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Executive Summary
Economic Impacts of Potential Expansion of Theme Parks and Lodging at the Disneyland® Resort
Prepared by:
Woods Center for Economic Analysis and Forecasting
College of Business and Economics
California State University, Fullerton
Anil Puri, Ph.D.
Project Director
Aaron Popp, Ph.D.
Project Co-Director
Adrian Fleissig, Ph.D.
Project Co-Director
Final
June 5, 2023
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The Disneyland® Resort (also known as “DLR”) in Anaheim, California is a globally recognized premier tourist attraction and an iconic feature of the Southern California landscape. The Disneyland Resort generates substantial economic benefits to the City of Anaheim (City), Orange County, and California.
Disneyland’s History and Growth:
Disneyland Park opened in 1955 and is located on approximately 136 acres in Anaheim, California. In the 1990s, the City approved The Disneyland Resort Project to allow for future growth and investment for decades, including the creation of a second theme park, additional lodging, parking, and retail, dining and entertainment uses in the 489.7-acre Disneyland Resort to encourage the creation of a multi-day resort experience. The City also approved a plan for the area surrounding the Disneyland Resort called The Anaheim Resort™ to allow for the development of hotels, motels, enhanced convention and conference facilities as well as restaurants, retail shops and entertainment facilities to support Anaheim residents and Resort Guests. These approvals enabled the development and 2001 opening of a number of additions to the Disneyland Resort including a second theme park, Disney California Adventure Park, Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel and Spa, the Downtown Disney retail, dining, and entertainment district, and the Mickey & Friends parking structure. These improvements dramatically enhanced the benefits provided to Guests of the Disneyland Resort and to the local communities, especially the City. In addition, significant improvements were made throughout The Anaheim Resort to create a world-class tourist destination.
Over the years, the Disneyland Resort has continued to add new theme park attractions, upgrade infrastructure, and expand Downtown Disney. Some major expansions and renovations include the Reimagined Toontown including Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway (2023), Avengers Property of the Disneyland® Resort Private & Confidential
Campus (2021), Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland Park(2019)1, the Pixar Pals parking structure (2019), Pixar Pier Enhancements (2018), and Cars Land (2012).
Although the 1990s approvals enabled two decades of growth at the Disneyland Resort, Disney is seeking updates to these approvals to allow continued long-term growth and investment in the Disneyland Resort. Disney has proposed DisneylandForward, a project which, although it would not increase the amount of development square footage or lodging currently allowed under the existing 1990s approvals, would update Disney’s existing approvals to allow integrated uses on Disney-owned properties throughout The Anaheim Resort.
Disneyland Resort’s Tourism, Economic & Employment Impact Today:
In 2021, Disneyland Park was the most visited theme park in California and second-most visited theme park in the world with Disney California Adventure Park ranked thirteenth worldwide. In that year, Disneyland Park had 8.57 million visitors while Disney California Adventure Park had
4.98 million visitors
2. In comparison, in 2021, the second-most visited theme park in California was Universal Studios Hollywood with 5.5 million visitors.3
The ongoing operations and expenditures of the Disneyland Resort generate numerous jobs, significant business income, and substantial tax revenue. Disney hires many employees; the number of Cast Members has grown from 500 in 1955 to over 30,000 in 2021. In addition to the direct employment by the Disneyland Resort, Disney contracts with numerous businesses to maintain, refurbish, update, and expand attractions, as well as to support the Disneyland Resort’s own operations, generating significant indirect jobs. Many indirect jobs result from the Disneyland Resort’s contracts with third-party businesses located in the City, greater Orange County, and Southern California. The direct and indirect employees purchase goods and services
1 Gregory Shaw. DISNEYLAND TIMELINE. The First 50 Years. Sacramento State University. N.D. https://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/shawg/articles/facilities/disneyland_timeline.html. Accessed 13 March, 2023. 2 TEA/AECOM. 2021 Theme Index and Museum Index: The Global Attractions Attendance Report. Themed Entertainment Association (TEA); 2022 https://aecom.com/wp-content/uploads/documents/reports/AECOM- Theme-Index-2021.pdf. Accessed 13 March, 2023.
3 Robert Niles. Universal Makes Big Gains in 2021 Theme Park Attendance Report; 2022 https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/202210/9181/. Accessed 13 March, 2023.
