WHAT WILL DISNEYLAND BUILD FIRST NOW THAT ITS $1.9 BILLION EXPANSION PLAN HAS BEEN APPROVED?

This beloved franchise will likely be the Anaheim, Calif. theme park’s newest addition following DisneylandForward's approval on May 7

Disneyland is expanding its horizons!

Now that Disney’s $1.9 billion expansion plan has officially been approved, fans can look forward to new additions coming to the Anaheim, Calif. theme park in the near future. With numerous beloved franchises still missing from Disneyland, park guests may be questioning what exactly the company will get started on first.

While it hasn’t officially been confirmed by Disney, the answer is likely a new Avatar-themed land.

The company’s CEO Bob Iger first teased the idea of an Avatar “experience” coming to the California resort during Disney's Q1 FY23 Earnings Results Webcast in February 2023. The meeting came after the huge success of Avatar: The Way of Water, which was released in December 2022.

Iger later clarified that the “experience” would actually be a whole land during the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference in March 2024.

"We have one Avatar-based land, Pandora, in Florida. We're going to put a second one in California," he said at the time. Disney World’s Pandora – The World of Avatar opened in 2017 at Animal Kingdom in Orlando, Fla.

A month later during the annual shareholders meeting in April, the company revealed the first “possible” rendering of the land in which guests will be able to fully immerse themselves in the magical world of Avatar.

During the shareholders meeting, Iger called it a “first look at creative inspiration for a possible new destination,” adding that the “Imagineers have been hard at work."

Also in April, Disneyland Resort President Ken Potrock confirmed that the Avatar land was at the “top of the list” while discussing the DisneylandForward proposal during an Anaheim City Council meeting, according to the Orange County Register.

“We’ve all heard about the Avatar experience that’s at the top of the list for Disneyland Resort,” Potrock said. “But what we can do with this experience regarding the size and scope is inherently influenced by DisneylandForward.”

During Disney’s Q2 FY24 Earnings Results Webcast on May 7, Iger further teased that the new attraction is coming.

"We’re incredibly excited for the many potential new stories our guests could experience at Walt’s original theme park, including the much-anticipated opportunity to bring Avatar to Disneyland," he said during the webcast.

PEOPLE reached out to Disney for comment on the possible new land but has not yet received a response.

DisneylandForward is a plan that calls for major developments at the park, including new attractions, lands, lodging, entertainment, shopping and dining. The proposal, which promises not to expand the park’s acreage or square footage, had to go through multiple Anaheim City Council meetings in order to receive final approval.

On March 11, the Anaheim City Council Planning Commission approved zoning and planning changes for the proposal, followed by the city council’s initial unanimous approval of the plan on April 17.

The May 7 city council vote officially marked the final approval that DisneylandForward needed to proceed. However, changes can’t go into effect for another 30 days after that, according to a press release from the City of Anaheim.

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Disney has committed to investing at least $1.9 billion over the next 10 years in order to make these changes within approximately four decades, per the City of Anaheim’s official website.

In addition to Avatar, Disney has teased the possibility of introducing other beloved themes at Disneyland, including Frozen, Coco, Black Panther, Tangled, Peter Pan, Zootopia, Toy Story and Tron.

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2024-05-09T20:45:25Z dg43tfdfdgfd