In 1990 the chief executive officer of the Walt Disney at the time, Michael Eisner, declared that the next ten years would be the “Disney Decade.” He had big plans to expand the presence of Disney theme parks around the world. One of his biggest priorities was turning what was then just Disneyland into a full resort. His first attempt to create a resort, with an east coast version of EPCOT named WESTCOT and an Anaheim Commercial Recreation Area, failed. He eventually succeeded in making a second park in California in 2001 with California Adventure. Along with California Adventure, Disney added hotels, Downtown Disney and more to turn the location into the full Disneyland Resort. Here is a look at the starts and stops that eventually resulted in a full Disney resort in California.
1. The Jack Wrather, Jr. Problem
One of the biggest things that prevented Disney from building a true resort was a deal Walt Disney himself made years ago to fund Disneyland. Even though Walt went to crazy measures to amass cash, by the time Disneyland was constructed he had no more money left to build a hotel. In 1954 he turned to his old friend Jack Wrather, Jr., an oil and tycoon who built up a relationship with Disney through producing The Lone Ranger and the TV show Lassie. Because Wrather was at first uninterested in building a hotel, a desperate Walt made him an offer he couldn’t turn down: the exclusive use of the Disney name for hotels for the next 99 years. Wrather accepted and the Disneyland Hotel debuted alongside Disneyland in 1955.
Though the deal was necessary at the time, future Disney executives had to go to a lot of trouble to regain the rights to build hotels in California. Jack Wrather refused to part with them; only his death in 1984 made recapturing the rights an option. The Walt Disney Company ultimately paid $161 million and was stuck with another $89 million in debt to buy the Wrather Corporation in full. With that purchase, though, Disney now owned, among other assets, the Disneyland Hotel and the rights to make new Disney properties in California outright.
2. The Original Disneyland Resort Plans
The Disneyland Resort we have today is very different from the initial ideas for it. At the time, WESTCOT was going to be the second Disney theme park in California. Much more than that, though, Disney had the intentions to build the Anaheim Commercial Recreation Area, a district including the 550-acre Disneyland Resort that would be a multiple-day destination much like Walt Disney World in Florida. There was a huge $3 billion budget, and the plans for the spot were extensive. Some of the most interesting aspects of the proposed resort included:
- WESTCOT Center, a theme park similar to EPCOT in Orlando. The icon would have been a 300-foot gold sphere, as opposed to the 180-foot EPCOT Spaceship Earth.
- A World Showcase featuring entire regions of the world. They would have been the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa.
- The Disneyland Bowl, a 5,000-seat amphitheater
- The Disneyland Plaza, which would have been a way to connect to a then high tech transportation system
- The Disneyland Center connecting the Disneyland Plaza and Resort Hotel District. This concept would find new life and lead to the formation of Downtown Disney.
3. The Downfall of the Anaheim Commercial Recreation Area
Image: Disney
Disney released its Master Plan on May 8th, 1991, feeling confident that the Anaheim Commercial Recreation Area and WESTCOT would come to pass. But what got in the way of progress was neighborhood groups and small businesses opposed to an expansion in the City of Anaheim. Among the reasons they were opposed was that Disney was asking for about $880 million from the city for land consolidation and infrastructure improvements. Disney admitted in a December announcement that there were a number of hurdles they had to climb over to make the expansion happen, including support from the region. You can also blame the lack of that 90s expansion in large part on Euro Disneyland and its lack of success in the early days. That wasn’t officially stated as a reason things halted, but Roy E. Disney was quoted as saying, “Clearly, Euro Disney is making us think twice about a lot of things.” Those issues combined with a failure to get money for the project from the federal government caused WESTCOT to be cancelled before the end of 1995. However, the dream for a full resort in California remained alive.
4. New Plans
Image: Disney
When Disney executives revisited plans to expand Disneyland into a full resort during a three-day retreat in Aspen, Colorado, they needed to seriously cut back from what they expected to do with WESTCOT and the Anaheim Commercial Recreation Area. The budget was slashed to a pretty meager $1.4 billion, especially compared to the original plan to spend $3 billion. The project covered Disney’s California Adventure Park, Downtown Disney, the Grand Californian Spa & Resort, the Mickey and Friends parking structure, and other components of the expansion.
5. Construction
Image – Sam Howzit, Flickr
Most of the original Disneyland Resort wasn’t touched during construction, but Disney needed to set up temporary parking lots since the original 100 acres of parking space was going to be allocated to the expansion. A few Disney landmarks, like the marquee on Harbor Boulevard and the original Disneyland Hotel buildings, were torn down to make room. The space from the downsizing of the Disneyland Hotel made room for Downtown Disney and new parking lots. The Disneyland Pacific Hotel was remade into Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel. A lot of streets were altered or even eliminated to prepare for the expansion. Some of the original parking lot that was used to make room for the expansion was smartly used for future growth of California Adventure; it would eventually hold A Bug’s Land, Cars Land and The Anaheim Tower of Terror. Construction started in 1998, but didn’t end until 2001.
Eisner may not have brought a finished resort to California within his self-proclaimed “Disney Decade,” but the Disneyland Resort was finished nonetheless. It’s interesting to imagine what that resort could have been compared to what it ended up becoming. What do you think? Would you have preferred the original plans for a California resort? Share your thoughts on Theme Park Tourist’s Facebook page and in the comments below!
