New Disneyland Parking Garage and Transportation Hub

[Old Mouseketeer]

< snip >
It is going to be a very interesting Summer in 2017, if Pummba is closed for construction. Disney just lost a few hundred spaces in building the new M&F Security Check and expanded Tram Route. There will be the need for parking for the construction workers for the Eastern Gateway project.
< snip >
And of course, the new Ball Road CM Lot is perfect for a structure.

Before they close Pumbaa, they need to finish the new CM lot on Anaheim Way, between Katella and Anaheim Blvd. It's permitted with the city as a CM lot. Presumably this would be "A-Lot". It looks like it could be a little less than half of Pumbaa, even less with the kind of facilities that Harbor Lot has.

If, by "new Ball Road CM Lot" you mean the one at Harbor and Ball where the RV place was, that's known as Harbor Lot. The CM lot North of M&F is known as "Ball Lot".

 

[Curious Constance]

Harbor will not be effected in 2017 by any of this right?

 

[Darkbeer1]

Harbor will not be effected in 2017 by any of this right?

Very Little, the area in front of the former Carousel Motel might have a construction wall in front of it, causing a blockage of the sidewalk at times for the new Bridge. Also building a support in the Center Island area for the bridge. But those will be designed to have the least impact to traffic and pedestrian flow. The bigger changes will be in 2018.

 

[Old Mouseketeer]

Very Little, the area in front of the former Carousel Motel might have a construction wall in front of it, causing a blockage of the sidewalk at times for the new Bridge. Also building a support in the Center Island area for the bridge. But those will be designed to have the least impact to traffic and pedestrian flow. The bigger changes will be in 2018.

My (soon-to-be-former) neighborhood in East Anaheim has had several overpasses under construction to route traffic over the railroad tracks for over a year. There will definitely be an impact on Harbor, including lane closures. No matter how well-planned and/or prefabricated, this kind of construction requires a certain amount of space for construction as well as staging.

 

[Darkbeer1]

OK, sitting in City Hall waiting for the fun to begin. Will let you know what was said...

 

[Darkbeer1]

OK, still working on dinner, but here we go...

The "Public Workshop" dealing with the Disneyland Eastern Gateway had over 200 people, and standing room only, so a lot of interest in the project.

The Workshop started with a look back at the History of the project (1993 to the present), presented by the City of Anaheim Staff.

Next was a presentation by Disneyland, the first part was a walkthrough of graphics/art, maps and video of the planned project, with discussion of a "work in progress" in improving access to the new Security area for the non-Disney Hotels on Harbor near the parks (Basically HoJo's to the Anaheim Plaza). Then we had the head of Security for the DLR talk for a few minutes of the reasons why Security is so important and needing to relocate the checkpoints. He did mention that the western Security Checkpoints will open later this week (rumored to be Thursday).

Then a summary, and the planning commission asking question to staff and others in attendance.

Then it opened up to public comments (limited to 3 minutes per person).

That took about two hours.

Currently loading photos and video of the metting. Note some of the videos is mainly for the audio, since there were no items on display during the Disneyland Security Chief, and the comments sections.

The photos should be available now, the videos will take some time to load to the Smugmug site....

https://darkbeer.smugmug.com/Anaheim-Planning-Commission/

I have no problems if anyone here wants to edit them to bring out certain points, but please only post them here at the WDWMagic boards.

I will start getting into details in the next post, give me a few minutes..

 

[Darkbeer1]

OK, lets look at some of the secondary stuff first.

The Western Security Checks are going from 16 stations to 40 this week, and that is also planned when the Eastern Gateway opens. Disney has heard the complaints and is addressing the long waits. This will also have more guests going through the Metal Detectors.

In case you don't know, the Toy Story Lot is only zoned for parking until 2024,and will have to get an extension soon. Disney is planning to build a Security Check inside the lot to open at the same time as the main Eastern Gateway. (And why there is the special Toy Story drop-off on Harbor on the plans, it will be part of the secure area.)

Disney met with ART today, and is asking for a new ART Route that would basically do the one block circle, aka, start at the new transportation hub, head south down Manchester to Disney Way, make a right, and a right on Harbor with a couple of stops, then turn right on Manchester and return to the Transportation Hub to drop the guests off.

Since the Town Hall held at the GCH late last month for the non-Disney businesses, Disney has started to address the issues brought up, and has offered to allow access to the Hotels touching the new Pedestrian Walkway from Disney Way to where the Security Checkpoint starts.

And to build a new entrance at the north west corner, if the private landowners are willing to allow a access pathway fromHarbor Blvd to that corner. (So think McDonald's heading east). Once again, a work in progress.

Due to these new issues and large interest in the project, the project will not be part of the January 23rd meeting, and instead of the normal 10 days, they will give a 30 day notice prior to the official hearing.

