At the Disney annual shareholders’ meeting on 20 March 2025, Bob Iger commented on making significant capital investments into the Disney Parks and Experiences division. We also saw the CEO’s official response to some public opinions that they’ve become too expensive and even out of reach of the average consumer.
As previously mentioned, Disney will be spending $30 billion (yes… BILLION with “B”) on just its theme parks alone over the next decade. This is part of an overall $60 billion capital investment into the entire Parks and Experiences division. At the time, Iger said that Disney planned to “turbocharge” growth through some strategic investments.
New additions
Sure enough, we have seen Disney begin work on several major projects within the various theme parks. It is also continuing work on some existing projects. This includes starting work at the Magic Kingdom to renovate Big Thunder and remove the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer’s Island to move ahead with a planned Cars-themed land and a future Villain-themed land.
Over at Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios park, plans are already in motion for a Muppet takeover and retheme of the existing Rock ‘n Roller Coaster attraction. Then a Monsters Inc. themed land will take over the former Muppet area. It will include an amazing new indoor Vekoma suspended roller coaster.
Meanwhile, demolition is underway at Disney’s Animal Kingdom to clear the former Dinoland USA area. This is in order to create a new Tropical Americas land. This will feature several new attractions themed to Encanto and even Indiana Jones.
In California, work has already started on an expansion to Disney California Adventure that will bring an E-Ticket level dark ride to the park. It will feature the Avengers battling an alternate reality version of Thanos. Plus, there will be a robot arm experience themed as the Stark Flight Lab.
Beyond that, look for a Coco-themed flume ride to start construction next year. There are also plans to bring a new Avatar-themed land to Disneyland, along with several other possible concepts. For instance, a whole land themed to Peter Pan or an expansion of the Marvel universe with a Black Panther-themed World of Wakanda.
This is all part of the new DisneylandForward master project that will allow each of the two parks to expand into new nearby property in order to expand the footprint of each park.
Investment in Paris
In France, Disneyland Paris is working on the completion of a new Frozen-themed land later this year.
This will be followed by a Lion King-themed flume that gives off a serious Splash Mountain vibe. The addition of the Lion King-themed Pride Rock mountain is expected to be followed by a Star Wars-themed land in the vein of Galaxy’s Edge at the Studios park. The Studios park will be re-branded entirely as Disney Adventure World by the end of this year.
Disney is expected to decide by 2036 if it will build a third massive theme park at the Paris resort. To do so, the French government requires the existing parks to show a combined annual attendance of 22 million by 2036. Otherwise, it will sell off the land it is holding in reserve for Disney for the project to other ventures.
This alone is a massive reason why The Walt Disney Company will continue to invest heavily in the Paris resort over the next decade.
According to the latest Theme Park & Museum Index attendance report from the TEA, the Disneyland Paris resort pulled in 16.1 million guests in 2023. It saw 10.4 million at Disneyland Paris and 5.7 million at the Studios park. Those numbers are pretty telling as to why there are so many new attraction plans at the Studios park. There is much room for growth to bring these numbers up to the required levels by 2036.
Disney Cruise Line expands
That covers the Parks side of things. On the Experiences side, Disney confirmed it will continue investing heavily in its Disney Cruise Line operation. Plans are officially underway to more than double the size of the existing fleet over the next several years, from the current six vessels to an astounding total of 13, expected to be on the water by 2031.
The fleet of the Disney Magic, Wonder, Dream, Fantasy, Wish, and Treasure (the latter just launched in December 2024) will be joined by the Disney Adventure and Disney Destiny in 2025.
Following that, look for the 7th ship to be added for use only in Tokyo by 2027/2028. Then, the main fleet will begin to add four more vessels with an entirely new ship design on a projected timeline between 2027 and 2031.
Disney pricing and falling attendance
One interesting item, however, is that attendance at some of Disney’s US parks has been falling. This is in comparison to rising attendance at the international parks. A significant difference is that the admission price into the international parks is typically less than the cost to get into the US parks.
