In what’s becoming a tiring round of news between two decidedly stubborn parties, Disney and the City of Anaheim are deadlocked once again on future development for the Happiest Place on Earth. According to the OC Register, the cause this time is a change of plans and location of the new hotel by Disney forcing the city to revoke previously-approved tax breaks for the mouse on the new project.
According to the OCR, David Ontko (chief counsel for Disneyland Resort and International Parks & Resorts) wrote to the city attorney on Wednesday, August 15: “Given the city’s position that our project does not comply with the requirements of the Agreement, you have given us no other choice other than to put construction of the hotel on indefinite hold.”
Several locations in Downtown Disney closed last month in preparation for upcoming construction on the site. Those locations remain shuttered including Starbucks, AMC Theaters, Rainforest Cafe, Earl of Sandwich, and ESPN Zone.
For followers of Disneyland Resort news the latest round of setbacks may be particularly frustrating as plans themselves for Disneyland’s fourth hotel were seemingly born out of earlier setbacks when Disney shuttered plans for the “Eastern Gateway Project” which would have brought a massive new parking structure to the property.