California Adventure . . . and Beyond

As for California Adventure, expect basic rides that Disney is buying “off the shelf” to be in place by August 1999 at the new park’s Paradise Pier area, which will celebrate the state’s beach resorts and carnivals.

Employees have been told that the first few dozen Disneyland “cast members” will be reassigned to the new park in October 1999 to begin testing the attractions as Imagineers install the thematic “overlays” to add the Disney touch.

On the far horizon is a possible third Anaheim park on a 52.5-acre piece of a strawberry farm that Disney signed an option to buy last summer. Little is being said about it besides a tentative timetable. In discussions with employees, the year 2008 and the phrase “in about a decade” came up repeatedly, one participant said.