The 4th Disney hotel

New Hotel Coming to the Disneyland Resort in 2021

 

It took me a while to wrap my head around this until you realize that they are removing ESPN Zone, an AMC theater, Earl of Sandwich, Starbucks and Rainforest Cafe. WOW, this this is going to be huge.

 

This hotel looks huge, but I really like the modern design. Finally WDI has arrived in the 21st century when it comes to great modern designs. Was Joe Rohde involved with the look of the hotel, because it looks a little bit like Villages Natures at DLP and he was responsible for that one.

I find it a little bit sad, that such a big part of Downtown Disney gets removed. We really enjoyed the ESPN Zone last year. I'm also surprised that they are going to remove the cinema. Earl of Sandwich and Starbucks will definitely get new locations, but ESPN Zone and the cinema are too big to just relocate them.

 

I get a little sad anytime there are big changes like this. Rainforest Café definitely was always on our list of places we wanted to eat while at DTD.

 

I was sad when the original 2-story buildings were torn down to put in DTD - how I loved sitting on my balcony across from the monorail station sipping my coffee from the Monorail Cafe listening to the sounds of the CMs getting the station ready for the day while DH and DS slept in - I'm kind of excited about this. Seems more in the spirit of the original hotel. Plus I hated it when they removed all the balconies from the DLH and basically hermetically sealed the rooms. I like the fresh air and the sounds of the park, of people having fun! Of course, I probably won't be able to afford it...

 

Anybody know where the closest movie theatre is going to be? We always saw a movie on our first day in because we generally got there in the afternoon and it was a nice way to eat some time away from the parks. They used to have one at GardenWalk, but I think that is now HoB.

 

Last I heard the movie theater is moving back to the GardenWalk. Hopefully it's closer to the front than in that zombie infested concrete canyons in the back.

 

I saw some plans online last week. (if I find the link again I will post it).

The plans to have it in the far back next the the House of Blues.

 

I don't know why my guy feels compelled to have us walk through the Dead Zone of GardenWalk (or eat at Tiffy's ) whenever we visit. There is sooo much empty space at GardenWalk, and it's difficult to find something palatable (technically I should say edible) at Tiffy's. At least having the movie theatre at GardenWalk will give him more of an viable excuse for us to go over there.

 

Oh, Tiffy's! I had breakfast there once after a runDisney event and was pleasantly surprised at how uncrowded it was, given the number of people out and about that morning. Of course, it took multiple hours to order, then get our food, then get our check, and finally pay, and the food was average-at-best. No wonder it was so empty! Apparently we were the only fools who hadn't learned our lesson yet

 

We used to eat at Tiffy's a lot. I loved their clam chowder and corn bread on the way home after a day in the park. I really liked their chicken quesadilla though every time my husband tried to order the endless ribs the waiter would tell him not to as there was really no meat on the bones.
Most people I know, though, do not eat there anymore. It has been years for us as we do not stay on that side of the Parks anymore. Maybe for the best, no?

As to a new Disneyland Hotel; we have never stayed in one and probably never will. Even if we had the money; there are too many other things I prefer to spend my money on.

 

I remember when the GardenWalk first opened and how disappointed I was in it. It was and still is a terribly designed shopping center. It is the most bland and unexciting mall. This is the reason that over half the shopping spaces are empty.

The only part of the mall which is reasonably successful is the edges near the street which are the restaurants.

 

I wholeheartedly agree @ni_teach ! We have eaten at a few of the restaurants along the street as well, but they are nothing spectacular because they are chains that you can find just about anywhere. The stores that they do have don't have any kind of draw. Maybe with Build-A-Bear moving out of Downtown Disney that might be a place to relocate to bring a little more business to the area.

 

Why would they put a new movie theater in the back when it didn't do that well the first time back there. Even HoB is struggling back there. No one goes back there.

 

There are only spaces for small businesses near the front where the other chain restaurants are. It might work better considering it will be the only movie theatre within walking distance of the parks. No more competition from Downtown Disney in that arena.

 

There are two major design flaws with the Garden Walk.

The first problem is that there is poor crowd flow at the GardenWalk. As Phrurush ask, why did they put the theaters into the back area? The Theaters are supposed to be a draw or an anchor for the mall in that people will have to walk through the mall seeing all the shops. The problem is that both the House of Blues and theaters are poor anchors due to most of the guest are tourists. Tourists mostly are interested in the restaurants to grab a bite to eat as a different option from eating inside the park.

Having the restaurants at the outer edge of the mall means that people are going to eat and then leave never exploring the rest of the mall. I would have suggested having the restaurants stacked one on top of each other forcing people to take the up escalators to get to those restaurants. Then have the down escalators pointing to the inside of the mall forcing people to go toward the center of the mall.

The second major flaw is that frankly the mall is boring. It is all bland tan and gray. Look at any picture of the GardenWalk and it looks like every other boring mall across the world. Honestly it is like walking around and looking at stone walls. Compare this to the architecture of Downtown Disney. In DTD all the buildings look and feel different. There is a wide range of colors and things to look at. For a place called GardenWalk it is more stone walls the garden.

Look at the pictures in this article and see if you do not agree.

https://www.bisnow.com/orange-count...enter-next-to-disneyland-is-up-for-sale-83904

There are other flaws beyond this but between the poor crowd flow and the boring architecture the GardenWalk cannot be successful.

 

Would you call this Googie? It definitely has a retro-futuristic kind of feel. And pretty cool how people can walk under this stack of hotel rooms. I love the verandas with the dangling plants. Without the plants it would take-on a totally different feel.

 

To me, this reads more 1970's Brutalist than 1960's Googie. Although I like brutalist architecture when done well (which relatively few people do), the detailing on this project just seems a little too trendy for me. While it may look fresh and contemporary right now, I suspect that a lot of it will look dated before it's even complete. The awning over the Monorail and the detailing on the building columns seem especially ill-conceived to me for a project that is intended to last for decades to come. It may be great for a trendy restaurant interior, but the concepts shown here don't translate well to big longstanding buildings

Conceptually it seems to be inspired by Le Corbusier's Unite d'Habitation, first built in Marseille. Although it isn't widely known among the general American public, it's an architecturally significant building that is widely discussed in architecture schools everywhere. It's got some problems that are fairly well known, but architects really seem to love it in spite of them. Hopefully the reduction in the number of stories and the addition of more active spaces at ground level will help make the new hotel less imposing on the human scale and more tied to its site, but I worry about how this building will function for years to come

 

Good example. The photo, with the different colors, reminds me of some of the old motels like this one:

 

I like the look. Will still stay at The Grand Californian some day and across the street for now.