Disneyland Good Neighbor Hotels & Third-Party Shuttle Shifting to New Spot as Eastern Gateway Work Expands

Starting next month, Disney will make sweeping security, transportation, and rideshare changes as the Eastern Gateway construction kicks into high gear near the entrance to Disneyland. Here’s your routine update on the current DLR project about which we are most excited.

Following the D23 Expo, 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. Construction walls went up around the ticket booths, and demolition began.

The ticket booths on both sides of the East Esplanade have now been completely demolished. The Disneyland booths were gone as of late last month, and the DCA side were gone as of mid-October. On our last visit to the parks, we could see framing peeking out above the construction walls, presumably for the new security checkpoint. There’s still repaving and additional work to be done, but we’d nevertheless expect the new screening to shift here sometime in November 2026, likely before the peak week of Thanksgiving. Now, we have our latest update from Disneyland on what’s next…

In a slew of new updates to their “Enhancements at the Disneyland Resort” page, Disney has provided a road map of what’s to come for rideshare, buses, and everything else transportation-related as work gears up on the Eastern Gateway project.

This also includes a couple of Coco-related updates, most notably that select seating areas in the Paradise Gardens dining area may be impacted, and restrooms may be intermittently unavailable (and likely expanded to accommodate increased demand). New restrooms and service animal relief area have also now opened between Avengers Campus and Cars Land.

Here are some key points to help you plan ahead for upcoming changes near the theme park main entrances:

Disability Accessibility Services (DAS) Update: Accessibility Services are now available at Ticket Booth 6 in the Esplanade, the open area between Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park.
Construction in the Esplanade: Construction is taking place in the eastern portion of the Esplanade, which may temporarily impact how Guests move through the theme park entrance area.
Starting in Fall 2026, ticket booths in the East Esplanade will be removed. (As noted above, the demolition is done and construction has commenced on the new screening area.)
The East Esplanade Security screening area will temporarily shift into that location in Fall 2026. (Also mentioned above, we anticipate this opening sometime in November 2026 based on the current pace of work.)
Construction walls may result in temporary walkway adjustments to and from the theme park main entrances.

Along with this, there are transportation changes that concern shuttle and rideshare locations:

Downtown Disney District rideshare area was refreshed and selected transportation pick-up and drop-off locations were relocated nearby.
Toy Story Lot shuttle drop-off will remain in the East Esplanade area and will move slightly north and closer to Harbor Blvd.
Good Neighbor Hotel and third-party hotel shuttle drop-off locations will soon move to the new Downtown Disney District Shuttle Area near Lululemon in Downtown Disney.

The last bullet point is the big update as of late October. Here’s a look at the map showing where the new drop-off will be located:

This is on the west side of Downtown Drive, adjacent to the Disneyland Hotel valet loop. The drop-off location change will take effect starting November 2, 2026.

Aside from the Toy Story Lot shuttles, there are a bunch of buses that are unaffiliated with Disney. These include public transportation, as well as Good Neighbor and third party hotel shuttles for Candy Cane Inn, Anaheim Majestic Garden, and other properties.

While it’s conceivable that some of these buses will share the new drop-off area with the Toy Story shuttle (maybe the public transportation options that need to stick to tight timetables?), Disneyland has confirmed that the third party off-site hotels, including Good Neighbor properties will not.

This means a longer walk for guests who now have to go the long way through Downtown Disney, and also a longer drive for some of the buses. Candy Cane Inn is hit especially hard, and its shuttle basically becomes pointless. I would rather just walk to the Esplanade over taking a bus and then walking pretty much the same distance through Downtown Disney. To each their own, though.

As previously reported, the new rideshare pick-up and drop-off location will not move to Downtown Disney. Instead, it’ll be located behind Disney California Adventure.

This location is at the Harbor and Disney Way intersection (the crosswalk that’s pretty much exclusively used by Toy Story buses), right behind Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout and the Hyperion Theater. Rideshare moving here would mean it’s about an additional 2-3 minutes walk away from the Esplanade.

