During today’s Q1 2024 earnings call for The Walt Disney Company, CEO Bob Iger shared that all of the Disney Parks were profitable in the quarter, and teased “so many untapped stories” that could make their way to the parks.
Bob Iger Teases ‘Untapped Stories’ for Disney Parks
When giving an overview of the Experiences division for the quarter, Iger said,
Every one one of our theme parks was profitable in Q1, giving us an incredibly solid foundation to build upon as we invest significantly to turbocharge growth in this business.
As I’ve said before, we also have so many untapped stories just waiting to be brought to life in our parks across the globe as we continue to invest in this extraordinary business.
Disney CEO Bob Iger
Also in today’s call, Iger confirmed that 70 percent of the previously announced $60 billion investment into parks overall over the next 10 years would go toward increasing capacity at the parks. When asked about the location of these investments, Iger said that fans could expect to see them “all over,” with “a menu of projects opening in 2025 and beyond.”
In July 2023, Iger appeared on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” to share his optimism for the future of Disney Parks, and that he believed there are opportunities to “turbocharge” growth.
Disney Parks has already seen some of these turbocharged investments come to life, with the opening of World of Frozen in Hong Kong Disneyland in early December last year, and the opening of Zootopia at Shanghai Disneyland just a couple of weeks later. A World of Frozen land is currently under construction for Walt Disney Studios Park at Disneyland Paris.
As far as “untapped stories” go, there are many to choose from that are already in consideration or development.
Back in 2022, an expansion for Magic Kingdom, referred to as “Beyond Big Thunder Mountain,” was teased and involved many Blue Sky additions, including lands themed to Pixar’s “Coco,” “Encanto,” and an entire area dedicated to the Disney Villains. At Destination D23 in September 2023, Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney Imagineering Bruce Vaughn described the project as similar in scope to Pandora — The World of Avatar.
At this point, “Encanto” may no longer be possible for Magic Kingdom, as it is now being considered as part of a potential replacement for DinoLand U.S.A. in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, alongside an Indiana Jones Adventure retheming of Dinosaur.
Most recently, Walt Disney World teased more additions to come for Frontierland in Magic Kingdom in mid-January.
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