New Disneyland Parking Garage and Transportation Hub

[jbradway]

They paid 32 million for the Carousel Hotel land. So I'm finding it hard to think that they are being cheap by not using trams. There is not that much added cost to construction for tram driveways. Actually it's probably cheaper than decorative concrete & landscaping that they will certainly create for the walk. And Disney already has the infrastructure to support tram maintenance. My guess is they have plans to add retail, kiosks, etc. along the new path and they want you to stroll along. Then in the future maybe connect north or south of that to future Disney owned hotels if they can purchase adjacent properties.

The moving walkways/speed ramp idea I can see as being prohibitively expensive. Most of the distance is inclined except for the bridge portion. Add to that the whole length is outdoors - both directions. So they would likely have to consider covering the entire pathway or do constant maintenance on them to keep them running. This isn't like a simple indoor airport setup. It's going to be a hefty cost to install and maintain. No to mention the potential lawsuits for injuries sustained while in movement. The complaints about broken ramps would probably rival the complaints about walking. So I wouldn't blame them for canning that approach.

 

[TP2000]

I think we are all over-thinking the super secret Disney conspiracy to put the Harbor Blvd. motels and restaurants out of business. This "Eastern Gateway" project is driven by just two things; parking capacity and additional layers of security protecting the Walt Disney Company's crown jewel property of Disneyland USA.

If Panera Bread #837 and the Main Gate Best Western see a dip in revenue because of it due to a longer walk, then so be it.

As for a mythical Downtown Disney East per the HoJo's Facebook page, they've had trams and buses and pedestrians streaming in off of Harbor Blvd. for over 15 years and haven't put so much as a single Churro Cart out there to sell stuff to anyone. Heck, they can barely staff the official Information Booth there, let alone roll out a cart selling Cokes and ice cream. I can't imagine this new skybridge and walkway would warrant some sort of major new Downtown Disney East retail development all of a sudden. Disney is just being coy with the local newspaper about expanding DCA into that area with Marvel IP.

You don't clear out a giant chunk of land like that and leave it empty, nor do you go to all that trouble and huge long-term expense to put in the Resort's fifth Starbucks and a t-shirt shop. It's going to be mostly used for DCA theme park expansion. (Although, I could see them using a tiny sliver of land along the walkway for a small Starbucks and a retail cart or two, in the shadow of the giant new ride warehouses for a Marvel roller coaster and/or dark ride)

 

[Deleted member 107043]

You don't clear out a giant chunk of land like that and leave it empty, nor do you go to all that trouble and huge long-term expense to put in the Resort's fifth Starbucks and a t-shirt shop.

How many people annually do you think will pass through that area to and from the new shuttle/garage, not to mention the Harbor Blvd tourists? Seems logical to add a few things to milk a few extra dollars from them, don't you think?

 

[Old Mouseketeer]

I think we are all over-thinking the super secret Disney conspiracy to put the Harbor Blvd. motels and restaurants out of business. This project is driven by just two things; parking capacity and additional layers of security protecting the Walt Disney Company's crown jewel property of Disneyland USA. If Panera Bread and the Best Western see a dip in revenue because of it, then so be it.

As for Downtown Disney East per the HoJo's Facebook page, they've had trams and buses and pedestrians streaming in off of Harbor Blvd. for 15 years and haven't put so much as a single Churro Cart out there to sell stuff to anyone. Heck, they can barely staff the official Information Booth there, let alone roll out a cart selling Cokes and ice cream. I can't imagine this new skybridge and walkway would warrant some sort of major new Downtown Disney East retail development all of a sudden. Disney is just being coy with the local newspaper about expanding DCA into that area with Marvel IP.

You don't clear out a giant chunk of land like that and leave it empty, nor do you go to all that trouble to put in the Resort's fifth Starbucks and a t-shirt shop. It's going to be mostly used for DCA theme park expansion. (Although, I could see them using a tiny sliver of land along the walkway for a Starbucks and a retail cart or two, in the shadow of the giant new ride warehouses for a Marvel roller coaster or dark ride)

I disagree. I see nothing in the site plan that indicates a pedestrian entrance from Harbor. I think this is aimed directly at businesses on Harbor. I foresee vigorous questioning and/or objections from area business in the permit approval process. Disney is absolutely capable of being this voracious. Look at how they implemented Magic Express in Orlando, driving up car rental rates compared to other tourist/convention destinations and how they bullied the high-speed rail effort to drop any station on International Drive (Sea World/Universal) if Disney allowed a station on their property.

