The Lost Ranger...

Hi ho, low thinking...






Today was an example of the repercussions of good/bad business...

Good for DreamWorks Animation and bad for the Disney corporation. Not totally bad for them, but an example of what can happen when you are short sighted in your business concerns. And to that I have to thank Michael Eisner for not being able to see over the next hill. Disney California Adventure's birth and squandered first decade for identity aren't the only mistake he made. Now, I'm not using this to say that he's wrong on everything (he wasn't), but I am using it to show how he lost the rights to something that he could have used to expand the already large collection of Disney properties. What am I blathering on about?

The Lone Ranger.

Sure, next year the Mouse will put out a film that will have cost around a quarter of a billion dollars on a property that it doesn't own, but once did. That's correct, the Masked Man was owned by Disney and was sold for a song. And it will now have to pay more for a license to a property that it could have used for free. If you've read Blue Sky regularly then you probably know this because I've mentioned it in the past.

Back in the late Eighties when the Walt Disney Company was looking to expand the Disneyland park into the Disneyland Resort, there were several things they had to do and wanted to do. One of those was reacquire the rights to the "Disney" name and property from those that owned The Disneyland Hotel. That's right, the Disney Company didn't own the rights to the hotel or the use of it's name until it bought them in the late 80's. Back when Walt Disney was planning on opening the park, he knew he would have to have a hotel for them to stay in, but being as he had all his money invested in building the park, he didn't have the cash to build it. So he turned to Jack Wrather, a friend and businessman to build it. In exchange for him building the hotel, Walt gave Jack the exclusive rights to build hotels in California with the name "Disney" for a 99 year lease. He only built one thankfully, or it would have been a much more tangled mess to unravel.

So back to the story. As Eisner and company moved forward to expand the park to a resort and add hotels, he wanted to purchase the Disneyland Hotel. The company played hardball with the company when they weren't really looking to sell. They were going to increase the lease for the Monorail stop at the hotel to a point where it would be excessively cost prohibitive for them to use. Can you imagine how angry guest would have been to stay there and see the Monorail go on by and not stop to allow guests to take it into the park. Well, the negotiations works. But in a different way, because the company that owned the hotel may not have been willing to sell the hotel back to Disney, but it was willing to sell itself to Disney: the entire company.

So, to get the property and name back, the Walt Disney Company agreed to purchase the Wrather Corporation. It was more than just that hotel you see. Now, being as Michael Eisner didn't like having to pay so much for other parts of a business he didn't want, he had the company get rid of part it didn't (he felt) need or want. There were good things that came from this, and bad things as well. You see, Tokyo DisneySEA's seed was planted when this happened, because one of the things that Wrather's company had the rights to was the Queen Mary. And when Disney was looking at making Disneyland into a resort, it also wanted to see what other opportunities were available as well. With this newly acquired area in the Port of Long Beach, Eisner set the Imagineers at WDI to task with finding a way to exploit it. And that is how "Port Disney" came to be. The Long Beach Project as it was known internally had a resort with 5/6 hotels, a shopping district, ports for the Disney Cruise Line and a theme park called Disneysea. Although it wasn't fully formed, it was the fetus that became Tokyo DisneySEA a decade after the American project was cancelled.

But there were other properties that Wrather owned also. And one was the Lone Ranger. It was sold in a fire sale to try to make back some of the millions that were spent on the purchase of the iconic hotel. No thought was given to mining the classic character for television like was done with the Zorro property that Disney didn't own. No thought was given to creating a movie for such a well known character. No thought was given to the merchandising profits that could have been had with Disney's marketing behind them. It was just something to get rid of. Granted, hindsight is 20/20, but fans of pop-culture would see the opportunity that this American character represented to an American institution like Disney. A company known as Classic Media bought the rights to Kemosabe. Let's hope that the rights to the character are locked for a long time if this film is successful. Perhaps Disney's lawyers were forward thinking and included the rights to possible television series as well, otherwise Jeffrey Katzenberg's company could have a DreamWorks television series up on Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon to take advantage of the new Disney film. Don't thing that could happen?

Then you've never heard the story of Antz...

Contemporary By Design...

Now let's do something about the last hotel...


If you've been to the Disneyland Resort lately, you've seen all that construction...

Not just in the parks, but around the entire resort. And one of those projects that is about to end is the renovation/makeover of the Disneyland Hotel. After almost three years, the hotel is in the final stages of turning itself into an actual Disney Hotel. I know for some that might sound confusing, but those of us that remember, know that it wasn't even owned by the Mouse till 1989.

That's when Jack Wrather's company was bought by Disney, simply to own the hotel. All of their other properties (Queen Mary, The Lone Ranger, ect.), were sold off to try and justify the cost of getting the hotel finally into the Disney family.

And while many, myself included, had hoped that Disney would bulldoze it and put up a Hotel similar to the Disneyland Hotels in Paris, Tokyo or Hong Kong, the state of the economy didn't justify such a dramatic departure. But what has happened is reflective of what the other American Disney Resort has got.

Walt Disney World has the beautiful Contemporary Hotel. It was presented to the world on its opening day back in 1971, and the Imagineers have reflected back to that day in giving us what is essentially the West Coast version of it. While the Contemporary is a retro-version of early 70's design matched with the timeline of when WDW opened up, the Disneyland Hotel here in California is a retro-version of mid 50's design matched with the timeline of when Disneyland opened up. It is in a sentence, our Contemporary Hotel. And they've done a great job taking the bland towers designed by someone not associated with Disney, and turning into something that you could imagine had been all part of the master plan.

From the theming of the blue sky towers, the naming of each one after a land (A Tomorrowland Tower is still being talked about), the lush foliage and pools, to the newly themed restaurants. It's a great improvement. And while I'd still love to see a V(M)ictorian themed hotel (that parking lot looks awful big, doesn't it?), it's nice to see that two of the three Disney Hotels here are up to the name of the man behind it all.

Now if only plans for the Paradise Pier would just fall into place...

55/55...

On this day, fifty years ago the Disneyland Hotel opened...

Not only is the Happiest Place on Earth celebrating its fifty-fifth year in Anaheim, the original hotel is as well. Many of you knew that the Resorts first hotel is going through a three year renovation, but not everyone know that it's birthday is today. Originally owned by Jack Wrather, the hotel was bought by the Mouse back in 1988, when Eisner first decided to look into turning the park into an actual resort.

