Disney Breaks Ground on New Eastern Gateway, Our #1 Construction Project at Disneyland Resort
After snubbing the sexiest project during the 2026 D23 Expo, Disney has provided news on the expansion everyone is anxiously awaiting: Disneyland’s new parking lot!!! Here are details and photos of the Eastern Gateway groundbreaking ceremony, which is the current DLR construction project about which we are most excited. (Seriously!)
As basic background, former Disneyland President Thomas Mazloum announced a revival of the Eastern Gateway last June during an update with Anaheim on the future of construction projects at the resort. Since then, Disney has filed a flurry of construction permits in preparation of the project kicking into high gear.
Following the approval of a permit to demolish the Team Disney Anaheim East building, Cast Members started moving out of this office earlier this summer in preparation for demolition. The Manchester Cast Member Parking Lot also closed, and that parking shifted over to a portion of the Toy Story Lot.
Just last week, Disneyland started on what it called “enabling work” in the Esplanade in preparation for the new arrival experience. With this, they filed 4 construction permits to demolish the ticket booths in the East Esplanade of Disneyland Resort.
Literally one day later, construction walls were up around those ticket booths. They weren’t gone yet as of our visits over the weekend for the kickoff of Halloween Time at Disneyland, but we assume they’ll be demolished in short order.
Removing these booths is the next piece of the puzzle that, we assume, involves moving the East Esplanade security checkpoint closer to the turnstiles, as well as relocating the rideshare and bus drop-offs to the far side of the resort. We also assume that this is why there are construction walls in the Downtown Disney parking lot near that security checkpoint.
This week’s development is that Disneyland has officially broken ground on the Eastern Gateway parking structure!!!
Eastern Gateway Groundbreaking
Disneyland Resort President Jill Estorino gathered alongside Walt Disney Imagineering, including
This groundbreaking marks a major step forward for the resort and surrounding area as Disney works towards adding this parking structure and transportation hub on the east side of Disneyland Resort. (For whatever reason, Disney itself now refuses to refer to this as Eastern Gateway. Instead, it is the “parking structure and transportation hub on the east side of Disneyland Resort.” Rolls right off the tongue!)
“Today’s groundbreaking marks an exciting milestone for Disneyland Resort and the City of Anaheim,” said Disneyland Resort President Jill Estorino.
“This new parking structure and transportation hub will transform how guests arrive, creating a more seamless experience from the start of their day, while improving traffic flow throughout the resort area. We’re proud to continue investing in Anaheim, supporting local jobs and working alongside valued community and construction partners to bring this vision to life.”
With construction underway, Disneyland shares that it is grateful to continue ongoing investments in the City of Anaheim, supporting the creation of additional jobs and to be working closely with trusted local businesses and collaborators to bring this project to life.
All of this puts work on the Eastern Gateway ahead of schedule. Last summer, Disneyland announced that the multi-year construction of the new arrival experience was slated to begin in Fall 2026. It’s technically still summer and, by normal Disney standards, the work already began back when prepwork started in June and July.
The new Eastern Gateway transportation hub at Disneyland Resort will be built on a portion of what’s currently the Manchester Cast Member parking lot. This new area will provide approximately 6,000 parking spaces, shuttle and rideshare areas, security screening and dedicated access for traffic off of Disney Way, improving parking and traffic flow throughout the resort area.
The new Eastern Gateway parking & transportation hub will also feature a pedestrian bridge over Harbor Boulevard, leading to an all-new Esplanade arrival. This pedestrian flyover will also provide convenient public access to and from Harbor Boulevard.
These enhanced parking, transit, and arrival offerings are the first step in Disneyland Resort’s next phase of construction, creating the infrastructure necessary to prepare for future growth and to welcome more guests as new experiences are added.
Most significantly, Eastern Gateway will free up a significant amount of space backstage behind the Hollywood Backlot in Disney California Adventure. The far left edge of the concept art above is the backside of the Avatar show building. Follow the curvature of the monorail track from that concept art to the below model to get an idea of the orientation (backside of the rockwork abuts Harbor Boulevard).
If the concept art and previous plans are accurate, the pedestrian flyover and parking structure connector will be built over the former Carousel Inn parcel. This is between the Camelot Inn and Tropicana Inn, meaning our #1 hotel in Anaheim will get even closer to the Esplanade!
This means that the entrance to the Esplanade will shift about 75 feet to the north. It also means that the existing Esplanade entrance will should be able to remain open during construction.
This should reduce the guest impact of construction, allowing for the current entrance to be utilized until the new entrance is ready, and then the old area to be decommissioned and closed after that. Far better for guests than a phased approach if Disney were trying to reimagine the current arrival experience.
