DisneylandForward Reveals a Huge Surprise
Ordinarily, MickeyBlog wouldn’t expect you to care about the plans for a parking lot.
Today is different, though. The Toy Story Parking Lot at Disneyland Resort has turned into a weird inflection point.


Photo: Disney
That’s because DisneylandForward just revealed a huge surprise with its updated paperwork.
Disney is hinting at a transformational change coming to the world’s oldest theme park. Here’s what we just learned.
The Proverbial Third Gate


Photo: Disneylandforward
An alert X (aka Twitter) user noticed that Disney has updated the paperwork for its DisneylandForward project.
Huge news for Disneyland Forward- all of the documentation has been updated today, including a new environmental report! This shows a more specific outline regarding what they plan to do with the allotted land. @FrshBakedDisney @ScottGustin pic.twitter.com/Lbb3VCMLBv
— Mouskegamer (@Mouskegamer) September 14, 2023
As is often the case with bureaucracy, the devil’s in the details here, but the possibility exists that this is one of the most impactful updates in Disney history.
You can read the filings in their entirety on the City of Anaheim’s Documents and Projects Alternatives pages.


Image Credit: Disney
Here’s the image that matters:


Image: City of Anaheim
I’ll spare you the heavy reading here and hit the highlight.
According to this filing, “Disney could develop up to 840,000 square feet of previously approved theme park uses within the Theme Park East Overlay.”


San Fransokyo Square at Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim, Calif., features sights, shopping and splendid cuisine inspired by Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Academy Award®-winning “Big Hero 6.” This reimagined area at Disneyland Resort transports guests to the not-too-distant future, in a fictional mash-up of two iconic cities – San Francisco and Tokyo. (Richard Harbaugh/Disneyland Resort)
That’s Disney promising to Anaheim officials that it’ll build more and thereby create more revenue- and tax-generating possibilities at Disneyland Resort.
That’s only the second-biggest takeaway, though. It’s the first part that should have Disney fans screaming with joy.
Disney Proposes a Third Theme Park at Disneyland
“The Project would create a Theme Park East Overlay within the ARSP for the existing Toy Story Parking Lot and a Theme Park West Overlay within the ARSP for the existing Paradise Pier Hotel.”
Friends, that’s Disney laying out the possibility of a third theme park at Disneyland by creating space.
They’re putting this idea in writing for Anaheim city officials.
In the filing, Disney lists alternatives to reconfigure the parking and ensure an appropriate number of spaces for three full theme parks.
Effectively, Disneyland would perform a transformation of the current Toy Story Parking Lot into a mixed-use space near the Anaheim Convention Center.


Photo: The Walt Disney Company-
Josh D’Amaro (Chairman; Disney Parks, Experiences and Products)
By using this space as a kind of mini-entertainment locale, park officials could reconfigure the flow of traffic in the area.
In the process, Disney could turn the west side of Disneyland Drive near Katella Avenue into an entirely new theme park.
Even better, that theme park would connect to the existing Mickey and Friends Parking Structure (that’s the actual name of the thing, I swear).
Disney Needs the Votes


Photos: Voice of OC
So, Disney is alerting Anaheim officials that it can build a full theme park in one spot and a connecting hub to the Anaheim Convention Center in the other.
The latter option would attract more tourists to the convention center, an idea that would appeal to politicians.
Meanwhile, the theme park would boost revenue for Disney AND the city of Anaheim.


Photo: LA Times
That’s a clever strategy for enticing the Anaheim City Council to go along with Disney’s proposal.
Obviously, we’re merely talking about updated paperwork and legal filings for now.
Still, this sure looks like the first step in Disneyland adding a third gate.
When Bob Iger recently suggested that Disneyland Resort offered more space than people realized, this is likely what he was referencing!
Folks, if Disney can persuade Anaheim elected officials to go along with the idea, this could really happen!


Photo: MickeyBlog
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