Disneyland Resort
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- This article is about the Disneyland Resort in California. For other Disney parks and attractions, see Disney parks and attractions.
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The Disneyland Resort is a recreational resort complex in Anaheim, California. The resort is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks and Resorts division and is home to two theme parks, three hotels and a shopping, dining and entertainment area.
Known simply as Disneyland at the time it opened in 1955, the property originally consisted of the theme park built by Walt Disney, its 100-acre parking lot, as well as a hotel owned and operated by Disney's business partner Jack Wrather. Amid a drastic expansion project in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the name Disneyland Resort was coined to refer to the entire Disney complex, while Disneyland Park was coined to refer to the original theme park.
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[edit] History and development
[edit] Disneyland: One park 1955-1998
- See also: Disneyland Park (Anaheim) History
Originally intending to build Disneyland adjacent to the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, Walt and Roy Disney quickly realized that the Burbank location would be too small for the project. The brothers hired a consultant from Stanford Research Institute to provide them with information on locations and economic feasibility. The consultant recommended a remote location near Anaheim, adjacent to the then-under-construction Santa Ana Freeway. Covered by Orange County's namesake orange groves at the time, the consultant correctly predicted that the location would become the population center of Southern California.
Since the location was remote in the 1950s, Walt Disney wanted to build a hotel for Disneyland guests traveling long distances to stay the night. However, the park had already depleted Disney's financial resources, so a deal was negotiated with Hollywood producer Jack Wrather in which Wrather would build and operate a hotel called the Disneyland Hotel across the street from Disneyland.
Though its opening day was disastrous and would later be dubbed "Black Sunday", Disneyland became a huge success in its first year of operation. The hotel, which opened 3 months after the park, enjoyed similar success. This early success led to the construction of businesses and residences in the area surrounding the park and hotel. Eventually, Disneyland was "boxed in", which hindered Walt Disney's ability to expand on his project and would later lead Disney to acquire a significantly larger parcel of land for the construction of Walt Disney World[1]. In later years, Disney gradually acquired the land west of the park, most notably the Disneyland Hotel in 1989 following Jack Wrather's death in 1984, the Pan Pacific Hotel (now Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel) in 1995, and several parcels north of the Disneyland Hotel in the mid to late 1990s.
[edit] Park becomes resort
After Walt's and Roy's deaths in 1966 and 1971, respectively, the Disney company would go on to achieve great success with the multi-park, multi-hotel resort complex business model of Walt Disney World in Florida, which opened in 1971, while continuing to achieve success with the one park, one hotel business model at Disneyland. In the 1990s, however, the sights were set on turning Walt's original park into a multi-park, multi-hotel resort destination as well. Publicly known ideas for expansion in California that were never realized included:
- In 1991, Disney attempted to garner public support for a project called Port Disney, to be built in nearby Long Beach. The proposed property would have featured a theme park, five hotels, a marina, a shopping and entertainment district, and a cruise ship port. The idea was eventually scrapped due to cost concerns.
- Also in 1991, Disney announced plans to build WestCOT, a theme park similar to Epcot in Florida, on the site of the original parking lot. WestCOT would be scrapped in 1995 amid similar cost concerns as well as environmental concerns.
- In 1997, Disney was given the opportunity to purchase Knott's Berry Farm, a competing theme park in nearby Buena Park, as part of the Knott family's sale of its theme park and specialty food business. Had the sale been completed, Knott's would have been converted into Disney's America, a project originally proposed for construction in Haymarket, Virginia in 1993 but scrapped the next year due to protests from the general public. The Knott family, however, refused to sell to Disney out of fear that Disney would eliminate much of what Walter Knott had built, and opted to sell the theme park to Cedar Fair instead. Ironically, Cedar Fair eliminated more than what Disney had planned.
The cancellation of the WestCOT project ultimately led to the idea for a California-based theme park to be built on the same site proposed for WestCOT, which would ultimately become Disney's California Adventure.