The Toy Story buses are moving slightly to the north, as opposed to slightly to the south. Both sides will almost certainly be touched over the course of the project, so this isn’t really a surprise. It just means that the buses will move north first and then, presumably, shift south after work is completed on that side since work will also need to be completed on the north side. That also means (again, presumably) that the north side with the flyover with be the second and final phase of the project.

Although Disney hasn’t stated as much, the construction of the new arrival area on the Esplanade side of Harbor will happen in phases. The project needs to allow for guest ingress and egress through here. They can’t just wall-off the entirety of the East Esplanade to do the work. The new rideshare and bus drop-off locations on the east side would be pretty pointless if that were the case!

Speaking of shuttles, the Anaheim Resort Campus Shuttle that operates as a partial replacement for the now-defunct ART, has once again expanded and now serves the following hotels:

Hilton Anaheim
Anaheim Marriott
Clarion Hotel Anaheim Resort
Sheraton Park Hotel at Anaheim Resort
Courtyard by Marriott Anaheim Resort Convention Center
Hotel Lulu
DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Anaheim Resort

The Anaheim Resort Campus Shuttle costs $6 per day for adults, with discounted fares for seniors and kids, and no charge for toddlers. There are also 3-day passes available at lower rates across the board.

The Anaheim Resort Campus Shuttle is simple, with no need to memorize timetables. Once the first shuttle leaves at 7:00 AM, service doesn’t stop. Shuttles keep looping between the Anaheim Resort Campus hotels and Disneyland until 30 minutes after the park closes. Just show up. Wait times can vary with traffic and demand.

You can read more about the Anaheim Resort Campus Shuttle or purchase tickets on their official website. This and another shuttle network for Garden Grove hotels were established earlier this year following the shutdown of Anaheim Regional Transportation (ART) in Spring 2026.

With the latest and upcoming arrival experience updates out of the way, let’s turn to a recap on the latest Eastern Gateway developments…

Eastern Gateway Groundbreaking

On August 24, 2026, Disney broke ground on Eastern Gateway. The new 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 Eastern Gateway will also feature a pedestrian bridge over Harbor Boulevard, leading to an all-new Esplanade arrival. This is what all of the construction and changes to the Esplanade are preparing for. This pedestrian flyover will also provide 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.

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! 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!

This means that the entrance to the Esplanade will shift about 75 feet to the north. It also means that the existing East Esplanade entrance will remain open during construction, albeit likely as a maze of construction walls and a phased closures and relocations along the way.

As a result of this shift, Eastern Gateway will free up a significant amount of space backstage behind the Hollywood Backlot in Disney California Adventure. 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.

There are a couple of significant changes as contrasted with the failed 2016 plans for Eastern Gateway (above and below). First, the USCIS building in the middle of the previous plans is now the aforementioned Team Disney Anaheim East building, which closed earlier this summer and will be demolished.

Second, there will still be street access to the Esplanade from Harbor Boulevard based on both Disney’s statement and the concept art. 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. Our best guess is that there will be another security checkpoint at the canopy under the big ‘Disneyland’ marquee.

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.

You could easily draw a straight line between the cancellation of the 2016 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.

There’s obviously 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 and this is the primary fruits of the zoning campaign for the next decade.

Ultimately, it’s exciting to see Eastern Gateway kicking into high gear, especially as someone who comes from south Orange County and detests the current arrival experience at both Toy Story and Mickey & Friends. There will certainly be growing pains and musical chairs for rideshare and bus drop-off over the next couple of years, but it should all be worth it in 2028 once Eastern Gateway finally opens and reinvents the arrival experience at Disneyland.

Whether viewing it as the 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, Eastern Gateway is a monumental infrastructure endeavor that “unlocks” a lot. 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

Thoughts on the Good Neighbor and third party hotel shuttle drop-off moving to Downtown Disney? What about changes to rideshare, Toy Story shuttles, security, or anything else that’ll be necessitated by construction around the East Esplanade? Excited for Eastern Gateway? 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!