Port Disney was a planned Walt Disney resort spanning surrounding Queensway Bay next to the Port of Long Beach in Long Beach, California, United States. The property was going to feature a marine-themed amusement park, a marina, a cruise ship port, a specialty retail and entertainment area, and hotel accommodations. The land it would occupy housed the RMS Queen Mary and the Hughes H-4 Hercules aircraft (nicknamed the "Spruce Goose"), both of which were obtained by Disney in its acquisition of the Wrather company in 1989.
Port Disney was first announced in July 1990, originally presented to city and port officials in closed meetings, then revealed publicly later that month. This was followed by the publication of The Port Disney News, which was mailed directly to homes in 1991 to drum up public support. Mounting costs and local opposition led to the project's cancellation in December 1991, and Disney instead turned its attention to building the WestCOT theme park in Anaheim, California. Some of the park's planned elements were later incorporated into the development of Tokyo DisneySea in Japan, which opened in 2001. In March 1992, Disney announced plans to end its lease on the Queen Mary, Spruce Goose, and surrounding property, relinquishing development rights to all of its Long Beach properties.
Port Disney planned amenities
Port Disney was to be built in two phases: Construction to occur from 1995–1999 for a 2000 opening Expansion to occur from 2007–2009 for a 2010 opening
The planned Port Disney final build-out included development on both sides of Queensway Bay, at the mouth of the Los Angeles River. The northern side of Queensway Bay (adjacent to Long Beach's downtown) was called the "City-side", and the southern side (adjacent to the existing freight Port of Long Beach) was called the "Port-side".
Port Disney was publicly unveiled on July 31, 1990, and would have included the following attractions after the full build-out in 2010: The DisneySea theme park (Port-side) Five new resort hotels (3,900 new rooms in total) and waterfront restaurants Shoreline Hotel and retail/entertainment center (City-side) Tidelands Hotel (City-side) Marina Hotel (City-side) Canal Hotel (Port-side) Port Hotel (Port-side) Water transportation, consisting of: 400 new marina slips (250 long term and 150 guest slips, in two new marinas located Port-side) The WorldPort ferry landing (for trans-Queensway Bay service), historic vessel harbor, and local (Orange County) harbor cruises (Port-side) The Quay, offering excursions, dinner boats, and charters (Port-side, adjacent to Port Hotel) A five-berth cruise ship port to distant destinations (Mexico, Seattle, San Diego; Port-side) A monorail linking the City- and Port-sides of Queensway Bay
The planned resort would have taken over the space occupied by the Spruce Goose, with the disposition of the plane unknown, and would have taken over two parcels of city parkland. The 3,900 proposed new rooms would have nearly doubled the then-4,800 room combined capacity of all hotels and motels within the city of Long Beach. The plan also called for filling of ocean with of material and asked the city to widen roads and improve infrastructure to accommodate a projected 13 million visitors per year, at a total proposed cost of . The Queen Mary would have been moved to a new berth. The complexity of the proposed development meant that an agreement would have to be reached between Disney, the city of Long Beach, the Port of Long Beach, the California Coastal Commission, and the Army Corps of Engineers.
DisneySea Theme Park
The lone theme park touted for the new property would have been named DisneySea. However the park proposed for Long Beach at Port Disney would have been different from the DisneySea park that was eventually built in Tokyo.
Proposed attractions for the Long Beach DisneySea included: Oceana, the architectural centerpiece of DisneySea consisting of a complex of bubbles with a two-story "oceanarium" inside depicting the evolution of the seas. Within Oceana would be: The Future Research Center, a working meeting center for oceanographic researchers The Ocean Outreach Center, an educational "library of the sea" Mysterious Island, a recreation of Atlantis with a suspended thrill ride entitled Nemo's Lava Cruiser A boardwalk with amusement rides reminiscent of the Long Beach oceanfront during the glory days of The Pike Fleets of Fantasy, a harbor with replicas of ships hosting rides and restaurants Heroes′ or Hero′s Harbor, rides themed for mythological adventurers such as Sinbad and Odysseus A Grecian village An Asian water market Venture Reefs, a Caribbean lagoon featuring artificial tropical reefs and a shark cage dive experience
Port Disney News + Name changes in Port Disney PlanJul 1990(Master Plan)Sep 1991(Port Disney News)DisneySea DisneySea Theme ParkMarina Hotel Marina Villa HotelTidelands Hotel Tidelands Convention HotelShoreline Hotel Shoreline Suites HotelCanal Hotel Regatta Hotel(west, adjacent to new marina)Canal Hotel(east, adjacent to Queen Mary)Port Hotel Port HotelThe Quay Treasure Lagoon ParkWorldPort International Portunnamed Port-side marinasQueensway Bay Marina(near Regatta Hotel)Pier J Marina(near Cruise Ship Port)
The illustrative site plan presented in the Port Disney News brochure distributed to Long Beach residents had a slightly different layout and names for some of the featured attractions. The Canal Hotel was now split into two hotels, the Regatta Hotel (on the west side) and the Canal Hotel (on the east side). In addition, The Quay was now an enclosed park and renamed Treasure Lagoon Park.
