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Credit: Inside the MagicDuring yesterday’s Morgan Stanley conference, Bob Iger made some bold promises for the future of Disney parks. But given the track record of Disney’s history, it’s likely that those promises will never come to fruition.
During the conference, Iger discussed the future of the Disney theme parks around the world. Currently, there are two parks located in America, Disneyland in California and Walt Disney World in Florida, as well as four locations internationally: Disneyland Paris, Tokyo Disney Resort, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, and the Shanghai Disney Resort. However, Iger explained that the company actually has thousands of acres worldwide that could be developed, stating that they “could actually build seven new full lands if we wanted to around the world.”
In addition to teasing seven new theme parks, he indicated that they’ll likely be focused on the company’s existing IPs, or intellectual properties, explaining that they have so much IP, they basically have an unlimited amount of potential to create new experiences for guests. The shift toward heavy IP theming throughout the parks has been considered unpopular by fans as the parks shift away from their original concepts and replace attractions with more relevant and recent IP characters and franchises. However, there’s another significant reason Iger’s comments are drawing some backlash already, and it comes down to the company’s historically disappointing track record.
Over the last few years, Disney has started to catch some flak from fans for failing to deliver on their promises or failing to provide concrete promises at all. The most recent example is the uncertain future of DinoLand U.S.A. at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The park closed about half of the area’s attractions in the last couple of years, but has yet to provide a concrete idea of what will eventually replace the dinosaur-themed land. Last September, during Disney’s Destination D23 event, fans were given an update on the area, but quickly pointed out the actual wording used in the presentation.
While the panel referenced ideas like an Encanto-inspired Colombian rainforest or Indiana Jones-based locale, online sleuths realized that they were only mentioned as “possibilities” or options being considered. Again, nothing concrete was promised. The same thing has happened with other projects like “Beyond Big Thunder Mountain,” which has rumored expansions of Coco, Encanto, or even a Villains-themed area, but no official update has been confirmed.
In addition, projects that Disney has actually confirmed have taken the company years beyond the initial scope to complete. The recent EPCOT Overhaul project took over five years, surpassing the originally promised two, TRON Lightcycle / Run took almost seven years, and the current renovations at Disneyland Paris are several years in the making. Disney has started to earn backlash for their significantly delayed projects or hypothetical updates, especially as Universal Destinations & Experiences is actively expanding.
Universal has confirmed an American expansion, with a new park coming to Frisco, Texas, and a year-round Halloween Horror Nights experience coming to Las Vegas, Nevada. In addition, the company confirmed it was looking at land in the U.K. to build a Universal Great Britain Resort, expanding its international reach. As Epic Universe prepares to open in Orlando next year, fans are acutely aware that Disney Parks and Experiences has nothing significant actually confirmed to the public as of yet. While it’s possible that there are plans happening behind the scenes, especially given the $60 billion parks investment that was confirmed last year, the public remains in the dark.
Due to Disney’s history of significant delays on its projects and its lack of confirmation or actual progress on major expansions, it’s highly unlikely the company will ever actually expand into “seven new full lands around the world,” at least not while Bob Iger remains CEO. Although his initial run leading the company was highly praised and well received, since he’s come back and taken over from ousted CEO Bob Chapek, his tenure has been disappointing and controversial, to say the least.
Of course, building a brand-new, fully-realized resort in the next five years is nearly impossible anyway, Disney hasn’t even made any further progress on the previously teased Pandora expansion at Disneyland California nor confirmed rumors of a fifth gate at Walt Disney World. While Disneyland Paris is currently deep in renovations, and Shanghai Disney just unveiled its Zootopia land, the Walt Disney Company seems content to work within its existing parks and resorts for now, so don’t start planning a new international park itinerary just yet.
Do you think Disney will ever actually build “seven new parks?” Or another international park? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.