Construction began in 1998 and the majority of the Disney property outside of the original park was a construction site until 2001; the interior of Disneyland Park remained largely untouched during this time. Temporary surface parking lots were set up across West Street with tram service to the main entrance to offset the loss of the 100-acre parking lot. Parking lots were also set up on smaller parcels of land Disney had acquired east and southeast of the park, primarily used for employee parking as well as guest overflow parking.
Several Disneyland landmarks were demolished during this time, most notably the marquee on Harbor Boulevard, as well as all of the Disneyland Hotel's original buildings from 1955. The remaining Disneyland Hotel facilities were extensively renovated to replace some of the amenities that were demolished.
Aside from Disney's California Adventure, new construction on the former parking lot included Disney's Grand Californian Hotel and Downtown Disney. A section of the southeast corner of the original parking lot remains in use as a parking area and is a future growth space for California Adventure; since the park's opening, it has had 3 small expansions into this growth space, and a much larger expansion slated to begin construction in summer 2008.
Across the street from Disneyland Park and the construction site of Disney's California Adventure, the six-story Mickey & Friends Parking Structure was built on newly acquired land north of the Disneyland Hotel as the replacement main parking area for the theme parks. The Disneyland Hotel was downsized to accommodate the construction of Downtown Disney and surface parking lots. The Disneyland Pacific Hotel was renovated and re-themed to the area of Disney's California Adventure the hotel tower overlooks, and re-named Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel. Streets were regraded, renamed, re-routed, or outright eliminated, and the traffic pattern to access Disneyland and the Disneyland Hotel by vehicle, widely known among locals and frequent visitors for over 40 years, was altered. Most notably, West Street was regraded, re-routed near its intersection with Ball Road, and renamed Disneyland Drive between Katella Avenue and Interstate 5.
The construction on the Disney property was accompanied by the city of Anaheim's renovation of the area surrounding Disneyland - dubbed the Anaheim Resort - as well as the re-configuring of freeway onramps and offramps as part of a larger expansion project on Interstate 5 between State Route 91 and the Orange Crush interchange.
Most construction was completed by early 2001, in time for the opening of Disney's California Adventure on February 8. The park was initially received with much criticism and lackluster attendance (see also: Disney's California Adventure Park#Initial lack of success and criticisms). Disney responded with several attempts to boost attendance in the short-term, including bringing the venerable Main Street Electrical Parade to the park, as well as offering discounted admission and other promotions aimed at boosting attendance.
[edit] Disneyland Resort 2001-present
Much of California Adventure's early years were spent attempting to boost attendance at the park. In addition to the short-term fixes, long-term expansions to address the park's early criticisms have included the addition of a bug's land and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, as well as the replacement of some of the park's early attractions.
After Disney's California Adventure's opening, new attractions began appearing at Disneyland Park as well, most notably The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, both imported from the Magic Kingdom, a substantial renovation of the nearly 30-year-old (at the time) Space Mountain, and the return of the venerable Submarine Voyage as the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage.
The Resort celebrated the 50th anniversary of Disneyland Park from 2005-2006 in an 18-month celebration known as the Happiest Homecoming on Earth. This was part of the larger Happiest Celebration on Earth observed at all Disney theme parks. The Year of a Million Dreams promotion was the successor to the Happiest Homecoming on Earth and Happiest Celebration on Earth, and has run from 2006-present.
[edit] Present expansion
In 2007, Disney announced a US$1.1 billion expansion project for Disney's California Adventure, including construction of a new land based on the Disney-Pixar film Cars, substantially retheming existing areas, and new attractions in existing areas. The project is scheduled to begin construction in phases, starting in 2008, and will be completed in phases from 2011-2012. Disney's Grand Californian Hotel is currently undergoing an expansion to add Disney Vacation Club suites, while the Disneyland Hotel is slated for an extensive renovation beginning in the summer of 2008.
There has been widespread speculation since the construction of Disney's California Adventure started that Disney would build a third park in Anaheim, most likely a water park. Sites for the rumored park have varied from the current Pinocchio oversized vehicle parking area to a parcel of land located southeast of the resort property. However, Disney CEO Robert Iger stated in 2007 that the company's focus is to fix its second park before moving on to a third park.
