By Dawn Chmielewski
ANAHEIM, California (Reuters) -Walt Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro laid out an ambitious growth plan for the company’s theme parks on Saturday at the D23 fan convention, announcing plans for four new cruise ships and details about six new themed lands.
Forthcoming plans include a new Disney villains land at Walt Disney (NYSE:) World’s Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida, a doubling of the size of the Avengers Campus at the Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim, California, and details about its partnership with Fortnite creator Epic Games.
“This, for us, is an unprecedented era of growth,” D’Amaro said.
The two new attractions at its Marvel-themed Avengers Campus at California Adventure will be Avengers: Infinity Defense and the Stark Flight Lab, the company said.
California Adventure will also add a new ‘Avatar’ experience at the California Adventure, based on the second film in the science fiction franchise, “Avatar: The Way of Water”, it said.
To commemorate the 70th anniversary next year of the Disneyland park in Anaheim, a show based on the life of Walt Disney featuring an audio-animatronic figure of the company’s founder will be opened.
Disney also unveiled two attractions for the new Tropical Americas expansion coming to Disney’s Animal Kingdom park in Orlando, Florida. One follows Indiana Jones on an exploration of a Mayan temple. Another is inspired by the Disney animated film “Encanto” and follows the character Antonio on the day he received his magical gift. Tropical Americas is set to open in 2027.
Actor Billy Crystal took the stage to announce an area at Disney’s Hollywood Studios dedicated to the Pixar film, “Monsters, Inc”. The area, known as a land in Disney theme park parlance, will feature a suspended roller coaster designed to simulate zooming through the door vault at the Laugh Factory, just like characters Mike and Sulley in the film.
Pixar’s “Cars” film franchise also comes to the Magic Kingdom in Orlando, in a re-imagined area of Frontierland, with two new attractions planned. One will take guests on an off-road thrill ride into the wilderness beyond the film’s fictional Radiator Springs setting. Construction is scheduled to begin early next year.
The fan favorite announcement, based on the audience reaction, was D’Amaro’s statement Disney will create a new area devoted to Disney’s villains at the Magic Kingdom, with two attractions, dining and shopping.
These announcements reveal how the company will begin $60 billion in capital investments, nearly doubling spending over the next decade to improve attractions at its 12 parks and increase cruise line capacity.
“Everything that we’re going to share with you tonight is in active development,” D’Amaro said. “This means that plans are drawn. This means that dirt is moving. I just want to be clear with all the fans out there. This isn’t blue sky.”
CRUISE FLEET EXPANDS
Disney also said it will add four cruise ships to its growing fleet, capitalizing on an industry that has been enjoying a rebound from the global shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company currently has five cruise ships in operation, and previously announced four others, including one Tokyo-based vessel and another that will set sail from Singapore in 2025. These new vessels will start operating between 2027 and 2031.
D’Amaro was joined onstage by the company’s creative leads to discuss Disney’s collaboration with video-game maker Epic Games. The company invested $1.5 billion in Epic earlier this year, giving Disney an equity stake in the creator of Fortnite and Unreal Engine.
Disney announced new characters and stories are coming to the online game, including Disney villains as well as characters from the Pixar superhero film, “The Incredibles,” and the Disney+ series “The Mandalorian” about a lone bounty hunter from the Star Wars universe.
Disney’s parks have become a reliable profit engine, helping cushion the impact of declines in traditional television and losses in its video streaming business, which last quarter turned a profit.
The experiences unit, which includes parks, cruise ships and consumer products, contributed 60% of the company’s operating profit in the most recent quarter – up from 30% just a decade ago.
