Disney Suggests That Anaheim Raise $1 Billion for Resort

In its initial negotiations with the city, the Walt Disney Co. has suggested that Anaheim raise as much as $1 billion toward the entertainment company’s financing of the Disneyland expansion, city sources said Thursday.

However, city officials have answered with a public financing package totaling slightly more than half that amount that includes a variety of funding options, including possible federal grants and revenue bond sales, the sources said.

The $1-billion investment would have represented about one-third the estimated total cost of the Disneyland Resort project.

The entertainment company reportedly has been reviewing the city’s response and is expected to answer Anaheim’s presentation within the next few weeks.

Specific elements of the city proposal were not immediately known.

While initially challenging the $1-billion estimate as a “mischaracterization,” Disney Development Co. Vice President Kerry Hunnewell said late Thursday that in broadly defining the city’s need for improving its highway, parking and traffic circulation systems, “you could come up with a billion dollars.”