So that is the "news" that came out of the meeting.

Now to get into the details, and then the public comments. (A vast majority of the crowd was people that own or work for a non-Disney property near the project).

Time for another break...

 

[TP2000]

Time for another break...

Your contributions here are greatly appreciated! Thank you very much, Darkbeer.

 

[180º]

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this, @Darkbeer1. What an indispensable member you are here!

And I gotta say, this stuff fascinates me. I've been waiting for the Eastern gateway project for years.

 

[Darkbeer1]

Before we go through the actual presentations, let me set up the "tone" which came from the Town Hall Disney held last month with the business owners.

The Bridge is ugly and too large.

We hate Disney speak, such as "at this time", why won't Disney say what is going into the area that is the current Transportation Hub, etc.

Where will the new Security on the west side of Harbor be, and what guarantees do we have that Disney won't close it shortly after for the next "phase".

We NEED things to remain the same, same easy access to out businesses, same heavy foot traffic on Harbor, and similar thoughts.

Will we get the Crosswalk to nowhere?

So the presentation was changed up to talk about those things.

Basically we are looking at two different zoning issues, part of the project is part of the Disneyland Resort Specific Plan and the other part is in the Anaheim Resort Specific Plan, which of course have a different set of rules and regulations agreed to when they were formed decades ago....

Well, we need the videos to upload, so I think that might be all for tonight, much more tomorrow....

 

[Darkbeer1]

And the OC Register article about the public workshop...

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/disney-738246-security-bridge.html

>>The proposal irked some, if not all, of the more than 25 business owners along Harbor Boulevard. They argued at a community workshop last week and again Monday that the bridge is an inconvenience to their guests – who can now cross Harbor to the esplanade – and will decrease foot traffic along Harbor, the majority source of their patrons.

Placing the security behind their businesses also struck a nerve with some owners, who said Disney is bolstering the safety of their main entrance while making increasing the vulnerability of customers and employees of the local businesses.

“Our family is also interested in safety and security for our guests and employees,” said Greg Eisenman, general manager of Tropicana and Camelot Inn hotels. He added that putting a security screening area behind the local businesses put the puts the risk “in our backyards.”<<

 

[Ismael Flores]

That's hilarious, the risk is all around them wether it be in front or behind their property.

I would think that having the secured area within an enclosed developed property line would feel more safe than having an empty lot with only a brick wall seperating their hotel guests. It also would feel more secure and safe for their guests to have direct access from their hotel rooms into a well lit secured area then having to walk across a heavy traffic street constantly used by transients, picketers, and others that can come between them and their small children.

Really with Disney allowing them to add secured entrances at the back of their property it seems more beneficial than an inconvenience. Those motels make business from their guest staying and paying for the rooms the small business shouldn't really see a huge drop in business because all the guests staying in any of those cramp motels will most likely still be patrons of the handful of bad eateries.
I doubt IHOP and Denny would see any decrease since they would still serve those guests.

Guests from hotels staying south of Disney way have better choices of food for breakfast and late dinner off Katella or south Harbor and usually are higher end hotels where people would most likely avoid IHOP and Dennys anyway

 

[Darkbeer1]

OK, got the actual presentation up at You Tube (Go in numerical order). The comments videos are still coming.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1KiKglO4ZdptIRrH-Zc_5g

 

[Darkbeer1]

OK, plan for about 2 hours to watch it all, but here is the full Project Workshop held at the Anaheim Planning Commission.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIK3Pv1RyctKt6oCILDYlqqobgjFH6wMx

 

[truecoat]

OK, still working on dinner, but here we go...

The "Public Workshop" dealing with the Disneyland Eastern Gateway had over 200 people, and standing room only, so a lot of interest in the project.

The Workshop started with a look back at the History of the project (1993 to the present), presented by the City of Anaheim Staff.

Next was a presentation by Disneyland, the first part was a walkthrough of graphics/art, maps and video of the planned project, with discussion of a "work in progress" in improving access to the new Security area for the non-Disney Hotels on Harbor near the parks (Basically HoJo's to the Anaheim Plaza). Then we had the head of Security for the DLR talk for a few minutes of the reasons why Security is so important and needing to relocate the checkpoints. He did mention that the western Security Checkpoints will open later this week (rumored to be Thursday).

Then a summary, and the planning commission asking question to staff and others in attendance.

Then it opened up to public comments (limited to 3 minutes per person).

That took about two hours.

Currently loading photos and video of the metting. Note some of the videos is mainly for the audio, since there were no items on display during the Disneyland Security Chief, and the comments sections.

The photos should be available now, the videos will take some time to load to the Smugmug site....

https://darkbeer.smugmug.com/Anaheim-Planning-Commission/

I have no problems if anyone here wants to edit them to bring out certain points, but please only post them here at the WDWMagic boards.

