Disneyland Hotel and Beyond!

All the debate between Disney, SunCal, & Anaheim regarding the trailer park on Haster and Katella lately has had me thinking about the best use for the land. Not just that land, but also some of the parking that Disney has around their hotels. I am by no means an expert but that hasn't stopped me from spouting off about anything else.

Disneyland Hotel - Disneyland Resort
Image (C) Larry Pieniazek

When you visit Walt Disney World you have so many hotels choose from it can be difficult to pick just one. Often you will see people switch hotels mid-trip just to experience another of their excellent offerings. Disneyland Resort doesn't offer the same experience.

Disney's Grand Californian Hotel - Disneyland Resort
Image (C) Ellen Levy Finch

Disneyland Resort currently offers three hotels, Disneyland Hotel, Grand Californian, and Paradise Pier. Of these three only the Grand Californian was built from the ground up by Disney and their Imagineers. Disneyland Hotel has a very rich history starting with a friendship between Walt Disney and Jack Wrather and the hotel has evolved over the years taking on more and more of the Disney persona. Paradise Pier was bought by Disney in 1995 from Pan Pacific and they slapped a coat of paint on it, changed the names of the restaurants, and called it good. While both of these hotels are very nice and I enjoy staying at them neither of them has the same feel as the Grand Californian or the richly themed hotels of the Walt Disney World Resort.

(C) Walt Disney Company

I would like to see Disney offer more hotels designed and build by Walt Disney Imagineering. They have demonstrated that they know how to build magnificent hotels at many price levels. In Florida they have everything from the Grand Floridian with a starting room rate around $300 per night to the All Star Resorts with starting rates under $100 per night. You feel like a part of the magic no matter how much you can afford for your vacation.

If they are going to continue the California theme why not build a hotel themed to San Francisco? If they would like more hotels in the area for more tourists couldn't they build a hotel similar in price to the All Star and Pop Century resorts from Walt Disney World? They don't have the room in Anaheim to build the spread out, sprawling resorts that they have in Florida but it should be possible to build a more affordable hotel in one of the parking lots surrounding Paradise Pier Hotel.

Disney's Hollywood Hotel - Hong Kong Disneyland
Image (C) Walt Disney Company

At Hong Kong Disneyland they have Disney's Hollywood Hotel and at Disneyland Resort Paris they have Disney's Hotel New York. If they offered a hotel like one of these or Hotel San Francisco they could convert the Paradise Pier to their value resort. I would prefer to stay in a Disney hotel when I visit Disneyland and having a value hotel would allow me to do that every time instead of just for special occasions like I do now.

Disney vs. SunCal, Part 3

Image © OCRegister.com

As many people have already heard the referendum proposed by Disney, the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce, and Save Our Anaheim Resort (SOAR) has been approved to be put to the voters on June 3rd. This is the California state primary election and will cost the city $250,000. In an earlier post I was upset that Disney was wasting Anaheim's money on the referendum and after doing a lot of thinking I changed my mind.

Now when I look at the fact that the Anaheim City council could have reversed their previous decision, that went against the resort district, and ended this mess once and for all I am disgusted by their actions. Disney is not wasting the city's money. They are. The Disneyland Resort is going to continue to grow. Whether that means a third gate or just increased attendance at Disney's California Adventure, but sooner or later they will need hotels and there will be a perfect piece of property devoted to low-income housing and condos. How affordable would the housing be? Your guess is as good as mine since they won't release any of those numbers. Why can't SunCal find property elsewhere to develop? I believe that this was the whole purpose of the Platinum Triangle project.


On another interesting note...Anaheim City Councilwoman Lorri Galloway held a meeting to attempt to reach a compromise and then repeal her previous vote. Her request to Disney was to lead a fund-raising drive to contribute $25 million to low-income housing over the next five years (extortion). She also wanted Disney to negotiate with three developers to remove their properties from the Resort District so they could build housing (This is what Disney was trying to avoid). Her only request for SunCal was fewer homes on the property (more campaign contributions). All in all this sounds like a very good compromise. I can't see why Disney didn't jump all over the offer (Can anyone tell me how to express extreme sarcasm in writing?).

The Anaheim City council has the chance to right their wrongs and instead chose to drag out the process and keep bowing to SunCal who will be in and out of the city in the amount of time that it takes to complete the project. Why can't they show Disney, who has been and will be in Anaheim for the long haul, some loyalty? So this will be out of the news and the casual observers minds for the next several months but Disney and SOAR will be hard at work convincing the people of Anaheim that this will be in their best interest.

