Many people know how Disney California Adventure currently sits on the former location of the original parking lot for Disneyland, but what many people don't think about is that that parking lot had to be replaced.
Disney still needed a place to park when they went to visit the now two parks at the Disneyland Resort.
The Disneyland parking lot had been the primary location for most of the parking since Disneyland had first opened. Similar to how parking currently works at the parks of Walt Disney World, the lot was located right in front of the park and you could walk right up to it.
But when it became the natural spot for the second park of the Disneyland Resort, Disney had to make plans to not only replace all of those parking spots, but increase the total number of parking spots to accommodate for a second park.
During the development phase of the second park, from when it was set to be WESTCOT to when it eventually became Disney California Adventure, involved a new massive parking garage being built in the Disneyland Resort.
The plans were always set to involve a parking garage in roughly the spot of Mickey and Friends, but the shape of the garage changed over the years to accommodate future plans for the resort including a never built proposed hotel.
The original parking garage opened in July of 2000, two years after the parking lot had closed in 1998 to allow for the construction of Disney California Adventure, a time where parking for Disneyland was located throughout various smaller parking lots.
Mickey and Friends remain the largest parking garage on the property to this day, joined recently by a Pixar themed parking garage next door built in anticipation of Star Wars Galaxy's Edge. It allowed Disneyland to expand to the two park resort it is today and it remains a necessary and important part of the Disneyland Resort to this day.
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