Like an adult with a mid-life crisis, Disneyland at 40 is staring at a big decision. It must expand or risk losing attendance and revenue to an ever-widening array of competitors. The stakes are so high that park executives have been pondering, debating and agonizing for years over what to build as a companion park for Disneyland. "The answer is a compelling, entertaining story," says Disneyland ...

Last week, Disneyland President Jack Lindquist confirmed that he would step down Nov. 18, Mickey Mouse's 65th birthday. Lindquist, 66, began his Disney career in 1955, the year the park opened. Starting as the park's first advertising manager, the jovial Lindquist rose in 1990 to become its first and only president. "I don't think California realizes the debt of gratitude we owe him," said John ...

Ending nearly a year of speculation, Walt Disney Co. unveiled plans Wednesday for a $3-billion expansion at Disneyland that would include a second theme park patterned after its highly successful EPCOT Center in Florida. A highlight of the expansion to be called WESTCOT Center, would be a giant golden sphere called Spacestation Earth that probably would join the Matterhorn as Disneyland's best-known ...

Off-screen as well as on, the folks at the Walt Disney Co. have that certain touch. Recently they've announced two proposals for theme parks. Does Disney really intend to build both? Whatever the answer, the announcements have come so close together that it's as if Disney is trying to play Long Beach off against Anaheim to see which city will win the prize. This week Disney unveiled what had already ...

Despite rosy imaginings about the city's future with Disney's serene WESTCOT Center and its glittering Spacestation Earth as a centerpiece, city officials must face the cold reality of 1991: Anaheim would be forced to pledge millions in public funds it does not have. At minimum, the preliminary master plan for the proposed $3-billion development calls for the city to acquire more than 50 acres for the ...

Entertainment industry analysts may be split over whether Walt Disney Co. should build its next theme park in Anaheim or Long Beach, but they agree on this: Wherever it is, Disney will make plenty of money. The Burbank-based entertainment giant has built successful parks in California, Florida and Japan, and industry experts expect the same kind of performance from the $2.9-billion Euro Disneyland when ...

Development: Firm cities costly regulatory review process for its decision to bypass Long Beach. The Walt Disney Co. settled a high-stakes battle between two Southern California cities Thursday, announcing that it would award Anaheim with a $3-billion resort at Disneyland and abandon a seaside project in Long Beach. Officials in Anaheim, a city whose economic fortunes have been tied to Disneyland for ...

A proposed $3-billion Disney expansion project in Anaheim would snarl traffic during construction, add thousands of cars to local freeways, worsen air quality and require massive spending on public works, according to a city report released Thursday. But despite at least seven major problems identified in a 500-page draft environmental impact report, Walt Disney Co. officials said none are severe enough ...

In an effort to appease neighbors who are opposed to a new Disney resort and theme park, Walt Disney Co. officials said Wednesday that they will spend $500,000 to tone down noise already coming from Disneyland. The announcement came during a City council hearing on the proposed $3-billion Westcot project. One of the obstacles to approval has been the potential for noise. Although the Planning ...

In a unanimous vote, City Council members Tuesday erased the most significant regulatory obstacle to the planned $3-billion Disneyland Resort, setting the stage for the biggest expansion of Disneyland since the theme park opened 38 years ago. With little discussion, city leaders gave their approval to a report that asses the environmental impact that a second theme park and resort next to Disneyland ...

If Walt Disney Co.'s new Disneyland Resort is completed near the turn of the century, it will cover 490 acres and cost $3 billion. Moving sidewalks, monorails and a 45-minute boat ride will transport visitors through the resort featuring several deluxe hotels, shops and restaurants. The crowning attraction will be a new theme park that offers visitors a glimpse of the future and journey to the four corners ...

Now that they know what they want to see built, Anaheim and the Walt Disney Co. have to decide who will pay for it. Disney plans to spend $2.2 billion creating the most elaborate resort in California, a labyrinth of wonders displayed in a lake-laced international-theme park dotted with fancy hotels. But the environmental blueprint endorsed Tuesday by the City Council also calls for surrounding the ...

Outside Disneyland, beyond the blooming oleanders that hide the barbed-wire fence that delineates the Happiest Place on Earth, you can find what might be called, in Disney-ese, Realityland. It is a land of neon and kitsch, a cottage industry of knock-off entrepreneurs that Walt Disney in a sense created and that Walt Disney, it's said, loathed. Outside is where you find motels like the Ivanhoe and Rip ...

From a parade grand marshal who's a real turkey named Marshmallow to giant Christmas trees and Elvis sightings, both real and perhaps imagined, the holidays have arrived at The Merriest Place on Earth. And, along with nightly snow showers on Disneyland's Main Street USA has come a flurry of speculation as to what the future holds for Walt Disney's original Magic Kingdom. What We Know As the song ...

Disneyland The Happiest Place on Earth turns 55 this summer. Clearly, Walt Disney's dream of creating a family park where parents and children could have fun together is here to stay. But that's not to say Disneyland hasn't seen its share of changes in 5½ decades. Indeed, one of the biggest overhauls in the Anaheim, Calif., resort's history is currently under way inside California Adventure. ...