Cotino is the first project that Disney is embarking on under the name Storyliving. Media concern promises A Disney-inspired neighborhood where Disney employees will host special events and services for residents.

By the way, these services are not free: residents have to pay an annual subscription fee to access the “club”. Moreover, there will be additional funds for the events that will be held there.

The plans seem poetic otherwise. Conceptual drawings show condominiums and homes around a large lagoon with a beach, which are kept a azure blue using Disney’s Crystal Lagoons technology. There will also be a hotel, an extensive shopping area, and a park overlooking the waters and mountains of Santa Ana.

The place where Disney laughed

The location for the neighborhood, in the Palm Springs Valley District that also hosts the annual Coachella Festival, was not chosen lightly. Walt Disney himself bought a house nearby and is said to have called it his “laughing place”.

By the way, Disney would not build the neighborhood itself, nor would it sell the houses themselves – so they hired builders and other experts from abroad. The company will mainly do marketing. However, so-called “Imagers”, the designers of Disney’s theme parks, will play a role in the design.

Disney writes that “storytelling,” storytelling, “place making,” and place creation are key elements of this design. It’s not yet clear exactly how this will turn out in the area, although concept images show a colorful area with plenty of sun and beach.

Furthermore, not much is known about the cost of the homes or when they will go on sale. Disney has stated that this won’t be the last area: the company is now actively looking at other locations.

Disney tried it before

It’s not the first residential district that Disney has stepped into. Those ambitions began in the 1960s, when Walt Disney himself dreamed of a futuristic utopian neighborhood called the Experimental Model Society of Tomorrow (EPCOT).

His dream was never realized, but it led to the creation of a theme park of the same name in Florida. Thirty years later, The Walt Disney Company developed a Celebration District in Florida, near its area theme parks.

(M) A perfect city

This family-friendly neo-urban neighborhood was built in collaboration with Disney designers. It was meant to be the “perfect city,” and about 10,000 Disney fans settled in.

However, Disney slowly withdrew from the project and eventually sold it to an investor. Many homes turned out to be poorly built, and in 2016 residents turned to the press with complaints about mold, leaky roofs and unusable porches.

Finally, there is another Disney area, Golden Oak, near Walt Disney World in Florida. The cost of homes in the region ranges between 1.5 and 10 million dollars, or between 1.3 million and 8.7 million euros.