Is Disney Planning Star Wars Land?

As the importance of Star Wars and Marvel Studios to Disney's bottom line continues to grow, there's been a lot of talk about expanding the presence of those properties in the studio's theme parks in Florida, California and internationally.

The latest report comes from MiceChat, via Slashfilm. Here are some of the specifics, as reported by MiceChat:

The plan for Star Wars Land has grown immensely in scale, and it's now aimed squarely at the land north of Disneyland itself. Taking over the Festival Arena, the Circle D Ranch, Mickey's Toontown and several rehearsal halls and office buildings just north of Toontown. The Circle D property, where all of the park's horses, goats and other animals are kept will be moving off property to a new facility nearby, and the horses will then be trailered in for their 4 hour shifts pulling the Horse Drawn Streetcars on Main Street.

The rehearsal halls and offices north of Toontown would be moved over to the larger 160,000 square foot office building Disney bought last year at 1515 S. Manchester Avenue, which now houses a dental supply company. That building on Manchester is slated to be phase two of the Pumbaa parking structure, expanding its capacity beyond 8,000+ spaces after the first phase of 5,000 spaces opens in 2018, but in the short term it will become the temporary home of Disneyland's displaced backstage buildings. The smaller building at 1585 S. Manchester will be demolished for the parking structure construction.

It's generally expected that the Star Wars expansion, which is expected to generate a lot of interest and revenue as the franchise explodes to a film annually, will be announced later this week at D23.