Disneyland Resort is looking to buy Magic Way, a street near the resort, from the city of Anaheim so they can use the space for DisneylandForward projects.
Magic Way and DisneylandForward
According to Orange County Register, Anaheim residents raised concerns at a January City Council meeting about Disney purchasing and then demolishing the street. In response, Disney had engineering consultants Kittleson & Associates conduct a study of the street from January 31 to February 4.
Consultant Joe Haupt presented the data during a Planning Commission workshop on Monday.
“Of the 11,153 vehicles that traverse Magic Way on a daily basis,” Haupt said, “11,053 of them are either departing or arriving at a Disney property. Less than 100 are non-Disney users.”
Those less than 100 vehicles are mostly using the 1,150-foot Magic Way as a cut-through during peak hours of the day.
Magic Way is located to the west of Disneyland, connecting Disneyland Drive and Walnut Street. It’s mostly used by guests heading to and from the Pixar Pals Parking Structure and Disneyland Hotel.
Kittleson & Associates found that on one Friday morning, less than 200 vehicles turned onto Magic Way from Walnut Street, and only about 30 continued from there onto Disneyland Drive.
One of those drivers may have been resident Randy Lewis, who lives across the street from Disneyland Resort. Lewis said that for two years, he has used Magic Way as a shortcut to the 5 Freeway during his daily commute, calling it a “fantastic time saver.” Not using Magic Way adds 15 minutes to his drive and he asked the City Council to not sell the road.
Haupt also shared plans to improve pedestrian crossing on Walnut Street for guests walking to Disneyland Resort. Currently, there is no protected crosswalk on the four-lane street. The plans include a crosswalk that would have cars stop for pedestrians as well as a separate bicycle lane.
Disney is also hoping to buy Hotel Way — to the southeast of Disney California Adventure — and part of Clementine Street — to the east. Haupt said these streets are essentially driveways to Disneyland Resort parking structures.
Disney has committed to paying $40 million for all three streets.
Anaheim Planning Director Ted White said surrounding streets have enough capacity to absorb Magic Way’s traffic and Anaheim Public Works Director Rudy Emami said at last month’s City Council workshop that work will begin this summer to improve traffic flow at the nearby intersection of Walnut Street and Ball Road.
Haupt said that, if the city approves the DisneylandForward proposal, there is no set date for when construction would begin. Disney has promised to invest a minimum of $1.9 billion in their resort, with further investments going back to the city, including $30 million for affordable housing and $8 million for parks (and potentially more if they don’t spend $2.5 billion).
The Planning Commission will vote on the DisneylandForward proposal at their next meeting, on March 11.
For more Disneyland Resort news and info, follow Disneyland News Today on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. For Disney Parks news worldwide, visit WDWNT.
The post Disneyland Hoping to Buy Anaheim Street for DisneylandForward Expansion appeared first on WDW News Today.