Come 2012 the hotel will look greatly different than it did a decade ago. Gone will be the bland, dated, concrete appearance in favor of a retro-contemporary look and feel. The idea is to makeover the hotel into the West Coast version of Walt Disney World's Contemporary Resort. Not to clone it so-to-speak, but to give the building its own distinctive variation of that kind of concept. Once those picturesque monikers run across the tops of each tower it'll look a whole lot swankier. While my own desire is to have a hotel with a V(m)ictorian feel like the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel/Disneyland Paris Hotel, plans for a hotel such as this won't likely arrive until the later part of the decade. Still, with all the new offerings, this classic hotel will finally move into this century and help turn the resort into an actual resort.

Happy Birthday, Disneyland Hotel...

The Invisible Tower...

Retro is better than old no?



Yes?



No?



Yes...



Maybe...


I'm sure most of you have seen the artwork for the new renovation of the Disneyland Hotel...

When the Mouse started working on this project they changed the names of the original hotel towers from the Sierra Tower, which is now Dreams (Adventure Tower in 2010), the Marina Tower, which is now the Wonder (Frontier Tower in 2011), and Bonita, that is now the Magic (Fantasy Tower in 2012). Notice that? Each tower will now be named after three of the original four lands of Disneyland. Four lands. Three towers?

Hmmm...

So what about a fourth tower named after the other land? A Tomorrow Tower. Well, that'll have to wait and see. When the original proposal for expanding the park was designed, there were plans to give the DLH an additional fourth tower during the makeover of the park, were the WestCOT designs to get approval. In addition to the other wonderful new hotels (a future post, btw) that were to grace a lovely curving Disneyland Drive, was a revamped version of the hotel that started it all. But we all know what happened to those plans.

But when WDI set about taking all three towers and giving them a retro-makeover, the initial plans were/are to turn the buildings into something akin to the 50's/60's version of the future just as the Contemporary Resort in WDW does. But with everything and every plan, there is room left for future development. And that is one of the bits of blue sky that could happen if and when the time is right.

Before the economy went into the tank, the Disneyland Resort had occupancy rates of close to 90%, compared to around 70% for the Walt Disney World Resort. Not bad, but as we know, when the recession happened there was a dip in spending and bookings. The rates haven't gotten back to those levels from a few years ago, but they don't appear to be decreasing any further. Should the economy start to take off and bookings begin to rise, then that expansion would move forward and a fourth tower would be become closer to being a reality instead of a fantasy. So there are three towers named after three of the original lands, a fourth tower would need a name that thematically went along with the other towers. I wonder what that name could/would be?

I guess we'll just have to find out tomorrow...

Making The Past Contemporary...

Tomorrow The Disneyland Hotel finally gets started on the renovation that it's needed for over a decade...

It's not the Mictorian/Victorian hotel concept that I love or even the fantasy theme that was proposed a few years ago, but it's going to much better, well themed experience once it's done in 2012. I think looking at it as a comparison to the Disneyland Hotels in Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong or even Grand Floridian would be misdirected. The hotel theming it'll have, will be more in relation to The Contemporary at Walt Disney World. It's that kind of styling and thinking you need to approach it with if you want to objectively examine it.

The Dream Tower will be the first one to get this beautification and it should be done by summer, 2010, just in time for another tower to go under the knife, so to speak. It'll be a little under a year for each one to go through this process. Once the Extreme Makeover is done, so will be the makeover of the Disneyland Hotel. That would only leave the badly out of place and badly themed (in relation to the new Victorian themed pier) Paradise Pier Hotel. But for anything to be done to that hotel, the economy is going to have to pick up a bit. Now as for those other Disney hotels in the planning?

As always, time will tell...

Hotel Rates...

No, this isn't official artwork...

But if you've been to the Disneyland Hotel recently, you can see the test models they plan on using for the new design. If you stack each of those rooms on top of one another and then spread them out this is what you come up with.

Something you'd want to stay in or avoid?

There should be official artwork released soon enough...

Renovation Revelations...

Well, they've finally announced what we've been talking about...

The designs for the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim have gone through several revisions and to now finally have it come to fruition is great. I only hope that the detail of each tower is going to reflect what one expects from the Disney name.

Each tower will take about a year to do. The Dream Tower first in Summer 2010, another tower done by Summer 2011 and the final one in Summer 2012. Just in time for Cars Land, imagine that? As expected, the renovation starts just as the new rooms in the Grand Californian become available. I look forward to seeing the artwork and watching the transformation.

Here's the press release:

Landmark Disneyland Hotel to Undergo Significant Renovation

Historic hotel to feature considerable changes to guest rooms, exterior

ANAHEIM, CALIF. June 16, 2009 – Beginning in August 2009, Southern California’s landmark Disneyland Hotel will start a significant renovation project that will include major improvements to its guest rooms and considerable changes to the exterior of the hotel. The hotel will remain open during the renovation, which will be conducted in phases, and is scheduled to be completed in 2012.

“We are excited to embark on the largest and most extensive renovation of one of Disney’s classic hotels,” said Disneyland Resort President Ed Grier. “This renovation provides us with the opportunity to bring new magic to this historic hotel, which enables us to enhance the Disney experience that our guests have come to expect. “It also reinforces our ongoing commitment and investment in the Anaheim Resort District – working with the city and area businesses to continue to evolve the District into a world-class, multiday tourist destination,” added Grier.

Significant Guest Room Upgrades, New Room Amenities and Exterior Enhancements
Disneyland Hotel’s renovated guest rooms will feature an all-new contemporary look with exquisite Disney touches woven into the décor. A stunning new headboard that features an artistically carved representation of Disneyland Park’s famous Sleeping Beauty Castle will serve as the focal point in each guest room. The background on the headboard uses fiber optics to create a magical skyline with fireworks – bringing the immersive park experience into the room. Rooms also will feature black and white art that will take guests back in time, reinforcing the nostalgia and history of Walt’s first theme park.

When completed, guest rooms will boast new flat screen TVs, mini-refrigerators, coffeemakers, safes capable of holding laptop computers and new state-of-the-art telephone, cable and wireless Internet connections. Upgrades to plumbing, electrical and heating and air conditioning systems also are included in the project.

Disneyland Resort’s original hotel, built in 1955, also will experience a noteworthy change to its exterior. All of the three towers will feature an updated look, with large windows that will give the outside a sleek, radiant blue tint. The windows will replace the current sliding doors and faux balcony railings and are specially designed to be energy efficient and to extensively filter outside noise.

