Originally Posted By EighthDwarf Will there be any convenient way to get over there from Disneyland? Or vice-versa?
Originally Posted By bean walking, its not far at all. Its just about 1/2 a block. The original plans were to have the garden walk built in an "L" shape with a main entrance on Harbor. The owners of the old Anaheim hotel did not want to sell. The design though of the garden walk was made so that if someday in the future the land is bought they could add the second phase. When Anaheim decided to expand the convention center, one of the reasons was to help lure large conventions into the area. Even with a larger convention area Anaheim has had problem booking some of the big convention events. One of the main reasons that has been expressed by convention organizers has been the lack of quality hotel rooms near the convention property and lack of entertainment and eating facilities near the area. Disney partially addressed both of those issues with the GCH and DTD but is still not considered enough of a variety. GCH already has a high occupancy rate with tourism for the parks. Garden grove saw the opportunity and began making deals with major hotel chains and pushed to get hotels built near their city limits near the Anaheim resort while the Anaheim city council sat back and did little. Garden walk then began to have so many problem getting built because of the lack of signed leases for the areas proposed for hotels within the complex. Now rumors are suggesting that Disney might eventually use the complex to add Disney DVC units within the complex.
Originally Posted By WorldDisney <<walking, its not far at all. Its just about 1/2 a block.>> In all honesty, that might kill it lol. It really does amaze me how much people in L.A. just DON'T walk!!! I LOVE walking and walk everywhere, but it seems to be the idea in most people in that city if its more than a block, its not worth the (much needed) exercise. I will never get it and I was born and raised in L.A. But sure, I'll be there. A half of block is barely a stroll to me .
Originally Posted By ChurroMonster I would imagine that if the walk-in traffic doesn't meet expectations, AGW will find a way to bring people in. The simplest way would probably be a dedicated fleet of shuttle busses that travel from AGW to the Eastern DLR shuttle area.
Originally Posted By aracuanbird I was staying at the Anaheim Marriott back in May, walking with a surprising number of people (I thought most would grab a shuttle). Those folks are prime targets for Gardenwalk. Not that they alone can sustain a project of this scope, but they are ther for the pickin'
Originally Posted By Sweeper The fact that people will have to cross Harbor will prevent some who don't want to deal with the hassel. Too bad Disney wasn't a part of this when they could have built a walway like the did over West St.
Originally Posted By Darkbeer ^Many of the walking distance hotels are already on the east side of Harbor (aka they have to cross anyways), I don't think that it will be a big deal to out of town visitors staying off site (It is a bit far for the Disney hotels on the west side of the DLR property). But since the vast majority of hotel rooms are off-property in Anaheim, AGW should be getting good business from the Disneyland tourists.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 I think this will be a huge success. But I again think how Disney missed the boat by not buying this property itself to begin with. Very short-sighted as they never thought Anaheim was going to be a major destination and they wanted to place cookie cutter resorts all over the world. That was a smart strategy right?
Originally Posted By WorldDisney Good point Darkbeer. SO many hotels are there now not to mention all the new hotels that will be there now, so I don't think it will be THAT big of a deal to get people over there since so many are staying over there anyway. Its no further to walk from there than it is to walk to the Esplanade or DTD depending where you are I guess. Question: Will they have a movie theater there as well?
Originally Posted By Darkbeer Yes, a movie theater is being built next to the Food Court on the upper level, not sure how many screens it will have, but it will be a Multi-plex
Originally Posted By SFH I like DTD having some competition. Disney could have avoided this by buying the land, but didn't. Now, guests will have more choices of places to eat. Sure, most will be generica that they can find in any city, but that is better than nothing at all. SFH
Originally Posted By jmuboy I'm happy to see this project finally see the light of day. Yes, it's just a very pretty mall with some nice hotels. But in the end it's still a nice area where tourists can spend time. And it's much better than the tacky restaurans and motels that were there before. Also - what does everyone think about DVC going in here? I'm really not opposed ot it. adding DVC here does not mean that more DVC units can't be built elsewhere on Disney Property. Disney's Garden Walk Villas sort of has a nice ring to it. I would stay there.
Originally Posted By jmuboy I'm happy to see this project finally see the light of day. Yes, it's just a very pretty mall with some nice hotels. But in the end it's still a nice area where tourists can spend time. And it's much better than the tacky restaurans and motels that were there before. Also - what does everyone think about DVC going in here? I'm really not opposed ot it. adding DVC here does not mean that more DVC units can't be built elsewhere on Disney Property. Disney's Garden Walk Villas sort of has a nice ring to it. I would stay there.
Originally Posted By liveforvacations I for one think it sounds great! In my opinion, the area lacks places to eat. Downtown Disney was a great addition but when it is busy, all the restaurants are so crowded. Then you go across the street to Tony Romas and it is full too. Many times we have eaten at McDonalds out of pure frustration. I think everyone has to keep in mind that Disneyland is a tourist destination which attracts a lot of Canadiens, especially those from the West Coast and the Prairies and we don't have any of the restaurants listed so it would all be new and interesting to us.
Originally Posted By Daannzzz When I go traveling I really like to eat at new places.Not the same places I can go at home and everywhere else. I am sure this will satisfy those who like familiarity. This mall (as shown in the virtual tour) is so incredibly bland I don't see why people would flock to it. It looks minimalistic and sort of like a business park. The hotels are plain looking. Everything about it is unremarkable.
Originally Posted By WorldDisney ^^Yes, but like liveforvacations just said, these places aren't near EVERYONE, locals maybe, but people like me and other tourists who come from very far places, most of this is brand new for many of us AND you have to remember none of those restaurants or in the Disney Vicinity NOW so yeah, it will capture those people. Personnally I only eaten at Johnney Rockets before (in High School, it was the closes we got to 90210 lol) but the other places are all new to me. I had 2 oppurtunites to try Bubba Gump, once in Santa Monica and another in Tokyo, but too crowded everytime. You're right about the business park setting though. I felt the same way lol, but again, look where its being built! Its for tourists and conventioners that's the ENTIRE point. Those people will flock to it because it will be an alternative and like someone said when all the restaurants are crazy full in DTD, they now have another option. I don't know, this just seems like a win-win situation for anyone going to the parks or am I crazy?
Originally Posted By Dabob2 If I were staying on Harbor, I'm sure I'd check this place out. If staying at at DLR hotel, maybe not; DTD is so much closer. This might prompt Disney to create an extension of DTD on the east side of the esplanade, perhaps nicer looking than GardenWalk, to entice people staying on Harbor to go there instead. But until that happens, so many people stay on the Harbor Blvd. places that this will probably be successful, at least for a while.
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt "In all honesty, that might kill it lol. It really does amaze me how much people in L.A. just DON'T walk!!!" Who cares about LA folks? I thought this thing was supposed to be for us tourists.
