During the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, Disney CEO Bob Iger spoke about the future of the company’s $60 billion investment into its Parks and Experiences division.
Bob Iger Speaks on New Lands That Could Be Built at Disney Parks
When the Q&A session turned toward the Disney Parks, Iger spoke about the company’s investment plans, including that 70 percent of that investment would go toward increasing capacity.
After being asked just how that capacity would be increased, Iger shared just how much land is available and how IP can be leveraged to achieve that:
We have thousands of acres of land still to develop. We could actually build seven new, full lands if we wanted to, around the world, including the ability to increase the size of Disneyland [Resort] in California, which everybody thinks is kind of land-locked, by 50 percent.
You can look at every single location that we’ve got, and there’s land, opportunity, but most importantly, we have so much IP to mine that there’s opportunity there to create experiences that we know people will love to have in our parks.
If you look at our IP, you look at the land that we have, you look at the demand that exists in the marketplace, and you look at the return on investment capital, it’s a no-brainer to invest that way […] It’s growing Parks and Resorts beyond where it already is.
Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company
The increase to Disneyland Resort refers to DisneylandForward, which would see a minimum of $1.9 billion invested into theme park additions, attractions, and hotels if approved by the City of Anaheim.
Iger went on to describe what some of those additions could be, including an “Avatar”-themed “land” for Disneyland Resort. He also referenced the recently opened World of Frozen in Hong Kong Disneyland, Zootopia in Shanghai Disneyland, and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at both Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disneyland Park.
Disney has previously teased “blue sky” additions to Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, which include the “beyond Big Thunder Mountain” project and the potential transformation of DinoLand U.S.A. into a Tropical Americas land with DINOSAUR becoming an Indiana Jones attraction.
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