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from local businesses and consequently generate additional income and tax revenues. Based on the 2018 Economic Impact Study performed by the Woods Center for Economic Analysis and Forecasting at California State University, Fullerton, The Disneyland Resort generated a total economic impact of $8.5 billion in Southern California from over 78,000 direct and indirect employees and from guests to the Disneyland Resort. In addition, the Disneyland Resort generated $509.6 million in state and local taxes in fiscal year 2018.
This study, undertaken by the Woods Center, analyzes the economic and fiscal impacts of three scenarios for expansion and development in the Disneyland Resort with the DisneylandForward Project using the Impact Analysis for Planning (IMPLAN), a model that has frequently been used by analysts since the 1970s to study the economic impact of events on cities, regions, counties, states, and countries.
Scenario 1 – Investment of $1 billion by Disney in the Disneyland Resort’s theme parks Scenario 2 – New hotel or equivalent Disney Vacation Club (DVC) construction by Disney with 400 keys
Scenario 3
– Full build-out of maximum theme park and hotel / DVC entitlements by Disney
The Disneyland Resort provided the underlying data for this study for construction spending, Cast Member wages, hotels, taxes, third party spending, and vendor spending. The Woods Center deployed an industry standard approach by using IMPLAN for this analysis.
Economic Impacts for Anaheim
Each scenario has a construction phase and an operations phase. Economic impacts for the City of Anaheim for each phase are provided in Table 1. All values are annual averages during each phase. Employment results are reported in IMPLAN jobs, which are jobs that last for one year (job years). IMPLAN uses the same definition of a job as the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Bureau of Economic Analysis. For each phase, direct and total impacts are reported. The direct impact is an initial change in production or expenditures because of an event. This study estimates the direct impacts of events on output (total value of final goods and services produced) as the sum of its expenditures, labor income, sales and import taxes and other property Property of the Disneyland® Resort Private & Confidential
income, generally gross operating profit. Total impact includes indirect and induced effects.
Indirect impacts are the economic impacts of business to business purchases in the supply chain. Induced impacts occur from the spending of labor income. Cast Members spend their income on food, health care, entertainment, and other goods and services, much of which support local jobs and businesses.
Table 1
Anaheim Average Annual Summary
(Output and Labor Income in Millions of Dollars)
Scenario 1 Direct Impacts Total Impacts
Employment Labor Income Output Employment Labor Income Output Construction 958 87.5 250.8 1,120 100.7 286.7
Operations 2,132 109.9 224.5 2,292 120.1 252.9
Scenario 2 Direct Impacts Total Impacts
Employment Labor Income Output Employment Labor Income Output Construction 572 42.0 88.3 626 46.1 100.0
Operations 337 23.9 60.4 353 24.8 62.5
Scenario 3 Direct Impacts Total Impacts
Employment Labor Income Output Employment Labor Income Output Construction 4,520 388.9 1,029.8 5,171 441.5 1,173.8
Operations 26,764 1,675.4 3,377.7 28,352 1,777.0 3,656.8
Construction Phase:
Scenario 1: Theme Park Expansion:
• Direct average annual employment would increase by 958 jobs and total average annual employment by 1,120 jobs
• Direct average annual labor income would increase by $87.5 million and total average annual labor income by $100.7 million
• Direct average annual output would increase by $250.8 million and total average annual output by $286.7 million
Scenario 2: Hotel or DVC Expansion:
• Direct average annual employment would increase by 572 jobs and total average annual employment by 626 jobs
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• Direct average annual labor income would increase by $42.0 million and total average annual labor income by $46.1 million
• Direct average annual output would increase by $88.3 million and total average annual output by $100.0 million
Scenario 3: Full Build Out of Maximum Entitlements
• Direct average annual employment would increase by 4,520 jobs and total average annual employment by 5,171 jobs
• Direct average annual labor income would increase by $388.9 million and total average annual labor income by $441.5 million
• Direct average annual output would increase by $1.0 billion and total average annual output by $1.2 billion
Operations Phase:
Scenario 1: Theme Park Expansion:
• Direct average annual employment would increase by 2,132 jobs and total average annual employment by 2,292 jobs
• Direct average annual labor income would increase by $109.9 million and total average annual labor income by $120.1 million
• Direct average annual output would increase by $224.5 million and total average annual output by $252.9 million
Scenario 2: Hotel or DVC Expansion:
• Direct average annual employment would increase by 337 jobs and total average annual employment by 353 jobs
• Direct average annual labor income would increase by $23.9 million and total average annual labor income by $24.8 million
• Direct average annual output would increase by $60.4 million and total average annual output by $62.5 million
Scenario 3: Full Build Out of Maximum Entitlements
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• Direct annual employment would increase by 26,764 jobs and total average annual employment by 28,352 jobs
• Direct annual labor income would increase by $1.7 billion and total average annual labor income by $1.8 billion
• Direct annual output would increase by $3.4 billion and total average annual output by $3.7 billion
Fiscal Impacts for Anaheim
The City of Anaheim benefits substantially from the construction and operations phases in all scenarios, as shown in Table 2. Scenario 2 and Scenario 3 generate additional hotel taxes from the new on-site hotel or DVC builds. Scenario 1 also causes an uptick in Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) as the off-site hotel market accommodates the increased theme park attendance. For the construction phase, the City would receive an average of $2.6 million per year in revenue in Scenario 1, $1.2 million per year in revenue in Scenario 2, and $11.4 million per year in revenue in Scenario 3. For the operations phase, the City would receive an average of $15.3 million per year in revenue in Scenario 1, $9.4 million per year in revenue in Scenario 2, and $243.9 million per year in revenue in Scenario 3.
Scenario 3’s full build out approximately doubles The Disneyland Resort’s fiscal contribution to the City. This dramatic increase in tax revenue occurs because the scenario more than doubles the valuable TOT revenue and leads to a substantial increase in property taxes. Scenario 3’s large-scale construction also increases the property value which considerably increases the tax revenue. The tax revenue includes revenue to the City’s General Fund and to special districts, such as school districts.
Table 2
Anaheim Average Annual Fiscal Impacts
(Millions of Dollars)
Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Scenario 3
Direct Total Direct Total Direct Total
Construction 1.83 2.64 0.88 1.18 8.08 11.43
Operations 14.64 15.33 9.31 9.36 237.57 243.93
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The gross tax revenue includes taxes dedicated to repaying certain municipal bonds that are expected to be repaid in FY 2029. In all scenarios on- and off-site, 3% of the TOT from new keys will be dedicated to this bond repayment until full payoff occurs.
Regional Impacts
The study also estimates significant economic and fiscal impacts for Orange County and the State of California as shown in Table 3 and Table 4. In summary, there are significant positive economic and fiscal impacts from all the proposed scenarios for the City of Anaheim, Orange County and the state of California.
Table 3
Average Annual Summary
(Output and Labor Income in Millions of Dollars)
Construction Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Scenario 3
Direct Total Direct Total Direct Total
Orange
County
Employment 960 1,647 572 796 4,526 7,281
Labor Income ($) 87.6 145.1 42.0 59.2 389.3 615.9
Output ($) 251.2 405.4 88.3 137.4 1,031.1 1,647.3
California
Employment 967 1,959 572 906 4,549 8,557
Labor Income ($) 88.2 169.4 42.0 67.3 391.3 714.4
Output ($) 253.0 486.6 88.3 165.1 1,036.4 1,979.3
Operations Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Scenario 3
Direct Total Direct Total Direct Total
Orange
County
Employment 2,361 2,963 217 279 28,069 34,092
Labor Income ($) 122.6 167.3 21.7 26.7 1,780.0 2,266.3
Output ($) 257.0 381.2 56.6 69.0 3,621.4 4,956.4
California
Employment 2,559 3,634 183 344 29,368 41,304
Labor Income ($) 130.6 209.1 20.3 32.2 1,832.4 2,822.1
Output ($) 276.1 507.7 53.4 88.3 3,747.1 6,692.2
Table 4
Average Total Annual Fiscal Impacts
(Millions of Dollars)
Construction Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Scenario 3
Orange County 0.91 0.37 3.90
California 16.48 6.58 70.67
Operations Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Scenario 3
Orange County 1.43 0.01 25.99
California 20.96 2.76 346.78
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