“The new design for the hotel’s exterior will enhance the existing towers and compliment the Resort as a whole. The windows will feature a sky blue reflective glass that channels the feel of our bright California sky,” said Mike Montague, director of resort development for Walt Disney Imagineering.

The Disneyland Hotel is composed of three main structures – the Magic, Wonder and Dreams towers. Construction will take place in one vertical half of a tower at a time – leaving the rest of the tower open for guests. The Dreams tower will be the first to be renovated and is scheduled to be completed in June 2010.

Popular Choice for Convention Visitors
In addition to being a top choice for vacationing families, the Disneyland Hotel has long been a favorite for meeting and convention planners because of its prime location and size – and direct access to more than 136,000 square feet of convention space. Anaheim hosts hundreds of groups each year and the renovation will help maintain the city’s premiere position as a meeting destination.

“We are thrilled with Disney’s plans to renovate the Disneyland Hotel,” said Charles W. Ahlers, president of the Anaheim/Orange County Visitor and Convention Bureau. “With the renovation of the hotel and the expansion of Disney’s Grand Californian, coupled with other new hotel developments that are coming to Anaheim over the next few years, our city will continue to be a premier destination for convention and meeting planners.”

Energy Efficient Enhancements
As with other construction and enhancements that are underway throughout the Disneyland Resort, the renovation will include energy efficient upgrades. The most notable feature will be the hotel’s new windows. With their reflective capabilities and double-pane glass, the windows will change the look of the exterior of the hotel dramatically, while reducing energy consumption by keeping guest rooms at the desired temperature.

The use of occupancy sensors in guest rooms, low-flow toilets, energy efficient light bulbs and paint low in volatile organic compounds are just a few more of the ways that the hotel will offer guests a “green” lodging experience.

Renovation is Part of Larger Resort Expansion
The Disneyland Hotel renovation is a part of a larger expansion project underway throughout the Resort. Disney’s California Adventure Park is undergoing a multiyear expansion project that includes new experiences, attractions and night-time spectaculars, culminating in 2012 with the opening a brand new land – Cars Land. The four-star Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa is also undergoing an expansion, adding 200 hotel rooms and 50 two-bedroom villas that are part of the Disney Vacation Club, which will make its first West Coast debut when it opens in the fall of 2009.

"Retro"fitting...

I love architecture...

If you've followed this site often, you should know that. I've posted several articles(as well as Shrunken Ned's post) that show off the Disney resorts around the world's architectual styles. And each and every resort has has lovely themed buildings. Lovely stylized hotels. And each and every resort has lovely Disneyland Hotels...

Except this one. The original one. The first one. The Disneyland Hotel.

It's something I've harped on since the beginning... something that's been a thorn in my side. Seeing it compared with WDW(the Floridian is essentially the DLH there), Paris, Hong Kong and now Tokyo with their amazing DLH leaves Anaheim's version a little to wanting. Okay, a lot to be wanting. I've always hated the look of those buildings. The inconsistent styles, the very nature of their structure which looks like three giant concrete blocks that got stuck in the ground and unable to be moved, so they decided to build rooms inside them. Now we know that's not how they were built there, but it's almost how I imagine they've remained there.

I know not everyone agrees with me, but I've always championed the Victorian(or Mictorian for the Uber-Disney Geek) style for a new Disneyland Hotel. Not exactly like the others, but in that style. I personally find it a very warm, inviting style that represents the calming influence of Walt's childhood... a place where you can go to bed and forget about the outside world. That said, I've also wanted the hotel built in a different location. Right where the Pick up Bus/Taxi area is. That would be a great visual icon for those driving down Harbor Blvd. as they go past the resort. It would also be a fantastic way to enter the resort. Imagine walking under such a structure and entering the Esplanade with DCA on your left and Disneyland on your right with Downtown Disney directly ahead. In my opinion, quite striking...

But neither of those ideas are being done.

At least not under the current plan which could see the light of day by the end of the year. Remember that is "could" because the plans have changed so often. But the plan that I'm sure some of you have heard about has them gutting the existing three towers with plans for an extensive remodel that reflects the 50's retro look of the original Disneyland Hotel... the one Jack Wrather built back in the fifties, not the skyscrapers we currently see. It may not be my favorite plan, but I can understand the nostalgic feel of recreating a 50's style building. Setting the design around the a look that Walt would/could have seen during the parks opening is a nice touch. If they're able to pull it off. I haven't seen the plans, but I've had them described to me and it could turn out to be a very nice refurbishing, although a time consuming one. From what I've heard, should the details be worked out the construction could begin as soon as the end of this year. Personally, I think that's a little optimistic and don't expect to see any kind of serious work going on till at least this time next year... but we'll see.

The Disneyland Hotel has gone through several proposals over the past twenty years. When Eisner and the Suits got hold of the property, it was considered for a while that it should be demolished and rebuilt anew(yet another mistake by Eisner). Then when the WestCOT project was proposed, the idea was to refurbish all the towers and build a new fourth tower. When that project was abandoned the version we got now was proposed and put into place. A version that modernised somethings and added a new paint job on the outside. Marvelous...

All the time the tower was getting older and looking noticeably uglier. There was a proposal made to redo the towers a couple years ago, to essentially take each tower down one by one and retheme them. But this wasn't a retro retheming... this was a more, shall we say, fantasy type of retheming that would be more in the style of the actual park itself. One of more whimsy you could say. Well, as time goes by the plans for that one changed as well and we are now in an advanced stage where the look will now be retro. Back to the future, as perceived by the past. Of course, it'll have better plumbing and HDTV which those guest back in the 50's could only dream about. Here's hoping that when it's announced that the Imagineers will have been able to pass through the mess that the Suits tend to cause. Which should be easier now that there are less of them. It also helps when they show plans to Lasseter and if he's given it his blessing then I have more hope for the project. So now, instead of me having pictures in my head of a Victorian/Steampunk Disneyland Hotel with dirigibles floating above it, I'll have to imagine a retro-50's Disneyland Hotel with families swooping around in jet packs. I'd like me a jet pack, that'd be sweeeeeet.

Time will tell...

Name Change, Location Change?

One year ago today the names on the Disneyland Hotel towers all changed...

Gone were the Marina, Sierra and Bonita. In their place were the Magic, Dreams and Wonder.

Gone were the last traces of Jack Wrather, the original owner of the hotel. Of course, the actual hotel is still there... and despite the memories people have of the structure, it is one of the ugliest hotels around. Both that hotel and the Paradise Pier Hotel clearly look like they weren't designed by Disney, but Wrather's hotel is especially bland.

