Disney’s 21st-Century Transit Plan Rides on Old Standby--the Car

The Walt Disney Co.’s vision of transportation in the 21st Century is startlingly old news: Automobiles ensconced in high-rise garages.

But there are several new twists to the transportation plan unveiled Wednesday that could minimize the impact of millions of new visitors to an expanded Disneyland.

Motorists would pour off the Santa Ana Freeway directly into three high-rise parking garages within blocks of the park, bypassing city streets and reducing congestion at surrounding intersections, company officials said Wednesday. From there, visitors could either walk or be shuttled to the park on elevated people movers.

Traffic is sure to be a key issue among residents and government officials, and Disney officials believe they can defuse the issue by showing that congestion will be less after the proposed expansion than it is today.

City, county and state transportation officials generally were impressed with the transportation plan but said they needed to see more details to assess the impact of the expansion on the neighborhoods surrounding the park.

The plans could give a boost to Anaheim’s already well-publicized but so far unsuccessful attempts to become the high-speed rail transit terminus of Southern California. But Disney’s plans also depend heavily on public financing for new freeway ramps as well as the garages, and none of that money--expected to total millions of dollars--is currently available, according to state, county and city transportation officials.

Nevertheless, Disney officials seemed confident that their transportation system would be built.

Here is how Disney officials say the system would work:

Special freeway ramps would deliver visitors directly to the garages from the Santa Ana Freeway. Two garages on Freedman Way, east of the park, would serve traffic flowing northward out of central and southern portions of the county. One garage west of the park, between West Street--which would be renamed Disneyland Drive--and Walnut Street, would serve southbound freeway traffic from the Los Angeles area. There would be 28,000 total parking spaces, compared to 16,000 in the current parking lot.

At each garage, the ramp would split off into driveways leading directly to each parking level. Only one level would be open at a time, eliminating the need to drive between floors. Each level would have high ceilings to avoid collection of choking exhaust fumes. The architecture would include soft, indirect lighting and lots of landscaping on terraces.

Then there is Disney’s “speed parking.” After arriving, visitors would pay an as-yet-unspecified parking fee and attendants would direct them to a parking space. All the spaces would face the same direction so departing vehicles would exit straight ahead to street ramps, like racehorses leaving the starting gate. There would be no backing up into crowded aisles, no changing from one parking level to another.

Moving sidewalks would transfer visitors between the garages and Disney transit stations. Electrically powered people movers atop elevated guideways would carry people between the transit stations and a pedestrian plaza that would separate Disneyland from WESTCOT Center, to be built on the site of the existing parking lot. A similar system is used to ferry airline passengers at the Orlando International Airport in Florida.

The vaunted Disneyland monorail system would remain as a tourist attraction serving Tomorrowland and the Disneyland Hotel, but it would not be extended except to include Disney-owned hotel complexes along Disneyland Drive.

City officials said one problem in the plan is a lack of commitment from Disney to link its people-mover to the city’s own planned people mover project, or to a regional transit center that is intended to let passengers transfer between different rail lines and destinations. The transit center is undergoing feasibility studies and is the subject of funding negotiations in Congress.

Disney’s Theme Park Empire

Disneyland--Opened in 1955, it’s the granddaddy of all theme parks. For the first time, a family adventure park was centered on themes--children’s storybook fantasies, the Wild West, adventures and the world of the future. While the public areas of the park still cover 80 acres, new rides and adventures have been added regularly through the years.

Walt Disney World--The park is situated on a 28,000-acre site southwest of Orlando, Fla., where Walt Disney originally planned to build a futuristic city. Instead, the company built the world’s largest concentration of hotels and theme parks: the Magic Kingdom, which closely resembles Disneyland; EPCOT Center, sort of a permanent world’s fair; and the Disney-MGM Studios, a working TV and film studio and tour.

Tokyo Disneyland--Disney’s first theme park outside the United States, this transplant was an instant hit. It proved so popular that on one day, more Mickey Mouse ears were sold than the number of visitors present.

Euro Disneyland--This Disneyland clone is the biggest single construction project in Europe. When it opens outside Paris in 1992, Euro Disneyland will sport several American-style resort hotels.

Disney Expansion Plans

The Walt Disney Co. is considering a $3-billion plan for a new Disneyland Resort that would drastically alter the landscape around its 35-year-old theme park. A new park, called WESTCOT Center, would be built partially on the current Disneyland parking lot and would focus on a central attraction called Spacestation Earth and three outlying themed pavilions: The Wonders of Living, The Wonders of Earth and The Wonders of Space. The resort plans also include three new hotels, a retail, dining and entertainment center and two parking garages at the edge of the development.

A. Disneyland

B. WESTCOT Center, the Disney Co.’s so-called “second gate”

C. The New Disneyland Resort Hotel-the centerpiece of the resort’s hotel complex

D. The Disneyland Hotel-renovated, with a new 300-room tower

E. The Magic Kingdom Hotel-patterned after the Santa Barbara Mission

F. The WESTCOT Lake Resort-lush landscaping, thriving gardens

G. Disneyland Center-shopping, dining, strolling around a 6-acre lake

H. Disneyland Plaza-a central transportation hub

I. Disneyland Bowl-5,000 seat amphitheater

J. Parking garages

K. Anaheim Convention Center

Exit from the Santa Ana Freeway would lead directly into parking structure HARBOR BLVD. KATELLA AVE. DISNEYLAND DR. WEST ST. WALNUT ST.