Sadly, DisneylandForward Isn’t What You Think
In March 2021, one year into the pandemic, The Walt Disney Company announced a grand vision for Disneyland Resort.
You must remember that the park wasn’t even open due to the pandemic!
In fact, Disney officials were feuding with California’s government at the time. So, the recommitment to Southern California seemed…oddly timed.
Now, two years have passed, and it’s time to reevaluate Disney’s big announcement.
What’s the latest on DisneylandForward? Here’s what we know.
About Disney’s Recent Anaheim Struggles
Disney hasn’t enjoyed much luck with state governments lately.
Despite the fact that Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World have remained two of the most popular tourist destinations for generations, politics has become a problem.
For decades, Disney largely stayed above the fray because politicians deemed it out of bounds and a bad strategic target.
Who would actively target the Happiest Place on Earth for political points, right? Sadly, we live in a different world now, something Disney has learned the hard way.
The problems started in Anaheim, California. A set of people running for office ran anti-Disney campaigns.
These individuals sought a spot on the Anaheim City Council, which includes seven voting members.
So, you can understand how one or two City Council members can cause problems for Disney.
We know this from experience, as Disney canceled a highly anticipated 700-room luxury resort in the Downtown Disney area.
The explanation for this cancellation still defies belief more than four years later.
Anaheim had promised Disney a $267 million tax incentive to attract more tourists to the area.
Everyone in the area realizes that Disney needs more hotel rooms, which explains the upcoming tower expansion, The Villas at Disneyland Hotel.
That project exists because the Anaheim City Council refused to budge on a previous agreement.
Disney filed paperwork for the blueprints of the Downtown Disney hotel.
Later, management decided that the project made more sense two blocks down the road.
The new City Council’s composition, the one with anti-Disney members, refused to honor the tax agreement.
Yes, a nine-figure project collapsed because bureaucrats wouldn’t agree to a two-block move. It’s ridiculous.
When the next election arrived, Disney aided some members in their election attempts, thereby ensuring a more favorable Anaheim City Council afterward.
About Disneyland Forward’s Early Promises
Disney later feuded with California’s government over COVID-19 restrictions. Florida and California took diametrically opposed approaches to the pandemic.
While Walt Disney World reopened in July 2020, Disneyland Resort remained closed until late April 2021.
In the interim, Disney officials lobbied repeatedly behind the scenes to reopen the park.
Eventually, Bob Iger quit a California economic task force because he was so angry with California’s governor.
This was 18 months before Bob Chapek would get in a public tiff with Florida’s governor. Like I said, Disney’s had a rough run of luck with politicians lately.
However, Disney got smart about its approach, at least in Anaheim, where Iger still called many of the shots behind closed doors.
The company decided that its best approach involved killing with kindness. In March 2021, park officials announced the Disneyland Forward project.
At the time, we reported this new endeavor as a combination of new themed lands and experiences.
Disney promised to transition to new themed lands like Frozen at Tokyo DisneySea to Anaheim.
When Anaheim agreed to that massive quarter-billion tax incentive, its driving goal was increased tourism.
Nothing draws guests like new themed lands, something Disneyland officials can attest from Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
Disney provided a bit of a mixed message about a third park at Disneyland Resort, but that statement applies to much of the announcement.
In a way, this declaration worked similarly to the infamous Parks Panel at the 2022 D23 Expo. It lacked timelines or specificity.
I described the whole thing like this: “In an odd way, Disney didn’t announce anything other than a name and hashtag.”
Disney wanted the city and state governments on its side and made vague promises to get what it needed.
Not coincidentally, Disneyland reopened the following month.
What We’ve Learned about Disneyland Forward in Two Years
Here’s the official site for DisneylandForward. You can hop around the site, but much of it feels like a publicity campaign against Anaheim’s outdated laws.
During the 1990s, Anaheim created the rules of governance for Downtown Disney and the like. Now, roughly 30 years later, Disney questions their effectiveness.
Disney primarily hypes its own good deeds like charitable endeavors and discusses its significance to Anaheim’s job market.
The company also explicitly states that it won’t accept money from Anaheim, a promise it made in the wake of the Downtown Disney hotel project collapsing.
What the site lacks is any sort of road map for upcoming Disneyland Resort attractions.
We know that some are coming. At D23, Disney promised a King Thanos ride at Avengers Campus.
More recently, Bob Iger confirmed an Avatar experience at Disneyland, although he didn’t explicitly state that it’s an attraction.
Here’s the worrisome part about Disneyland Forward right now. Disney promised a detailed update to Anaheim’s City Council by 2023.
I’m not saying that didn’t happen, but if it did, it happened privately. Meanwhile, here’s an essential comment from the website:
Question: “What will you do first as a result of DisneylandForward?”
Answer: “We are at the very beginning phases of the public approval process for DisneylandForward and our goal at this time is to reach out to the community and share DisneylandForward with Anaheim residents and stakeholders.”
In two calendar years, Disney has provided no additional details about DisneylandForward.
At a different point, the site lists what is secretly its mission statement. “(Disney is) simply asking to update our existing approvals to allow for integrated development to be located and built on Disney properties.”
DisneylandForward Isn’t What You Think
The places where I’m hearing the most DisneylandForward chatter aren’t the ones you’d expect.
Instead, workers in urban development and people with a hobbyist interest in this field mention the project the most.
Why is that?
Walt Disney lamented that he hadn’t purchased enough land in Anaheim in the early 1950s. The instant Disneyland opened, real estate in the area soared in value.
You can imagine how much more Disney must pay today to expand its footprint at Disneyland Resort. Honestly, it’s financially feasible.
So, Disney executives have deduced that the best strategy to protect the parks involves a more efficient kind of governance.
Disney has entered a protracted PR battle with Anaheim officials to retrofit the rules for how Disneyland Resort manages its land.
Yes, the hidden reason that Disneyland Forward exists is…zoning flexibility. How boring is that?
To Disney officials, it’s essential to smoother running parks over the next quarter-century, though.
In a way, DisneylandForward has provided insight into the struggles the Reedy Creek Improvement District may face once it evolves into the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.
Running a theme park grows exponentially more challenging once you lose the benefits of self-governance.
Disney has never had enough autonomy in Anaheim, and it pays the price whenever a City Council election goes wrong.
The same thing could happen at Walt Disney World once a governor’s panel chooses how the zoning laws and other mundane aspects of park maintenance work.
DisneylandForward isn’t just about Disneyland’s future. It could hint at Walt Disney World’s as well.
All we wanted was a third theme park at Disneyland, but we’re stuck with this bureaucratic nonsense instead.
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Feature Photo: Travel and Leisure