The three concrete blocks that hold the name of the park Walt built were supposed to get a renovation that was to start almost a year ago. But the aged hotel has posed a challenge to the renovation as it might actually cost more than building a brand new hotel.

Will they or won't they? Unfortunately, the last time I talked to my Bothans there was no decision as to what to do about this abomination to architecture. Now Blue Sky would simply like to offer a couple words of advise...

Move it.

The best place to build a Disneyland Hotel is right in front of Disneyland. Or at least as close as possible. Like the Esplanade... where the transportation hub where buses, trams and taxis pull up? Imagine a lovely, themed hotel that can be seen from Harbor boulevard outside the resort. Just imagine what walking beneath this structure and coming out into the Esplanade to see Disneyland on your right and the park formerly known as Disney's California Adventure on your left?

Imagine...

Blue Sky Alert-America (Anaheim): Buy And Enlarge...

"Nothing endures but change." - Heraclitus of Ephesus


Time passes so quickly, doesn't it? In the blink of an eye a month will just fly by... It seems like only yesterday it was a new year and we were ringing in 2008 and now it's already the middle of February. Wow.

Things are really moving in the Resort right now as people that have tried to reach Sceamin' have noticed when they go into the pier and stop in front of the wall wondering: "How am I supposed to get to the roller coaster?". WDI and TeamDisney Anaheim are wondering that as well, which is why plans seem to be somewhat mercurial right now. The Disneyland Resort will be a literal beehive of activity for the next few years as DCA becomes Wall Land because of the continual construction and Disneyland's desire to keep thing fresh for the coming 55th anniversary. My focus on this Blue Sky Alert will be the Resort in general and DCA specifically. I'll try and have another Alert up focusing on the Mother Park sometime near the end of the month, time permitting.

Sometime before the end of spring the company should come out and finally reveal the "Extreme Makeover" plans for the Disneyland Hotel. Expect some artwork and a presentation along the lines of what we saw for the Grand Californian expansion a while back. Work should commence on one of the towers by the middle of summer should the current schedule be kept. That means the first tower will probably be finished near the holiday season or a little after it. Come this time next year one of the towers should give us an idea of what to expect since all three are supposed have a uniform theme when they are done in time for DCA's Tenth Anniversary.

Speaking of the Grand Californian, those 250 rooms should be done in time for the new water show that premieres in spring of 2010. Although the new expansion has only 50 DVC units, it won't be long before more are coming... by the end of this decade there will be a great deal more in the planning.

There are still plans for more hotels and hotel rooms over the next few years. The planning for a proposed new hotel in the Simba lot continues as well as plans for another hotel. I badly worded a sentence in one of my previous updates that made people believe that I meant the latest proposed hotel would go where the toll booths are. That's the problem with writing these articles late at night... sometimes your fingers get ahead of your brain. What I was referring to was the loading area, not the toll booth area. This is where another hotel is being designed for. One that will open up and be an entryway into the Esplanade kind of like the way the Disneyland Hotel greets people entering the park in Paris or the way the new Disneyland Hotel will greet guest in Tokyo. The stylings of the preliminary designs look like it's going to be a traditional period themed hotel that guests will move through and around to enter the Disneyland Resort. It will mark a dramatic and inviting visual for those traveling down Harbor Boulevard toward Ball Street. Should these plans be approved, the hotel would likely be finished around the time work begins on the Second Phase of DCA.

It's hoped that by the time DCA begins it's second decade that formal plans will have been approved about what to do with the Paradise Pier Hotel. There are several embryonic plans that Imagineers have, but none will seriously be looked at until after the parks Tenth Anniversary. There are two branches of though about this inside WDI. One group inside Glendale want to take the hotel and give it a retheming as the DL Hotel will soon be getting... while others would like to just gut the hotel and start anew. This project won't be moving very fast over the next few years as the Suits and TDA focus on turning DCA from a disappointment into a park worthy of the Disney name.

As for the expansion of Downtown Disney, well work has been proceeding slowly on that as well, but my Bothans would only confirm that the current scheduling looks to be sometime around late 2009/early 2010 before we start to see any major progress in that direction.

California Dreaming...



Now that construction is speeding up in the park, WDI and the operations side of DCA can start to see the headaches that this is costing. Some dates have been pushed back and some have been shifted to later periods, but no one out there should start to think that this is going to be like the Disney Decade where so much is talked about and so little is actually built. It takes time to clean up after Paul Pressler's mess and we are now reaping what he sewed.


The construction of Toy Story "Midway" Mania is continuing along with tests going on and cast members beginning trained for its opening. The main structure itself is almost done. There are several buildings being constructed along the water's edge which will be semi-permanent structures for ODV carts and shaded roof structures that will replace the metal umbrellas that have dotted areas along the pier. The structures will have similar roofs to the ride with the stylized red shingles and metal railing along the top that is made up of silhouettes of Disney characters(Donald, anyone?). The powers that be have decided to forgo the wooden boardwalk that everyone was expecting and instead go with a patterned concrete design. Hopefully Imagineers will not hold back on the replacement of the gold sunbeam railings which are supposed to have a form similar to Victorian arches that will evoke the turn-of-the-century period. The rest of the games and shops should go behind walls in March if they continue ahead with the latest schedule. Everything between the Maliboomer to the Carousel should be done between May and June for soft opening, followed by a big summer bash.

After the fall and before the holiday season the other areas around the pier will start to slowly go behind walls. The construction will continue on until early 2010 with the debut of the Disney's World of Color night time water show. The entire Paradise Pier area should be done with the exception of the Little Mermaid ride which will open the following year along with the remade front entrance.

Speaking of the Mermaid ride, many of you have heard that the attraction will be taking over the bathrooms behind it. That's true. The bathrooms will be placed across the way, but what isn't known is what the stylings of the new bathrooms will be... the area where the old restrooms were and the new bathrooms will go will not be San Francisco anymore. That's right, with the exception of the Palace structure there will not be anymore San Francisco architecture.

How can that be?

DCA 3.0...



