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Defending the Kingdom

While the plans for a good, old-fashioned Preview Center in DCA has WDI excited, the executives in the Team Disney Anaheim (TDA) building out back are just a bit more cautious about publicly admitting the huge level of investment they have planned for Anaheim. And that gets to the other big story of the summer, the fight with three members of the Anaheim City Council over high-density housing going in to the Anaheim Resort District zoned only for tourism and hospitality uses.

This political issue is a sensitive one for Disney, as the initial buzz the opposition successfully got out was that "Disney is opposed to affordable housing." While the tide seems to have turned on that in the court of public opinion, and most observers are confident the local voters will side with Disney on this sticky subject, TDA simply can't take anything for granted until the votes are all counted on election night next year.

One of the talking points the housing developer has used repeatedly in the debate is that Disney never lived up to their promise of a successful second gate and the resulting infusion of capital in the surrounding area. That one makes TDA executives bristle the most, and understandably so with all the money that has flooded into the Resort area in the last three years on the backs of the 20,000 hard working Cast Members who made the 50th anniversary so successful.

In the meantime, TDA has in its arsenal a list of projects and ideas that would push Disney investment beyond the current edge of Resort property. Of course there's the third theme park planned for the strawberry fields south of Katella, but that's a topic for sometime next decade.

GardenWalk Talk

Shorter term, there's that fancy new GardenWalk mall that is finally nearing completion right between Disneyland and the property the housing developer wants to turn into 1,500 condominiums. Now why would Disney care so much about a new mall? Because out of the four new Disney owned hotels currently planned for Anaheim, two of them may be included in that mall.

GardenWalk will open its first section of trendy restaurants off Katella this November, with the rest of the 75 stores and businesses opening at a gala premiere next May. Up to 400 timeshare units are scheduled to be approved by the city council in September, to be built on the western edge of the new mall. But over on the eastern edge of the mall is space for three hotels to be built with up to 900 rooms. No hotel company has announced plans to build in GardenWalk however, and yet the mall is filling up fast with upscale tenants and fancy restaurants.

No room for condos here!

The current plan that Disney's hotel development arm is pursuing is to build two separate hotels at GardenWalk, in a first of its kind arrangement for Disney. Both of these hotels would not be large by Disney standards, one at 300 or 400 rooms, and another at less than 300 rooms. But they would be groundbreaking in their design and execution.

The bigger of the two hotels would be a stylish but moderately priced "family hotel," with suites designed for multi-generational families traveling together. Rooms themed to Disney or Pixar characters would be on tap for families with kids crazy for Buzz Lightyear or Cinderella, or parents fond of Pirates of the Caribbean or the classic 1950's Mickey and Donald. The second, smaller hotel would be more expensive and much more hip, with a boutique vibe similar to a big city W Hotel. It wouldn't abandon the Disney brand though, with visitors finding stylish artwork and references to upscale Disney history and fun Disneyland kitsch.

Both of these hotels are planned to plug right into the GardenWalk mall. The mall developers have pulled together a fashionable tenant mix of shops like Banana Republic, Abercrombie & Fitch, and trendy Swedish department store H&M. The mall will also have an impressive collection of restaurants like Cheesecake Factory, McCormick & Scmicks, and Roy's. A sprawling and fancy day spa, a 24 Hour Fitness center, and a movie theater showing new releases and old classics will also fill up the center.

Simply malling.

The family hotel is currently planned to be sited on the southern end of the mall near most of the restaurants. The more expensive boutique hotel would likely be slotted in on the northern end of the mall near the trendy Heat Ultra Lounge and Bar Louie nightclubs and the swanky new "300" upscale bowling alley/nightclub that will open in 2008.

Inn soon.
Hotel #1 site. Photo: David "Darkbeer" Michael

Where these hotels differ with their theme park counterparts around the world is that they won't be on Disney property, and they won't necessarily be owned by Disney. Disney is going into this proposal with outside financiers who would own the hotels themselves. Disney would provide licensed use of their name and characters, along with the Disney Cast Members to staff and operate the properties.

To the average visitor the experience would be seamless, and they would have no idea that these weren't hotels 100% owned by Disney. They might be a few blocks off property, but for all intents and purposes these hotels would be just as "Disney" as the Disneyland Hotel is. But the financial deals that got the places built would be different, and it's a model Burbank plans on following when they start building similar properties in other cities around the world much farther from the theme parks.

While these two Disney hotels at GardenWalk haven't been formally blessed yet, the proposals are in the advanced stages and could theoretically be announced soon. But the political drama playing out in the Anaheim City Council chambers gives pause to executives in Burbank and Anaheim, and there is debate on when and where is the right time to announce them when they do get the final green light. Similarly, when the final timeline and phase one projects get the greenlight for DCA later this year, there may be a delay in announcing what exactly TDA has up its sleeve.

I see Pixar...
Photo: Fishbulb

Of course, when bulldozers move in to the rest of Paradise Pier in a few months it will be difficult to pretend they aren't doing something big. But right now TDA is keeping all of their cards very close to their vest as they continue to lay out a winning strategy against the housing developer and a few city council members pitted against them.

One plan being considered however is to come out with guns blazing and lay all of the big budget plans for Anaheim out on the table to impress the voters, just to prove Disney is very serious about investing heavily in the Anaheim Resort District. And you can bet there will be a long line of Annual Passholders waiting to get into that DCA Preview Center when that happens.


Mr. Rasulo, tear this tower down!

Aside from those two potential construction zones, there's also work moving ahead in other areas of the Resort. The Disneyland Hotel is about to undergo a massive refurbishment to its aging towers that will take several years to complete. After the recent success of the specially themed extra-cost suites, more will be on the way once the Disneyland Hotel is finished with its refurbishment. Each tower will basically be stripped down to the skeleton and rebuilt from the inside out one by one. The grounds, restaurants, shops and amenities will also all be gutted and rebuilt at the same time.

DVSee.
Photo: Fishbulb

Already work has begun on the first DVC units for Anaheim in a new wing attached to the Grand Californian. These two big hotel projects have required a dedicated team of Imagineers to be assigned to the project, and they've just been set up in construction trailers in an adjacent parking lot.

The Long Long Trailer.
Photo: Fishbulb

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© 2007 Al Lutz

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