The Happiest Place on Earth has ambitious plans to expand. The Anaheim City Council unanimously voted in favor of DisneylandForward on Tuesday, pushing the 40-year proposal one step ahead. Though it’s still subject to a final vote, it seems likely the fan-favorite vacation destination will become even more magical in coming years.
The initiative adjusts development types and zoning, allowing for the addition of new theme park attractions, hotels, shopping, dining, and entertainment. Disney will commit to spending at least $1.9 billion in the next decade on its development within the existing space in the Anaheim Resort and Disneyland Resort. If approved, Disneyland visitors can look forward to new attractions, such as a potential sprawling Avatar land. Other immersive theme parks are possible, including popular attractions found internationally, such as the enchanting World of Frozen or a vibrant Zootopia park.
DisneylandForward points to Walt Disney, who said, “Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.
The plan also states Disney will fund $85 million worth of community benefits in Anaheim in realms such as affordable housing, city parks, and street and sewer upgrades. The company will also pay $40 million to the city to buy three different public roads, a transfer of responsibility that Anaheim City Council says relieves public costs. The government cites serving Anaheim residents, businesses, and visitors as its rationale for approving the plan.
“Continued growth of The Anaheim Resort helps us serve residents, businesses, and visitors,” the City of Anaheim says. “Anaheim approved DisneylandForward because of what visitors mean to our city.”
Currently, Disneyland visitors comprise more than half of Anaheim’s revenue, in turn bringing in funds to maintain city functions. An expansion could also mean thousands of jobs in Anaheim, along with Disney’s promise to promote workforce development and jobs programs.
But some locals, who spoke at the eight-hour public meeting, are worried about disturbances from construction, increased traffic, and hikes in living costs were Disneyland Forward to get the full green light.
Anaheim’s second vote is scheduled for May 7, which will determine if the development can proceed.
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
Japanese automakers Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi are dropping their talks on business integration.
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