The biggest change contrasted with the previous plans for Eastern Gateway seems to be that there will still be street access to the Esplanade from Harbor Boulevard. One of the big sticking points previously was that the new gateway would force guests staying on Harbor to backtrack to enter via the pedestrian connector.
It now appears that won’t be the case based on both Disney’s statement and the concept art. Our best guess is that there will be another security checkpoint at the canopy under the big ‘Disneyland’ marquee.
Meanwhile, some of our favorite hotels behind Eastern Gateway, including the Element and Suncoast, should now benefit from an almost entirely “onsite” walk to the parks!
Eastern Gateway History
The Eastern Gateway Project has been part of Disneyland’s Master Plan since before Disney California Adventure. That was first adopted in 1993, back when the second gate was to be WESTCOT and PeopleMovers were planned to transport guests from the parking structures to the Esplanade (above). Suffice to say, a lot has changed since, but the plan for a parking structure in this location is strikingly similar to what it was then.
Much more recently, this Eastern Gateway project is very similar to the one that was announced back in 2016 as laying the groundwork for the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge expansion. That ended up being abruptly cancelled due to a political stalemate between Disney and Anaheim, with Disneyland quickly pivoting to Pixar Pals.
You could easily draw a straight line between the cancellation of the Eastern Gateway project and the rise of DisneylandForward. That proposal wasn’t about any particular project, but rather, about paving the way for future developments by giving Disney more autonomy over land use by relaxing the Disneyland Resort Specific Plan No. 92-1 (“DRSP”).
It would not be an exaggeration to call the cancellation of Eastern Gateway (and a proposed luxury hotel where Lululemon and Din Tai Fung now stand) the origin story of DisneylandForward. That massive campaign was basically a glorified trojan horse for this parking structure–and not about Avatar or park expansion or Disney Springs on the Toy Story Lot.
Sure, there was more to DisneylandForward than the Eastern Gateway. Disney got a lot of things it wanted while giving up very little that it wasn’t already going to do, regardless. Still, I doubt DisneylandForward happens but for the cancellation of the Eastern Gateway. That was the impetus. So the next time someone tells you that DisneylandForward is a plan to build [insert expensive wishful thinking land over by Pixar Place Hotel], you can tell them it was actually driven primarily by parking.
Why Eastern Gateway is Our #1 Construction Project
For starters, I love the look of the new arrival experience as it enters the Esplanade. The old school Disneyland marquee is gorgeous and there’s a mid-century modern style to the whole thing.
The style has worked really well during the Downtown Disney reimagining, so I hope they stick with it. It screams both quintessential Disneyland and Southern California, and the sensibility is perfect for both–timeless and beautiful. It has the potential to beauty and enhance the arrival experience for tourists staying in nearby hotels, while also bringing a bit of the Disney Bubble to Anaheim.
But really, it’s a matter of practicality. As someone who lives south of Disneyland and hates the Toy Story lot, I’m also biased towards this project for personal reasons. This could shave 10 minutes or more off our commute time, especially given that the walk would be shorter than the current one from Pixar Pals.
I’ve always been a proponent of the Eastern Gateway for that simple reason, but since having a toddler, it has become crystal clear that this is the project that will improve our Disneyland experience more than anything else. You might think that’s hyperbole, but the whole parking and arrival experience is the biggest wildcard in our day.
That 10 minutes is just the commute itself. There have been days when it takes us 90 minutes from the time we arrive at one of the parking lots until we’re in the parks. That is on top of a commute that, if poorly timed, can also take about that long. At risk of stating the obvious, there’s a reason The Odyssey is not a popular children’s movie. Well, probably multiple reasons, but one of them is that ~180 minutes is a long time for a small child to sit still!
The #1 reason we opt against visiting Disneyland these days is the sunk costs. If we could guarantee an under 60-minute door to gate commute, we’d be at Disneyland at least twice per week. (For reference, we can get home in 55 minutes on a good day, so under 60 with Eastern Gateway should be completely doable!)
As awesome as Coco sounds, we will get far more mileage out of Eastern Gateway than anything else currently under construction at Disneyland. That is why it’s our #1 project right now. (Note the “currently” caveat, which is purposeful to exclude the Tomorrowland reimagining. I am more excited for that than Eastern Gateway.)
None of this is an exaggeration. I’ve met former Disneyland President and current Disney Parks Chair Thomas Mazloum several times over the last couple years. On almost every occasion, I’ve asked about Eastern Gateway (even before it was announced) and pressed about fixing the arrival experience.
