In 1955, Walt Disney opened a theme park in California that changed the world. In the decades after, The Walt Disney Company has expanded its number of theme parks across America and worldwide.
Since then, Disneyland Resort has expanded to include Disney California Adventure in 2001 and even recently expanded the original theme park to include Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
Walt Disney World Resort in Florida has grown into an empire of its own. The global vacation destination includes Magic Kingdom Park, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom. In addition, the theme park resort has two water parks, Disney Springs, and dozens of hotels.
Disney has also expanded to build resorts in Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong, and Shanghai.
Related: Here’s a Sneak Peek Into Disneyland’s Newest Hotel
Recently, Disney has announced plans for its new project in California, titled DisneylandForward.
What is DisneylandForward?
In 2021, Disney announced the new plans for a massive expansion of Walt’s original dream.
DisneylandForward would expand Disneyland Resort, adding attractions to its existing parks, developments to its Downtown Disney area, and potentially a third theme park.
A New Disneyland Theme Park?
Since the original DisneylandForward announcement, Disney has been relatively quiet. However, that changed earlier this month (September 2023) when an environmental impact report was released. The new 17,000-page document contained many exciting information for plans in the area.
According to the report, one expansion area will include three outdoor family rides, two indoor family rides, two “round” rides, one outdoor thrill ride, and an indoor thrill ride.
Related: Disneyland vs. Disney World: Where To Travel First With Your Toddler
To the south, the expansion will include three outdoor family rides, two indoor family rides, two “round” rides, one outdoor thrill ride, and one indoor thrill ride.
In addition, there were hints that a Skyliner, similar to the one currently at Walt Disney World, could be added to help guests get between the parks, resorts, and parking lots.
These dozen planned rides (perhaps even more) are enough to populate an entirely new theme park. For comparison, when Disney MGM Studios (Disney’s Hollywood Studios) opened in 1989, it only contained five attractions.
When Disney’s Animal Kingdom opened in 1998, it only had 16 attractions (and some of those were character meet and greets).
Related: Disney Investing Enough To Build 7 New Theme Parks
But in addition to the expansions including enough attractions to warrant an additional theme park, there’s also a plan to build an entire new area where its current Toy Story parking lot sits.
Although the initial plans show the parking lot being turned into an entertainment district similar to Downton Disney or Disney Springs, there is a section titled “theme park experience” on the plans. Although this line is vague, documents show that Disney is reserving the right to turn that parking lot space into an official third theme park.
Disney is reserving the right to make a 3rd theme park in the Disneyland Resort on the current Toy Story Parking Lot space. pic.twitter.com/M2S2q5YyRi
— Mouskegamer (@Mouskegamer) September 14, 2023
Disney Park fans have been starving for a new Disney theme park in the United States for decades. Even if not built in Florida, a new Disneyland theme park is worth getting excited about!