Now, these proposals are what the Imagineers are slowly discussing, but everything is blue sky phase and nothing will get approved until around the time Cars Land is completed. The Suits up in Burbank want to make sure that the First Phase has achieved its goal before approving the rest of that 1.1 billion dollar investment. If figures of over 8 million start going through those turnstiles then we can expect that final figure to be a couple hundred million dollars more. That article in the New York Times the other day mentioned the 1.1 billion dollars for the first five years, but that is simply not true. It's Disney's PR Machine trying to give the impression that it is spending over a billion because it's a nice number. The true figure is just under 800 million and no amount of whining to the New York Times will change the reality of what's being spent. That being said... it's still a lot of money and more has been committed should the remade park spark the public's interest.

Now back to that missing San Francisco section... one of the proposals for the Second Phase is to take the Pacific Wharf area and turn it into the San Francisco area of the park. It's one of several proposals that are being pitched for the Wharf area in the Second Phase.

Then the Golden State will get the retheming of the Extreme Sports look and have it replaced with the period "Yosemite" turn-of-the-century national park look that we've all been hearing about. The animatronic creatures native to California will dot the GRR attraction along with a much more elaborately themed Theodore Roosevelt style park area. The Redwood Creek Challenge Trail will be replaced with a new E-Ticket. The proposals are between a natural adventure type attraction and a vintage locomotive type attraction. Neither are themed to Disney cartoons for those of you that are ranting about the "cartooning" of the park.

The Hollywood Backlot area will be themed more toward the 30's Hollywood that they abandoned in the early design phase of the park. There is a proposal to take all the area around the TOT attraction that is used for the road access to the Timon parking lot and transform it into the Golden Era of Hollywood with several ventures and areas that evoke the time when Walt Disney started to make motion pictures and buckle the system. Just as the new front entrance will give visitors a look at what Los Angeles was like when Walt came here in the late 20's, the Hollywood section will continue on that by focusing on the glory of Hollywood in the 30's. The area around the Hyperion Theater will finally become the grand entrance that it was deprived of under Pressler. At least one E-Ticket will be going into the Hollywood section but right now the Bothans don't have credible evidence as to what direction narratively it will go.

The entrance to the area right past the HBL will lead to the jewel of D(C)A... Carsland. The land which will take up 20 percent of the park will have 3 attractions upon opening four years from now... Radiator Springs Racers, Mater's Junkyard Jamboree and Luigi's Roaming Tires. But the new land was designed to hold at least two more attractions. By the Second Phase we should see at least one more D-Ticket or a plussed C-Ticket at the least. The Paradise Pier area will get another E-Ticket during the Second Phase, most likely one of several that have been pitched for the helix next to the entrance of Screamin' or it will have an entrance there with an attraction behind the stage. Should enough money be available expect Goofy's Sky School to be taken down and a true E-Ticket put in its place. And the proposals so far include one attraction that is an original thrill ride and another that is based on a classic character.

By the time the First Phase is over Disney's California(or whatever it's called) Adventure will be a park worthy of being called a Disney park... come the end of the Second Phase the park will be worthy of being next to Disneyland.

We'll try and have another Blue Sky Alert on the Disneyland Park soon and hopefully a BSA on WDW sometime in March. Lips are tight inside the Glendale Kingdom and I'm sorry for the delay in updates...

Patience.

How Much For A Room?

Twenty years ago today, the Walt Disney Company finally got hold of something even Walt Disney couldn't get. What was that you ask?

The Disneyland Hotel.

Wait a minute... it's the "Disneyland" hotel, right? How could they not own their own hotel? Well, if you're a normal Disney Geek/Fan then you may know this, if not, then please bare with me.

It is surprising to people when you tell them that the Disneyland Hotel wasn't always owned by the Mouse. You see when Walt Disney built Disneyland back in 1955, well he spent all the money he had on its construction. He borrowed against his home, he got his brother Roy to get other investors and then had the ABC Network inject a significant amount of cash in return for airing a new show on its fledgling broadcast called, ironically: "Disneyland." Getting a filmmaker like Disney was a premiere feather in their cap. That show, as readers of this blog may have read, is really the worlds first infomercial as it was a primary way for Walt to advertise the coming park that he was building.

Anyway...

Now he put all he had into this place, but he didn't have enough money to build a hotel. Walt knew that there were no hotels with a reasonable distance that would support enough people who came to see his park. So he asked his friend, Jack Wrather to build a hotel near by. Wrather reportedly refused. Disney told rather that if he would build a hotel in Anaheim, he would give him the right to use the Disney name on it... and any other hotel he built in California. And then he sweetened it more by telling Wrather it would be a 99 year contract. And so the Disneyland Hotel was born...

Wrather built a very nice 50's style hotel that was right next door to the theme park. After the 1959 expansion of Disneyland was completed, Walt instructed the Imagineers to draw up plans for the monorail to pull right up to the hotel so that guest could ride straight into the park. A couple years later he did just that. Wrather never built any other hotels in California with Disney's name on them even though he had the right to. And so it went for decades...

Now when Michael Eisner became the Top Cheese at the Mouse he started exploited the properties in Walt Disney World that had been underdeveloped and underused. He started building hotels on the property and planning new parks to take advantage of the enormous potential of the Florida Resort. As he did so, Eisner saw that there was more growth for Disney World's older sister in Anaheim and started WDI working on a plan to expand the property. He was surprised to learn that the Disneyland Hotel was not owned by the company... just like many of you. He had Disney representatives inquire about the property and the Wrather Company, which owned it was not interested in selling. At least not to Disney...

The Mouse soon learned that Wrather was indeed in talks to sell the property, but to a foreign company. Eisner didn't want this to happen and got the company lawyers at work on trying to find a way to stop this. It just so happened that the monorail contract with Disneyland was going to be coming up for renewal soon and Disney's Suits and lawyers used this as it's main leverage. They told the Wrather Company that the license renewal was going to be expensive. Much more expensive.

This through a wrench into Wrather's plans to sell the hotel... once the buyer examined all the books and would discover how costly it would be to have the monorail contract renewed it would be a very unattractive deal. Exactly what the Mouse wanted. Once they announced this the Wrather Company found that prospective buyers were going to be hard to come by...

Except for the Walt Disney Company.

And so they started negotiations to sell the Disneyland Hotel. But the deal that Wrather had been setting up wasn't just for the hotel, but also for his entire company. By the time the deal was done, the Walt Disney Company purchased the Wrather Company and got a lot more than just the Disneyland Hotel that it wanted.