I will start getting into details in the next post, give me a few minutes..

Thanks for the pics. Now you can see the re-routing of the monorail is just like a couple said it would be.

 

[Darkbeer1]

Disney didn't address the West side of Harbor at all, if you read the fine print, it is there for Reference Purposes only, and heck, Disney has made more changes in the last couple of weeks, and will make more changes, When they are done, they will resubmit the project,and the city has stated they will give 30 days notice instead of the normal 10 days in regards to the new hearing date.

So the Monorail issue is in limbo,and nothing has been decided or announced.

 

[NobodyElse]

Disney didn't address the West side of Harbor at all...

From what I watched (thanks for all the effort by the way) they only mentioned the West side in that the traffic light would remain to allow some shuttles to go to a designated area. It was also implied that the crosswalk would remain, and that (at least temporarily) there would be an alternate security check. (My bet would be that they design that security check in a way that makes the new gateway seem like the desirable option.)

 

[Deleted member 107043]

That's hilarious, the risk is all around them wether it be in front or behind their property.

I would think that having the secured area within an enclosed developed property line would feel more safe than having an empty lot with only a brick wall seperating their hotel guests. It also would feel more secure and safe for their guests to have direct access from their hotel rooms into a well lit secured area then having to walk across a heavy traffic street constantly used by transients, picketers, and others that can come between them and their small children.

Really with Disney allowing them to add secured entrances at the back of their property it seems more beneficial than an inconvenience. Those motels make business from their guest staying and paying for the rooms the small business shouldn't really see a huge drop in business because all the guests staying in any of those cramp motels will most likely still be patrons of the handful of bad eateries.
I doubt IHOP and Denny would see any decrease since they would still serve those guests.

Guests from hotels staying south of Disney way have better choices of food for breakfast and late dinner off Katella or south Harbor and usually are higher end hotels where people would most likely avoid IHOP and Dennys anyway

The bottom line is everyone hates change, even if changing means we're making a step forward. It's simply the stupid way that humans work.

From what's being reported I think Disney is handling this fairly well. Shifting the access from Harbor to the area behind the motels initially surprised me, but it looks like the company is willing to adjust its plans to address the concerns of businesses in that area.

 

[TP2000]

OK, got the actual presentation up at You Tube (Go in numerical order). The comments videos are still coming.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1KiKglO4ZdptIRrH-Zc_5g

Darkbeer, your work on this can't be thanked enough! This is fascinating for any Disneyland fan to watch, and then add in the usual drama of a local City Hall and it's almost as good as a Reality TV show. That you took your own personal time and resources to do this is, again, worthy of a million thanks.

Disney didn't address the West side of Harbor at all, if you read the fine print, it is there for Reference Purposes only, and heck, Disney has made more changes in the last couple of weeks, and will make more changes, When they are done, they will resubmit the project,and the city has stated they will give 30 days notice instead of the normal 10 days in regards to the new hearing date.

So the Monorail issue is in limbo,and nothing has been decided or announced.

I suspect this type of presentation makes Disney very, very nervous and there are a hundred legal and executive reviews it must go through before it's released to the public like this. The west side is obviously theme park expansion space for DCA; Marvel, the trackless Mickey Mouse dark ride, etc., etc. And we all know how creepy-obsessive Disney is with letting their future plans leak.

I imagine when the first images were shown by the OC Register last summer, some in TDA and WDI were furious that the new route of the monorail beam was ever so slightly revealed. It's since been erased.

I imagine the west side of Harbor Blvd. of this plan will be a hazy, featureless, opaque blob for at least another year or two, perhaps not until D23 Expo 2019.

From what I watched (thanks for all the effort by the way) they only mentioned the West side in that the traffic light would remain to allow some shuttles to go to a designated area. It was also implied that the crosswalk would remain, and that (at least temporarily) there would be an alternate security check. (My bet would be that they design that security check in a way that makes the new gateway seem like the desirable option.)

The only shuttles using that current intersection once Eastern Gateway is done will be employee shuttles. It's a new drop off area labeled "Cast Drop Off" in the current location of the Silver Zone bus/shuttle area adjacent to Harbor Blvd.

Hey gang, if you only watch one of Darkbeer's videos, this is a really good one with all the "fly-through" simulations of what the new structure, new screening areas, and new bridge environments will look like to arriving Disneyland pedestrians. Fun!

 

[Deleted member 107043]

Hey gang, if you only watch one of Darkbeer's videos, this is a really good one with all the "fly-through" simulations of what the new structure, new screening areas, and new bridge environments will look like to arriving Disneyland pedestrians. Fun!

Lord have mercy, that is one hell of a walk from Harbor and Disney Way to the Transportation hub and then on to the bridge into the Resort.