ANAHEIM, Calif. — Do you want to check out the future of the Disneyland Resort?

On May 20, Disneyland will host its next “Disneyland Forward Community Coffees” for residents to learn about the mega project that could shape the future of the Happiest Place on Earth and Anaheim’s 1,100-acre resort district.

What You Need To Know

  • For the past year, Disney has been holding informal meetings about the Disneyland Forward project around Anaheim

  • Disney has asked the city to rezone the Disneyland Resort's 490-acre property to allow greater flexibility to grow

  • The city planning commission expects to see the plan sometime later this year

  • The next meeting will be held May 20 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Ponderosa Park

For the past year, Disney has been hosting two-hour informal community meetings and town halls at various parks around the city.

At the meetings, coffee and donuts are served. There are easels with pictures and renderings of the project. 

Representatives from Disney are on hand to answer community members’ questions about the initiative. 

“They are part of the process,” a Disneyland spokesperson said.

Disneyland opened in 1955 and has become an iconic landmark, tourist attraction, and a significant economic engine for the city. Pre-pandemic, Disneyland alone attracted more than 18 million visitors annually; Disney California Adventure brings in nearly 10 million visitors yearly, according to the Themed Entertainment Association. 

But unlike Walt Disney World, its sister resort in Florida, the original Anaheim Disneyland Resort is extremely landlocked, limiting what Disney Imagineers can build on the property for future visitors.

Anaheim, like most cities, divides land areas into designated zones that determine what can and can’t be built or placed there. 

Disney and Anaheim last expanded Disneyland in the 1990s, which led to the building of Disney California Adventures and the Grand Californian Hotel and Spa.

Disney has been working with Anaheim to update the zoning of their 490-acre Disneyland Resort property since 2021. 

Disney officials submitted paperwork with the city to rezone certain resort areas as mixed-use for greater flexibility when building hotels, restaurants, retail, entertainment, or theme park attractions in their Disneyland Resort footprint. 

Some areas Disney plans to rezone include the Toy Story parking lot, the Simba lot in Downtown Disney, and others. If rezoned, Disney would have the ability to build a Disney-themed hotel, restaurants, more entertainment, or another theme park. 

Anaheim spokesman Mike Lyster told Spectrum News Monday that the city’s planning department is continuing its thorough review of the project.  

Lyster said the city expects an environmental analysis and impact report to be ready this summer.

Sometime during the second half of this year, the planning commission will hold a workshop and a public hearing where they and members of the public could hear and chime in on everything about the proposal.

Lyster said the city council could potentially hear and vote on the project sometime early next year. 

“Right now, we have zoning that determines what goes where in the Disneyland Resort theme parks,” said Lyster. “That zoning has served as well and led to the expansion of the park and the addition of Downtown Disney and the Grand California Hotel. As we move forward today and see what’s happening worldwide, we see a mix of uses. Theme parks are situated next to a hotel and so on. It’s much more integrated and immersive.”

Disney plans to hold at least 10 more community meetings this year. The next meeting will be held from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Ponderosa Park.