Several properties that came with the first Disney hotel were the Queen Mary in Long Beach and a certain Masked Man that rode a white horse riding throughout the West searching for justice. Now with this out of the way, Michael Eisner began with his intention of expanding the property in Anaheim to a full resort like the one in Florida, albeit a bit smaller. He got the Imagineers to start designing what would eventually be proposed as "WestCOT" for the new Disneyland Resort. But while he was doing this, he also turned his attention to that new property the Mouse owned in Long Beach. He asked the Imagineers to come up with something that could be used there. Possibly some kind of new park right where the Queen Mary was. This was known internally at WDI as the "Long Beach Project" that eventually became the proposed "Port Disney" Resort, that was the inspiration for "Tokyo DisneySEA." Eisney's plan would serve two-fold, it would be a potentially new park in the Southern California area and it would be used as leverage against Anaheim in his plans to build a new park there. He could in essence put both cities against one another to get the best deal possible.

As we all know, WestCot didn't happen. Port Disney didn't happen. The Disneyland Resort did happen. It was built on a vastly smaller scale that the grandiose plans that Eisner and the Imagineers had envisioned though. While WestCot was to be a 3 billion dollar project(in 1990 numbers, my friends) and Port Disney was a 2 billion dollar project(in 1991 numbers), the new Disneyland Resort was an expansion of 1.6 billion dollars(in 1998 dollars). While Anaheim got it's new resort... it was decidedly smaller because of the financial mess that came from Euro Disneyland. Eisner's grand plans crumbled under this burden and the resulting parks and resorts over the next decade would be much more frugal and underwheming. The Disneyland Hotel which was to get a fourth, new tower and massive retheming would instead get a modest makeover. Instead of WestCOT, we got Disney's California Adventure. Built for 650 million, this park was intended to be a modest one, able to make a profit from day one and not having to endure all the headaches Eisner had dealing with Euro Disneyland. First, he dreamed too big and then too small... but that is a story for another day.

Now the Disneyland Resort is in the middle of an expansion that will bring it closer to the original vision that the Imagineers had... not the exact same one, but one that in a decade could be just as lovely. Only a couple decades after it was supposed to be realized. Progress comes, but slowly my friends. The Disneyland Hotel should get that massive makeover that was planned back in the 90's. By spring we should see some form of an announcement and by the end of the decade the hotel will greet visitors with a brand new face... a brand new look.

Now, what became of the other properties. The Queen Mary, well it's still there... but that fabulous resort that was to be constructed around it is now Tokyo Disney Resort's Second Gate. Eisner had the company sell off all the other assets it bought from the Wrather Company to help justify its cost. Even the Lone Ranger was sold to another company. This character that could have joined may others like Peter Pan and Jack Sparrow... but the Masked Man was not wanted. Until now... It appears that Jerry Bruckheimer will be mounting a large scale, big budget version of the character. And since his production deal is with Walt Disney Studios, well guess how costly that is going to be for the Mouse? They're going to be charged many, many times what they sold him for. Oh and that expansion of DCA which is going to cost around 800 million for the First Phase is costing many times what the Suits originally thought it would when they opened the park back in 2001. Now over in Japan, where a version of the Port Disney concept came about... they're not doing any major construction. There's no need... it was built right the first time. They didn't make the mistakes the Mouse did. But they did profit from them. They got the fruit of the Imagineer's labor. California? It got the backlash of Euro Disney.

You have to ask yourself about that. In hindsight, with all this stuff about Michael Eisner wanting to purchase the Disneyland Hotel back from Jack Wrather...

How much did it actually cost for one of those rooms?

Disneyland Hotels In Paint On Canvas...

I've always loved the concept paintings that Imagineers do. Sometimes they actually look better than the attractions/rides/hotels they try to give a peek at. There is concept artwork for even parks like Disneyland Paris, which is in actuality very lovely that looks better than the real thing. There are paintings for DCA that actually make what was to be built look more exciting than what was constructed.

I thought I'd take a moment to reflect on the paintings for the signature hotels at the resorts.

The Disneyland Hotels.

Disneyland Hotel-Anaheim

The irony of this is that Disney hasn't released the artwork for the makeover that is to come for the original Disneyland Hotel. So the work we have for it reflects the towers as they were back in the early 70's... sadly, it still looks very close to this. I think one of the great things about buildings in the Resorts have a "timeless" appeal. What you might call a borrowed sense of permanence. As if they had been around for decades, sometimes centuries. The original hotel, having not been designed by WDI doesn't have that timeless quality. It simply looks stuck in the 70's making it appear dated and out of place.



The Grand Floridian-Orlando

Although WDW doesn't have an official Disneyland Hotel, the GF acts as the primary hotel for the Resort and in essence is a Disneyland Hotel... it one were to call it by another name it would be the "Walt Disney World Hotel". Now this hotel is one of the design decisions that Michael Eisner got right. It evokes the Victorian Era and the coastal retreats of a bygone day. Even though it's supposed to be set on the East Coast, the hotel is really modeled upon a hotel out here on the West Coast. The Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego was the primary influence of Imagineers when they drew up plans for this lovely icon of Walt Disney World. DCA's new Toy Story Midway Mania will look similar to this as well, although the color scheme will be slightly different.



Disneyland Hotel-Paris

When Tony Baxter and crew pitched to Eisner the idea of putting a hotel facade in front of Disneyland Paris the cost was too prohibitive for such a sterile structure. When the idea of putting an actual hotel in front of it became the goal of Imagineers the result was a charming, Victorian hotel with French references that played on a fairy tale-like atmosphere which creates a charming entrance to the European Magic Kingdom. The idea of putting a park at an entrance or right into the parks will play roles in all future models for every future Disney Resort.



Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel

When the Walt Disney Company decided to build it's first theme park in China it built a Disneyland Hotel that had influences from the Grand Floridian, but it also took liberties with influences from other resorts on it's property... particularly the Boardwalk. The HKDH is very detailed, but slightly more understated than it's sister in Orlando and its extravagant cousin in France.



Tokyo Disneyland Hotel

The newest Disneyland Hotel to go up will be in mid-2008 in Tokyo. Tokyo Disneyland has been around since 1983, but until 2000 it only had partner hotels... no official hotels until the Oriental Land Company decided to turn the Park into a Resort. When the Tokyo Disney Resort opened in 2001 it boasted two hotels, the DisneySEA Hotel Mira Costa and the Ambassador Hotel. Two very lovely hotels that offer a first class experience at first class prices... but still no Disneyland Hotel. Last year, ground was broken for the premiere hotel to bare the Disneyland name. When it opens next year guest will be able to walk out the doors and be right in front of the park... just like in Paris. Part of the Resorts parking lot in front of the theme park was used for the hotel. Again, like all the previous Disneyland Hotels(all except the original in Anaheim which in a few years will have an entirely different look from all other Disneyland Hotels) it will be defined by the Victorian Era that so signifies Disney and the magic that surrounds it.

