A nearly $2 billion proposed redevelopment of Disneyland Resort that would be among the biggest projects in the theme park's almost 70-year history is moving closer to reality as officials in Anaheim, California, cleared the way for the company to use existing land for the development of attractions, stores and other projects.

The city council in Anaheim, California, unanimously voted to approve plans to lift certain zoning restrictions that Disney officials said limited its options for integrating new elements at the nearly 500-acre resort.

Disney plans more than $60 billion in developments at its global parks in the next decade while dealing with limited land available at its California venue, the nation’s second-most visited themed attraction after the company’s Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida.

The move reflects both the expansion of theme parks around the United States and the effects on nearby real estate as these attractions try to lure more tourists while restaurants, hotels and stores seek to entice visitors who often travel distances and plan to stay for days.

A 40-year development agreement with the city of Anaheim calls for Disney to add new rides, retail space, dining venues, entertainment areas and other attractions to land within the park, much of which is now for parking.

“We are ready to bring the next level of immersive entertainment to Anaheim,” Disneyland Resort President Ken Potrock said during Tuesday’s council meeting. “We are committed to starting right away.”

Disneyland originally spanned about 200 acres when it opened and now covers roughly 490 acres in Anaheim. In contrast, Disney World in Florida covers about 50 times that figure at more than 25,000 acres.

“This is probably going to be the biggest thing they’ve done since they opened in Anaheim in 1955,” theme park consultant Dennis Speigel, CEO of International Theme Park Services in Cincinnati, told CoStar News. “This issue of being landlocked in Southern California has always been an overriding challenge for them.”

The project still faces hurdles before construction can begin, and will face a procedural second reading by the city council before the development agreement takes effect in June.

Executives of Burbank, California-based Disney have said the park and media giant is looking to create more flexibility in Anaheim to position upcoming new rides, hotels, retail and dining venues as part of the expansion project known as Disneyland Forward. The company plans to spend at least $1.9 billion in the next decade, according to arrangements worked out with the city, and it has agreed to shell out an additional sum of about $100 million for other local improvements, including streets, public parks and $30 million for affordable housing.

Following last month’s 5-1 approval by the city’s Planning Commission, and after several public open house presentations by Disney since 2021, the Anaheim City Council this week approved zoning and related changes needed to allow the project to proceed. City filings indicate Disney sought changes to support “the ongoing transformation of the Anaheim resort into a multi-day destination resort for use by Southern California metropolitan area residents, as well as visitors from around the world.”

A statement on the Disneyland Forward website said: “today hotel, theme park, retail and dining are all part of one immersive experience. Guests expect that the future of entertainment will seamlessly weave all uses together in ways that were hard to imagine more than 25 years ago when the city created these specific plans.”

Increasingly like its rivals, Disney is looking to put its current real estate to more effective use to create year-round attractions that also draw significant nearby hotel, retail, multifamily and other commercial demand. Speigel said theme park operators are moving to position their venues beyond regional drive-in attractions to make them into destination spots that attract visitors from across the country and around the world.

NBC Universal, for instance, has new theme parks planned in the Dallas and Las Vegas regions, with primarily indoor-oriented elements to make them year-round venues, in addition to a new park called Epic Universe under construction and set for a 2025 opening near its existing park complex in Orlando.

Toymaker Mattel and its development partners are planning theme parks near Phoenix and Kansas City, Kansas, based on the company’s iconic Barbie and Hot Wheels brands, also largely offering indoor components.

Speigel noted the newest NBC Universal Orlando park is being built on land that the company previously sold off but subsequently reacquired after finding it needed the land to meet its growth needs. Other park operators are looking to add attractions like hotels and retail centers and are conscious of the need to keep options open for future development.

“Otherwise you have the factor of other developers building right up to your doorstep,” Speigel said.

Speigel noted many other businesses attracted by Disneyland’s arrival in the 1950s have since bought up and developed nearby properties into hotels, restaurants, retail and other tourist-centric businesses. Buying more land to expand beyond its Anaheim gates could prove cost prohibitive, the consultant said, so Disney will want to make use of its existing real estate to meet its needs over the next two or three decades — and will likely invest much more than $2 billion in the process.

With Disneyland Forward, Disney is also seeking to expand an existing retail center near its park gates and bring in new non-Disney stores, restaurants and entertainment venues. Plans also call for expanding some existing parking areas and purchasing some internal roadways from the city of Anaheim to better integrate future new features.

While it hasn’t specified upcoming on-site themed projects, Disney CEO Robert Iger said earlier this year that a new land based on its “Avatar” movies was being planned for Disneyland. The company is also planning eventually to set up areas already found at some of its other global parks, geared to film franchises such as “Frozen” and “Zootopia,” after previously opening new features in Anaheim based on its “Star Wars” and Marvel superhero movies.

The CEO said Disney has sufficient existing space to increase its overall offerings at Disneyland by about 50%.

According to a 2023 economic impact report prepared for Disney by California State University Fullerton, Disneyland generated a total economic impact of $8.5 billion in Southern California in 2018, generating 78,000 direct and indirect jobs along with $509.6 million in state and local taxes. Cal State researchers said each $1 billion in new theme park development by Disney could directly generate nearly 1,000 new jobs, with overall additional direct regional economic impact of about $250 million annually.

Disneyland drew 16.9 million visitors in 2022, about 10% below its 18.7 million tally for pre-pandemic 2019, according to the latest available full-year data from the Themed Entertainment Association trade group and consulting firm AECOM.