Disney to invest $30 billion in theme parks over next decade

Disney plans to invest $30 billion in Disneyland, Disney California Adventure and other theme parks around the globe based on popular franchises like Avatar, Frozen, Tron and Zootopia, according to a new financial report.

Disney broke down how it plans to invest $60 billion over the next 10 years in its theme parks and cruise lines division in a new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Disney initially revealed plans to make $60 billion in capital investments over the next decade during an investor summit in September.

The latest SEC filing details how that $60 billion investment in the Disney Experiences division will be divided up. The largest chunk — $30 billion — has been earmarked for theme parks and resorts. The next biggest piece of the pie — $18 billion — has been set aside for technology and maintenance. The remainder — $12 billion — will fund new Disney cruise ships beyond the eight that will be in service by 2026.

The $30 billion theme park investments will focus on creating new experiences and refreshing existing infrastructure using Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and other intellectual properties and untapped stories, according to the SEC filing.

Disney’s plan calls for $42 billion of the overall investment to be spent on capacity-expanding projects designed to draw bigger crowds to its theme parks and cruise ships.

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The goal is to expand the footprint at Disney’s six theme park resorts around the world where the company has more than 1,000 acres of developable space.

Disneyland has already announced plans for a new E-ticket dark ride in Avengers Campus and an Avatar themed land that Walt Disney Imagineering is working on with producer James Cameron.

Disney’s most recent major investments in the Anaheim theme park resort have included Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland in 2019 and Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure in 2021.

Disney hopes to get approval in April from the City of Anaheim for a $1.9 billion project dubbed DisneylandForward that lays out long-term plans for theme park, retail and parking expansion at the Disneyland resort. DisneylandForward has dangled themed lands based on Tangled, Frozen, Peter Pan, Zootopia, Toy Story, Black Panther, Coco and Tron as potential expansion projects in Anaheim.