Bob Iger Confirms Disney Parks Expansions Moving Forward at Shareholders Meeting

Mar 20, 2025 in "The Walt Disney Company"

Gallery / 4 Photos
Bob Iger at The Walt Disney Company Annual Meeting of Shareholders 2025

Posted: Thursday March 20, 2025 1:30pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

During The Walt Disney Company Annual Meeting of Shareholders 2025, CEO Bob Iger provided an update on ongoing theme park projects, focusing on previously announced expansions at Walt Disney World, Disneyland Resort, and Disneyland Paris.

Bob Iger at The Walt Disney Company Annual Meeting of Shareholders 2025

Speaking in a pre-recorded segment from Walt Disney Imagineering headquarters in California, Iger began by noting Disney's significant investment in its theme park business. "Right now, we have more projects underway around the world than at any time in our history," he said.

Wide view of the new Frontierland, with two Cars-themed attractions replacing Tom Sawyer Island

At Walt Disney World, Iger revisited several projects that had been announced during previous D23 presentations. Magic Kingdom's expansion, the park's largest to date, will include a Cars-themed area and a Villains-themed land. Disney's Hollywood Studios will see the addition of a Monsters Inc.-themed land, while Disney's Animal Kingdom is progressing with the Tropical Americas expansion, featuring experiences based on Encanto and Indiana Jones.

Tropical Americas Concept Art

Wide view of the Monsters Inc. Land

Iger also acknowledged ongoing work at Disneyland Resort and Disneyland Paris, both of which were previously detailed at D23. Disney California Adventure's Avengers Campus is set to double in size with two new attractions, and the park will gain a new ride-through experience themed to Coco, along with a dedicated Avatar-themed area. Meanwhile, Disneyland Paris will introduce the first-ever Lion King-themed ride, with Pride Rock serving as the gateway to a Simba-focused water attraction. "We can't wait for guests to experience this retelling of the classic animated film," Iger said.

Bob Iger with a model of the new Lion King flume ride coming to Disneyland Paris

Disney Cruise Line's expansion was also highlighted, with Iger confirming that following the Disney Treasure's debut in 2024, the Disney Destiny and Disney Adventure are both scheduled to enter service later this year. "Disney Cruise Line is also growing, allowing us to double our capacity to reach millions more people around the world," Iger said.

While no major new announcements were made, Iger underscored the broader impact of these projects. "We're proud of the positive economic impact these projects will have in the communities in which we operate, including creating thousands of new jobs in Florida and California," he said.

Bob Iger at The Walt Disney Company Annual Meeting of Shareholders 2025

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TrainsOfDisney30 days ago

Like universe of energy to cosmic rewind for example?

MisterPenguin30 days ago

True, but the examples I gave resulted in (or will result in) more capacity.

JD8030 days ago

Sometimes I think some people confuse theoretical capacity to actual capacity.

Ayla30 days ago

You're confusing space with capacity. Just because there is more land taken doesn't mean there is added capacity.

MisterPenguin30 days ago

No. The point I was responding to was that the WDW have not grown in capacity (nor will be growing in the future). Which is false. But all you have to do is look to see where attractions are now that used to be back of house or fewer attractions. The **footprint** has expanded. That's extra capacity. The opposite is footprint within the parks in which an attraction has been taken away **and not replaced.** That would be attraction building sitting idle. So... Stitch and WoL. Yes, there has been "removed and replaced," but that doesn't exclude "new footprint and capacity" from also taking place. It's not either/or.

Ayla30 days ago

Now, make a list of everything that has closed in the same time frame.

MisterPenguin30 days ago

Land that was once not used for attractions but now is, or will be soon... Ratatouille and its plaza TRON Villains' Land and its two rides Encanto's ride building Monstropolis ride Cosmic Rewind gravity building Journey of Water Not to mention going back a few more years: Soarin's' second theater Space 220 Frozen Summerhaus Toy Story Land Star Wars Land Starcruiser (RIP)

John park hopper30 days ago

Bob your not expanding the parks all your doing is removing and replacing

SplashJacket31 days ago

Thanks @MisterPenguin, really liked the summaries

prberk31 days ago

Sorry, I think I misread what you were saying. Thanks for catching that. I just wish the current management understood what made the company so successful and led to real growth over time.

StripesMar 22, 2025

Elio, Hoppers, and an original untitled Disney Animation film slated for November 2026 are original animated movies set for release over the next 2 years. Recently, we got Encanto, Elemental, Turning Red, Luca, Soul, Onward, and more. In fact, 2020-2022 saw the second longest streak of original movies in Pixar’s history.

BrianLoMar 21, 2025

Not just everywhere else, specifically additions in the space that you are highlighting. Average Joe’s opinions I would be surprised if they don’t generally *significantly* improve in that corner of the park. We’ll see! A good comparator might actually be Jaws to Diagon Alley for a few different similar reasons. And I love(d) Jaws. I think that was even a harsher trade off than the one Disney is engaging in.

britainMar 21, 2025

I didn't say the MK would be 'turned on'. I'm saying average joes will notice and complain, and it will add to a general narrative that Disney's leadership has lost its mojo. Not just theme park nerds. But sure, if they are firing on all other cylinders... if there's nothing but high-quality popular additions everywhere else, maybe it won't matter.

BrianLoMar 21, 2025

You’ve turned very pessimistic. I’m not an advocate for the ROA removal nor Cars by any stretch of the imagination. But I think you are off by a factor of 100 for how little Magic Kingdom is at risk of being turned on. Maybe, maybe in isolation if Villains was canned. But given what this project actually entails and Villains is part of the replacement project, your analogy to replacing Tomorrowland attractions with landscaping isn’t really on the mark. There’s always a strong desire to see things fail so the company ‘learns something’, but they never learn anything. They’ll just take away even more bad lessons if it does poorly… which it most assuredly won’t.