On Jan. 30, 2024, Disney will open its new Pixar-themed Hotel in place of the Paradise Pier Hotel, along with the new Great Maple Restaurant in Anaheim.
Disney is currently working on expanding DisneylandForward, the company’s 30-year plan to include innovative and exciting areas such as the new hotel. The lobby will be set in a giant version of the Pixar Lamp teetering over the ball, with well-known characters floating above. The company envisioned this installment as a depiction of the beginning stages of Pixar filmmaking and character design.
There will be numerous Pixar elements such as fire pits modeled after “hotheaded Pixar characters” and guest rooms with artistic headboards from shows like “The Incredibles” and “Toy Story 3.” Each room will also include a version of the famed Pixar Lamp. The headboards will contain concept art and more arranged in order from warm to cool colors to depict the importance of color and tone in various scenes.
According to Disney, “Pixar Place Hotel will evoke the inspiration and humor that goes into every Pixar film, while celebrating the artistic process…Showcasing early sketches to finished design, the art and decor will highlight vibrant Pixar stories, revealing some never-before-seen artwork.”
The rooftop will host a “Finding Nemo”- themed splash pad and Pixel Pool with lounge areas and Nemo’s Cove, a pop-jet splash pad. There will be a 186-foot-long water slide inspired by Crush from “Finding Nemo,” called Crush’s Surfin’ Slide for kids.
Later in the year, a family play court will be added to the deck along with activities inspired by celebrated short films such as “La Luna,” “Bao,” “For the Birds” and “Burrow.”
Prior to the opening of the hotel, The Great Maple Restaurant is expected to open on the ground floor in November, followed by the Sketch Pad Cafe coffee shop and Small Bytes rooftop pool bar. The Great Maple Restaurant will serve upscale Southern California-based comfort food such as buttermilk fried chicken, maple bacon doughnuts, cajun shrimp and cheddar biscuit benedict, maple pecan-crusted salmon, soda pop-braised baby back ribs and more.
A new gift shop is planned to open called STOR-E, a play on the film “WALL-E,” and will contain Pixar-themed apparel, toys, and resort souvenirs. There has also been talk of an expanded fitness center for hotel guests with treadmills, free weights and more complimentary options. There will be a mural of Mike and Sully from “Monsters University” decorating one of the main walls.
Not long ago, Disney revealed they would be doubling investment in its theme parks by $60 billion within the next 10 years to expand and build upon new “Indiana Jones,” “Encanto” and “Zootopia” lands.
Along with the hotel, restaurant, and cafes, Disney is further planning on opening the Disneyland Adventureland Treehouse on Nov. 10. It was originally the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, and then the Tarzan Treehouse, but has now been completely updated and remodeled to be a rare park experience that doesn’t connect to a film.
Walt Disney Imagineer, Kim Irvine, shared, “I think that the idea was very enticing to our executive team to re-create something that was actually Walt’s dream, and go back, especially with our anniversaries that we’re having, to make it Inspired by Walt Disney’s Swiss Family Robinson.”
Disney is rapidly expanding the park and its attractions to include more of their renowned characters and films that have left the public with the notion that Disneyland is the “happiest place on Earth.”
