Disneyland Resort Phased Expansion Plan Part 6 - Phase 3 of Disneyland

For this post about Phase 3 for my Disneyland expansion plan, I will be splitting it into two posts, one for each park. This is entirely because I have finished one park, Disneyland, but not the other and I did not want to keep you waiting for another week.

The third phase is intended to open in the year 2030 and includes the opening of the third gate as well major as additions to both parks to balance crowds. As I have said before, I will not be including the third gate at this time, because developing a whole new gate takes alot more time and thought than just adding to an existing park. I may do a post soon that details the start of my planning, but it will not have a real site plan.

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For Disneyland park, this phase brings additions to both Fantasyland and Tomorrowland since the other lands of the park are fully built out and do not need improvements or additions.

In the previous phase, Fantasyland was expanded north by replacing Toontown. The addition brought a Frozen boat ride and large indoor Arendelle village as well as a Tangled trackless dark ride.

In this phase, the Fantasyland Theater is replaced with two new attractions that are on a new path that leads back around the Storybook Canal Boats to connect to the main area of Fantasyland.

From the castle courtyard area, the path curves around Storybook Land, taking up the space formerly holding the Skyway Chalet. First, to the left is a small French village building, designed with the same level of fantasy realism in the rest of the land. The first facade is Maurice's workshop. Inside, guests experience the same Magic Mirror effect as in Storytime with Belle and are transported directly into the dining room of the Castle. Instead of being a meet and greet, this is a full on animatronic show like the Tiki Room. Guests are seated in the round around the large dining room table. Lumiere, standing on the mantle of the large fireplace, greets us and then starts up the performance of Be Our Guest. Animatronics on the table and above come to life all around us. Guests exit back out the mirror on the other side of the building and walk back out to the pathway.

Continuing from this building, guests approach a more built up area where the larger addition is, a new version of Peter Pan's Flight. My reasoning for this new Peter Pan's Flight is the same as why I made the same move in my Magic Kingdom Plan. It has become a right of passage ride and I think is always going to have high demand even if other dark rides and capacity are added to other areas of the park. It's line is never going to get shorter. I think the attraction in its existing state is too low capacity and of lower quality than a right of passage ride deserves. Plus, now that we have seen a new version of the attraction in Shanghai, it is clear that the existing can be improved. Honestly, this is the only attraction I can think of that I think needs this relocation and expansion. I know this is controversial because it removes something original to the park, but I think this is worth it overall because of the added quality of experience for the guests who would now wait in a shorter line for a better ride.

So here, I have included a new modern version of Peter Pan's Flight that is roughly three times the size of the existing, including a modern enclosed queue similar to the one at the Magic Kingdom. The attraction follows a similar story path, starting in the Darling's nursery, then through the stars to Neverland, and culminating with an encounter with Captain Hook. The difference is the scenes are much larger and more detailed with modern animatronics and projection effects. The vehicles are also are larger with two rows that could seat 2 or 3 guests. It is an overall improvement on the existing while keeping the same character of the original.

The original attraction is kept open up to the day that this new version opens, and is then closed and removed. A new attraction in that space opens in the next phase of the project.

The path then leads to a split, left to go under the train tracks directly towards the Frozen additions from last phase, and right to  head back towards the train station and Small World.


Moving on to Tomorrowland, there are big changes here. First, the Autopia, the existing People Mover tracks, and the Monorail are all slightly rerouted to create an expansion pad for Fantasyland. This means losing about 150' on the west side of the existing area, cutting it back to just the land above the submarine show building. That showbuilding and the land above is would be much moe difficult to redevelop, so it formed the edge of what I could change. In this phase, the three attractions are rerouted, and the new land is used in the next phase, holding one or two additional attractions for Fantasyland. In this rerouting process, there is also a small show building built on the west edge of the new Autopia, which holds an indoor futuristic highway scene that the cars (and eventually People Mover above) pass through. The monorail is honestly the most affected, because it removes the loop through Fantasyland and around the Matterhorn, keeping the track mostly in Tomorrowland. This is so that future additions to Fantasyland do not have to be built under or around the track.

The biggest addition to Tomorrowland is not an attraction, but improvements to the actual land. In order to rework the aesthetic of the land and relieve crowding pinch points, a sweeping second level is added to the land, defined with organic curves and lined with vegetation. The elevated level has two outdoor access towers, one between the two west side buildings, and one by the submarine lagoon. Both have stairs and elevators leading to this second level. It may also be accessed through some of the show buildings. The idea is to reduce crowding while adding sleek and modern architectural moves to the land. The second level would hopefully make it much less congested and make it more comfortable and relaxing for guests to walk through the land.

Additionally, more trees are added to make it a greener future, the covered portion of Tomorrowland Terrace is expanded to create more seating for the stage, and some architectural improvements are made to the Carousel building, which will get a new attraction in the next phase to complete the land.

The one new attraction of this phase replaces Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. Thought it is a popular attraction, it just does not fit the theme or location of the new identity of Tomorrowland. So in this phase, it is replaced with a new dark ride that uses the characters of Big Hero 6 in a technology and robotics showcase setting. I decided that the land could use one IP based attraction to balance the tone of the land, and I feel that Big Hero 6 reflects the same ideals of the possibilities of the future. And the technology showcase scene from the start of the film could perfectly fit in the setting of the land and the technology subarea I mentioned last post.

This new dark ride uses the same track, but is no longer a shooting attraction. Guests tour through the exhibits of the showcase in the queue and then board vehicles designed by Hiro for a trip through the lab, led by Baymax.


Last, another attraction opens in Star Wars land at this phase. The MiceChat plan online shows this area as a future expansion, so I am utilizing it here.


That completes the additions for this park in this phase. The next phase brings one last round of additions to both of these lands.

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Next week, I will hopefully have the Phase 3 plan for California Adventure, and then we continue onto the last phase of my expansion plan.

Leave a comment if you would have done something different to expand and refresh these two lands. Also, what property do you think should go in that new Fantasyland plot in the next phase? I have a few choices and want to see what you think.