Massive Expansion to Disneyland Anaheim Is Set To Go Forward

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Disneyland Anaheim may have been the very first Disney theme park ever opened, but I'd argue (as would many others) that Disney World has long since surpassed it as the definitive Disney Park in terms of sheer scale alone. Contained within a little over 100 acres in a dense urban landscape, the relatively compact Disneyland could fit itself many times over inside the sprawling confines of the Walt Disney World Resort. Available real estate is pretty skint in Anaheim!

Disneyland would have to swallow all of Anaheim to even hope to compete with Disney World in size, and that's not going to happen anytime soon. However, it does appear that Disneyland is set to go forward with a massive expansion to the park that will bring tons of new attractions to the Happiest Place on Earth!

At the time of @usatoday 's reporting last month, Disneyland California had already cleared one big barrier towards getting their planned park expansion approved. Anaheim City Council approved Disney's $1.9 billion expansion, which would transform the park's huge parking lot into another park area with themed rides and attractions. The project would also entail the transformation of a roadway into a pedestrian walkway and a multi-million dollar investment into the construction of affordable housing and infrastructure in Anaheim.

Related: Disney Fan Gives Honest Review of Disneyland’ Brand-New ‘Pixar Place’ Hotel

Sounds like a done deal, right? Well, not quite yet. According to SF Gate , the project still has to pass a final approval vote from Anaheim City Council on May 7. However, this is a hurdle that Disney is "almost guaranteed to clear," so unless there's a major upset sometime within the next 5 days, we can expect to see this project become a reality very, very soon.

What Will Disneyland's New Expansion Have?

As discussed in the USA Today video, Disney's not showing all their cards when it comes to details on the new park expansion. However, there are already some strong guesses for likely contenders. On April 4, SF Gate reported on the release of official concept art for a proposed new Avatar -themed area for Disneyland. Instead of being a rehash of Pandora- The World of Avatar in Animal Kingdom, the new land would be based on the sequel film, Avatar: The Way of Water .

Furthermore, DisneylandForward.com (the project's official website) claims that " new lands and adventures like those underway at Tokyo DisneySea and Shanghai Disneyland could inspire new experiences here." Tokyo DisneySea will open an expansion with Frozen, Tangled , and Peter Pan -themed areas later this year, while Shanghai Disney opened a Zootopia -themed expansion late last year. Could some of these themes find their way into the new Disneyland Anaheim expansion?

We won't know for certain until the project moves forward, and the next step is getting that final vote on May 7. If all goes well, though, which seems highly probable at this point, there's a chance we may get some more details about the expansion at the next D23 Expo this August. Fingers crossed!

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