Tell me more about Port Disney. Sounds like DisneySea??
Port Disney was an entire resort complex that was the largest project Disney has dropped since Walt's EPCOT City plans. It was to have been the centerpiece of the "Disney Decade".
In the late 1980's, Disney purchased the Wrather Corporation to gain control of the
Disneyland Hotel. Wrather also owned the lease to the
R.M.S. Queen Mary and port facilities in Long Beach. At the same time, Disney was planning how to spend the billions and billions of dollars it was going to make from Euro Disney (then just starting construction). Corporate Strategic Planning had suggested that Disneyland be sold off since the returns on a single day park just werent worth it to the company. They wanted a multi-day resort, but such a development at Anaheim was not possible.
So, with lots of free land in Long Beach Harbor Imagineering went to work. What they came up with Port Disney, a resort development of several hundred acre in a U shape around Long Beach. It include five resort hotels ranging from the very high end to the moderate (all of the water front), a major convention center in downtown Long Beach, and extensive retail and entertainment districts all connected by a monorail that would also connect both sides of the harbor. The
Queen Mary herself would be converted into a floating version of Pleasure Island, filled with appropriately themed clubs and restaurants. She would also serve as hostess to a new cruise ship terminal and a new private marina.
Next to the ship and cruise terminals was to be Disney Seas an ocean focused theme park of about 200 acres. Over the course of this projects life, the design of the park changed numerous times so there was never an official plan. Generally, the center of the park (and its castle) was a large, multi story aquarium shaped like a string of bubbles rising out of the land. Had it been built, it would have truly been an architecture masterpiece. This area of the park would have been about exploring different ocean environments. A serious of large lagoons sat at the base of the castle, one for a Caribbean Reef, another for the South Pacific, another like Coastal California. Guests would have been able to wade in and swim through each of these environments.
An Epcot-like Science Center would serve as the home for a marine mammal rescue & research center and home port for research ships. Whale watching excursions would have also left from here and, in some plans, there would have been several environments themed to different sea life sharks, a jellyfish aquarium, birds, etc.
Most of the attractions would have been found in the remaining areas. These were changed many, many times. One favorites was Mysterious Island from
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, a recreation of an ocean front amusement zone (a demand that Michael Eisner placed in each and every theme park concept irregardless of theme), King Tritons Kingdom from
The Little Mermaid, and the Fleets of Fantasy were various thrill rides would be based on various different ships.
In the end, all that money from Euro Disney never showed up. The City of Long Beach was never fully behind the idea, and Disneys insulting attempt to pit them against WESTCot in Anaheim did little to help the situation. Long Beach expected Disney to pour billions into the city, Disney instead turned out to demand billions from the city. In the end Michael Eisner grew impatient with the whole thing and it was official scrapped in favor of WESTCot.
But like a lot at Disney, bits and pieces have been built. When the Oriental Land Company wanted a second theme park in Tokyo, WED trotted out the old Port Disney concept and Tokyo DisneySea was born. Most of the areas of that park came directly out of concepts from Long Beach. Port Disneys high end hotel, the Portofino, was built as the Hotel Mira Costa (and at Universal Studios Florida too). A replica of the
Queen Mary now graces Tokyo Bay.
To me, Port Disney was the last time Disney thought big and was truly innovative.
P.S. The most expensive estimate for the entire Port Disney complex - with hotels and monorails and theme parks and docks - was less than half of what Eisner spent to buy Fox Family.