 

[Old Mouseketeer]

How many people annually do you think will pass through that area to and from the new shuttle/garage, not to mention the Harbor Blvd tourists? Seems logical to add a few things to milk a few extra dollars from them, don't you think?

I totally agree. In fact, I find it curious that there has been no merchandise presence on the East Esplanade for the past 15 years. Remember, the classic theme park formula (Emporium) is to have a major souvenir location on the right side approaching the exit. Time will tell.

 

[jbradway]

A flood of people coming into the east gateway every morning might be looking for a Starbucks along the way some day. Where is probably the only real question.

 

[Curious Constance]

Why would Disney want to alienate the Harbor "Good Neighbor Hotels" when Disney seems to have no desire to compete in the value market? That's a lot of business to drive away when you already have your four times higher priced hotels running at near capacity all the time. If they could drive them to a similarly or slightly higher priced Disney property, fine, but that doesn't exist.

 

[TP2000]

I disagree. I see nothing in the site plan that indicates a pedestrian entrance from Harbor. I think this is aimed directly at businesses on Harbor.

I don't see anything in the schematics for a pedestrian entrance on Harbor either, and I doubt there will be one. Which is why the "Pedestrian Portal" down on Disney Way is such a big deal in the schematics and sketches released by Disney. They even cut and pasted the existing welcome portal from the Harbor Blvd. sidewalk and dropped it at the new Pedestrian Portal on Disney Way instead.

But I also don't think there's a grand conspiracy here by Disney to put Panera Bread #837 and the eight or nine mom n' pop motels on Harbor between Disney Way and Manchester out of business. What would Disney gain from that? They don't want or need that property, and they've never shown any indication of buying any of it before. They only bought the Carousel Inn for their skybridge after they purchased the land behind it for the parking/transportation area. But they've left everything else alone.

With apologies to Dr. Freud, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and a new parking structure is just a new parking structure. No evil corporate conspiracies to put motels out of business is needed.

And if Disney wanted to sell some trinkets and Cokes to all those arriving and departing tourists exiting towards Harbor every day, they could. But in the last 18 years they never have, and they don't today. So why would we think some big Downtown Disney East project would take the place on the newly available land north of DCA's Hollywood Backlot?

 

[TP2000]

A flood of people coming into the east gateway every morning might be looking for a Starbucks along the way some day. Where is probably the only real question.

That's about the only thing I could see them putting in here along this new entry pathway from the Eastern Gateway transportation complex. A small Starbucks like the one they just added next to AMC Theaters. If they really go crazy maybe a small souvenir store or something. But none of that has shown up in any of the plans they just released to the City and the media.

We are just guessing that some sort of small retail component will greet arriving pedestrians once they walk down the ramp from the skybridge. The only stuff actually shown on the schematics is landscaping and walkways.

 

[TP2000]

I totally agree. In fact, I find it curious that there has been no merchandise presence on the East Esplanade for the past 15 years. Remember, the classic theme park formula (Emporium) is to have a major souvenir location on the right side approaching the exit. Time will tell.

It's actually been 18 years. That area opened in 1998, and was approved and created by an executive team that came from The Disney Stores; Paul Pressler and Cynthia Harriss. And they turned nearly everything they could into a merchandise offering.

But they left the transportation esplanade off Harbor alone. And so did a series of four more senior executive teams who have come and gone since Pressler/Harriss left Anaheim in 2003.

But now all of a sudden that newly available land needs to be a mall? I don't buy that, pardon the pun.

 

[LukaLand]

Oh, I don't buy it either. I find it interesting that Hojo is reassuring people they will still have access to the crosswalk entrance to DL and that this will be a DTD expansion. If one is wrong (I don't think DTD is expanding) then is the other?