History Wrather Corporation leased the Queen Mary from the City of Long Beach in 1981 and added the Spruce Goose the next year, making a pre-tax profit on the two attractions by 1983 after the city had sustained years of losses. Wrather made approximately in profit by 1984, but had invested in refurbishing and improving the two attractions. Wrather went on to announce ambitious plans to add a ten-story hotel and parking garage with 350 rooms and in meeting space to the site by 1988; if the hotel was successful, it was to be followed by a second phase building 'The Festival Marketplace' with in retail space; if the second phase was successful, a third phase with a exhibition hall would follow, capitalizing on the combined Queen Mary/Spruce Goose crowds of 3,000,000 tourists per year; and finally, five to six high-rise office buildings with a combined would be built contingent on prior successes. The proposal won the support of the Port of Long Beach, and would not require new fill.
Disney acquires Wrather Corporation In addition to the Queen Mary and Spruce Goose attraction leases in Long Beach, Wrather Corp. also owned the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim since its construction, making it an irresistible target for Disney. Wrather was acquired in late September 1987 by a new company formed as an equal partnership between the Walt Disney Company and Industrial Equity (Pacific) Ltd. of Hong Kong (IEP). IEP itself was controlled by Ronald Brierley and had already amassed 28% of the approximately 10.1 million publicly traded shares of Wrather Corporation. The remaining 72% of shares (7.3 million shares) were purchased by the Disney-IEP partnership at a cost of per share, for a total indicated price of . Wrather had previously rejected an unsolicited offer in August 1987 from Disney at per share. Disney bought out IEP in March 1988 at a total indicated price of , which was an offer on half the partnership's shares acquired in 1987 at a cost of per share. In doing so, Disney obtained sole ownership of the Disneyland Hotel and Long Beach attraction leases.
Since Wrather owned land adjacent to Disneyland, the acquisition of Wrather meant Disney could now either expand Disneyland or add a retail and entertainment district near the 1955 theme park. However, Wrather also held the rights to lease and develop near the Queen Mary under the 1985 proposal, though much of that land was underwater, giving Disney the option to build a new park in Long Beach. By June 1989, Disney had already advanced a concept for an oceanfront theme park using the Queen Mary as a backdrop. As a first step, Disney won the right to develop a hotel on a site near the intersection of Pine Avenue and Shoreline Drive, across the Queensway Bay from the Queen Mary.
Competition with Anaheim In January 1990, Disney announced that a new $1-billion theme park would be built in either Long Beach or Anaheim, with Disney chairman Michael Eisner saying "It depends a lot on which community wants us more." While Disney only owned in Anaheim for development (with the acquisition of the Disneyland Hotel), it held much larger options in Long Beach: the ex-Wrather Queen Mary and Spruce Goose leases for and an option to develop an additional of ocean. Long Beach City Councilman Evan Anderson Braude touted the existing infrastructure and transportation. Eisner pointed out the Long Beach Freeway, which ends at Queensway Bay, was one of the least-used freeways in the Los Angeles region. Long Beach officials touted the unique opportunity to develop the oceanside location and were considering engineered fill, tax exemptions, and parking garages to help attract a new theme park, but stopped short of wholeheartedly endorsing the idea, saying that impacts on economy and traffic would be studied first. Long Beach Mayor Ernie Kell said "That [Queensway Bay land] is some of the primest land in the world, and there are many uses for it. Yes, Disney would be a key (to the city's success.) But if Disney decides not to come here, it is not the end of the world."
In contrast, Anaheim Mayor Fred Hunter took "the first opportunity before Long Beach to say the answer is, 'Yes, yes, yes,'" and Anaheim "vowed to do 'almost anything' to be Disney's choice", although Mayor Hunter believed that both projects would eventually be built. Either project was anticipated to bring in millions of dollars in tax revenues to the winning city. Formal negotiations for financial responsibility between Disney and Long Beach were scheduled to begin on September 12, 1990, after the city reviewed Disney's plans.
Several independent analysts gave the edge to Port Disney, citing the uniqueness of the project and the lack of a similar nautical/ocean theme park in Los Angeles County since the 1987 closure of Marineland. In February 1991, Disney disclosed that it had been buying large tracts of land near Disneyland in Anaheim, although Disney vice-president of development David Malmuth said the land acquisition would not affect the decision between Anaheim and Long Beach, which would be announced by the end of 1991.
Local opposition Although city officials were bullish, with City Councilman Les Robbins saying "[...] if you took a (council) vote today, it would be nine-zip to pursue Disney and leave no rock unturned", and Long Beach business owners asked the city to "bend over backward" for Disney, Long Beach residents remained cool to the idea, even before the concept was presented to the public for the first time on July 31, 1990. The public unveiling followed earlier closed-door meetings presenting the concepts between Disney and city officials. Some of the representatives from 80 neighborhood associations and businesses objected to added traffic from tourists, and felt that public subsidies in the form of infrastructure improvements were not warranted for Disney, a very profitable private corporation. Still others voiced concerns that Disney, notorious for unyielding enforcement of employee grooming and dress codes, would not fill the majority of the estimated 10,000 new jobs from the local population.