Disneyland just hit a major milestone on their resort expansion project that will eventually unlock the addition of a major new land and rides to the resort. This is the first domino that will allow for lots of resort changes. This first change will also completely change the arrival experience for many guests.
We have a look at the celebration Disney held today as the work kicks off for this new expansion. We have all the details on the work that is being completed and the other recent major new ride news. Mickey Visit brings you the latest Disney news, including the new Monsters Inc restaurant and new NFL Disney character teams.
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Disneyland Holds Construction Groundbreaking Today
Disneyland just shared images from a construction groundbreaking of the addition that will be the most impactful at the resort. They have now officially broken ground on the new Eastern Gateway parking and arrival expansion. We already shared details on the construction kicking off and information on demolition that is getting started in the Esplanade.
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This news comes after the recent major Disneyland new ride announcements and updates from Disney’s D23 fan event. That event provided updates on rides themed to the Avengers, Coco, and Avatar. They also shared that they are going to be designing a new version of Tomorrowland. The new parking structure that is moving forward with construction will unlock the space for the Avatar addition.
At the event today, there were many important stakeholders who will make this project happen in attendance. Disneyland Resort President Jill Estorino gathered alongside Walt Disney Imagineers including Executive Architect Jonathan Peters, Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken, Anaheim City Council Members and leaders from McCarthy Building Companies, Granite Construction and The Los Angeles/Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades Council to mark this important milestone.
A Disneyland official shared in a statement with Mickey Visit that “this groundbreaking marks a major step forward for the resort and surrounding area as we work towards adding this parking structure and transportation hub on the east side of Disneyland Resort. This new area will provide more than 6,000 parking spaces, shuttle and ride share areas and dedicated access for traffic off of Disney Way, improving parking and traffic flow throughout the resort area.”
The new parking structure will include 6,000 parking spaces, security screening, and rideshare areas. This will completely transform the entrance area from the Harbor Boulevard side of Disneyland. The parking structure will be 3,257,394 square feet with 8 levels. There will be a bridge from the parking structure over Harbor Boulevard to connect to the eastern entrance of Disneyland. The bridge will lead over the former site of the Carousel Inn and connect into the Esplanade.
In the image above also note the specific Disneyland logo which will eventually go on the bridge over Harbor Boulevard as seen in the concept artwork above.
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You can see the previously released concept artwork for the new bridge and entrance into Disneyland above. We also pulled older versions of previous iterations of concept artwork in this article.
We also received a quote from the President of Disneyland about the expansion.
“Today’s groundbreaking marks an exciting milestone for Disneyland Resort and the City of Anaheim,” said Disneyland Resort President Jill Estorino. “This new parking structure and transportation hub will transform how guests arrive, creating a more seamless experience from the start of their day, while improving traffic flow throughout the resort area. We’re proud to continue investing in Anaheim, supporting local jobs and working alongside valued community and construction partners to bring this vision to life.”
Here’s a closer look at the kick off of construction at the hotel from our friends at the Element by Marriott hotel which is just across the street from the new parking structure on the backside. This is one of our favorite hotels near Disneyland.
You can see that the parking lot has been completely cleared for work to begin. This happened in the past two weeks ahead of the groundbreaking today.
Once the construction on the new structure is complete it will unlock the space that is currently the eastern bus loop for hotel shuttles and the shuttles from the Toy Story parking lot. This space is then slated to become the new Avatar land coming to the park.
Disney shared directly with us at Mickey Visit that this project has been deprioritized for Imagineers to focus on building Tomorrowland. We have heard consistently that the Avatar addition is still happening, though in my opinion the likelihood of any project getting cancelled increases the further out that you push a project.
Regardless of whether Avatar eventually happens in that spot, the work of establishing the Eastern Gateway will eventually unlock this space for expansion of Disney California Adventure and could even be the connecting piece for Disneyland to build a third theme park.
We will continue to bring you the latest updates on this project with construction updates and information on timeline as we get it.
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