Walt Disney World's Future Could Include a Fifth Park, New Planning Document Reveals

14 days ago in "Reedy Creek Improvement District"

Gallery / 2 Photos
Comprehensive Plan 2045 from the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District

Posted: Tuesday June 24, 2025 7:30am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Walt Disney World could still eventually become home to a fifth major theme park. That's according to the newly adopted Comprehensive Plan 2045 from the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD), which explicitly reserves development capacity for a new "major theme park" and two "minor theme parks" to be added over the next two decades.

While Disney has not announced any plans to build a fifth gate, the language in the plan suggests the possibility remains under active consideration. The district's future land use and infrastructure policies are written to support the potential development of a large-scale new park, should Disney choose to pursue it.

Fifth Major Park: Still on the Table

The CFTOD plan allows for one new "major theme park," defined in planning terms as a park on the scale of Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, or Animal Kingdom, with a projected land area of 400 to 550 acres. It also allows for two additional "minor theme parks," typically smaller attractions like water parks, each estimated at 147 acres.

These parks are not guaranteed projects, but by including them in the plan, the district is preserving the zoning, land use classification, and infrastructure assumptions necessary for them to be developed. This means a fifth gate could be built without requiring a comprehensive plan amendment or major regulatory hurdle.

Walt Disney World Future Land Use Plan 2045

Continuity from Previous Plans

This isn't the first time the possibility of a fifth gate has been built into official planning documents. The now-replaced Reedy Creek Improvement District had previously included similar allowances in its Horizon 2020 plan. The new CFTOD plan carries that capacity forward through 2045.

By doing so, the district acknowledges the long-term potential for Walt Disney World to expand its park offerings, even if current demand or business strategy does not immediately support it.

Land Is Available

The plan identifies that most existing theme parks at Walt Disney World have room to expand within their current footprints or adjacent land. But it also shows that significant undeveloped areas remain elsewhere within the district. Many of these parcels are designated for "Entertainment" land use, which allows for major park development.

The district estimates that even after accounting for previously approved projects and conservation areas, enough land remains to accommodate a fifth gate without significant changes to the plan or surrounding infrastructure.

Fifth Park at Walt Disney World Included in Long-Term Growth Plan

Options for the Future

While Disney has made no public commitment to building a new park, the inclusion of the fifth gate capacity in the 2045 plan gives the company flexibility. It also offers insight into how the district views the long-term trajectory of Walt Disney World as a resort destination that may continue to grow with the addition of new experiences on a large scale.

Whether that fifth gate eventually becomes a reality will depend on a mix of business strategy, guest demand, and capital investment. But for now, the path remains open.

Discuss on the Forums

Get Walt Disney World News Delivered to Your Inbox

josiah mazelin11 days ago

I said basically. You just listed two rides at each park. My point is proven

Goofyernmost11 days ago

With the kind of promotion that they once were famous for were to be used, they can get all the hype they need and spend a hell of a lot less to do it. They have to make what they have be exciting and not worry about what others might be doing. They stayed on top for about 60 years doing that and then, I assume to give bigger bonuses to the executives, they stopped producing those things and even if they don't admit it, they are running scared at the moment, in spite of increased profits. They have to make that dominance last, but I don't see them doing that unless they fill up those empty buildings and put something good in them and promote, promote, promote. That is second only to location, location, location.

Sirwalterraleigh12 days ago

Galactic spirit Halloween was sorta in that ballpark

Sirwalterraleigh12 days ago

Nah…they’ve crossed the Rubicon on “attracting middle class families”. They’re well past that price point to make any such endeavor turn out to be anything but a “loss” to the stock wonks. That strategy was their philosophy for many years…expansion to create more traffic and sell more product across all business was Eisner 101 - essentially, but they dumped that 15-20 year ago. Limiting investment and all but eliminating expansion to cap overhead and then attempting to make more revenue/profit off what was already paid for. That strategy is incompatible with “expanding/pricing to make it more accessible”

JoeCamel12 days ago

It's non-sensical too, increase your costs to get less money per guest and do huge capital outlays? Bob sez nyet

Tha Realest12 days ago

There’s no evidence 1) this is happening, or 2) they intend to do this.

ChrisFL12 days ago

They had a 5th gate and they closed it..................DisneyQuest :p

Advisable Joseph12 days ago

Disney needs land to expand. Pulling guests from the Magic Kingdom and Epcot (or otherwise unceasing attraction supply for the guests), then lowering prices to increase volume (and income) and accessing middle-class families, while building out the other parks, is the idea. Would you consider a Magic Kingdom Colony across the Lagoon or part of the current parking lot, which guests could access with Magic Kingdom tickets, a "5th gate"? How about parking, so the park can expand into the old parking lot?

gwhb7512 days ago

Agree with this. The only unfortunate thing is that "expanding existing parks" doesn't get the same hype as "a whole new park". Now if we could only have a true expansion of existing parks (i.e. just add new things (like villains land) and not take things away first (like tropical americas in AK)).

JoeCamel12 days ago

I think a lot of the salivating over a new park is fatigue with the same offerings year after year or a dribble of something new. Stale has a stench. Fans have "done" everything in the parks time after time so they want new and "damn the cost it's what I want". Does not have to be logical or make sense it is a want and I need my wants fulfilled ipso facto TDO is going to build me a new park. Seems to point to someone who has never run a business nor cares if that business thrives to feed the stockholders

monothingie12 days ago

Forget the tremendous capital expense to build a new park. The most important thing to Disney is YOY growth. The quarterly earnings mean EVERYTHING to Bob and Wall Street. Key amongst that is that Disney cares tremendously about operational costs and maximizing LL revenue streams. While a new park may be tremendously popular, it also increases operational expenses significantly. It is also very likely that it will cannibalize a large portion of the existing guest base. LL brings in a tremendous amount of revenue for Disney. It works best for Disney with full parks, adding a new park will dilute LL revenue at the existing parks. If a new park was going to justify the build cost and not affect the OI for WDW, then shovels would have been in the ground already. They've done the analysis, and a new park is not financially viable at this point.

lazyboy97o12 days ago

Planning permission and building permission are two separate things. You need planning approval first. Comprehensive Plans (along with Master Plans, Future Land Use Plans and Zoning Plans) are also not set in stone and quite malleable.

Dranth12 days ago

I disagree with him on a number of things, but he isn't wrong on this one. They have underbuilt parks that can absorb a LOT more people if they expand them. Those parks have existing infrastructure which makes it easier and cheaper to develop and build out vs. an entire new park. They understand their main audience has limited vacation time and already know people are unlikely to extend their vacations but instead sacrifice one thing they would have done for something else. They have a strained employee pool that has never recovered from 2020 and staffing new builds in existing parks is WORLDS easier than trying to staff an entire new park. Even an entire parks worth of attractions built over the four current parks would require less staffing than the same number of attractions in a brand-new park once you factor in employees for back of house, support, utilities, security, transportation, etc. Sure, nothing is impossible, and I'll gladly admit to being wrong on this if it does happen, but it would be business malpractice to do so in Florida anytime soon. I would expect most of the other locations around the world with room to get a new gate before Florida.