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Disney Invests More in Theme Parks
After what feels like a lull in major expansions, Disney has announced that they plan to spend $60 billion on their Parks, Experiences and Products division over the next ten years.
Bob Iger’s Comments to Investors
Bob Iger gave a presentation to Wall Street investors on September 19th that focused on increasing growth and market share. The Disney CEO said the company is “incredibly mindful of the financial underpinning of the company, the need to continue to grow in terms of bottom line, the need to invest wisely so that we’re increasing the returns on invested capital, and the need to maintain a balance sheet, for a variety of reasons.”
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that the company is looking to make more money through their parks, experiences and products division. Especially with how the film and Disney+ segments of the company have seen a significant decline in success recently, especially with the ongoing SGA writer’s strike.
Iger also made a comment stating “the company is able to absorb the costs and continue to grow the bottom line and look expansively at how we return value and capital to our shareholders.” This is nothing but generic business jargon showing how the most important goal for the company is making their shareholders more money.
Comparison to Last Decade
However, this planned investment is still nothing to scoff at. The $60 billion is nearly double to amount invested in this division during the previous 10-year period. This is amazing, considering how much was built at the parks during the previous decade. Back in May, Iger stated the Disney company will spend $17 billion on Walt Disney World over the next 10 years. It’s not certain if this number is still the same now that $60 billion will be spent in total throughout the division.
Josh D’Amaro’s Highlights New Ideas
Disney parks chairman Josh D’Amaro was also at the presentation. He stated that the company has “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 is correct that the company has grown significantly over it’s lifetime, though with recent roadblocks it remains to be seen if this will continue.
The company referenced the soon to open Frozen-themed land in Hong Kong Disneyland and Zootopia-themed Land in Shanghai Disneyland in a statement that they will continue to use their wide array of IP in the parks. Interestingly, they also said they plan to include some that haven’t been seen that much in the parks before. This is exciting, as it might mean an even greater variety of stories told in new attractions.
Frozen, Coco and Black Panther-Themed Lands
Specifically, D’Amamo referenced the possibility of Frozen, Black Panther and Coco in the domestic parks. Frozen isn’t exactly new to Disneyland, but an attraction would be a first for the park. Coco also has very little presence at either park, though Disney did show off concept art for a land based off the property at 2022’s D23 expo.
Perhaps the most interesting of these three is Black Panther. D’Amaro said “Wakanda has yet to be brought to life.” This could mean Disney is planning to add a full Wakanda area to Walt Disney World and/or Disneyland. Multiple attractions and meet-and-greets based off the property would surely be a hit.
Room to Grow
In what might be a reference to the Disney park’s competition, D’Amaro said this: “We stand alone when it comes to scale. And while our scale is impressive, we have no shortage of space or regions of the world in which to tell new stories.” Universal’s new Epic Universe theme park will open in Orlando in a couple years. While that property was recently announced to be Universal’s most technologically advanced park, the company unfortunately doesn’t have a massive plot of land to work with. Disney, on the other hand, has more than 1,000 acres of land to expand all of it’s theme parks, which is equal to about seven Disneyland-sized parks.
That said, land is just land. Until something is built on it, Disney’s claims don’t hold a lot of weight.
The goal of spending $60 billion is to reach new and current fans of the brand. The company has researched that “more than 700 million people with high Disney affinity” have yet to be reached by it’s parks. Could this mean another new international park? That would help reach more potential guests in areas where it is harder to travel to the six current resorts.
Towards the end of the presentation, Bob Iger made a comment about the history of the company’s growth, akin to what he said earlier. He said they’ve “created enormous growth by investing the right amount of capital into the right projects at the right moment.”
Let’s hope this continues over the decade to come, thanks to this $60 billion investment.
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