[Question] Should the Resort have been laid out differently?

[WDW1971]

Should the Resort have been laid out differently?

[JerrodDRagon]

Re: Should the Resort have been laid out differently?

I'm sure there a lot of things they could of done better considering DCA is also pretty boxed in...they should have left more room for it to grow.....though we have room for the next 20 years after that...they will be NO where for them to go unless they make an underground tunnel to the Pumba lot

[chesirecat]

Re: Should the Resort have been laid out differently?

Thinking about the master planning of the whole resort, I began to think should the Disneyland Resort have been laid out differently? Perhaps with DCA being located NEXT to Disneyland (to the west), Downtown Disney connecting the two parks and the parking garage being located where DCA is now with a parkway comming off the freeway located where Disney Way is now. There could have been a water way connecting the hotels and a new Disneyland Hotel built where the bus stops are now. Just thinking.

What would you have done differently?

1. Tear down Disneyland Hotel and Build a larger Grand Californian there (and on Pumba), instead of using precious real estate which is essentially inside of DCA. I would have built the massive underground parking garage thing to conserve space.

2. I think having DCA and Disneyland's entrances at opposite ends of the esplanade makes a lot of sense as guests love park hopping, and if you didn't have this then guests would be hopping trams and walking outside of the parks for a longer stretch during the middle of the day.

3. Would have paid whatever was necessary to buy Candy Cane Inn and those other motels at the corner of Katella and Harbor.

4. Downtown Disney would have been allocated for DCA use, maybe for showbuildings. I would have added some Disney themed stores at Grand Californian (built where Disneyland hotel is), but not necessarily outside vendors. The shopping area would have had theming on the level of BVS in DCA.

With these changes, DCA would have had enough room for a berm and be as about as big as Disneyland.

[Mom kissed Walt]

Re: Should the Resort have been laid out differently?

City planning commissions are nothing if not fickle, and there may have been quite a bit of interference from them.

[mratigan]

Re: Should the Resort have been laid out differently?

Well....
Walt did not have the plan to build DLR but Yaa maybe they could do it with DCA whare dd is

[swampymarsh]

Re: Should the Resort have been laid out differently?

Hindsight is 20-20.

Considering that a lot of this land they didn't own to build it that way, it could not have been greatly different than what it is today.

If we had known what would happen every effort should of been made to buy all of the farmland within 5 miles.

[Gwenchanter]

Re: Should the Resort have been laid out differently?

I would have built a berm around DCA just like Disneyland.

Layout wise, all things considered, I think they did a pretty good job actually. They had a lot of constraints to deal with spatially and probably a huge list of desires for the site.

I would guess Disney has a standing offer to buy up the candy cane land area and probably other lots adjacent to the resort. I'm sure the candy cane makes a good profit per square foot.

[mickeyfan42]

Re: Should the Resort have been laid out differently?

I've heard a rumor that Disney owns the land that most/all the good neighbor hotels are on and leases the land... if true I would brand them as being disney hotels managed/partnered with other companies to get lower priced rooms w/ disney themes

[sbk1234]

Re: Should the Resort have been laid out differently?

I don't know. But I do know that the surrounding area on Harbor Blvd. looks a million times better now than before. So I think they did pretty well.

[bigcatrik]

Re: Should the Resort have been laid out differently?

I'm surprised that there's so much empty space between the two park entrances. It could easily be half the width and still be sufficient, and provide extra space to DCA.

[swampymarsh]

Re: Should the Resort have been laid out differently?

I've heard a rumor that Disney owns the land that most/all the good neighbor hotels are on and leases the land...

if true I would brand them as being disney hotels managed/partnered with other companies to get lower priced rooms w/ disney themes

It's probably not most/all but likely they have some. In the past when they owned some hotels before developing the land they used hotel companies to manage them until it was time to tear them down.

---------- Post added 07-09-2012 at 04:41 PM ----------

I'm surprised that there's so much empty space between the two park entrances. It could easily be half the width and still be sufficient, and provide extra space to DCA.

I'm sure the next Esplanade change will address this. Different guests patterns with more online tickets, parking area changes, and the security check will effect what happens.

[mickeyfan42]

Re: Should the Resort have been laid out differently?

It's probably not most/all but likely they have some. In the past when they owned some hotels before developing the land they used hotel companies to manage them until it was time to tear them down.

---------- Post added 07-09-2012 at 04:41 PM ----------



I'm sure the next Esplanade change will address this. Different guests patterns with more online tickets, parking area changes, and the security check will effect what happens.

when was this?

[jasmineray]

Re: Should the Resort have been laid out differently?

I don't like the waterway between the parks idea. Seems odd.

The layout is fine to me, especially given the fact it wasn't meant to be a resort in the beginning. You've got DL on one side, DCA on the other, DTD right there and the hotels. I don't see the problem.

[Gwenchanter]

Re: Should the Resort have been laid out differently?

I feel like the esplanade is kind of a desolate and uninviting wasteland also

[phantasmic]

Re: Should the Resort have been laid out differently?

^yes, I've always assumed that they'd at least fill it in with more shade trees, benches, and statues/flowers/nice looking decorations in general

also, I was very sad to find out 1 DAY LATE about them cancelling the brick-buying program... i had been meaning to do it for years, then found out 24 hours too late that they weren't taking orders any more...