 

[Deleted member 107043]

That's about the only thing I could see them putting in here along this new entry pathway from the Eastern Gateway transportation complex. A small Starbucks like the one they just added next to AMC Theaters. If they really go crazy maybe a small souvenir store or something. But none of that has shown up in any of the plans they just released to the City and the media.

Well to be fair TP the plans show that area as blank, and we are all just speculating on what it could be used for based on a rumor from a local hotelier. With the bus drop off zone being moved they'll be building something there, and there is a precedent for retail and restaurant development between the parks and the current parking garage. The idea isn't that far fetched.

 

[TP2000]

Well to be fair TP the plans show that area as blank, and we are all just speculating on what it could be used for based on a rumor from a local hotelier. With the bus drop off zone being moved they'll be building something there, and there is a precedent for retail and restaurant development between the parks and the current parking garage. The idea isn't that far fetched.

True, it is all just speculation. I'm just not convinced that after 18 years of not having so much as a churro cart out there in that bus loading area that they are suddenly going to fill all that newly created expansion space with more Downtown Disney. As if TDA suddenly realized a bunch of tourists arrive and depart every day via Harbor Blvd. Who knew?!?

I could believe 25% or less of this new footprint would be for retail and the Resort's fifth Starbucks location. But my hunch is that at least 75% of this space is going to be for DCA park expansion.

 

[Old Mouseketeer]

I don't see anything in the schematics for a pedestrian entrance on Harbor either, and I doubt there will be one. Which is why the "Pedestrian Portal" down on Disney Way is such a big deal in the schematics and sketches released by Disney. They even cut and pasted the existing welcome portal from the Harbor Blvd. sidewalk and dropped it at the new Pedestrian Portal on Disney Way instead.

But I also don't think there's a grand conspiracy here by Disney to put Panera Bread #837 and the eight or nine mom n' pop motels on Harbor between Disney Way and Manchester out of business. What would Disney gain from that? They don't want or need that property, and they've never shown any indication of buying any of it before. They only bought the Carousel Inn for their skybridge after they purchased the land behind it for the parking/transportation area. But they've left everything else alone.

With apologies to Dr. Freud, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and a new parking structure is just a new parking structure. No evil corporate conspiracies to put motels out of business is needed.

And if Disney wanted to sell some trinkets and Cokes to all those arriving and departing tourists exiting towards Harbor every day, they could. But in the last 18 years they never have, and they don't today. So why would we think some big Downtown Disney East project would take the place on the newly available land north of DCA's Hollywood Backlot?

With all due respect, you deleted and ignored the rest of my post:

I disagree. I see nothing in the site plan that indicates a pedestrian entrance from Harbor. I think this is aimed directly at businesses on Harbor. I foresee vigorous questioning and/or objections from area business in the permit approval process. Disney is absolutely capable of being this voracious. Look at how they implemented Magic Express in Orlando, driving up car rental rates compared to other tourist/convention destinations and how they bullied the high-speed rail effort to drop any station on International Drive (Sea World/Universal) if Disney allowed a station on their property.​

 

[yookeroo]

How did Magical Express drive up car rental rates?

 

[LukaLand]

How did Magical Express drive up car rental rates?

Cheapest place I've ever rented a car is Orlando.

 

[Phroobar]

How did Magical Express drive up car rental rates?

That doesn't make sense. Wouldn't the car rental places lower their rates in order to get people to rent a car instead of using Magical Express?

 

[RMichael21]

Maybe they were referring to taxi/town car rates?

 

[Phroobar]

Checking Enterprise for August 27-28, you can rent an economy car at
Orlando International airport, FL for $16.99 per day
John Wayne airport, CA for $33.17 per day

Sounds more like Disneyland should have Magical Express in order to drive DOWN car rentals in Orange county like it did in Florida.

 

[MoonRakerSCM]

Checking Enterprise for August 27-28, you can rent an economy car at
Orlando International airport, FL for $16.99 per day
John Wayne airport, CA for $33.17 per day

Considering just CA prices as they are... at first glance, those numbers don't look too off for just being the rest of the U.S. vs. crazy SoCal prices for things...