Disney provides new update on its $60 billion Parks and Experiences spending plan

Mar 11, 2024 in "The Walt Disney Company"

Forum Forums Tweet Share Tweet Share

Gallery / 1 Photo
Walt Disney Company headquarters in Burbank, California

Posted: Monday March 11, 2024 7:00pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

In a new filing with the SEC, the Walt Disney Company has provided an update on its plans to spend $60 billion in a 10-year investment plan for the Parks and Experiences segment.

Disney says the money "supports investments to create magical new experiences and refresh existing infrastructure."

Approximately 70% of the $60 billion is earmarked for "capacity-expanding" investments, with 20% going to the Disney Cruise Line and 50% to be spent at parks and resorts. The remaining 30% is destined for "tech and maintenance."

Further, Disney says investments will focus on:

Accelerating storytelling by utilizing a wealth of intellectual property and untapped stories.
Expanding footprint with over 1,000 acres of available development across six existing resorts in North America, Europe, and Asia.
Investing in innovative technology to improve the guest experience.
Reaching new fans around the world.

You can read Disney's new SEC filing here.

Speaking at February's Q1 2024 earnings call, Disney CEO Bob Iger said, "As I've said before, we also have so many untapped stories just waiting to be brought to life in our parks across the globe as we continue to invest in this extraordinary business."

Bob Iger says there are 'untapped stories just waiting to be brought to life' at Disney Parks

New Disney CFO Hugh Johnston expanded on future investments, saying, "We plan to invest approximately $60 billion into the business over the next 10 years, of which approximately 70% is earmarked for incremental capacity expanding investments around the globe, which we expect to attractive returns."

Disney announced last year its 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.

A massive expansion of Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World is likely part of the $60 billion spending plan

Speaking in April 2023 at the Walt Disney Company Annual shareholder meeting, Disney CEO Bob Iger said that Disney plans to spend $17 billion over the next ten years, specifically at Walt Disney World, bringing 13,000 new jobs to the area.

In terms of timing, Iger said that the company is already hard at work at determining where new investments will be placed and what they will be. New additions will start opening in 2025, and there will be a cadence of additional investment and increased capacity every year.

In response to an analyst question about where and when we will see new investments, Iger said, "You can pretty much conclude that they will be all over, meaning every single one of our locations will be the beneficiary of increased investment and thus, increased capacity, including on the high seas where we're currently building three more ships and a business that is obviously extremely positive to us. We may look expansively in that direction. I'm not going to give you more of a sense of timing except that we're hard at work at getting these things basically conceived and built."

Discuss on the Forums

Get Walt Disney World News Delivered to Your Inbox

Indy_UK13 hours ago

I hope they are on course for the Parks to no longer be funding the Box office and Disney+ losses by Q3

mrflo14 hours ago

Thank you everyone for confirming. From that perspective, re-investing half of their profits into maintenance and adding more capacity for growth to that actual business no longer sounds that turbocharged to me. Not saying that it is not a good thing overall or not desperately needed. Though shouldn't this be/have been more standard practise for Disney parks after all? At least that seems to be standard in tech companies or other businesses relying on innovations. Any thoughts if each Resort will then also exclusively fund their own expansion plans - e.g. WDW profits not funding a major expansions in an overseas park?

doctornick17 hours ago

Well, I think that is exactly what the company is suggesting. The money from those items contribute to the profitability of the parks division and they are using that profit to fund the planned $60B over 10 years.

Ayla18 hours ago

Oh my lord, can you imagine what a cluster it would be if they allowed strollers? Thank god they don't.

imagineer9718 hours ago

I think the money from ILL and Genie+ should be returned to the guests' pockets so it can be spent elsewhere and those two things can cease to exist.

celluloid18 hours ago

This means box office losing billions, Disney plus and target store merch sales could not earn it.

Indy_UK18 hours ago

Slightly different but I think the money from ILL and Genie+ should be used to renovate and build new attractions.

doctornick18 hours ago

Right, I think that comment was basically directly at investors saying "we plan to invest a lot of money in the parks division, but this is money the division already generates and is available"

MisterPenguin19 hours ago

Ummm, are you forgetting that WDW will have to close down for a few years after EU opens?!?!

peter1143519 hours ago

And remember that $3 billion was itself after that quarters own cap ex expenses, not to mention revenue and profit should increase over the next 10 years.

MisterPenguin19 hours ago

Last quarter, parks and experiences had a $3.B net profit. Over the 4 quarters of a year, that's $12B net profit per year. Over 10 years, that's $120B. So... I think parks and experiences can not only cough up $60B to fund TurboLand, but provide the company with another $60B to pay off debt and other miscellaneous expenses.

mrflo20 hours ago

"Thus far, the parks chief says Disney is on track with its allocation of the $60 billion, calling the strategy “incredibly disciplined.” D’Amaro notes, “Every single investment that we make has to be justified unto itself.” The $60 billion is expected to be self-funded from the parks, a proclamation that helped counter some initial Wall Street reluctance on the spending. Iger has also said the company is not going to allocate all of the $60 billion initially, and wants to leave “flexibility” in the budget for new attractions or hotels if a new hit movie comes along." Source: Article in HW Reporter What is your interpretation of the $60 billion "to be self-funded from the parks"? Does that mean they are only using the income / cashflow within the Parks devision to fund the investments and not from the overall TWDC? I guess with the current performance it should not be an issue. Just wondering if that also means that each park/resort has to fund expansion plans itself as well - e.g. DLP would not get a budget transfer from the NA Parks business.

Sirwalterraleigh1 day ago

It’s a rather brief walkthrough…unlikely to bottleneck as such Somebody must have Hurled

Disstevefan11 day ago

I was there Feb 7th. This would have been the first time seeing it in person. There was a queue, folks sitting in the queue that appeared to wrap around (maybe it was down?) Anyway, knowing it was not worth the wait, I did not bother. I hope its not totally broken and shut down before I get to see it once.