Papers have been filed in Orange County, CA to start work on a new 700-room luxury hotel at the Disneyland Resort. The Orange County Register was the first to report that the hotel will be situated on 10 acres where the Downtown Disney short term parking lot currently exists. The hotel is targeted to open at some point in 2021. Design phases are underway and construction is expected to begin in 2018.
According to the article:
Walt Disney Imagineering will design the hotel, which currently does not have a theme, Disneyland officials said. Guests will sit on a rooftop deck to watch Disneyland’s nightly fireworks over Sleeping Beauty Castle, there will be signature restaurants, two pools, a fitness facility, concierge service and a kid’s play area.
Disney had been in negotiations to build one or two hotels over by Gardenwalk but I guess either they’ve given up on that idea or just needed to finally pull the trigger. It had also been believed that the parking lot behind Paradise Pier hotel was prime for another hotel. But it’s also a potential plot for DCA Expansion (which I think is important to reserve looking ahead for the landlocked park).
This would be the fourth hotel at the Disneyland Resort and help Disney keep more guests enveloped in the magic. Of course it is a luxury resort targeted at those who enjoy four-diamond rated treatment. The Grand Californian Hotel opened in 2001 and expanded in 2009 with a new Disney Vacation Club wing. This new hotel is expected to become the new flagship hotel for the property.
“This new flagship hotel would create thousands of jobs and benefit Anaheim with more than $750 million in additional tax revenue over the next four decades, while helping the city reach its stated goal of attracting more high-end visitors,” said Suzi Brown, a Disneyland spokesperson.
To give you an idea of where the hotel will go and its size, here’s a map with a blue box that’s just over 10-acres. For comparison, the Grand Californian Resort is just under 11 acres in size and has 1,019 rooms (give or take) and some convention space.
Disneyland, of course, is also in the middle of building a new “Star Wars” themed land and has promised Anaheim it would spend more than $2 billion at the resort over the next decade. Although Disney has announced what it will spend on the hotel, it’s likely to be over $200 million.
Are you excited that Disneyland will be adding new hotel?