Disneyland Resort (DL, DLR, DCA) Discussion Thread

[Jew]

The time/expense involved with modifying an existing structure vs. building a new one is the only reason I could think they would want to salvage the building.

[COASTER FREAK 11]

I will be absolutely shocked if they save the building.

[PeoplemoverMatt]

If the entire building is gutted, there's a ton of space in there. A Star Wars walkthrough attraction that had immersive rooms and reveals similar to the Narnia walkthrough at DHS would be great. Narnia wasn't everybody's cup of tea, but something akin to that with Star Wars would make people go nuts.

 

Of course they could just put a big sign that said "Star Wars" on the side of the building, call it a day, and people would still go nuts.

[BelizeIt]

Well Disney wants to invest in Anaheim........What does that mean???

When they opened DCA, people thought the $Billion dollar investment was for a new park??? But it also included the cost of the Grand California Hotel...which was considerable to say the least.

When my brother and I visited DCA a week before it open to the general public, we did the (entire) park in about 3 hours....because it was underwhelming to say the least. We left saying good luck with that. (and for many years DCA underperformed)

Now once again Disney has said we want to invest. OK...but the parking garage you ((need)) to build will take up how much of the budget? (those structures are expensive investments), and anything else (innovations/improvements) will be after that. Disney has the creative minds and financial resources to truly enhance its west coast parks, especially with the major acquisitions to the Disney empire(Star Wars etc..) The imaginers have endless possibilities to work with.

 

The current Mayor Tait, supported the current gate-tax % ban when he was on the city counsel back in 1996. But now that he is Mayor, he says he is 'wiser' and realizes that the city faces an estimated $500 million unfunded pension obligation. (That's huge!) So even with all of the Disney success and growth, the city of Anaheim is facing a major financial shortfall. So they may need to impose some type of gate tax, even if Disney opposes the idea. Because even with all of the success of the parks, Anaheim is behind in its financial obligations. I understand that Disney wants to up the price of admission year after year as they have done, and not have to include a 5% etc tax on top of that as well. But the Anaheim has its needs as well....so we'll see.

 

But as others have stated, Disney already has plans in place for park enhancements regardless of whether or not the city imposes a gate tax. Disney needs to remain competitive especially with Universal adding the Harry Potter juggernaut next year.

[COASTER FREAK 11]

^Here is the article from the OC Register that has the Mayor's statements. Pensions aside, he makes very valid points as to why this is a bad idea. Also, keep in mind there is currently no entertainment/gate tax in Anaheim, and there is not currently one being considered. Disney is doing this move to try and safeguard themselves from any possible future tax. Also, unlike the previous agreement that was for 20 years, the current proposed one is for 60 YEARS! I feel Disney is way out of line here and I think the Mayor is making the right decision for the reasons he gives.

 

www.ocregister.com

 

Disney will continue to invest because they the have to. They don't have the leverage they are claiming to have.

[Jew]

^And if Disney gets it, you better believe that Arte Moreno will add it to the list of things he demands to stay in Anaheim. I'm sure the Ducks will also follow suit when their lease at the Pond is up as well.

 

It's bad business for the City. Disney was going to spend that money regardless.

[COASTER FREAK 11]

Completely agree.

 

Whats really silly is this excerpt from the Mayor: "Certainly, $1.5 billion sounds like a major investment, but we’re not talking about a $1.5 billion gift to Anaheim. We’re talking about a capital investment in their own business. "

 

Disney has zero leverage here; Its not like Disney can move out of Anaheim. But as an Anaheim resident, I don't want a new entertainment tax to cover just pensions. There a lot of other stuff the city can use the money for.

[Jew]

^I think the reasoning behind that is that the money has to come from somewhere. Either more debt or somewhere else in the budget. An entertainment tax is an easy target because it doesn't penalize residents of the city---it's largely funded by tourists.

[COASTER FREAK 11]

So, Michael Colglazier, the current Disneyland President, has a rebuttal of sorts to the Mayor's comments on the other article. Personally, his comments do nothing to sway my opinion toward Disney's case. Also, there seems to be some sort of information disconnect because they describe the terms and conditions differently. Still, I feel Disney should offer up more then saying they will invest more in their own company. Also, even if Disney did get taxed, everyone expects the tax to get passed along to the guest anyways...so it doesn't impact them at all.

 

Here is Michael's response:

 

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/anaheim-669931-disneyland-city.html

[Jew]

20 years ago Disney had all the leverage: they owned the Ducks, Angels, and sat on lots of undeveloped land pre-DCA. Pull those teams out of the city and sell off all their un-used land instead of building DCA/DtD/Grand Californian and Anaheim is a totally different city...

 

Now it's a totally different situation.

[BelizeIt]

Well the public discussion on the possible 'gate tax' happens tonight. (Tuesday) But from the local articles I've read, the outcome has already been decided. It looks like a 3 to 2 vote in favor of Disney, so no new gate taxes are likely for decades..... or as the Mayor said 'generations' to come.

The three council members voting ((for)) Disney, received considerable financial contributions from Disney to their election campaigns......so no real surprise on their voting decision.

But that's politics and so it goes..........

