Disneyland Resort is undergoing long-term expansion projects inside both theme parks and outside of their gates. New rides based on Coco, Marvel, and Avatar are coming, and Tomorrowland is being overhauled. Disney is also focusing on infrastructure and transportation, including a large-scale parking project tied to the Avatar expansion that affects nearly every aspect of how guests arrive at Disneyland from one side of the property.
As this expansion begins in earnest, we’re beginning to see short-term operational changes impacting guests at security and in arrivals areas to accommodate the initial steps of construction. Mickey Visit brings you the latest Disney news and planning resources, including businesses near Disneyland offering cheaper parking than Disney’s rate and why it might be overdue for Disneyland to change this ride.
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Disneyland Expansions Prompt Immediate Changes
Disneyland Resort’s expansion efforts over the next several years affect Disneyland Park, Disney California Adventure, Downtown Disney, and the arrival experience for many guests.
A few projects have been under construction for over a year now. A huge building housing two new Avengers Campus rides, Avengers Infinity Defense and Stark Flight Lab, has risen from behind construction walls at Disney California Adventure. On the other side of the park, dirt is moving at the future site of a Coco boat ride.
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Next door at Disneyland Park, Imagineers plan to reimagine Tomorrowland, but construction hasn’t started yet. Following the completion of that project will be the opening of a new Avatar land at Disney California Adventure.
Work hasn’t physically begun at Disney California Adventure itself to prepare for Avatar, but necessary construction elsewhere to prepare for Avatar’s arrival recently broke ground. The location of the Avatar attractions will displace what are currently Disney California Adventure’s Monsters, Inc. ride and the adjacent transportation hub just outside of the park’s current borders. The transportation hub serves as a pick-up and drop-off area for buses servicing nearby parking lots and hotels, as well as rideshare businesses.
To accommodate the transportation hub displacement, a new complex called the Eastern Gateway is under construction. Located east of the parks, the Eastern Gateway will include an 8-story parking garage, a transportation drop-off/pick-up area, a security checkpoint, and a bridge going over Harbor Boulevard to connect the Eastern Gateway to the Disneyland Esplanade, the plaza between the entrances to Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure.
Here’s the view of the latest construction view from our friends at the Element by Marriott. You can see that they have made big progress on the lot by demolishing a big building and getting the area to dirt.
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This brings us to several short-term changes that have immediately taken effect around Disneyland Resort’s existing transportation hub and east entrance, as well as a few other changes soon to come.
Construction is now active in the eastern portion of the Esplanade. 4 ticket booths in this area are being demolished. The nearby security checkpoint will temporarily move to where these ticket booths were formerly located.
This small change comes ahead of material changes planned for security and arrivals that the new Disneyland president shared with us in an exclusive Mickey Visit interview. The new president, Jill Estorino, shared “It’s good, not great right now. And it’s going to be great and best in class when we’re finished. And the reason I am excited about it is, I believe your first touch point is the most important touch point of the experience, and that is the first touch point. And it’s going to be amazing, even the parking garage experience is going to be amazing. Not only in efficiency, but in its beauty and a way that we greet the guest. ”
Here are the other active changes happening right now as part of the arrivals at Disneyland.
Accessibility Services is now located at Ticket Booth 6, on the west side of the Esplanade.
At the transportation hub, the pick-up and drop-off bus stop for the Toy Story parking lot will move soon. It will be located farther north, closer to Harbor Boulevard. Disney has not specified a timeline for this switch.
As construction ramps up in the coming months and years, construction walls will form temporary pathways for guests to navigate through the Esplanade.
Disney has formally confirmed all of the above changes. A permit filed with the City of Anaheim reveals another change in the relocation of a Harbor Boulevard rideshare area farther south, making for a slightly longer walk to the front gates.
On the opposite side of Disneyland Resort, Downtown Disney’s rideshare area was refreshed, and a new drop-off/pick-up area recently opened. Disneyland officials shared an update on rideshare plans with Mickey Visit that you can read in that article.
We will be monitoring the progress of this ongoing work as construction continues.
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