Disney vs. SunCal, Take II

I have previously posted about the ongoing debate between Disney and SunCal. I have always been a supporter of property owners rights. I will always have a problem being told what I can or can't build on something I own. At the same time I can see the reasons for zoning laws and I can understand why Disney is upset. After a little more research I think it is time for me to flip-flop. Thank god I'm not running for president.

When Anaheim created the Resort District they made a deal. They are now backing out of the deal most likely for campaign contributions. Disney isn't the only company upset by this. They are just the biggest and most vocal. The Anaheim Chamber of Commerce is also supporting the Save Our Anaheim Resort (SOAR) campaign. So many business owners in Anaheim are against this development being built in Anaheim.

The fact that SOAR was able to collect so many signatures should prove that most of the citizens of Anaheim are against the project. Maybe the city council should wake up and respect the wishes of the people who elected them.

Disney has been cast as a villain for seemingly wanting to squash low income housing. Has anybody heard SunCal's definition of low income? If the condo units they are building sell for $800,000 to $1,000,000, I don't know if these numbers are realistic or not, what would they be able to call low income? A unit for half price would be $400,000 to $500,000. Do you think your average Disney cast member could afford that? I can't afford that and I know that I make more than the average cast member.

If SunCal would put in writing their definition of low income housing and it truly was an amount that cast members and others working in the resort district could afford I might be flip-flopping again. Until they prove that people that live and work in Anaheim could afford the housing I think they should back off throwing around the words low and income.

I have seen numbers thrown around stating that Anaheim won't need more hotel rooms until 2020 or somewhere around there. At the same time I keep hearing that Disney's Anaheim hotels are running somewhere in the 90% to 95% occupancy range. So while hotel rooms in general may not have immediate need for expansion Disney could build more hotels. If they build a value resort similar to the All-Stars or Pop Century in Walt Disney World I would guess that they would fill many, many more rooms on a nightly basis.

Disney does not own the land that is being proposed for the SunCal project so they won't be building any hotels on it right away. If they are serious about opening a third park in Anaheim I think they should purchase the land and when they start building the third park build a hotel right across the street. I don't know if this is an option for Disney but it would stop the headlines and, as much as I hate to say this, the trailer park could stay until they get serious about the third park and a new hotel.

I do think that SunCal could be more open in this, but I also think that Disney may be headed down a slippery slope if/when the council sends their measure to a ballot. There is also a proposal to have all zoning decisions put before a public vote. I know that I am not educated enough to make zoning decisions so I would say that most of the general public isn't either. Maybe it won't matter. Most decisions in politics are swayed by the person with the most money so now instead of giving the money to politicians the money can be given to ad agencies and TV stations to sway the general public. I would prefer that Disney control the zoning of Disney parks though so I hope this other measure does not come to be.

Disney vs. SunCal & Anaheim

For anybody that follows Disney that isn't familiar with this issue. SunCal is proposing building condos on a site that is currently occupied by trailer homes. The property is across the street from property that is owned by Disney and rumored to be the future home of a third theme park for the Disneyland Resort. Disney is opposed to this new construction because they would like to see the space reserved for a hotel in the future. The condominium development would have 1275 units and 225 low cost apartments.

The Anaheim City Council voted in favor of the condominium project. Disney and the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce are backing a group called Save Our Anaheim Resort Area. Save Our Anaheim Resort Area collected enough signatures to force a vote by the city to see if they would prefer the condo's or whatever Disney would prefer done with the project.

I think that Disney is wasting time and money, both theirs and the city's. I have seen estimates that if they hold a special election it could cost the city $500,000. Unless they have firm plans for a third gate and they know that they are going to draw additional tourists to the area they should leave the SunCal Project alone. Anaheim does not need additional hotel space right now. The Cast Members that do not get paid as much as a Costco employee could use some lower income apartments in the area. I think that Anaheim should do whatever they can to improve their city. The resort area looks very nice. Once you stray away a little it can go downhill fast. I also do not think that a corporation should have this much influence on the local government.

Tonight Anaheim decides how to handle the Disney referendum and I hope that they can just reach a compromise and save the taxpayers some money. If you wonder why I care about the tax dollars in Anaheim it is simple. I spend a lot of money down there year after year. I stay in hotels, eat in their restaurants, and spend more than I should at Disneyland. I pay taxes there. I just don't get to vote.

It may not look like it from this entry but I love Disney. I am not so blind as to think they are infallible though.

Here are a couple links to recent articles on this story.
ABC7.com - 7/31/07
LATimes.com - 7/31/07

Update 8/1
The City Council has delayed the vote on the initiative for another three weeks. 30 minutes before this was supposed to come to a vote SunCal asked for the extension so they could continue their talks with Disney.

Will the Disney Company please stop the madness. It is time for this to end. The condos and apartments are for the good of the city right now.

Here is the link to the update in the LA Times