LA’s favorite soup dumpling spot and Mexico’s first native Michelin star winner will be coming to Disneyland's Downtown Disney.
Din Tai Fung will bring its popular dim sum and Chinese dishes to Disneyland’s shopping and dining district, while Chef Carlos Gaytán will be bringing a new concept to the current Catal & Uva Bar space, Disneyland Resort President Ken Potrock said at a State of the Resort presentation for local business and community leaders last night. Potrock also announced renovation plans for the Paradise Pier hotel and the return of select amenities for Disneyland Resort hotel guests.
Let's start in Downtown Disney, where a new entry portal will go in across from the Disneyland Hotel, on the site where the old AMC Theatres building formerly stood.
Inspired by Mid-century Modern design, the entry will create a new design aesthetic for Downtown Disney, which Potrock said will be diversifying its food and merchandise offering for a wider audience of Disney fans.
The first of those new food offerings that Potrock revealed in a press briefing yesterday was Din Tai Fung, the Taiwanese chain known for its Xiaolongbao, or soup dumplings. The Downtown Disney location would be the company's eighth in Southern California.
Gaytán's Paseo will replace Catal and feature upscale cuisine inspired by his Mexican homeland and his training in French technique. Outside, Gaytán's Centrico replaces Uva Bar, focusing on small bites and premium drinks, including tequilas. Both locations will continue to be operated by Patina Group.
Ralph Brennan's will be getting a makeover, both externally and with a refreshed menu. Classic favorites will not be going away, however, Potrock said.
The Disneyland Resort has completed demolition of the former AMC Theatres building, which also housed a Starbucks and Earl of Sandwich. The popular sandwich restaurant will be returning for a limited time within the next few months in pop up form, not far from its former location.
Now let's talk about the hotels.
Disneyland will spend “tens of millions” of dollars to transform the current Paradise Pier Hotel. Contrary to ill-informed rumors, the hotel will not be renamed for Toy Story, but instead will be themed to multiple Pixar franchises.
Theming for the hotel will be designed in modular form, allowing Imagineers to swap IP in and out as new franchises come to the screen. The revamp will happen in phases, so while blocks of rooms will be removed from inventory for work, the hotel will not close. Potrock did not provide a timeline for the hotel renovations or other Downtown Disney additions.
Guests at the three Disneyland Resort hotels also will be getting back some of the amenities that they enjoyed before the pandemic closed the resort in March 2020. Early entry to the theme parks for hotel guests will return, as will a dedicated entry into Disney California Adventure for Paradise Pier (or whatever it ends up being called) hotel guests.
Disneyland also will be offering hotel guests the opportunity to get food delivered to their room from participating Downtown Disney restaurants. The hotel benefits will begin later this summer.
Finally, Potrock shared a photo of the recent groundbreaking for the new Toontown, which will open early next year - anchored by the Disneyland installation of Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway, which Potrock said would feature unique elements not included in the original installation at Walt Disney World.
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The idea of a the hotel having a "modular" concept for theming is pretty interesting, but I wonder if doing that reduces the quality and integration into the hotel's architecture. Theming is more than some art on the walls, chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, and maquettes on pedestals in foyers.
I feel like Downtown Disney has needed a complete revamp for years. Guests to Disneyland don't visit the same way as they do WDW, and Downtown Disney was an attempt to replicate WDW's namesake (now Disney Springs) even knowing that the visiting patterns were different in California. I think eliminating the theater is a step in the right direction (Splitsville should go too) to make Downtown Disney more of a restaurant/shopping district instead of an entertainment district (why do you need entertainment with 2 world-class theme parks steps away?). Engaging with well-known chefs and restaurant operators (though Patina is getting a bit ubiquitous in their concepts recently) is the first step to create more of a reason for guests to visit DD even when they aren't visiting the parks while still complimenting theme park guests.
Hopefully Disney will see some success in this revamp, and will continue to mold DD into something far better than the overpriced outdoor mall it had become.
Great update. The best news is this: "Early entry to the theme parks for hotel guests will return." Disney's hotels are an unmitigated price gouge--$850 a night for a Motel 6 room at the GC!? $450 a night for the junky, dilapidated, no pool, no restaurant PP?--but it starts looking like more of a fair deal when you can get in an hour early and knock out 5-10 rides before the crowds overwhelm you. People with little kids especially benefit, as you can ride all of fantasyland in the morning, and then pop back to the hotel at lunch for a swim and a nap.
Happy to hear they are revamping the food in Downtown Disney. The parks' mobile ordering system is such an offensively absurd debacle, we've largely stopped eating in the park (but for Zocalo, where you can still walk up). If you want to eat now, or anytime soon, best to leave the park, enjoy a better meal at a cheaper price in Downtown Disney, and then come back.
i'd be really curious to know what percentage of revenue at downtown disney comes from locals. my hunch (and that's all it is) is that disney wants to capture both resort guests in addition to the thick pockets of locals who regularly blow money at "upscale" malls in orange county like fashion island and south coast plaza (if you know... you know).
that has been, in my experience, a mixed bag. disney simply doesn't have the real estate to replicate disney springs out west and, to russell's point, would probably be best served by going hard on food and dining options that give everyone (yes, even locals) more choice to chill out in air conditioning, have a $15 margarita and relax. this seems like a step in the right direction.
I've been to 19 different Din Tai Fung locations and I can't get enough, so that part sounds like a win to me.
Now if they would just revamp Tomorrowland....
I agree that Downtown Disney needed a rehab, and I’m glad to see that Earl of Sandwich is coming back, at least temporarily- it’s nice to see some additional less expensive quick service options available. My fantasy would have been that Disney could have found a way to bring back Compass Books or another bookstore, but that’s just me…
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Well, it only makes sense for Paradise Pier Hotel to be renamed to Pixar Pier Hotel. Saves money on coming up with a new acronym.