Disney plans to double their theme parks investment over the next 10 years

During the meeting held at Walt Disney World Resort, Disney announced plans to “accelerate and expand” investment in its Parks, Experiences, and Products segment and double it to roughly $60 billion over approximately 10 years.

“We have an ambitious growth story that is supported by a proven track record and a bold vision for the future of our parks business,” D’Amaro said.

What We Know

The expanded Disney parks investment will focus on stories, scale, and fans.

Disney IP

Disney has always taken advantage of its extensive library of intellectual property (IP) through immersive storytelling experiences in their theme parks and resorts, on their cruise ships, and through consumer products. However, it’s the parks, in particular, where fans can literally step into Disney stories they love, “from Avatar to Zootopia, and everything in between.”

Historically, Disney parks have seen growth following substantial investments, including the additions of Cars Land at Disney California Adventure, Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort, and Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure in Anaheim and Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris.

Therefore, as Disney considers future growth opportunities, the company will obviously look to more popular stories with potential for the parks.

“We have a wealth of untapped stories to bring to life across our business,” D’Amaro said. “Frozen, one of the most successful and popular animated franchises of all time, could have a presence at the Disneyland Resort. Wakanda has yet to be brought to life. The world of Coco is just waiting to be explored. There’s a lot of storytelling opportunity.”

A large chunk of the $60 billion investment will potentially be spent on the “Beyond Big Thunder Mountain” expansion at Magic Kingdom, which was touted last week during Destination D23 as the park’s largest expansion ever.

New Frozen-themed lands are already coming to Hong Kong Disneyland (opening Nov. 20, 2023), Disneyland Paris Resort, and Tokyo Disney Resort, plus the Zootopia-themed land at Shanghai Disney Resort. Still, Disney says, even more characters and franchises – “including some that haven’t been leveraged extensively to date ” – are being considered for this “new period of significant growth domestically and internationally in its parks and resorts.”

Disney Land

Disney has 12 parks worldwide. In addition, Disney Cruise Line visits 40 countries, and Disney’s consumer products division brings Disney IP into homes across the globe.

Disney theme parks business is “a key driver of value creation for the company,” thanks to the solid financial performance of international parks, particularly Shanghai Disney Resort and Hong Kong Disneyland, which both rebounded well after the pandemic and are expected to be even more successful with the Zootopia and Frozen expansions set to open this year.

Nevertheless, Disney knows there’s “significant room for further expansion on land and at sea,” including over 1,000 acres of land – about the size of seven Disneyland parks – currently available to expand its existing parks.

“We stand alone when it comes to scale,” D’Amaro. “And while our scale is impressive, we have no shortage of space or regions of the world in which to tell new stories.”

Beyond the parks, Disney Cruise Line is expanding to new ports and markets, including Australia and New Zealand, for the first time later this year. Disney has also already announced the addition of two new ships in 2025 (the Disney Treasure and the Disney Adventure with a new home port in Singapore), plus another new ship in 2026.

Disney Fans

Disney boasts seven of the world’s top 10 most visited theme parks, including Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom at number one.

Despite the fact that Disney parks welcome approximately 100 million guests each year, the company sees potential for reaching an additional 700 million+ people with “high Disney affinity” who haven’t visited yet. Therefore, the goal for expanding its footprint and offerings is not only to reach more existing fans, but also create new fans. In fact, Disney says for every guest who visits a Disney theme park, there are more than 10 Disney fans who have not visited.

“Ultimately what is most important to us is the relationship that we have with every guest,” D’Amaro said. “Guests can spend a day with us at our parks, a week with us on a cruise, or the rest of their lives with us through Disney Vacation Club membership.”

Disney CEO Bob Iger said, “Throughout our history, we’ve created enormous growth by investing the right amount of capital into the right projects at the right moment. We are planning to turbocharge our growth yet again with a robust amount of strategic investment in this business.”

You can read the full report regarding the expanded Disney parks investment on The Walt Disney Company Website.