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.
Photo: Disney Parks
What’s the latest on DisneylandForward? Here’s what we know.
About Disney’s Recent Anaheim Struggles
Photo: Disneyland
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.
Image: Disney
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.
Photo: OC Register
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.
Photo: LA Times
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.
Photo: skillastics.com
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.
Photo: Disney
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.
Photo: Anaheim.net
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.
Photo: Jeff Antenore / for Voice of OC)
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
Photo: WHO
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.
Photo: CNtraveler.com
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.
Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
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.
(Photo by Kimberly White/Getty Images for Vanity Fair)
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.
Photo: Disney
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.
Photo: Shutterstock
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.
Photo: D23
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.”
Photo: Christian Thompson/Disneyland Resort
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
Photo: Disneylandforward
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.
Photo: Playbuzz.com
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.
Photo: Disneyland
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.
Photo: (Disney)
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?”
Photo: Disney
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.
Photo: Daily Hive
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
Photo: Disneyland
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.
Photo: Pexel.com
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.
Photo: History
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.
Photo: D23
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?
Photo: Disney
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.
Photo: Fox Business
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.
Photo: The Business Journal
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
