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Disney previews major theme park expansions in Florida and California

2024-08-13T13:04:00-04:00

Disney’s magical footprint is about to expand through a new strategic initiative at its long-established Orlando and Anaheim theme parks.

The company’s largest-ever expansion of Walt Disney World in Florida is reportedly worth $17 billion and will unfold over a period of 15 years to cover 17,000 acres. The Orlando project will deliver Disney’s first-ever suspended roller coaster design and, among other attractions, a new section dedicated to villains.

Rendering courtesy of Walt Disney Co.

Back in California, Disneyland’s Avengers Campus will double in size, while the popular Avatar franchise will get its own dedicated destination nearby. It is unclear whether this is part of the $1.9 billion DisneylandForward expansion project announced in March.

Rendering courtesy of Walt Disney Co.

Disney Experiences Chairman D’Amato said, “Work is well underway on all of the new projects we announced, and fans will start to see them come to life in the near future.”

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First California High-Speed Rail segment in LA County gets final EIR approvals

2024-07-09T11:18:00-04:00

The penultimate segment of the forthcoming California High-Speed Rail connection from Southern California to the San Francisco Bay Area has been approved for construction. The stretch begins at Palmdale in northern LA County and connects to Burbank. It will be followed by the final link between Downtown Los Angeles and Anaheim.

ABC7 first reported the milestone and said: “[O]fficials noted that the Palmdale-Burbank section will be largely underground, with four separate tunnels accounting for roughly 30 of the 38 miles. The tunnels will run beneath the Acton community and through the Angeles National Forest. Travel time between Palmdale and Burbank is expected to be about 17 minutes on the high-speed train.”

The initial renderings of the first four Foster + Partners and Arup station terminals were released last month. As per ABC, work is already underway at 25 sites across t...

Disneyland’s $1.9 billion campus expansion moves toward approval

2024-03-14T11:54:00-04:00

The LA Times and other local outlets are reporting on the progress made by Disney towards eventually realizing an expansion of the existing plot of Disneyland, a move billed as generating multiple community benefits for the city of Anaheim.

The $1.9 billion DisneylandForward project does not call specifically for any new construction and will be executed within the resort's existing 500-acre campus. According to an assessment of the plan from the Disney Tourist Blog, “DisneylandForward is the company’s pitch to the public and City of Anaheim for more flexibility in the master plans from the 1990s in order to give the company greater autonomy over what to build and where.”

In line with founder Walt Disney's vision for a constant expansion of the resort, the plan presents the potential for both an "immersive new theme park" and a "new kind" of entertainment district possibly containing a hotel and cluster of retail, dining, and entertainment plots to be created in the east and west co...

Anaheim Ducks to convert stadium parking lots into mixed-use district

2020-06-26T16:56:00-04:00

The owners of the Anaheim Ducks professional hockey team have unveiled OCVibe, a vision that could bring a new concert arena, 825,000 square feet of office spaces, 2,800 residential units, and 30 acres of public open spaces to the areas immediately surrounding Anaheim's Honda Center.

Currently organized as a sea of parking lots designed to serve the stadium, the project site also includes the ARTIC rail station, which is set to receive California High Speed Rail service in 2033. An existing office block will grow to include a new 20-story office tower. The offices will be surrounded by apartment blocks organized around the existing street grid.

The western edge of the site is set to feature open spaces that connect to the adjacent Santa Ana River. Meanwhile, the opposite side of the 115-acre site is wrapped in parking structures containing 5,800 parking stalls that face California State Route 57.

An architect has not been named. The project is slated to take shape in phases follow...

Delivery of high-speed rail between Los Angeles and Anaheim could be sped up

2019-10-09T15:30:00-04:00

Ridership on Metrolink would double between Burbank and Anaheim, relieving freeway congestion, and new high-speed electric trains would slash emissions along the route under a plan that would shift up to $5.5 billion from the bullet train project in the Central Valley to Southern California.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the California High-Speed Rail Authority could funnel a portion of the $20.5 billion already earmarked for the state's new train system toward a high-speed link connecting Southern California.

The funding would improve regional commuter rail services offered by Metrolink, which operates 528 miles of track across the area, by boosting train speeds up to 125 miles-per-hour along certain stretches of the route.

SPF:a unveils orange tree-inspired design for Anaheim Performing Arts Center in California

2018-02-19T19:44:00-05:00

After 20 years in the heart of Anaheim, California, the City National Grove of Anaheim venue will soon become the Anaheim Performing Arts Center. Today, SPF:a from Culver City unveiled their scheme for the new $500 million project.

For starters, the 500,000-square-foot campus will feature three theaters: a 2,000-seat concert hall, a 1,700-seat opera hall, and a 600-seat black box theatre. It'll also include a museum tower with an observatory set on a 24-foot podium, an outdoor amphitheater, a convention hall, office space, two restaurants, and lecture rooms.

Image courtesy of SPF:a.

The Anaheim Performing Arts Center in Anaheim, California by SPF:a. Image courtesy of SPF:a.

Featuring concentric circles and perforated copper-anodized cladding on the main structures, the campus pays tribute to Anaheim's agricultural history. After Anaheim's vineyards succumbed to disease in the late 19th century, the city invested in citriculture. “Anaheim’s socioeconomic drive...