Disney CEO Cuts $60 Billion Theme Park Expansion, New Total Revealed

For a while now, Disney fans have been excited about the $60 billion expansion that Disney CEO Bob Iger promised for the theme parks over the next 10 years, but now, the official allocation of funds has been shared, and that $60 billion turned into $30 billion real fast.

As Disney recently stated, “The Walt Disney Company is developing plans to accelerate and expand investment in its Parks, Experiences and Products segment to nearly double capital expenditures over the course of approximately 10 years to roughly $60 billion, including by investing in expanding and enhancing domestic and international parks and cruise line capacity.” While the amount is to be shared with Disney Cruise Line, it would still be heavily focused on park growth and development with the goal of increasing capacity.

“We’re 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,” said Disney CEO Bob Iger. “The company is able to absorb those costs and continue to grow the bottom line and look expansively at how we return value and capital to our shareholders.”

“We have a wealth of untapped stories to bring to life across our business,” said Josh D’Amaro, Chairperson of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. “Frozen, one of the most successful and popular animated franchises of all time, could have a presence at the Disneyland Resort. Wakanda has yet to be brought to life. The world of Coco is just waiting to be explored. There’s a lot of storytelling opportunity.” On top of that, Bob Iger recently confirmed that a new Avatar land would be coming to Disneyland Resort and that the resort has the capability to add not one, but seven new lands further, hyping up their upcoming expansions. 

Now, reporter Scott Gustin has shared the breakdown of how the $60 billion will be spent, and only 50% will be allocated to parks and resorts.

NEW: In a new filing, Disney provided additional information about the company’s planned 10-year, $60 billion investment in the Experiences segment. A new breakdown of the plan shows 50% at Parks/Resorts, 20% Cruise/Other, and 30% on Tech and Maintenance.

NEW: In a new filing, Disney provided additional information about the company's planned 10-year, $60 billion investment in the Experiences segment. A new breakdown of the plan shows 50% at Parks/Resorts, 20% Cruise/Other, and 30% on Tech and Maintenance. pic.twitter.com/3ot0PLQ38B

— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) March 11, 2024

What many may not have guessed initially was that Disney Cruise Line would not be taking the majority of the funds away from the theme parks, but “tech and maintenance”. For context, that means $18 billion will be going into normalized maintenance and technology, like Disney Genie+ and the My Disney Experience app (an app that still requires you to leave the app to make a theme park reservation).

Gustin also shared, “Disney previously revealed 70% of the $60 billion plan is earmarked for capacity-expanded investments across Experiences segment. Also in this filing, Disney says the money will be spent on expanding footprint, innovative technology, and reaching new fans across the world.”

It will be interesting to see in what ways Disney plans to reach fans from around the globe. We have started to see Disney try to expand into other countries like Brazil, with their second D23 event of the year set to happen there. 

Overall, fans are not too happy with this dramatic change of funds after the $60 billion was promoted as going to the theme parks as a majority.

One fan replied to Gustin’s X with, “$20bn in maintenance? Don’t get me wrong, the parks need a lot of TLC domestically. But one-third of a growth budget now earmarked for maintenance was misleading from the jump,” another said, “Same story…Disney promises big to get the positive coverage…then slowly chips away at the dream over time. We need to change Disney leadership fast before any expansions are started so we don’t get stuck with failures. Let’s save the company we all love.”

What do you think of this new price breakdown? Is $30 billion enough to expand the parks and resorts over the next 10 years?