Disney's real community of tomorrow is Anaheim
Disneyland is continuing its road show promoting its DisneylandForward proposal for zoning changes at the resort. This month, the resort hosted a coffee-and-doughnuts information session in Anaheim's Eucalyptus Park, while next month it heads to Ponderosa Park. The meets will continue monthly through the end of the year.
I do not live near Disneyland, but I have lived before in a neighborhood across the street from a major theme park. Years ago, I lived in the Orange Tree development across Turkey Lake Road from Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure in Orlando. So I have some experience with what Disneyland's neighbors endure daily.
Disneyland is asking Anaheim to change the rules that govern how Disney can use its land in the city. Specifically, Disney is asking for flexibility to build attractions on space that is now set aside for other uses, such as parking. At first glance, using parking as a buffer between attractions and neighboring homes seems to make sense. The farther away those screaming roller coaster riders are, the less noise to bother neighbors.
But outdoor thrill rides are far from the only type of theme park attraction — and not Disney's specialty, anyway. From my experience in Orange Tree, I would much rather live across the street from the back of a bunch of show buildings than have thousands of cars driving out from parking lots onto that street every day.
On the other side of the resort, as a Disneyland fan and frequent visitor, I would love to see Disneyland build a walkway over Harbor Boulevard that would allow thousands of resort visitors like me safe access to the hotels and restaurants on the other side of Harbor, without having to cross that busy street at ground level. Business owners on Harbor fought a previous Disneyland proposal for a walkway that would have bypassed the Harbor sidewalk.
In both cases, Disneyland could get the land-use flexibility it wants in ways that actually create better situations for the resort's neighbors than they have now. Thirteen months of lockdown should have banished any fantasy that Anaheim and its residents would be better off without the Disneyland Resort. Given that Disneyland is not going anywhere, how will Disney and its neighbors work together to create a situation that works better for all?
Good negotiations can, and should, be tough. But the proper response to being pushed by a powerful organization is to organize, push back and stand for a better deal. Contrast the DisneylandForward process with the ongoing farce in Central Florida, where Disney enjoyed decades of nearly unchallenged authority over the Walt Disney World Resort and now faces a state government that wishes to control Disney for ideological purposes.
Walt Disney bought all that land outside Orlando to build an experimental, prototype community — a model for cities around the world. How ironic, then, that the better model for a functional community would be found back at the home of his original theme park, in Anaheim.