Ah, GlowFest! While there have been many imitators that tried oh-so-hard (perhaps trying too hard), none of them ever managed to quite capture the "lighting in a bottle" feel and effect of the original GlowFest, with its weird mix of neon colors, gogo dancers, faux DJs pretending to mix live, glowing drinks, and Bollywood dancers, it all just meshed together in a wonderful mix that just defied all logic. I just happened to be there for its first night (primarily for the World of Color premiere), and intentionally came to its final night of its unexpectedly-extended run (as parts of it were slowly chipped away for Red Car Trolley construction), and far too many nights in between, but there was something about it that just worked. It also signaled the beginning of a shift, that suddenly DLR was a cool place for childless 20-something APers to hang out.
The follow-up to GlowFest, ElecTRONica also marked the first time that attractions in the parks were converted into movie previews. While the sneak peek at TRON: Legacy offered additional footage and in-theater effects not seen during normal trailers, and only ran for a few hours during the evening dance party, it paved the way for nearly every theater attraction in both parks (and even the Big Thunder Ranch during a brief fever-dream for Pirates 4) to be converted away from a unique theme park attraction into nothing more than a simple movie preview. The resort started the decade with 3 big-scale 3D movie attractions, and is ending it with 0.
The winter/spring of 2011 also brought us the Family Fun Weekends, as a means to provide large-scale entertainment while portions of the parade route were blocked off for repaving. The shows changed almost weekly based on holidays like Lunar New Year, Mardi Gras, and Cinco de Mayo, and were decidedly hokey and low-budget (consisting largely of old costumes and props dusted off from the Entertainment warehouses), but captured a certain homespun earnestness that defined the Disney of my youth but hasn't really been seen since this event was retired.
The Family Fun Weekends also laid the groundwork for the Disney Parks bi-coastal Limited Time Magic promotion the following year (including the first 24-hour party in a generation, which would return for several years after), and the seasonal events that take over DCA's Paradise Gardens area (including the popular Viva Navidad! street show). These were all more slick and well-produced, but didn't quite manage to capture the simple charm of the one-off weekends. The current trend of upcharge evening events at DL also seems to have roots in the Family Fun Weekends.
Around 2013 or so, with the ever growing base of APs and the growing social media culture, the parks also became home to a collection of "social clubs" that roamed around in matching denim jackets and vests. I really just don't know what to say about this one, but would be remiss to not include it in our recap of the decade
In addition to all the things that did happen this decade, we should also remember the things that didn't. In 2016 Disney announced that they would build a 4th hotel on the surface parking lots north of Downtown Disney and the Disneyland Hotel, after many years of exceptionally high occupancy at absurd rates for their 3 aging hotels. While luxurious, the initial details and marketing artwork seemed exceptionally bland for a Disney hotel.
In October 2017, the plan had been revised to take over the western end of DTD, with an elevated structure that overlooked the walkways and retail below. While a more ambitious design, the aesthetics were already becoming dated and it still lacked the whimsy and sense of place that most Disney properties have. And of course, the change in location meant that it was considered a new project by the City of Anaheim, whose Council was firmly against it. Mixed with some bad blood from the union and ill-conceived PR arguments from Disney, they found themselves fighting an uphill battle. By October 2018, those plans had been officially scrapped. Some of the hastily-shuttered facilities in DTD reopened, but that area remains a waste of space in a resort where real estate is at a premium.
It was around this same time that the ill-conceived Eastern Gateway project was announced (after years of parking problems due to the rise in APers arriving with fewer people per vehicle than the resort infrastructure was intended for), rejected by area businesses and the City, and quietly cancelled. Instead of leaning in to the increasingly urban (relatively speaking) fabric and walkability of the Anaheim Resort District, thanks to much of the work done during DLR's initial resort expansion, the design for the new parking structure and transit plaza instead isolated itself from the surrounding area. To connect to the existing businesses along Harbor Blvd, pedestrians were required to take circuitous routes with a lot of backtracking. While the project was ultimately cancelled due to public objection to the lackluster pedestrian bridge aesthetics paired with an unfriendly Council, Disney dodged a bullet by avoiding the lack of connectivity and over-reliance on long walking distances. Instead of the Eastern Gateway, the Pixar Pals garage was hastily added to the existing Mickey & Friends, with a new pedestrian path through DTD but no other meaningful transportation improvements.
Speaking of the hotel project and DLR's relationship with the City, we would be remiss to talk about the decade and not mention the meteoric rise and fall of the west coast runDisney events during that period. At the start of the decade, there was only the Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend held over Labor Day (first run in 2006), with a 5K and half marathon with about 10,000 finishers. By the middle of the decade, mirroring the nationwide running boom and the see-and-be-seen soCal culture, that had grown to 4 race weekends, each with a 5K, 10K, half marathon, and multi-race challenge, with about 46,000 annual half marathon finishers. Following the nationwide slowdown in running events, California legislative changes (not allowing volunteers to be used by for-profit companies), the planned hotel construction (on the start/finish area site), and strained relationship with the City and the extensive resources and coordination required, all races were put on an indefinite hiatus in late 2017, with seemingly no plan to ever bring them back.
