Featured Attractions

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Anaheim Vacationland: The Heidi Motel



When Walt Disney began planning DISNEYLAND, he bought all the land he could afford. He had faith in the success of his project and tried to get his wealthy Hollywood friends to buy some of the surrounding land. (Land that he could then buy from them at a later date.) None of them had the same faith in the project that Walt had and he helplessly saw the properties surrounding DISNEYLAND slip into the hands of people who wanted to profit off of his success. The city of Anaheim ignored Walt Disney's pleas to control the growth around the park and the area soon became what Walt described as a "second rate Las Vegas".

Many of the properties around DISNEYLAND tried to at least provide some semblance of theme and one motel in particular tried to take advantage of the excitement generated by the construction of the Matterhorn- the Heidi Motel. It holds a special place in our hearts as a memorable host to many fun trips to Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom.

Originally built by an outside investor, it was acquired by DISNEYLAND in the late 1960's and operated as a non-Disney Hotel until the mid 1990's when it was demolished to make way for DISNEY CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE. While much of the former property is now used as a back area for the new park, the northernmost section of the motel is currently the boarding area for Paradise Pier's California Screamin' roller coaster.