Published April 2026. Site activity at the Pumbaa Lot confirms the Eastern Gateway is moving. Here is what the permits reveal, what it unlocks for Avatar and the future of DisneylandForward, and what it means for guests staying on Harbor Boulevard right now.
For years, the Eastern Gateway has been the most important construction project most Disneyland guests have never heard of. That is about to change. Fresh site activity visible at the Pumbaa Lot near Disney Way and Clementine Street in April 2026 confirms that Disneyland is actively accelerating the groundwork for what will become the most significant transformation of the resort’s arrival experience in its 70-year history.
This is not a parking story. This is the story of how Disneyland is building the physical infrastructure that makes Avatar, Coco, and the next decade of DisneylandForward expansion physically possible. And for guests visiting the resort in the next two to three years, it is going to change where you walk, how you clear security, and what your first view of the resort looks like when you arrive.
What Is Being Built and Where
Permits filed with the City of Anaheim in late December 2025 detail a project of significant scale. The Eastern Gateway parking structure will be built on a portion of the current Manchester cast member parking lot on the east side of Harbor Boulevard.
The structure is described in the permit as a new commercial construction project covering 3,257,394 square feet across eight levels, with approximately 6,000 guest parking spaces, 302 EV chargers, dedicated shuttle and rideshare areas, security screening, and a new Disney Way entrance to improve traffic flow.
The most visually striking element of the project is a pedestrian bridge spanning Harbor Boulevard. The bridge connects the new Eastern Gateway hub directly to the Esplanade, the plaza between Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure. Construction is staged to begin in earnest in fall 2026, with a multi-year build expected to run into 2028. Office buildings on the current site are slated for demolition ahead of vertical construction.
The April 2026 site activity at the Pumbaa Lot represents the soft preparation phase: soil testing, surveying, and initial clearing before heavy machinery arrives in the fall. This is the starting gun. It is visible from Disney Way and it is the clearest signal yet that the fall 2026 construction timeline is on track.
Why the Bridge Changes Everything for Harbor Boulevard Guests
The Harbor Boulevard pedestrian bridge is not just a convenience feature. It is a fundamental redesign of how guests enter the resort, and the security implications are the most significant detail most coverage has missed.
Under the current arrival experience, guests walk along Harbor Boulevard or through the Toy Story lot bus routes, enter the Esplanade at grade level, and clear security tents before reaching the park gates. Under the Eastern Gateway design, security screening moves to the east side of Harbor Boulevard, before guests set foot on the bridge.
Once you cross, you are already inside the secure perimeter. You descend directly into the Esplanade without touching a security checkpoint at the gate level because you already cleared it on the other side of the street.
For guests staying at Good Neighbor hotels on Harbor Boulevard, this is a material improvement to the morning experience. The current walk from a Harbor hotel to the security tents involves crossing Harbor at grade, navigating Esplanade congestion, and queuing at checkpoints that back up on busy days.
The bridge replaces that sequence with a single secure crossing that deposits you directly into the Esplanade, weather-protected and already cleared. The walk gets shorter in effective time, if not always in physical distance.
The bridge will be built on the former site of the Carousel Inn and Suites, a property Disney purchased specifically to clear this footprint. The pedestrian portal entry point on the east side is positioned behind the Grand Legacy at the Park hotel along Disney Way. Current plans indicate there will also be maintained pedestrian access via Harbor Boulevard at grade for guests who arrive from that direction on foot.
The Avatar Connection: Why This Project Has to Finish First
The Eastern Gateway is the prerequisite for Pandora. That is the most consequential detail in this entire project and it is the reason Disney is moving with visible urgency on site preparation in spring 2026.
The proposed location for the Avatar-themed destination at Disney California Adventure currently houses the main bus and shuttle loops on the east side of the Esplanade. Disney cannot remove those bus loops while they are still needed for guest transportation.
The Eastern Gateway’s new multi-modal transportation hub is what replaces those loops. Only when the Eastern Gateway is operational can those existing bus areas be cleared, and only then can the Avatar expansion groundbreaking happen on that footprint.
Disney formally announced the Avatar destination for Disney California Adventure at the D23 Expo in August 2025, with concept art and a confirmed location. The target construction trajectory for the Avatar experience points toward a 2027 or 2028 groundbreaking and a post-2030 opening.
That timeline is directly dependent on the Eastern Gateway transportation hub becoming operational first. Every month the Eastern Gateway accelerates is a month Avatar moves closer to reality.
The same infrastructure dependency applies to the Coco-themed boat ride and the continued expansion of Avengers Campus, which already has two new attractions in vertical construction as of early 2026. The Eastern Gateway is the unlocking mechanism for the entire next chapter of DisneylandForward.
What Happens to the Toy Story Lot
This is the detail that will hit hardest for longtime resort visitors. The Toy Story Parking Area, which has served as overflow guest parking and a bus staging zone for years, is earmarked for eventual decommissioning once the Eastern Gateway is operational.
Under the DisneylandForward environmental impact documentation, the Toy Story lot land is designated for the western expansion zone of the resort, which is expected to eventually include new park experiences and a new shopping and dining district.
The lot currently holds 3,348 hotel room equivalents worth of parking under the DisneylandForward plan, and its conversion to development land is a long-term outcome of the Eastern Gateway coming online.
The Toy Story buses, which have been a fixture of the Disneyland arrival experience for decades, will eventually be replaced by the new Eastern Gateway transportation hub’s shuttle and rideshare infrastructure.
