After Universal Orlando revealed renderings last week showing off Epic Universe's scenic atmosphere and first rides, its competitor, The Walt Disney Co., responded by pledging to spend billions more to build new attractions at its parks.
But where? When? And what? Could Disney build the long-rumored fifth gate at Walt Disney World, the one that theme park fans dream about?
If Disney enthusiasts were hoping for some big announcements during Wednesday's Disney earnings call, they will have to wait longer.
Disney CEO Bob Iger was asked about a potential fifth gate in Orlando and future expansion plans during the question-and-answer session with analysts. The company plans to spend $60 billion over the next 10 years on its theme parks and experiences. Of that $60 billion, about 70% is earmarked for increasing capacity around the world, which indicates new attractions and rides.
"We're already hard at work, basically determining where we're going to place our new investments and what they will be. You can pretty much conclude that they will be all over, meaning every single one of our locations, including on the High Seas, where we're currently building three more ships," Iger said of Disney's theme parks in California, Florida, Japan, China, Hong Kong and France, as well as its popular Disney Cruise Line.
"I'm not going to really give you much more of a sense of timing, except that we're hard at work at getting these things basically conceived and built."
Iger went on to say that Disney has "a menu of things that will basically start opening in '25, and there'll be a cadence every year of, basically, additional investment and increased capacity."
Epic Universe, the new theme park built from the ground up by Universal, opens in Orlando in Summer 2025. The park's lands include Super Nintendo World, the "Harry Potter" franchise, the Universal Monsters franchise and "How to Train Your Dragon."
Iger did not speak further to a fifth theme park in Orlando or Disney's countermove to Epic Universe.
Josh D'Amaro, Chair of Disney parks, experiences and consumer products, previously said Disney is considering pulling from Disney villains and the characters from "Coco" and "Encanto" to build up the land behind the Magic Kingdom's Frontierland. But even those ideas, D'Amaro warned at Disney fan expo in 2022, were in early stages of development and weren't officially happening.
During Wednesday's earnings call, Iger also spoke optimistically about the company after its financial struggles, which include layoffs last year and its streaming service losing money.
"Our strong performance this past quarter demonstrates we have turned the corner in the New Year," Iger said Wednesday. The company announced it was raising earnings per share by at least 20% this year and investing $1.5 billion to acquire an equity stake in Epic Games, the maker of the popular video game "Fortnite," to create new games with characters from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar and other content.
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