500 Rally to Support Disneyland Expansion

Anticipating today’s long-awaited City Council vote on the Disneyland expansion, about 500 residents rallied downtown Monday with balloons, banners and unabashed cheers in support of the $1.4-billion project.

The event was sponsored by Westcot 2000, a citizen group formed four years ago to raise community support for Disney and its growth plans. The group’s secretary, Andrea Manes, said Monday’s rally was to show council members “that people really do support this project.”

“We want a 5-0 vote” by City Council members on the expansion’s finance agreement, Manes said.

A majority of the council, including Mayor Tom Daly and Councilmen Lou Lopez and Frank Feldhaus, appear poised to approve the plan tonight. Council members Tom Tait and Bob Zemel have expressed concerns over the finance package but said they support the Disney expansion overall.

Tait and Zemel tried unsuccessfully last week to delay a final vote on the project so that residents would have more time to review the proposal.

The expansion calls for as much as $546 million worth of improvements to the city’s tourism area. That would include a $90-million parking garage for both a new theme park proposed by Disney and an expanded Anaheim Convention Center. The city would issue $395 million worth of bonds to finance much of the work.

“Walt Disney had a vision,” Disneyland President Paul Pressler told supporters Monday. “Tonight we are on the same track, a new vision for the 21st century and all of Anaheim.”

Hundreds cheered Pressler’s words, danced to Disney theme songs and signed a huge poster that will be brought to City Hall today.

“We’re ready, we want it, we need it!” sang Mabel Grant, 60, a longtime Anaheim resident. “We have nothing to lose here.”

The City Council will hear public comment before voting on the project at 5 p.m.