Disney ((would have)) invested that money in the parks regardless of any gate tax, its in their interest to do so.

But as the Mayor said, not having the ((option)) of a gate tax will likely increase the taxes upon local Anaheim residents rather than tourists.

We all hate taxes, but the Disney funded council members are being short sighted in their decision tonight.

Personally it doesn't effect me at all, I don't live in Anaheim. But I can see the future financial problems that the city will face do to a decision like this.

Edited July 8, 2015 by BelizeIt

[COASTER FREAK 11]

As a resident of Anaheim, I pray that Disney does bring in enough tax revenue to not need to increase local city taxes. Which is possible.

[Jew]

What are the city taxes in Anaheim?

 

24.5 million guests visited DL and DCA last year. That's a lot of potential revenue, whether its a flat rate of $1 or a percentage. Someone has to pay to maintain and upgrade the infrastructure around Disney, the additional city services needed because of the crowds disney brings, and so on...

[COASTER FREAK 11]

Our sales Tax is 8%, which isn't terrible compared to other OC/LA cities, but still already high. There's also a 15% bed tax for hotels within the resort/platinum triangle. Not that I pay the bed tax, but I don't want that to go up either.

 

Last night, Disney won. With a 3-2 vote for extending the agreement for 30 years with a $1 Billion investment into the parks. And they get an additional 15 year extension of they invest an additional $500 million.

 

Here is the OC Register Article www.ocregister.com

 

Now, they cant do a gate tax for Disney, but does anyone know if the city can make other taxes later if needed? Like a special Resort Sales Tax, Triangle Tax (Platinum Triangle), ect? Not really sure how taxes are created in this case. I'm just wondering if the city can still do other future taxes that doesn't affect residents directly, if needed.

 

I am just surprised that Disney got away with this deal without having any additional provisions added to the agreement. Such as donations, local funding of public projects, or even helping to pay for the awful street car system.

[Jew]

^This is all you need to know:

 

Last year, Disney gave the maximum $1,900 to all the incumbents running in Anaheim’s city elections. Disney gave an additional $776,000 to four political action committees whose campaign spending included a combined $476,000 to help Murray and former Councilwoman Gail Eastman.

 

According to that same article, the projects are expected to add only $15 mil/year to Anaheim's tax rolls by Disney estimates.

 

In other words: Anaheim got screwed. $15 million seems like a lot now, but I suspect if current crowds continue...the city is going to be spending a lot more on city services to deal with it all.

 

My guess is they'll try a parking tax or some other way to squeeze money out of the tourism industry or someone will sue to overturn this if/when the need arises for those taxes.

[Hilltopper39]

Sounds like a starting point for True Detective Season 3, after the election a missing body turns up in Fantasyland leading an unveiling of a deep dark corrupt world that lies below the Castle.....

[PeoplemoverMatt]

^This is all you need to know:

 

Last year, Disney gave the maximum $1,900 to all the incumbents running in Anaheim’s city elections. Disney gave an additional $776,000 to four political action committees whose campaign spending included a combined $476,000 to help Murray and former Councilwoman Gail Eastman.

 

According to that same article, the projects are expected to add only $15 mil/year to Anaheim's tax rolls by Disney estimates.

 

In other words: Anaheim got screwed. $15 million seems like a lot now, but I suspect if current crowds continue...the city is going to be spending a lot more on city services to deal with it all.

 

My guess is they'll try a parking tax or some other way to squeeze money out of the tourism industry or someone will sue to overturn this if/when the need arises for those taxes.

 

That paints a rather bleak picture. You're basically saying the 3 council members who voted yes intentionally screwed over their city because Disney funded their re-election. Now Anaheim won't have the tax money it needs to deal with the additional crowds that come from this expansion. From the article, things don't seem that bleak to me.

 

According to the article, Disney paid $56 million in taxes to Anaheim last year, and apparently everything's been fine. A $15 million addition is a more than 25% increase - a fairly big jump. There would have to be a rather enormous corresponding jump in city services to negate or even overcome that increase. When you consider that another parking structure is supposedly going to be included, I have a hard time imagining that's going to happen. If the parking structure isn't built, and police need to be called in to handle snarled traffic on a regular basis, or other business suffer because of choked roads, then that might be a possibility.

 

Let's also not forget the kind of people who were opposed to the deal:

 

“Please let’s step back,” said Jose Moreno, a local Latino activist and former president of the Anaheim City school board.

 

“Let’s not get the same deal because we’re in a different economic context,” Moreno said. “Disney doesn’t pay a living wage in Anaheim.”

 

When this kind of ridiculousness abounds, I wouldn't really expect them to know what a "good deal" for the city even is.

[Jew]

That paints a rather bleak picture. You're basically saying the 3 council members who voted yes intentionally screwed over their city because Disney funded their re-election. Now Anaheim won't have the tax money it needs to deal with the additional crowds that come from this expansion. From the article, things don't seem that bleak to me.

 

Isn't that how politics work? $470,000 is a small price to pay so Disney can charge that extra money for themselves instead of having to collect it for the city.

