Walt Disney's Biggest Regret Still Haunts Disneyland

There's a battle underway between the city of Anaheim, which wants to build a low-income housing development near Disneyland, and Disney officials who don't want it:

A proposal to build housing near Disneyland has escalated into a battle of wills between the entertainment giant and key Anaheim officials, who once could be counted on to follow Disney's every lead.

Although some Anaheim City Council members see the project as a way to add needed housing to Orange County's second-largest city, Disney says it would disrupt the tourist environment and street scene it has worked hard to create outside the gates to Disneyland and California Adventure.

Tonight, the council is expected to choose sides and vote whether to permit 225 apartments and 1,275 condominiums in the resort district. The area, directly across the street from where Disney may build a third amusement park, includes a site recently rezoned for upscale hotel-condominium projects, to which Disney has not objected.

The debate has left council members in an awkward position: whether to please Anaheim's biggest employer and biggest tourist draw or create housing, including low-cost residences for the resort district's workforce.

Walt Disney's biggest regret was that when he built Disneyland, he wasn't able to buy enough land to property insulate the park from the surrounding area. He was never happy with the proliferation of cheap motels that sprang up around the park and took away from some of the magic. He didn't make that mistake in Florida, and you can drive for miles through Disney controlled property before you ever get to one of the theme parks.

Many of the sleazier places that used to border Disneyland are gone now, and the entire Disney Resort area has undergone a significant facelift. Traffic is often congested through the area, and adding a bunch of housing right down the street isn't going to help. Disney has been talking about building a "third gate" or third theme park near where the new housing is proposed, and Disney doesn't want the whole resort feel damaged by an affordable housing complex.

Given that Disney is pretty much the 800 pound gorilla in Anaheim, my guess is they'll eventually get their way.

UPDATE: The gorilla wins.