Disneyland expansion gets OK

Anaheim City Council gives key approval; second vote required

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Visitors to Disney’s California parks could one day walk through the snow-covered hamlet of Arendelle from “Frozen” or the bustling, critter-filled metropolis of “Zootopia” under a park expansion plan approved by the Anaheim City Council.

Disney would spend at least

$1.9 billion over the next decade to transform its 490-acre campus in densely populated Southern California. It would be the biggest expansion of Disney’s Southern California theme parks in decades, aiming to create more immersive experiences for guests. Disney would also be required to spend tens of millions of dollars on street improvements, affordable housing and other infrastructure in the city.

The council unanimously approved the project early Wednesday at the end of an hourslong meeting that began Tuesday evening. A second council vote for final approval of Disney’s plan is required in May.

The plan wouldn’t expand Disney’s footprint in tourism-dependent Anaheim but would help it add rides and entertainment by letting the company relocate parking to a new multi-story structure and redevelop the massive lot, as well as make other changes.

Disneyland, Disney California Adventure and the Downtown Disney shopping area are surrounded by freeways and residential areas in the city 30 miles southeast of Los Angeles, so Disney sees the plan as vital to continue to create sizable new attractions.

“We are thrilled that the City of Anaheim has agreed to work together on this legacy project,” Disneyland Resort President Ken Potrock said in a statement, adding the company awaits the final vote in May. “We look forward to our bright future together!”

Much of the public testimony to the council focused on Disney’s plans to buy a public street near the theme park and turn it into a pedestrian walkway and its plan to add a crosswalk on another neighboring street.

Over the last two decades, Disney investments have included Cars Land, Pixar Pier, Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge and Avengers Campus in Southern California.

It’s the first time Disney has sought a major change to its California theme parks since the 1990s, when the company obtained approvals to turn Disneyland, its original theme park dubbed “the happiest place on Earth” and built in 1955, into a resort hub.

It later built the Disney California Adventure theme park and the Downtown Disney shopping and entertainment area.