image1

Disneyland is planning its first new hotel in almost two decades.

The 700-room hotel, currently referred to as 1401 Disneyland Drive, will break ground as soon as 2018 on 10 acres just north of the Disneyland Hotel and may open in 2021. The property would aim at the AAA four-diamond level and would give guests exclusive views of Disneyland’s fireworks show as well as privileges such as early and late admission to the theme park. The hotel would also have a “themed environment” and a rooftop restaurant and bar.

Disney, which last summer said it would invest at least $1 billion over the next decade improving and expanding the park, is now saying it will spend at least $2 billion on upgrades. Disney also said last summer that it would build out Star Wars-themed attractions at both Disneyland and at Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World in Florida. The most recent themed land addition at Disneyland was at the adjoining Disney’s California Adventure park, where the 12-acre Cars Land opened in 2012.

Disney said the hotel plans were spurred in part by a program adopted by the city of Anaheim last year in which developers of four-diamond and above hotels can apply for an incentive payment worth as much as 70% of the annual transient occupancy tax the hotel would be paying to the city.

The most recent Disneyland hotel to open was Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, in 2001. The Disneyland Hotel opened in 1955, when the park opened, while Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel originally opened as the Emerald of Anaheim in 1984.

Disneyland is the world’s third-most popular theme park after Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in Florida and Tokyo Disneyland, according to the Themed Entertainment Association.

Source: travelweekly.com