The "Mictorian" theming will occupy every Disneyland Hotel except the Californian one. When the construction gets underway early next year we should see the release of the artwork for the DLH's new look and then we can add its beautiful paintings to this collection.

Disney just released a book about Disney Mountains. Wouldn't it be nice if they devoted a book to all the designs and artwork associated with the hotels? Or more specifically... the Disneyland Hotels?

Blue Sky Alert-America (Anaheim): October Surprise...

Fall is upon us...

No, I'm not talking about the season for everyone... just us Disney Geeks. You see, next month is October. October is the new fiscal start of the new year. Things happen then, not because of funding being approved... but because of funding being disbursed. As I've said before, October will see the beginning of the Walls.

Walls will start going up. They will become a common fixture for guest entering the Resort. Particularly if you're in DCA... over the next few years it'll be hard to walk anywhere without seeing a wall up where something was... or will soon be.

Through the end of the year you'll be able to notice the busy work and come the new year you'll find the pace step up considerably.


A MAGICAL PLACE, A FANTASY PLACE...

So what will be happening behind these walls?

Well as for the resort, the hotels in particular you can already see. If you've visited the resort lately you've already noticed the DVC units under construction at the Grand Californian. These new additions got started a couple weeks ago because they were already approved on a previous budget.

Now as for the Disneyland Hotel and its renovation, well most of that won't be in the October construction. There'll be a little bit of preparation, but the majority of the work on the original DLH will be done after the holidays. It seems the suits don't want the construction to interfere with the massive amount of money it generates during the Christmas season. So the majority of the work and walls will start after new years. The nine to ten month renovation of the first tower would be done just in time for next years holiday activities and we would have our first view of what the others will look like since all three towers will be basically the same. So around a year from now you'll know what the "Fantasy and Dreams" look you've been hearing about will look like. Of course, we might know a little sooner if the publicity that the Resort wants the Anaheim area to get excited about happens. Then they might release some artwork so you can wet your appetites and hopefully so the Suits can influence a few voters for next years ballot measure.

As for the Paradise Pier Hotel there is still nothing concrete, but many inside WDI want to either reshape the look of that building or tear it down altogether. If all the work going into the PP area over the next two years works then you can bet that there will be some really nice blue sky projects for that hotel that get a serious second look.

As for those stories about the GardenWalk? Well, I can say after doing some recon that YES, it's true. But it's nowhere near a done deal. They're in the negotiation phase. Nothing has been signed yet... and this doesn't put a damper on the plans for that hotel near the Paradise Pier Hotel. That hotel should come to light near the end of the decade.



WHERE DREAMS FINALLY COME TRUE...

Over in Disneyland, Tony Baxter is hard at work trying to make sure the end of the decade goes out with a bang... literally. Preliminary work begins on a Wild-West show more than likely to follow "The Lone Ranger", but time will tell as the script for Disney's big summer 2010 blockbuster isn't even done... right now it's blue sky possibilities with an eye toward matching the release date of the film. Things are evolving slowly on this one, Pilgrim.

Over in the land of tomorrow... nice segway, don't ya think? Much is going on with the area that's supposed to look like what tomorrow will resemble. Or will it look like a long time ago... in a galaxy far, far away? It depends on how cozy the Mouse wants to get with George. There are plans that have been developed that focus on the Star Wars building in the renovation of the ride, but if the Mouse can work it out you may see a great deal more of the that Galactic Empire. Right now the current contract for Innoventions runs about two years and it is after that that the plans for a new E-Ticket will commence. One plan is to gut the attraction and give it an all new facade, the other is to bring in the bulldozers and start anew... we won't know until early next year what plan wins out... but yes we are getting a new Star Tours. The Imagineers have worked up some really creative things to show George Lucas and thus will begin the mending of relationships that have long been left tattered.

The plans for Fantasmic 2.0 have taken the back burner for right now, not that they don't plan on enhancing the wonderful night time show, but the desires are to shape up parts of the park that need it. Fantasmic really isn't drawing lesser crowds so don't expect to see an update till the beginning of the new decade. 2011, perhaps? That date is not for certain as plans could change, but as of now it's looking more like a target date for F2.0... The area where the Fantasyland theater has been is getting a great deal of attention as they plans to put a new enclosed theater in are becoming more crystalized. Expect this to possibly come about by spring/summer 2010.

One thing for sure is that Disneyland will be changing over the next few years and it's all for the better. Tony Baxter is focusing on making the turn of the decade a really exciting experience at the Happiest Place on Earth.


A MICKEY NOT SO HIDDEN...

Across the Esplanade in the ever changing DCA...

Work is moving ahead on the transformation of Paradise Pier. Come June of next year the center of the pier will look dramatically different. When Toy Story MIDWAY Mania opens up the detail the ride has will stand in stark contrast to the rest of the area. Notice I said "Midway"... well my sources insist that it will be called this. WDW will not get their way and change the name of our ride just so they can have uniformity according to at least three separate Bothans. When guests wall through the cream colored building with a red roof they'll get to see a very elaborate D-Ticket ride that is meant to emphasis rides for the entire family. Something that has been lacking for the most part since the park opened up.

Another thing that will change is detail to be added to the buildings around Ariel's Grotto. The structures will be dialed back to an earlier time period. The bottom section of restaurant will become enclosed giving climate control for thankful guest on hot days like we had here last week and give the cast members a lot of difficulty when trying to clean them... but hey, it'll look beautiful to us, right?

The rest of the area will likely be behind walls within the next year or so... the final look of the pier won't be done until late 2009. By this time at least one other E-Ticket will be deep under construction and another D-Tickey as well should be done. The Maliboomer is slated for removal, but the concepts to take its place are not finalized yet. There will be another D or E-Ticket that will eventually be constructed in the helix to the left of the carousel. If you don't know what a helix is... well, it's the round section of a roller-coaster track. The Maliboomer is inside one and the other is taken up by grass and palm trees right now... but that may soon change.

Another key fixture of the area likely to go is the sun face on the Sun Wheel. Current proposals are to take the face off and replace it with a Mickey Mouse face. This face would be used to hide various electronics and lasers that will be projected from it during the water show in 2009.