In particular, attendance at the California parks has fallen. The area has been one of the hardest hit by rising inflation costs, thus shrinking many families’ funds available for leisure activities.
Meanwhile, some analysts predict that Walt Disney World may see a significant drop in 2025. This follows the opening of Universal Orlando’s newest park, Epic Universe, on 22 May.
Logic would suggest that if Disney wanted to see attendance increase, it should listen to the complaints and consider lowering ticket prices to get more bodies through the gates.
When questioned about this subject, Iger seemed to wave off even considering the idea. Instead, he compared the current value of visiting a Disney park to “other entertainment options”, comparing a visit to a Disney Resort to going to a sporting event.
The tier system of Disney pricing
These two things are not even in the same category. The general public is already well aware that tickets to many sporting events are already way out of line. We already have the live sports industry to thank for being the primary reason why the cost of parking at your local theme parks has risen over the past 15 years from $6 to $8 to an astounding industry high of between $30 to $50 a vehicle today.
Iger added that the lowest tier ticket price hasn’t increased in years. While this is true, the fact is that there was originally only one tier for park ticket pricing for decades. Then suddenly there were three tiers, then four and now we’re up to seven. Rumours point to Disney adding surge pricing to the fluctuation of those daily tier levels as well.
So, while the lowest price tier is still there, it can be hard to find on the day you plan to visit. Meanwhile, the prices of the other days have continued to rise year after year without fail.
Who is to blame?
I wonder if we are to blame for the boldness of the Disney pricing strategy. While attendance has been slightly declining, the increasing costs seem to be more than making up for it. Now, Disney plans on investing on all fronts to continue luring more guests through the gates, no matter the cost.
Or maybe not? Consider the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser. After the first wave of uber-fans had sold out all the initial dates over the first few months, the remaining dates were seldom sold out. Even as attendance declined, Disney did not reduce the price of the experience to lure in more guests. Instead, the Galactic Starcruiser was shut down for good 18 months later.
This wouldn’t be the first time Disney had essentially priced one of its operations out of existence.
Does anyone else remember DisneyQuest? The concept was for a 5-story-tall electronic theme park playground with video games and early virtual reality adventures, along with several custom interactive game concepts themed to Disney IPs like the Virtual Jungle Cruise or CyberSpace Mountain.
After opening the prototype site in Walt Disney World’s then Downtown Disney: West Side area, a second center opened in Chicago a year later. There was a long-term future vision of opening up to 30 sites eventually across the nation.
The Chicago site shut down a little over two years after it opened, and low attendance was blamed. Industry experts say that the Chicago location was still making a profit. However, it was not a big enough profit for Disney to justify the huge start-up cost of adding more locations to its investors. So, all plans to add more DisneyQuest locations were shelved immediately. That left the single area in Orlando as a solo operation that continued successfully until it closed in 2017.
What will the future of Disney pricing look like?
Even before the Starcruiser had launched with the first guests, the initial feedback from the general public and industry experts was that, as amazing as it sounded, the cost was far too much for what it offered.
In a head-to-head comparison, it was clear that a stay at Disney’s Galactic Starcruiser would cost just as much as, if not more than, the cost for a family to go on an actual cruise on the company’s Disney Cruise Line. Let alone a cost comparison between the Starcruiser and a more discount-oriented cruise line experience.
So, why does Disney keep raising prices? Simply because the general public is still willing to pay, even if they are doing so through gritted teeth.
Some have been forced to remove the option from their family budget. Others may go a little less than they did before. Yet the fact remains that the Disney Parks (and Cruise Lines) are still drawing in huge crowds.
For the foreseeable future, I don’t see this changing, and Disney knows this as well. This is why Disney Parks’ pricing strategy has always been so bold. It will remain that way into the future, at least until “something” gives it a reason to change.
I think it will take a sizable loss in attendance and profits before Disney takes notice and perhaps changes its pricing strategy.
