Disneyland Resort today confirmed that they will not be adding a 4th hotel at this time. The hotel was supposed to be built where a number of businesses had been closed in the Downtown Disney District, near the existing Disneyland Hotel (as seen below).
Disneyland Resort spokesman, Liz Jaeger, made the following statement on the project this afternoon:
“We’ve taken the time to review the economics of our proposed Four Diamond hotel for Anaheim and have made the final decision to cancel the project. While this is disappointing for many, the conditions and agreements that stimulated this investment in Anaheim no longer exist and we must therefore adjust our long-term investment strategy.”
The hotel was being built to take advantage of a “City of Anaheim tax incentive for building four-star hotels within the city.” The program, created in 2015, allowed Disney to retain 70 percent of the occupancy tax visitors brought in for the first 20 years of operation. The city of Anaheim denied the incentive when Disney revised hotel plans, forcing Disney to rethink the building of the hotel.
While Earl of Sandwich reopened in Downtown Disney this month, it is doubtful that the other closed business will return soon if ever, although Disney has made no comment on this as of yet.
What a bummer…
Na Na Na Na, Na Na Na Na, Hey Hey Hey, Goodbye! Goodbye!
Good! That design and placement was terrible in my opinion. I think they can do much better.
What exactly is going to be better? The article says that the plans have been canceled.
Make what better? The project is canceled
What do you mean the restaurants won’t return!???!? They aren’t building the hotel so it should return 💔💔
Maybe this is just hindsight bias but I totally saw this coming. It’s honestly probably for the better, too. Disney has been making lots of budget cuts in the parks and hopefully this helps.
Good riddance, they really need to redevelop that side of downtown Disney. There was nothing worth seeing past the lego store. Wish they’d bring back DStreet or at least a Marvel/Star Wars centric store. The only Marvel location in DCA was the gift shop after Mission Breakout.
Maybe I’m remembering this incorrectly, but I thought that Anaheim canceled the sweetheart tax deal for Disney because that deal was contingent upon Disney not eliminating jobs. When all of those people in Downtown Disney were let go (a couple hundred, I think), Disney broke the deal.
Another sweetheart deal Disney somehow has is not paying an $18/hr minimum wage to their employees even though they’re in the ‘entertainment industry.’ I LOVE Disney, particularly Disneyland, but with all of the many exceptions, sweetheart deals, exclusions and tax benefits that the company benefits from, I do wish they’d pay their cast members better.
Back to the hotel: I really disliked the concept art and it does seem kind of wedged in against the existing Disneyland Hotel. I am confident that Disney will rebound from this setback and, as they do, I hope they can 1) come up with better hotel design and 2) take better care of the people who’s jobs depend on the company.
/\ The new city council was proposing the $18 min wage to get back at Disney for getting the tax cut. Disney cancelled the tax cut so the city got what they wanted (and Disney still raised wages).