At least five contractors have filed court papers against Disney, claiming that the entertainment conglomerate owes them more than $12 million. The largest lien is for $10.6 million and was filed by Steiny and Co., a Vallejo-based company that claims it hasn't been paid for the electrical work it performed on the new park's Paradise Pier section.

Steiny and Co. principal Susan Steiny says her company was on a fast-track construction schedule, which obligated the firm to accommodate Disney's changing plans without first settling on a price for the needed changes. Now that the work has been performed, she says, Disney has the upper hand in negotiations to settle the unpaid bills.

"It's an old trick, and Disney's quite good at it," Steiny says. "They can get you pretty good . . . eventually they settle, but it's all at a pretty penny."