If the city of Anaheim’s dream comes true, Disney won’t
be building a third theme park on the giant strawberry field the company
acquired just for that purpose.
Anaheim wants to connect the fast-growing Platinum Triangle (right) with
the established Disneyland Resort area (left). © City of Anaheim,
California.
Instead, Anaheim has proposed building a road right through the middle
of Disney’s 80+ acre property that would connect the resort area to the
“Platinum Triangle” on the east side of town.
In the resort area, Anaheim has two theme parks, spacious hotels, the
Anaheim Convention Center, Downtown Disney, and the long-planned GardenWalk
outdoor mall.
In the 840-acre Platinum Triangle, it has Angel Stadium, the Arrowhead
Pond, the Grove theater, an Amtrak rail line, and room for a state-of-the-art,
70,000-seat NFL stadium. It’s also the city’s fastest growing area for
new construction. The two districts, however, are separated by three miles
of aging businesses and homes.
Existing connection between the two districts—Katella Avenue—would
be widened and improved with “smart street” technology, while
Gene Autry/Convention Way would be extended as a scenic alternative. ©
City of Anaheim, California.
The thinking is that both areas would profit by people being able to
travel more quickly and easily between them. Instant access to the tourists
that stream to Disneyland could also help the Platinum Triangle land that
elusive NFL franchise.
“The growth of the Platinum Triangle is driving this,” admitted
city spokesman John Nicoletti. “The landscape of the two areas will
be changing over the next 10 years. We would like to successfully transport
people between them.”
The purple portion of the green line cuts through Disney’s property. © City
of Anaheim, California.
So, in May the city unveiled plans to transform Gene Autry Parkway—the
street that runs from the Santa Ana Freeway (Interstate 5) to Angel Stadium—into
a “Grand Parkway.” Once extended, it would take residents and
visitors directly from the front gates of Angel Stadium to the front door
of the Convention Center. The lush roadway, which Anaheim intends to be
“comparable to Champs Elyseé in Paris or Commonweath Avenue
in Boston,” would feature landscaped pedestrian walkways, a center
bike trail, and an eye-catching bridge over the Santa Ana Freeway.
Along the parkway would be mixed-use neighborhoods with smaller streets
branching off to beautiful apartments, condos, shops and parks.
Heavy black line shows potential special transit route with dots for stations.
© City of Anaheim, California.
Some sort of unique public transportation, such as a monorail or trolley,
would run from the Anaheim Pond, alongside the parkway, and then continue
on to Disney’s Mickey & Friends parking structure.
The city has already received zoning approval to extend Gene Autry Way
westward to the Convention Center. The only thing stopping Anaheim is
that, right now at least, it doesn’t own most of the land where it wants
to build the new road.
Disney’s strawberry field 10 years from now, if the city of Anaheim gets
its way. © City of Anaheim, California.
“The signature street,” said Nicoletti, “has been put
forth as a vision of what could happen for the area. So far, there’s been
nothing [no land purchases or construction activity] west of Haster Street.”
Drive west from Haster on this still-imaginary road and you cut right
through the center of the strawberry field Disney spent several decades
and tens of millions of dollars to acquire in hopes of building a third
major theme park. Any chance for that “third gate” would effectively
be killed if the city used eminent domain (a government practice recently
upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court) to seize the middle of the property
and leave Disney with two smaller, separated parcels.
Anaheim is moving aggressively on the project—certainly more quickly
than Disney is on its dusty, old third-gate plans. The city is continuing
to employ eminent domain to displace mobile home residents. More than
half of the 9,100 new residential units approved for the Platinum Triangle
are already in the construction or planning stages.
Yet the city did not consult with Disney in dreaming up the roadway and
still has heard no official comment as to whether the company would be
amenable to the idea. Disney has declined to discuss the matter for this
article.
Although publicly silent, Disney is likely analyzing the proposal from
every conceivable angle. On the plus side, the Disneyland resort area
increases in size and beauty, likely attracts more tourists, and provides
them with a more compelling reason for people to spend additional nights
in town.
On the other hand, Disney’s neighbors gain even more. Upscale hotels,
restaurants and other amusements will be added all the way down the parkway,
meaning even more competition for Disney’s own hotels, restaurants and
attractions.
Most importantly, the project severely limits what Disney can do with
the strawberry field. Then again, for today’s risk-adverse Disney Company,
maybe that’s not such a bad thing. The company has been working unsuccessfully
for five years to get Disney’s California Adventure to stand on its own—a
prerequisite before it can proceed with a third theme park. If Anaheim
“takes away” the middle of strawberry field, Disney can “resign
itself” to building a safer, tamer project—a water park, a themed
hotel, or maybe some Disney Vacation Club timeshare units.
Tree-covered roadways, bike trails and pedestrian walkways, with plenty
of colorful businesses along the way. © City of Anaheim, California.
Quickly Disney begins to recoup part of the cost of the land acquisition
and gets someone else to build the expensive transportation system that
connects Disneyland/DCA to whatever it builds in the strawberry field.
Too bad Disney can’t work with the city to find some middle ground on
the fate of their middle ground. What a powerful advertisement it would
be for, say, a Westcot-type park if the potential guests could zoom right
through the center of it in a themed tunnel or overhead on a monorail.
Universal Update
Budget cuts are changing the face of Universal Studios Hollywood. After
40 years, the theme park is preparing to tear down the tram tour’s popular
Collapsing Bridge. Evidently, the structure has become too expensive to
maintain, and USH has secured permits to demolish it by the end of the
year.
The news comes on the heels of a series of other desperate moves aimed
to shore up dismal revenues:
• An immediate 30-percent budget cutback in all areas of spending.
• Massive firings in the offices “Black Thursday” September
8.
• Closure of the recently introduced Fear Factor Live show (although
it may temporarily reopen as crowds pick up after Thanksgiving). No plans
are even being discussed for a replacement show in the venue.
• The park’s other shows have all drastically reduced their number
of performances, some only playing weekends.
• Next year may see the removal of the last remaining part of the
Western street on the backlot as well as the 13-year-old Backdraft attraction.
USH seems to be learning the same hard lesson as DCA—offer too steep
of discounts for too long, and visitors will never pay full price again.
Now It’s Time To Say GoodbyeFrom: Eisner, Michael Dear All, I’m sitting in my office thinking about how much I have enjoyed I’ve learned so much over all these years from my partnership with In 1984, there was plenty of room in my brain to acquire this much-needed And it was in search of knowledge during those first few weeks I wish to thank all of you for your good spirits, your fantastic This company, which I so love, is poised for a tremendous future, While I leave Disney with less hair than I had when I arrived, By the way, I have since learned that BVD stands for Buena Vista Good luck, and go see “Chicken Little.” Michael |
(Don’t think you’ve seen the last of Eisner on the Disney lot. As his
army of executive assistants were packing up their pencils last Friday,
one was heard to remark that they weren’t leaving—they were relocating
to another office, “to help out the board of directors.” )
