Disneyland to grow, chief says

Robert Iger confirms expansion but says there will be no third Disney theme park in Anaheim.

A new Disney theme park in Anaheim is probably not in the works but an expansion of Disneyland is very likely.

Walt Disney Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Robert Iger dismissed rumors at the Burbank company’s annual meeting that a third theme park might open adjacent to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.

But in the same breath, he said an expansion of Disneyland is in the works.

“We have plans at Disneyland for an expansion that we have not announced, but those plans at the present do not include a third gate,” he told shareholders in San Francisco.

According to longtime park watchers, Disney has developed plans, dating to 2000, to build a third park on a 78-acre site just south of Disney’s complex on Harbor Boulevard.

But those plans, Disney experts say, were shelved while the company focused on the 2001 opening of Disney California Adventure, which fell short of attendance predictions until a $1-billion expansion in 2012 added the hugely successful Cars Land.

After all, Disney acquired Marvel Entertainment Inc. in 2009 and Lucasfilm in 2012.

Disney may have already begun gauging public interest in a “Star Wars” expansion.

On Twitter, one Disney guest posted a screen grab in 2013 of a Disney survey that asked: “How interested would you be in visiting a Star Wars themed land at Disneyland Resort?”

Other survey questions included: “Which Star Wars characters would you definitely not want to see or meet in person?”

Also, Disneyland’s recent announcement to close the Innoventions exhibit hall in Tomorrowland prompted fans to suggest that a new Marvel or “Star Wars” attraction is in the works for that building.