During a media briefing back in February, Mazloum shared that one of his initiatives with the Disneyland team is to take an end-to-end look at the complete guest journey. This spanned everything from the current booking process to parking, security and the overarching arrival experience. The team set out to find where things have become needlessly complicated and could be measurably improved to make a stronger first impression before guests even experienced their first attraction of the day.
This led to me once again reiterating my enthusiasm for Eastern Gateway, while also asking about fixing the current parking and security situation. To put it bluntly, bagcheck is broken, especially as contrasted with Walt Disney World, Disneyland Paris, or any Universal theme park. Mazloum explained that Disneyland has to operate in its own unique environment and with different considerations than Walt Disney World or other parks, but that the team is looking at technology and other solutions that can help streamline security.
While I’ve heard plenty over the years about the ‘unique considerations’ at Disneyland, I find these largely unpersuasive. But I am also not particularly keen on security theater in the first place, and skew in favor of less friction with security to the greatest extent possible. Just based on what I’ve seen on social media, this is an unpopular opinion. (It’s even an unpopular opinion in my own household!)
Eastern Gateway alone will not resolve these issues, whether they be created by the union or the types of contraband being brought to Disneyland or the risk-averse nature of leadership and legal. However, I am fairly confident that Disney is already reevaluating the overall arrival experience ahead of Eastern Gateway. I doubt they will want to unveil this sexy all-new infrastructure while utilizing an inconsistent security setup straight out of the 1990s.
While parking and security are still very much hit or miss at Disneyland, our anecdotal experience has been positive over the last 6 months. Even after the end of the ART buses, it’s been shockingly smooth. Part of this is likely luck (as I’ve seen reports suggesting otherwise on social media), but we haven’t had nearly as many issues as we did between last October and this March. Of course, with a toddler, we’re also seldom arriving in the evenings during the post-work rush.
Eastern Gateway Unlocks Everything
Even if you don’t live south of Disneyland, there’s ample reason to be excited for this expansion. While it might sound like a boring infrastructure project, Eastern Gateway is the first piece of the puzzle that’s actually quite critical to unlocking future development. It’s a necessary prerequisite to Pandora – World of Avatar, or whatever Disney chooses to build in the Hollywood Backlot.
We’ve been emphasizing this from the beginning, which is precisely why we (correctly) concluded before it was even announced that the Monsters, Inc. dark ride didn’t need to close in 2026. Speaking of which, we’ll go ahead and predict that Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue will not close in 2027. Actually, it won’t close in 2028, either.
Quite frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t close at all, and the Avatar experience is quietly cancelled. The Monsters, Inc. dark ride will close eventually. It’s old and nothing special, but my gut is that the Hollywood Backlot is redeveloped in the 2030s and replaced by another family-friendly attraction. Historically, few plans have survived a decade in limbo at Disney.
In order to have sufficient room for the show building and everything that the Hollywood Backlot expansion entails, Disney needs to demolish the current arrival area. But that can’t happen until the new Eastern Gateway is up and running. And until then, there’s really no need to close the Monsters, Inc. dark ride.
Ultimately, this should give you several reasons to get excited for Eastern Gateway. Whether it’s that this project is the true realization of DisneylandForward or personally benefitting from an improved arrival experience or freeing up the space for future expansion of the Hollywood Backlot or all of the above, this is a monumental infrastructure endeavor. There’s a reason why this project has been in the pipeline since 1993!
Planning a Southern California vacation? For park admission deals, read Tips for Saving Money on Disneyland Tickets. Learn about on-site and off-site hotels in our Anaheim Hotel Reviews & Rankings. For where to eat, check out our Disneyland Restaurant Reviews. For unique ideas of things that’ll improve your trip, check out What to Pack for Disney. For comprehensive advice, consult our Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide. Finally, for guides beyond Disney, check out our Southern California Itineraries for day trips to Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, and many other SoCal cities!
Your Thoughts
What do you think of Eastern Gateway coming to Disneyland? Are you as excited for this “all-new parking structure and transportation hub that will be built on the east side of Disneyland Resort” as we are?! Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions? Hearing your feedback—even when you disagree with us—is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
I am probably missing something obvious, but how will this effect the crossing best wester and IHOP on Harbor Blvd…asking for a friend…who likes to stay at the Park Vue. P
Besides the ever-increasing costs of APs, the second biggest reason for us to no longer keep up our DLR APs was parking. Honestly. We live north of DLR and the standstill on that flyover getting into Mickey and Friends would literally break our day. Even entering off Ball would be painful. We stopped going midday or early evening because of it. Our toddler at the time was not thrilled with sitting that long and neither were his parents!
I cannot impress enough to the WDW exclusive reader here how awful the traffic to parking can be. I get the excitement of this change.
I could care less about the Coco land. I want Avatar!