Bidding War Looms for Anaheim, Long Beach

The Walt Disney Co., which has for months tempted Long Beach with plans of building a new amusement park around the Queen Mary, announced Friday that it is also considering Anaheim for the billion-dollar attraction.

“It depends a lot on which community wants us more,” Walt Disney Co. Chairman Michael D. Eisner said.

The unexpected announcement, made during a press conference in Anaheim, sets up a bidding war between the two cities for a second Disneyland of sorts, a theme park that promises to boost the local tax base, provide 10,000 jobs and bring the tourists swarming.

“Here I have the first opportunity before Long Beach to say the answer is ‘yes, yes, yes!’ ” Anaheim Mayor Fred Hunter said afterward.

“The mayor of Anaheim can say ‘yes, yes, yes’ to Disney, but he can’t say ‘yes, yes, yes’ to an open checkbook,” Long Beach Vice Mayor Wallace Edgerton countered in an interview later, pointing out that neither city is equipped to give Disney a blank check when they have not been told how much the project might cost them.

Long Beach officials have been meeting with Disney executives behind closed doors for months, discussing a nautical park that would wrap around the Queen Mary and Spruce Goose attractions in the Port of Long Beach.

Eisner would not give details of Disney’s plans for the theme or size of the new attraction, saying it depends on which site is ultimately selected.

Disney, which has spent millions of dollars studying construction of a $1-billion theme park in Long Beach, was expected to announce this month whether it planned to make a commitment. Instead, Eisner tossed the ball in the air, saying the city that presents the best plan for handling traffic and parking for the massive project can close the deal.

Anaheim officials suggested that they would do almost anything to win, including providing off-site transportation and parking to move people in and out of the new park.

“Anaheim is ready to cut any deal we’ll have to,” City Councilman Irv Pickler said. “If we haven’t given that message to Disneyland, we are going to give it to Disneyland real soon.”

Long Beach officials said they have considered building an ocean landfill, offering tax exemptions and constructing parking garages to appease Disney. But they have moved with caution, vowing to first study the planned park’s impact on the city’s economy, traffic flow, parking and quality of life before deciding how much they will spend to bring the amusement park giant to town.

“We will not allow ourselves to do something foolish because of what may or may not be some competitive bidding,” Long Beach Mayor Ernie Kell said. “It has got to be a plus for us as well as Disneyland. If we end up with more traffic and more smog--those days are gone.”

Within hours of the announcement, the competitors were sizing each other up.

Anaheim has nearly four times as many hotels and motels citywide and its convention center is nine times larger, city officials noted.

Long Beach, on the other hand, has the 710 Freeway, one of the least traveled corridors in the Los Angeles area ending at the Queen Mary’s door, and a light rail line on the way.

Kell contended that his city holds another trump card--the Pacific Ocean.

“You have to have real good vision to see the ocean from Anaheim,” Kell said.

The announcement came 24 hours after Disney executives briefed Kell and other top administrators in Long Beach about their plans for developing the 55-acre Queen Mary site that Disney now leases and an additional 256 acres of surrounding water on which it holds a lease option.

Pulling Anaheim into the fray did not faze Long Beach officials, who said Disney negotiators are “extremely shrewd” and are maneuvering to make the best deal possible by playing one city off the other.

“Hey, it’s business, man,” Long Beach City Councilman Les Robbins said. “May the best city win.”

Times staff writer Mary Lou Fulton in Anaheim contributed to this story.