Anaheim GardenWalk Progress Thread

[FutureImagineer]

Originally Posted by InsiderAGW

It depends on the original plans it is listed as three hotels, but plans that has been submitted to the city calls for 2 hotels with a possible expansion to 3 hotels. There are alot of variables to consider and the last few questions you there are no concrete answers at this time.

InsiderAGW

Thanks. If you receive anymore info, I would extremely appreciate it if you provide it for me here. Thanks again.

[InsiderAGW]

Originally Posted by FutureImagineer

New Update:

Hey everyone, got some news for today.

The Great Steak & Potato Company is now open.

August 28 - Bar Louie Tavern & Grill will open.

And don't forget about the mid-October announcement about plans between Disney and the GardenWalk. Thanks to InsiderAGW once again for the info.

Alright, that's all for today.

The Great Steak & Potato Company opened today at 12pm, Wednesday August 20th.

Bar Louie Tavern & Grill is on track to open on August 28th. Furniture is being installed as we speak.

San Sai Restuarant will open on 08/27/08.

That is all the stores opening in August.

InsiderAGW

[FutureImagineer]

News Update:

The Great Steak & Potato Company did not open until today, August 20. Sorry about that.

Momotree has been pushed back and a few other stores got new opening dates.

Also, San Sai Japanese Grill might open August 27.

That's it for now. Thanks to InsiderAGW for some info.

[ducksman]

UPDATE: The bowling alley is still $30 a game and still has yet to have a single paying bowler.

[InsiderAGW]

Originally Posted by ducksman

UPDATE: The bowling alley is still $30 a game and still has yet to have a single paying bowler.

I would have to disagree on that. There have been bowlers coming to play everyday. but of course not a large customer base yet. They are having a grand opening on August 26th with the Mayor of Anaheim and VIP's on a charity event for 300 Bowling. We are seeing more tourist coming in from the convention center and playing a couple of games of bowling.

InsiderAGW

[FutureImagineer]

News Update:

Openings:
-August 30 - Fuzziwig's Candy Factory will open.

Event Info:
-Sept. 6,13,20 from 4-7pm - Garden Party Music Series in Gala Garden (27th canceled and time changed)
-Sept. 27 from 10-4 - Harley Davidson Motorcycle Show (moved from 28th)

Also, I added some new expected openings dates on the first page.

Thanks. I'll see ya later.

[Darkbeer]

I was at Anaheim GardenWalk tonight, having dinner at Roy's with my Girlfriend.

We stuck our head in 300 Anaheim, and it was full. All lanes were being used with multiple parties taking advantage of the lanes.

Ducksman, I know of folks who paid PRIOR to your post on August 20th.

As for $30 PER GAME.

As I understand it, it is $25 per hour to rent a lane, which after you take into consideration how many people you have in your group, a LOT less than $30 PER GAME.

[FutureImagineer]

News Update:

Openings:
-August 22 - Rami Accessories opened.
-August 24 - Sbarro will open.
-August 28 - Bar Louie Tavern & Grill will open.
-August 30 - Fuzziwig's Candy Factory will open.
-August 30 - Hawaiian Barbecue will open.

That's all for now. Be back with more later.

[Mark Dewd]

I've been reading this thread for awhile - and I truly dont get it. (I don't live in Southern California so there is obviously something I'm missing.)

I looked at the photos of the place and at the mall's website and, from what I can see, it is just another mall with the same standard chain restaurants, stores, franchises, etc you can find at any mall anywhere in the U.S. And it appears to be a rather ugly, too. (Where are the "gardens"?)

So can someone please explain why this mall interests you so much and why you find it so exciting and important? Thanks!

[ducksman]

UPDATE: Someone who hasn't even been sees why this place is a dog and bound to fail.

It really is just a regular chain mall, but with horrible management. The parking is expensive and drives anyone who would go "just to shop" away. If you eat or see a movie you can get your ticket validated, so it's free then, so that's good. The only things there that are "special" are the IMAX theater, which is really cool and actually reasonably priced compared to other IMAX theaters, and the bowling alley which has flashing lights. Unfortunately, they charge $30 per game to bowl so nobody ever bowls there.

There are plans to possibly add a hotel to the top of the parking structure. When I went to hte movies I could see the infrastructure set up for this on the top level. My guess is the hotel will still be built, the restaurants will continue to be profitable, but the life of most of the stores there will be very short. In two years all the "hip and trendy" stores will give way to toursit trap merchandise, the bowling alley will be replaced by a Ripley's Believe it or Not or some other family-friendly tourist attraction and you can forget about Disney ever having anything to do with the joint once the parking structure on the Pumbaa lot opens up with an enclosed people mover to keep people from seeing or visiting anything off Disney property.