The Disney hotel shuttle program that launched in 2026 to replace ART bus service already routes guests to the Toy Story Lot as an interim measure. That interim status becomes permanent displacement once the Eastern Gateway opens.
If the Toy Story bus routine is part of your Disneyland tradition, enjoy it for the next few years. The lot’s days as a guest parking area are officially numbered.
What This Means for Your Disneyland Visit Right Now
For guests visiting in spring and summer 2026, the Eastern Gateway is not yet affecting the arrival experience. Soft site preparation at the Pumbaa Lot is occurring away from the current guest-facing areas. The current security tents, Harbor Boulevard crosswalks, and Toy Story bus routes are all operating normally.
The impact on the guest experience begins in fall 2026 when vertical construction starts. Pile driving, heavy machinery, and construction staging will create noise and visual changes around the Disney Way and Clementine Street area.
The Manchester cast member lot demolition, which precedes the garage construction, will affect cast member parking logistics and may ripple into operational patterns guests notice indirectly. Harbor Boulevard adjacent to the construction zone should be expected to see traffic and pedestrian routing changes over the multi-year build.
Hotels directly adjacent to the planned bridge landing, including properties along the east side of Harbor Boulevard nearest to Disney Way, will face the most significant construction impact in terms of noise and altered views as the steel structure rises.
Longer term, those same hotels become the primary beneficiaries of the bridge, with the shortest possible walk to a secured park entry point of any accommodation in the resort area.
Eastern Gateway Milestone Tracker
Late December 2025: Final construction permits filed with the City of Anaheim. Permit covers 3.26 million square feet, 8 levels, 302 EV chargers, pedestrian bridge.
Early 2026: Office building demolition plans confirmed. Fox 11 Los Angeles first reports the demolition timeline in February 2026.
April 2026: Visible site preparation at the Pumbaa Lot. Soil testing and surveying underway near Disney Way and Clementine Street.
Fall 2026: Vertical construction begins. Heavy machinery, pile driving, and multi-story framing expected. Guest and cast member traffic impacts anticipated around the Disney Way corridor.
Late 2027 to Early 2028: Projected completion of the transportation hub and pedestrian bridge. Security shifts to east side of Harbor Boulevard. Toy Story Lot transition begins.
Post-2028: Avatar destination groundbreaking becomes possible once bus loops are cleared from the Esplanade east side. Toy Story lot redevelopment for western expansion zone.
The Bigger Picture
The Eastern Gateway has been on Disney’s planning documents in various forms since 2016, when a version of the project was first announced as infrastructure for the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge expansion. That iteration was ultimately shelved.
This version is different: the permits are filed, the site preparation is active, Disney’s $60 billion investment commitment across its Experiences division over the next decade provides the financial backing, and Avatar, Coco, and the Avengers Campus expansion all create a specific demand chain that requires this infrastructure to exist.
The 6,000 new parking spaces supplement the existing 16,300 spaces in the Mickey and Friends and Pixar Pals structures on the west side. The bridge represents the first new pedestrian connection across Harbor Boulevard in the resort’s history.
And the security perimeter shift, moving the front door of Disneyland Resort from the Esplanade to the east side of Harbor Boulevard, is the kind of fundamental change to the guest experience that only happens once in a generation.
The construction walls are going up this fall. The Disneyland you visit in 2028 will have a different front door than the one you walk through today.
Staying up to date on DisneylandForward construction and what it means for your visit? The Enchanted Insider Disneyland Itinerary Guide is updated regularly for 2026 with current park conditions and planning strategy. For hotel and ticket packages, check Get Away Today before you book.
FAQ
The Eastern Gateway is a major infrastructure project at Disneyland Resort that includes an 8-story, 6,000-space parking structure on the east side of Harbor Boulevard, a pedestrian bridge spanning Harbor Boulevard, a new multi-modal transportation hub with shuttle and rideshare facilities, and security screening relocated to the east side of the street.
Construction is scheduled to begin in fall 2026 with completion projected for late 2027 to early 2028.
The Harbor Boulevard pedestrian bridge relocates security screening to the east side of Harbor Boulevard, before guests cross the bridge.
Once you cross, you are already inside the secure perimeter and descend directly into the Esplanade without stopping at additional checkpoints.
For guests staying at Good Neighbor hotels on Harbor Boulevard, the bridge shortens the effective morning commute and eliminates the current at-grade crossing and security tent congestion.
Yes. The Avatar-themed destination announced for Disney California Adventure at D23 2025 is planned for the area currently occupied by the bus and shuttle loops on the east side of the Esplanade.
Disney cannot demolish those bus loops until the Eastern Gateway transportation hub is operational and able to replace them. The Eastern Gateway must be completed before Avatar construction can begin, making it a direct prerequisite for the expansion.
Under the DisneylandForward environmental documentation, the Toy Story Parking Area is earmarked for eventual conversion to development land once the Eastern Gateway is operational.
The lot is designated for the western expansion zone of the resort, which may include new park experiences and a shopping and dining district. The Toy Story bus service will eventually be replaced by the Eastern Gateway’s new transportation hub.
Soft site preparation including soil testing and surveying began at the Pumbaa Lot near Disney Way and Clementine Street in April 2026.
Vertical construction with heavy machinery and pile driving is scheduled to begin in fall 2026. Completion of the full transportation hub and pedestrian bridge is projected for late 2027 to early 2028.