The phrase “informed speculation” is helpful, and I use it because during a recent trip to Disney California Adventure, I assessed the progress of the four significant projects currently being developed to revamp the park. Although work is happening, nothing has been finalized yet for a couple of the announced projects.
You may have visited Disney’s second gate when it was called Disney’s California Adventure—now it’s just Disney California Adventure. I worked on the team aimed at making DCA equal to Disneyland, a goal the team achieved. Currently, three major projects are in progress: a new parking structure, a Coco ride, and Avengers Campus expansion.
There’s another project, a fourth one, that is the most complex of the four because the biggest project in Disney California Adventure expansion can’t happen without the parking structure coming on line. But first, about casting. Disney Imagineering designers are type cast. There are those who do Epcot, there are those who do Animal Kingdom, and there are those who do cute. I found myself in the cute category and I think I did it well. To that end, as I look around Disney California, that in the location that WDI have the Navi penciled in to occupy. Well, the Navi are impressive, but cute, they are not. Putting Zootopia and Bonnie and all the little cute furry animals in that location would check the cute box at DCA, a park that since opening day has really lacked cute.
Not everyone loves cute things, but visitors to Shanghai Disneyland do. Many come specifically for Zootopia Land, which saw massive success—its movie sequel earned over $100 million in a day, and the land itself drew crowds for its rides, entertainment, shops, and merchandise. While there’s interest in expanding Zootopia Land in Shanghai, the real question is whether it could be brought to California Adventure—and the answer is yes.
Although Avatar has been announced, progress remains limited to early planning stages—no construction has started yet. The new east side parking structure, part of Disneyland’s upcoming entrance, will offer 6,000 additional spaces, adding to the existing Mickey and Friends and Pixar Pals lots with about 16,000 spaces. Preparations and planning are ongoing, including changes for arrivals via South Clementine Street off the five. Disney owns property at this location, which I visited recently to better understand the area. Has anything been done to understand what is going to happen? what has to happen in order for any of the other projects to occur. Because one thing is aside from the fact that Disneyland Forward has been approved, all the new rides, shows, and attractions are going to be happening within the boundaries of DCA as it currently exists. When the parking structure goes in, there’ll be an elevated bridge that’ll dump people at the new entrance, which is kind of like the old entrance. But in any event, once they’re inside the gate, they can go to Hollywood Land. And that’s where the story gets interesting.
On February the 8th, 2001, California Adventure opened, and it was not a land, but a district. There were no lands in DCA as part of its charm. But there was the Hollywood Pictures backlot. And that was very unusual because it took its cues from the Disney MGM Studios in Orlando, but on a fraction of the space. As a result, you had a lot of concrete. You had not much shade, and you had some rides, well, a ride that failed to connect with the guests. I remember riding behind a group, a family group for uh his superstar limo and when we got out of the load station, unload station, the pre-teen son turned to his parents and said, “What was that?”
Avatar vs. Zootopia: The Future of the Expansion
To that end, the land needs some greenery, some lushness, or at least a presence. And obviously Avatar would give them that because Pandora, if nothing else, has got mountains and water and trees and bushes. Great. And DCA would benefit from all of that. But if you have a choice between going with Avatar in Pandora or going to Zootopia that also has some opportunities for green water, why not go that direction? So, for my purposes, I look at this as a piece of empty land where anything could be built. I’m not aware if the Tween ever returned to DCA to experience the Monsters Inc. Overlay on Limo, but if they haven’t, they should make tracks because it’s going to go away in one form or another. And it’s been announced that Avatar from that was proven popular at Animal Kingdom DCA is coming to that park in Anaheim. And it makes sense. It’s green. It’s lush. It’s a popular IP. It makes sense. But so does Zootopia and maybe for other reasons, stronger reasons than Avatar.
The area today is a land of substitutions and plugs and fill-ins. Mickey’s PhilharMagic is a good show, but it’s not the show that premiered at Disney Hollywood Studios. It’s a plug into the theater for another show. It was the old Muppets Show. And we’ve already covered the fact that Limo gave way to Monsters, Inc. a dark ride, a very big dark ride, a very ambitious dark ride. And right next to it is a kitchen, a restaurant that opened as Hollywood and Dine, which has since been used for pin training and character greetings. And then the park build a temporary quick building that’s not so temporary and well, not quick because today, well, it’s closed, but before it’s been used for lots of things like millionaire or a shop. So, let’s get back to Zootopia. Zootopia is a cityscape and it’s been built in Shanghai and it’s been proving successful. So, if you brought that program here to California, you could bring in Hot Pursuit, and it fits. You could bring in the Zootopia Zoo better together and it fits and you’d have something popular and proven and it would be cute. It’d be family friendly.
And those are a some of the check boxes that DCA needs to check in order to be successful because as far as characters, they have Pixar Pier, but that’s a collection of characters. They don’t have a dedicated land of one brand, one franchise. And besides that, if you opened a Zootopia Land, the Big Donut alone could pay for the entire project. Where do you want to do? I’ve been asked many times for the list of tools for any concept designer, anybody at WDI, how should they approach their work?
For work tools are employed, and tools are like hammers and chisels and saws. They serve a purpose. Once you understand what the problem is you’re trying to solve, then you can pick out the appropriate design tool. And so, it is. When I look at the Hollywood Pictures backlot, now Hollywood Studios or Hollywood Land, whatever you want to call it, it still lacks in one monumental area. It doesn’t have queue. It doesn’t have presence. It’s a lot of stuff, but it really doesn’t sell itself as one big idea or definitely not a place you want to go to. You don’t want to make it your trip to DCA in order to see back there. And this is an opportunity to create a new land. And honestly, with the amount of land left at DCA, it’s the last time you’re ever going to be able to create a new land there in Anaheim in Disneyland Second Gate. I’ll make a note that whenever I would work on a project, I would always come up with the idea and it starts with lines on paper, but then it progresses to is it feasible? Can we afford it? Can we meet a schedule? Now, very often the idea never succeeds. It doesn’t get opened. It just simply goes into a drawer or vault to come back at another day. But that doesn’t mean the idea didn’t have merit, which is the reason why it went into the vault in the first place.
Speculation and Precedents
A question comes up about Zootopia: Has Disney ever announced something and then cancelled it? And yes, yes, indeed they have. Tomorrowland serves as a notable example, with various concepts publicly shared for both Lucas Port and Tomorrowland 2055 that ultimately were not realized. California Adventure, built on roughly 55 acres, has evolved and is currently being expanded within its original boundaries. Initially designed to showcase the best of California in a single day, the park’s focus is shifting beyond just California. Insights from the last D23 event in 2024 suggest more changes ahead, though plans like Avatar remain uncertain until finalized. Overall, the park appears to be transitioning from Disney California Adventure to Disney’s Adventures in California.
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