[Uncle Bob]

The reason that people are interested in AGW is that it would serve as the major pedestrian coridor between the existing parks and the the third gate, as well as be home to two hotels that will likely be operated by Disney. I believe the infrastructure on the parking garage is for time shares, and there will be two hotels built to the west of the current development. It does Disney no good to have a failing development in the middle of the resort district, where they'll also have at least two hotels they'll be operating, if they don't end up having an even bigger role in the development, so I don't think they'll try to make it fail. I agree that many of the things you point out are true. It looks pretty bad right now without the plants grown in, and the mix of stores will likely shift toward being more family friendly and there are other changes they may have to make. Eventually I think it will still probably be successful, but most of the long term success will come with the hotels and timeshares and the third gate and if those don't happen in a reasonable time it may struggle more seriously. Though I have heard it has been picking up some already.

[wettham1783]

The IMAX theater and The Cheesecake Factory within walking distance from my motel are enough to interest me. There's really nothing comparible in the immediate area outside of Downtown Disney.

[InsiderAGW]

Originally Posted by Uncle Bob

The reason that people are interested in AGW is that it would serve as the major pedestrian coridor between the existing parks and the the third gate, as well as be home to two hotels that will likely be operated by Disney. I believe the infrastructure on the parking garage is for time shares, and there will be two hotels built to the west of the current development. It does Disney no good to have a failing development in the middle of the resort district, where they'll also have at least two hotels they'll be operating, if they don't end up having an even bigger role in the development, so I don't think they'll try to make it fail. I agree that many of the things you point out are true. It looks pretty bad right now without the plants grown in, and the mix of stores will likely shift toward being more family friendly and there are other changes they may have to make. Eventually I think it will still probably be successful, but most of the long term success will come with the hotels and timeshares and the third gate and if those don't happen in a reasonable time it may struggle more seriously. Though I have heard it has been picking up some already.

You have pretty much hit the mark on your assessment. I can tell you that last month alone we had over 310,000 people visit the property. We calculated that from our parking and we are continuing to see an increase each month. The south end of the development were the hotels and restaurants are located will be geared to the family and the north side of the development were we have the night club, bowling, tavern, and movie theater will be gear to the upper trendy scale customer and conventioneer which hotel will have over 25,000 sq. ft. of meeting rooms. We see that it will take like DTD about 1-2 years before we see the kind of traffic to compare with DTD. Again, we are looking at January 2009 to begin construction for both hotels and timeshares.

InsderAGW

[ducksman]

UPDATE: Business Plan Revealed by AGWInsider!

This is a very good business plan! $60 to bowl two games of bowling or a little bit more to go to Disneyland which is right down the block. That's a hard decision for a conventioneer. And putting a night club in the middle of a family friendly resort is also a sure-fire home run. I mean, it worked for Walt Disney World with Pleasure Island, right?

And theses sorts of expensive "upscale" things are sure going to appeal to people who spent $40 a night on a hotel room at the Little Boy Blue across the street.

There's a reason that places like US 192 in Florida exist. They are cheap stores and restaurants geared toward the families that stay in the area. Even Downtown Disney made sure that it's "upscale" stores and restaurants are geared toward the families that visist the area, thus their immediate and continuous success. It didnt' take Downtown Disney 2 years to become popular. It was instantaneous.

And for those who think that GardenWalk is going to be a route between any sort of Disney owned parking lot and a third gate, HA! Unless Disney itself buys Garden Walk you can bet that they will do whatever it takes to make sure that no tourist dollar is spent anywhere but on Disney Property. This will include making sure that trams, peoplemovers, walkways etc do not pass anywhere near an outside vendor that doesn't give Disney a cut of their proffit.

[Baloo]

Originally Posted by ducksman

There are plans to possibly add a hotel to the top of the parking structure. When I went to hte movies I could see the infrastructure set up for this on the top level. My guess is the hotel will still be built, the restaurants will continue to be profitable, but the life of most of the stores there will be very short. In two years all the "hip and trendy" stores will give way to toursit trap merchandise, the bowling alley will be replaced by a Ripley's Believe it or Not or some other family-friendly tourist attraction and you can forget about Disney ever having anything to do with the joint once the parking structure on the Pumbaa lot opens up with an enclosed people mover to keep people from seeing or visiting anything off Disney property.

Actually there are no plans to add a hotel over the parking lot. the hotels will be along clementine in the three vacant lots. The supports you see oevr the parking lot are there for what they hope will be the future site of timeshares or condos.

As for Disney not being interested that is completely wrong. Disney is still very much interested in a partnership deal to run hotels on that property. They have not given up the idea of having someone else pay for the construction of the hotels and adding disney's name on it. The problem is that there are talks of selling off the mall and Disney is waiting to see what happens. who knows they have even showed interest in it themselves.

Disney has always wanted that property but had resistance from the owners and developers. what better way to get a hold of a property that is not living up to what it was suppose to do a small investment to enhance the place and bring it up to disney standards would not be out of the question in creating a shopping district that would eventually join the western theme park/hotel property with the eastern theme park/hotel property