (that blend together seamlessly) with each of those areas having shopping/dining on the first floor but a hotel on top. The unique location would give people a real reason to stay at the resorts, and also keep Springs consistently filled with visitors.

 

[JokersWild]

Maybe take advantage of a more vertical shopping district? Splitting Springs into 2-3 themed areas (that blend together seamlessly) with each of those areas having shopping/dining on the first floor but a hotel on top. The unique location would give people a real reason to stay at the resorts, and also keep Springs consistently filled with visitors.

Look into Ikspiari. It's sort of what you're describing. It's three or four floors with some somewhat themed fully indoor spaces with the Ambassador Hotel attached to the back of it.

I'd love to bring a more highly themed hotel to this as well. I totally agree that the DLR hotels are kind of lackluster.

 

[Outbound]

Look into Ikspiari. It's sort of what you're describing. It's three or four floors with some somewhat themed fully indoor spaces with the Ambassador Hotel attached to the back of it.

I'd love to bring a more highly themed hotel to this as well. I totally agree that the DLR hotels are kind of lackluster.

Oh wow, I had no idea!

I think looking to other international resorts (or even non-Disney multi park resorts) as sources of inspiration is a good idea. I personally have only been to the US parks, but I’m sure there’s many things we can learn from the Imagineer’s other attempts!

 

[cdunlap]

I just came up with this concept for a Mayan themed water park area. It’s called Mayan Coast and it’s basically a Lost River Delta/Typhoon Lagoon hybrid with historically accurate Maya theming. I have managed to buy a file of research papers about the Mayan civilization and will be using them as research material for the area. The only attraction as of now is a set of four water slides called The Bacabs. They are named after the Mayan gods of the directions and set out from a pyramid in their respective direction. The pyramids surround a large tree in the center of the park, The Tree of Life, which the Mayans believed the world was in the center of, with the heavens on the branches and Xibalba, the underworld, below. Guests will follow a path lined with stone tablets depicting ancient Mayan rituals with educational signs giving guests a PG at most explanation as to what is going on inside the art. There are also tablets using the real Mayan alphabet, which will be posted throughout the path so guests can read them. This could work in our water park if there are some Non-Discoveryland aesthetic areas, but I can’t think of anywhere else to put this.

Idea to make this work: We theme it to a 19th century dig site on an island between Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras.

 

[JokersWild]

Idea to make this work: We theme it to a 19th century dig site on an island between Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras.

I don't think we have to go that far if we go with this idea. We don't need to explain or justify everything. I think just having a Mayan waterpark set in a thriving Mayan city would be a fun idea. And it'd be a lot easier to explain to guests.

 

[cdunlap]

So, what are we calling the water park?

 

[Architectural Guinea Pig]

On that note, what d'ya guys think about a Neverland Water Park?

 

[ThemeParkPriest]

On that note, what d'ya guys think about a Neverland Water Park?

As I understand it, hasn't the theme of the pool at The Disneyland Hotel been Neverland for a while?

 

[Architectural Guinea Pig]

As I understand it, hasn't the theme of the pool at The Disneyland Hotel been Neverland for a while?

The Neverland pool opened in 1999, and was replaced in 2009 with the e-ticket pool, with the monorail slides.

 

[MonorailRed]

^ I like this approach as well. A larger 2nd gate to front the marketing campaign, a boutique 3rd gate centered around animation, a water park, hotels, and a shopping district.

This basically summarizes what everyone's looking at via the poll as well

• Landslide with something including both Cartoons and Hollywood themes
  • Maybe Cartoons Main 2nd Gate and Hollywood 3rd Mini Gate?
• WESTCOT Downtown Disney (World Showcase-y)
• Discoveryland Water Park

Honestly, I feel that some of the more extraneous portions of the 1990 plan can go. Outbound, you mentioned the lake surrounding Downtown Disney, but I feel that we could do without the amphitheater.

I think we may still be able to keep the bowl in another location - but I think that honestly all depends on map Logistics.

If we do decide to go all-in on the Jules Verne theme for the water park, I propose we put it north of the Disneyland Hotel (9 on the plan), which is near the portion of Disneyland where Discovery Bay was slated to go. That way, it can be a nod to what could have been.

Makes sense! It could be easily transitioned that way as well via themes.

And if we do decide to go all-in on WestCOT, maybe we could cut the idea of having themed hotels in each section of the Four Corners of the World. I know too many hotels was a factor in what made DLP flop, and we're dealing with an alternate timeline where the necessary research was undertaken to ensure DLP was a success, so that's something we should look towards.

You could also have one big World Showcase hotel connecting the setpieces in all the lands. If the layout allows Africa Wing, Europe wing, Asia Wing, you name it.

As for how to connect the "Future Expansion Area" to this resort, I recall @D Hulk really went into detail about it when he created DisneySky. Basically, he converted the Anaheim GardenWalk into a satellite extension of Downtown Disney (Rancho Disney) and turned a few of the motels on the corner of Katella and Harbor into a deluxe resort (Villa Cielo).

That would work. I still think logistically making a pathway under the busy street across is a great addition to this idea as well.

Reiterated second park layout, designed for big lake in mind, space for 7 lands. With a hotel at the entrance, which allows one of the corner hotels to be used as a water park.View attachment 733525

This is interesting! A bit early to start planning the new park, but it's helpful to show how much space it will eventually take up. And I like the idea of placing a Hotel MiraCosta type there, it could certainly save space.

I agree, I think that entryway is a really great example here @Architectural Guinea Pig!

Honestly, the DLR hotels are a bit of a swing-and-miss. They're nice, but they are nowhere near the quality of WDW's roster, and while a lot of that comes down to DLR's scale, I also think Anahiem is just a different beast from Orlando in the sense there are so many cheaper options literally across the street. We should give visitors a reason to feel each resort is worthwhile compared to others. Maybe the Hotel MiraCosta type, with a unique location from the parks, could be a good example to draw from.

Maybe take advantage of a more vertical shopping district? Splitting Springs into 2-3 themed areas (that blend together seamlessly) with each of those areas having shopping/dining on the first floor but a hotel on top. The unique location would give people a real reason to stay at the resorts, and also keep Springs consistently filled with visitors.

I think the shopping area becoming more vertical is definitely a plus. Honeslty the DLR Hotels need more "meat" in comparison to a WDW Hotel. More benefits, more amenities, more immersion.

On that note, what d'ya guys think about a Neverland Water Park?

As I understand it, hasn't the theme of the pool at The Disneyland Hotel been Neverland for a while?

The Neverland pool opened in 1999, and was replaced in 2009 with the e-ticket pool, with the monorail slides.

Adding to my comment above - I think a really solid move for the Disneyland Hotel would be a Y&B Style Neverland Mini-Water Park Amenity. Maybe a water show at night like the old Disneyland hotel show thing they had.

I don't think we have to go that far if we go with this idea. We don't need to explain or justify everything. I think just having a Mayan waterpark set in a thriving Mayan city would be a fun idea. And it'd be a lot easier to explain to guests.

Honestly, maybe shelve Disneycoveryland and move forward with Mayan?

But again, I'm all pro more amenities. Maybe something Atlantis-eque hotel/mini water park-wise?