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.

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.

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!