[edit] Location
The Disneyland Resort is located several miles south of downtown Anaheim, near the border of neighboring Garden Grove.
The resort is generally bounded by Harbor Boulevard to the east, Katella Avenue to the south, Walnut Street to the west and Ball Road to the north. Interstate 5 borders the resort at an angle on the northeastern corner. Not all land bordered by these streets is part of the Disneyland Resort, particularly near the intersection of Harbor Boulevard and Katella Avenue, and along Ball Road between Disneyland Drive and Walnut Street. Disneyland Drive cuts through the resort on a north-south route and provides access to the Mickey & Friends Parking Structure, Downtown Disney, and the three hotels. Magic Way connects Walnut Street to Disneyland Drive just south of the Mickey & Friends Parking Structure and provides access to the parking structure, Disneyland Hotel, and Downtown Disney.
Special offramps from Interstate 5 combined with a reversible flyover over the intersection of Ball Road and Disneyland Drive permit easy access into and out of the Mickey & Friends parking garage during peak morning and evening traffic times. The official address of the resort is 1313 South Harbor Boulevard.
[edit] Properties
The Disneyland Resort's main properties include:
- Disneyland Park, the original theme park built by Walt Disney, which opened on July 17, 1955.
- Disney's California Adventure, a theme park that celebrates the history and culture of the Golden State, which opened on February 8, 2001.
- Disneyland Hotel, the original hotel built by Jack Wrather which opened in October 1955 and was acquired by Disney in 1988.
- Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, based on the craftsman style of architecture of the early 1900s.
- Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel, a hotel themed after the section of Disney's California Adventure it overlooks.
- Downtown Disney, an outdoor retail, dining and entertainment district located between the entrance promenade of the Disneyland Resort theme parks and the Disneyland Hotel.
Major administration and service properties (other than those integrated into park/hotel facilities) include:
- Team Disney Anaheim, the administration building for the Resort that also houses its employment office.
- Disneyland Resort Center, an ancillary administration building primarily serving the Hotels of the Disneyland Resort and Disney Fairy Tale Weddings.
- Mickey & Friends Parking Structure, the primary parking area for guests of Disneyland Park and Disney's California Adventure.
[edit] Transportation
[edit] On-site
Unlike the Walt Disney World Resort, all properties at the Disneyland Resort are located within walking distance from each other; therefore, there is very little vehicular transportation between properties.
The Disneyland Monorail System transports guests between the Tomorrowland station, inside Disneyland Park, and the Downtown Disney station (formerly known as the Disneyland Hotel station). Admission to Disneyland Park must be purchased to ride the Monorail.
Parking lot trams provide free transportation from esplanades located to the west and east of the theme parks' main entrance to the Mickey & Friends Parking Structure, and to the Lion King lot and Anaheim Convention Center crosswalk, respectively.
[edit] Off-site
Shuttles to off-site hotels and overflow parking areas pick up and drop off at the esplanade east of the theme parks' main entrance, as well as the esplanade near Downtown Disney and the Disneyland Hotel. Taxis can also be found in these areas.
Public transportation is available from the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) and Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) along the east end of the property, along Harbor Boulevard. OCTA also provides service along the north and south ends of the property, along Ball Road and Katella Avenue, respectively.
[edit] Attendance
The May 2008 issue of trade magazine Park World reported the following attendance estimates for 2007 compiled by Economic Research Associates in partnership with TEA (formerly the Themed Entertainment Association):
- Disneyland, 14.87 million visits (No. 2 worldwide)
- Disney's California Adventure, 5.68 million visits (No. 13)
[edit] Employment
According to OC Almanac, Disneyland Resort is the largest employer in Orange County, with a workforce of over 21,000 hourly and salaried employees based at the resort.
[edit] Leadership
The current president of Disneyland Resort is Ed Grier, formerly of Tokyo Disney Resort. He reports to Al Weiss, President of Worldwide Operations for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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