 

According to the article, Disney paid $56 million in taxes to Anaheim last year, and apparently everything's been fine. A $15 million addition is a more than 25% increase - a fairly big jump. There would have to be a rather enormous corresponding jump in city services to negate or even overcome that increase. When you consider that another parking structure is supposedly going to be included, I have a hard time imagining that's going to happen. If the parking structure isn't built, and police need to be called in to handle snarled traffic on a regular basis, or other business suffer because of choked roads, then that might be a possibility.

 

I think the mayor's op-ed said it best:

 

"It is not that I think we need this tax today. However, it is a mistake to tie the hands of future voters and taxpayers. We have no crystal ball. What we do know is that the city has several major financial pressures looming, including $560 million in unfunded pension liabilities and $160 million in unfunded medical retirement obligations. The council majority, against my wishes, voted to borrow $200 million to expand the Convention Center. We cannot anticipate the needs of our city in 10, 20 or 30 years. And who are we to decide what people who aren’t even born yet will want to do with their votes and taxpayer money?"

 

The projected $15 million is Disney's estimate, so taking that at face value...$15 million/year AFTER everything is done really doesn't seem like enough to cover the cities obligations while also meeting the increased demands the continued projected growth of the area would bring. The growth wouldn't be limited to just police and fire, all other civil services would also presumably be impacted as well. Hypothetically more jobs would mean more people moving to the city, which means an increase of garage collection, education, etc. as well.

 

DCA and DLR saw a combined 24 million guests last year...a tax of just $1 would already almost double the projected amount of revenue Disney is claiming.

 

The living wage argument is kind of absurd, but the guy does have a point: Disney is going to make billions from their ability to raise ticket prices on their own instead of having that increase be due to a tax and residents of the city aren't going to see any more than $15 million of that. If they can dump $776,000 just into PAC's that supported their causes, it's fair to reason they can contribute more to the city that supports them.

 

Ultimately I don't think we've heard the end of this issue...but for now I think the city got a terrible deal.

[COASTER FREAK 11]

This photo was taken today by MintCrocodile. It shows what could possibly be the new Luigi's ride vehicle. It seems the vehicle is facing away from us and the high part is the wind shield.

[DBJ]

Thanks for the photo. Good to see some progress on the attraction!

[COASTER FREAK 11]

So, here comes another Limited times game from the Disneyland resort.

 

Link

 

 

Looking for Mickey Quest!

July 3 | By: Disney Theme Park Merchandise

 

 

Have you heard the exciting news? A new limited-time adventure, Looking for Mickey Quest, is coming to the Disneyland® Resort this July! How do you take part in this challenging adventure you ask?

Two Ways to Play and How it Works!

There will be a Looking for Mickey Quest themed to both Disneyland park and to Disney California Adventure park. The locations, clues, hidden Mickeys and surprises for each Quest will vary. Purchase a Quest Guide from one of the parks and follow the clues that will direct you to the location where each Hidden Mickey can be found. Once you arrive at the location, scratch off the answer to reveal if you have found the Hidden Mickey. Whether your answers are right or wrong, return with your Quest Guide to the redemption location to pick up a surprise.

 

Disneyland® park

The Disneyland® Park “Looking for Mickey Quest” Guide has twenty (20) questions and can be purchased for $19.95, plus tax at the following locations: Disneyana, Gag Factory, Pieces of Eight and Star Trader. Quest Guide comes with a specially themed lanyard. Available while supplies last. No discounts apply. Limit TWO (2) per Guest.

 

Disney California Adventure® park

The Disney California Adventure park “Looking for Mickey Quest” Guide has ten (10) questions and can be purchased for $12.95, plus tax at the following locations: Elias & Co., Off the Page, Oswald’s, Radiator Springs Curios and Tees, Hats and Tattoos. Quest Guide comes with a specially themed lanyard. Available while supplies last. No discounts apply. Limit TWO (2) per Guest.

 

Whether you choose to search for the hidden Mickey’s or not, return with your Looking for Mickey Quest Guide to the respective redemption location before July 31, 2015, to pick up your surprise. Note: The Quest Guide must be redeemed at the redemption location within that specific park. The surprise will vary based on which quest and which park you decide to conquer.

 

-Disneyana in Disneyland® park

-Elias & Co. at Disney California Adventure® park

Don’t forget to mark your calendars to join the hunt as it begins July 16, 2015!

 

Theme park admission is not included, however is required to participate in this event. Event is not subject to discounts. Event information subject to restrictions and change without notice.

[dylanreich]

So how much is the tab up to now for Flying Tires, $200mil?

[COASTER FREAK 11]

I dont think we have gotten any estimates on the cost of the new attraction. They don't have ti build a queue, or any Cars Land structures. Just retrofit the ride system into something new. But I doubt we'll ever know a real answer to this.

[dylanreich]

With all the money that's gone into this ride I wish they'd retrofit the ride system into something new for a certain ride in Adventureland. By that I don't mean new ride vehicles or effects for that matter, basically I mean re-programming or doing whatever electronic work needs to be done to make all of the effects work consistently. Oh, and retrofitting that door effect...

Edited July 13, 2015 by dylanreich

[Nrthwnd]

^ But hasn't the Jungle Cruise had enough done to it, already?