And speaking of that water show... the name of the show is "Disney's World of Color". There is no "Wonderful" in the title no matter what you hear on other sites. The experts they have who handled the Bellagio are helping test the jets that will power a water show so tall you will not see the Sun Wheel if you are standing near Golden Dreams.

And speaking of that... I know Al spilled the beans about the "Classic Disney" character that would be going into that section. The current plans I've been told are not an exact copy of the old proposal that was designed by Baxter. Lasseter is having a good deal of input as to how this ride will work in this area. The Golden Dreams building will be torn down and replaced with only the Palace structure remaining as an exit to the ride. Nice Exit, don't you think?

As for the ride that takes Mulholland Madness' place, well I know everyone says that it is based on "Ratatouille" but it's not a done deal. The current plans are between that and an altered variation of the Crush Coaster in Paris... not an exact copy, but close. The decision hasn't been made as to which will get the green light, but we'll know soon.

As for the Golden State... the plans involve the layering of the GRR area with the turn of the century National Park look. This won't happen for at least a year, although the retheming of the Condor Flats area to blend in with the Northern California image is being looked at for a go sometime in late 2008/early 2009.

There is a proposal to remove the Trail area in the park that serves as DCA's Tom Sawyer Island type-area and replace it with an E-Ticket ride. While I welcome the addition of an E-Ticket to the Golden State, I really think the Trails area is one of the few that screams out Disney. There are proposals on the table for more than one new E-Ticket in GS over the next decade so this area is going to be very busy once this expansion is done in a decade.

The majority of these changes are to take place during the first half of the plan. Most will be done by 2011, with a few projects that will be finished up in 2012... now if all this makes the attendance rise to acceptable levels the remaining five years will be icing on the cake. Trust me folks, if you show your loyalty with what is to come by DCA's tenth you'll get an even bigger surprise over the next five years... so buy those annual passes now and when you go in the park start buying merchandise out the wazzoo... it'll bolster the Suits in Anaheim and Burbank to grow some testicular fortitude.

The Hollywood Backlot section will finally start looking like... get this...

Hollywood. The plans are to make it look more like an old Hollywood experience and less of a backlot experience. The plan to enclose the Hyperion will be done by 2010. The area around it will be dressed like a 1930's walk-through with many little details that make a Disney fan giggle. The old vehicles sputtering through will only accentuate the experience.

The makeover of Sunshine Plaza will start in 2008 and last throughout most of the year, if not a little more. By the time the tarps and walls disappear well notice that 20's Los Angeles Walt once knew. The area around the Golden Gate will be much more layered and covered to be like DL's berm so that people outside the park cannot get a free view inside the park. Not that the buildings won't make the entrance look much more enticing. Lastly, the gaudy letters that spell out California for anyone who can't quite figure what the park is about will leave giving guests a clear view of the new entrance. The decision hasn't been made yet if Whoopi's Golden Dreams will make it to the front entrance... several inside WDI realize the film is flawed and want it to just go away. By early next year after the dust has cleared, we'll know who won.

Well, that's it for this time folks. Sorry for the lag in updates but my Bothans are finding it tough with all the NDA and traps being laid to find the spies. Hope you enjoyed it...

A note, many of the Bothans I talk to have notice that Disney is very much employing "Apple" and "Pixar" type tactics. Information has been planted to nab suspected leakers and a couple of my Bothan sources have come up against these kind of tactics and it makes it very difficult to discern what information is bogus and what is real. That being said, I can assure you after checking with several sources the majority of what you have heard here is planned and will be funded. Certain things will change as time goes by but most of the ideas that we've talked about will be seen before you know it. Trust me... around the tenth anniversary of DCA the plan will come into view and you'll start to see what Uncle John and his warriors from the Glendale Kingdom have in store for us.

And that will only be the beginning of the decade... wait till you see what lies ahead for the next... wait a minute. I'm getting ahead of myself there. We'll have to save something for later.

Stay Tuned for more alerts.

Disneyland Hotel: Fantasy, Magic and Dreams?

It appears my earlier post about the different Disneyland Hotels around the world now has a sequel... or at least an interesting question at the end of it.

WDI has a serious proposal to radically retheme the original Disneyland Hotel's three towers. The plan calls for the structures to be changed from the inside out...

The renovation is supposed to begin late this year/early next and is expected to last almost three years. When through it should look nothing like it does now. That's around a year per tower and one of the towers will be designed with family suites. It appears that Mickey Mouse Penthouse was more than just a YOMD promotion. It was testing grounds for these designs.

The plan hasn't been approved yet, but should be signed off by the end of April if everything goes well. As far as what it will look like. It's been described as Fantasy, Magic and Dreams and is supposed to be much more in line with the Disneyland Park whose name it uses. The emphasis is on the fantasy and one Imagineer told me when asked if it was going to appear like Excaliber in Las Vegas said no, but you're heading in the right direction. And it will look amazing...

Hmmm... interesting. Hopefully artwork will be released when construction starts.

Disneyland (World) Hotels...

Since yesterday I was comparing different versions of the Tower of Terror attraction, I thought it might be interesting to compare the disneyland hotels around the world.

Starting backwards, we'll present you with the new Tokyo Disneyland Hotel. It opens in April, 2008. It follows the Victiorian model that is used for much of Disney theme park design. While it looks simular to the other resort hotels, it has some unique aspects of it's own. The center dome and blue roof being the main difference.

Here we have the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel. Again, this one follows the Victorian motif and you can clearly see that it was modeled after Walt Disney World's Grand Floridian. Now if they can just get enough guest to fill it...

This is the Disneyland Hotel Paris. It's lovely, and has the great feature of being the first Disneyland Hotel to be situated right in front of the park(Tokyo Disneyland Hotel will do this as well).

And here is the Grand Floridian, the hotel that was the great inspiration for all the others. I know it doesn't contain the "Disneyland Hotel" name, it isn't even called "Walt Disney World Hotel", but it is considered the flagship hotel of WDW. So even without the name, it technically IS their version of the Disneyland Hotel.

And last, we have the original. The Disneyland Hotel in California. This one was built before Disney owned the hotel and it shows in the design. There is very little "Disney" in the original hotel. My hope is than they build a new Disneyland Hotel(Mictorian style) and then tear this one down and expand Downtown Disney where it once was/is...

Right now, we know that the Grand Californian is going to get an expansion of DVC units. There is talk of a new hotel behind DCA and even some rumors about DVC or hotel units inside the park. But no talk about giving us a distinctive "Disney" Disneyland Hotel...