Disney CEO Bob Iger says the company could build seven new full lands at its theme parks

Mar 05, 2024 in "The Walt Disney Company"

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Bob Iger

Posted: Tuesday March 5, 2024 1:51pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

At today's Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference, Disney's CEO Bob Iger spoke at length about the company's reorganization and positioning for future growth.

Bob Iger at Walt Disney World

Much of the conversation was dominated by Disney+ and ESPN, but Iger spoke enthusiastically about the parks. "Parks and resorts is a wonderful story," Iger said. Trends for this quarter show that domestic and international parks and experiences business will probably deliver in the neighborhood of low to mid-teens in terms of operating income."

Continuing with the parks, Iger said the company has "entered into a phase where we can start building." He continued, "We have 1000s of acres of lands 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 in California, which everybody thinks is kind of landlocked by 50%."

Disney has already presented concepts for new lands at Disney's Animal Kingdom

"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. So you look at our IP, you look at the land that we have, you look at the math, the demand that exists in the marketplace, and you look at the return on invested capital. It's a no-brainer to invest that way."

Beyond Big Thunder Mountain Blue Sky concept art

Disney has already presented "blue sky" concepts for new lands at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom and Disney's Animal Kingdom, and we expect to hear more about those projects soon.

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JoeCamel31 days ago

Nothing like 3000 people flooding into a port area - magic! Recalls the joy of rope dropping a park or being first on a new ride - magic!

HauntedPirate31 days ago

And likely why Disney is ordering three smaller ships after their third (mistake of) copying the Wish.

etc9831 days ago

I think part of the problem is with these huge ships, there are a limited number of ports that can accommodate them, so they’re stuck going to the same ones over and over again. Smaller ships have a much larger number of ports they can visit.

wannabeBelleFeb 23, 2025

I agree, I tend toward Celebrity but like Royal for a lot of it's offerings as well. It is a tough choice but a good one to have!! With the status matching between the two lines though, it is an easy choice to select one of those two lines. Marie

DisDude33Feb 23, 2025

There is some stuff being torn down in AK and word on Main Street is that prep work is about to begin in MK. So, yeah?

Indy_UKFeb 23, 2025

I haven't really been around for a little while... Are they Turbocharging investment and building yet?

MR.DisFeb 23, 2025

I have cruised with my daughter and her 2 kids three times (fourth this May). The 2 boys are 6 years apart. The younger goes to the kid's club and gets upset when we come to get him for dinner because he is having too much fun. The older one who is now a teenager, goes to the Teen club, makes friends, and disappears for hours doing whatever teenagers do. They look forward to going, which if anyone has a teenager is very strange since they normally complain about everything- LOL.

TheMaxReboFeb 23, 2025

Definitely found that with Utopia that was more of a party vibe and just doing the 3 adn 4 day sailings and Icon and Star are really just doing a lot of repeat ports ... I am glad they announced their newest Icon class ship, Legend of the Seas, will be doing some different options - starting in Europe for a few months and then will do 6 day western and 8 day southern Caribbean. Not amazingly unique but at least different options form where the other mega ships are going - so I think they have got the hint they need to mix up the ports a bit

BrianLoFeb 23, 2025

Definitely. DCL’s problem remains market share. They can get away with their prices because they are such a niche line. Royal (just the line, not the parent company) has like 5.5X more tickets to sell. Therefore price budges. I don’t want to say I foresee them becoming cheaper, just that I foresee the delta between them and maybe Celebrity to become more similar again. DCL historically wasn’t that out of lock step, but they (until now) haven’t had an expansion plan to keep up with their growing demand. I very much expect we’ll see them still have new ships annually even beyond 2031. Royal I think is definitely the best for families, especially with slightly older kids. Unfortunately (a me problem) they are really exclusively going for that demo these days and it’s making their itineraries way too short and repetitive. Hard product I want them to be my favourite line, but the soft product doesn’t match. But that’s what Celebrity covers nicely.

TheMaxReboFeb 22, 2025

We haven't cruise a lot but we have done Disney, Royal Caribbean, and Viking. There are definitely things that DCL does better/very good (service, included food, entertainment, etc) plus has the Disney characters, etc - so if the things they do well are important to you I can see it being worth it. We find for our family Royal Caribbean is the best as there is a lot more variety to the offerings, especially entertainment (some of the stage shows are just as good/better than what Disney does) and it is quite a bit cheaper (though newer ships are getting a bit pricier). Just every time I price out a Disney Cruise I just can't justify the price. We are a family of 5 so either need two rooms or cram in a family room (which are more expensive) so that is probably part of it, but still ... I get them being at a premium price but for us just not worth *how* much more it is - for people that think it is worth it for them though I do get it

HoustonHornFeb 22, 2025

Our first cruise was a group of 12 - 6 adults, 6 children. The adults did Enchante, and the night before, we told our team we wouldn't see them the next night and that we'd just take the kids to the buffet. Our lead server said to just send the kids (4-10 at the time) to them, and they would take care of them and get them to the kids' club after. We thought he was joking, but that's exactly what we did. The kids absolutely loved it, and we were able to have an awesome meal with no worries. Fast forward a year, and we did another cruise with the same families, and the main thing that the kids cared about was whether they were going to get their kids' dinner without us. The other thing I like is that by night 2, they would just bring our drinks and knock stuff off of dishes that we didn't like without being reminded. So I'm a big fan of the rotational dining.