Disney forwards massive WDW development plan to fake RCID - Includes Fifth Park

While I would of course welcome a new Disney park, I still think there is work to be done at the four existing ones. Magic Kingdom and Epcot are ok, but Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom could definitely use some more additions. That, and I’m not sure Disney could support finding labor for another park. It’s a big fear I have about Epic Universe.

Also, DSTP needs more E-tickets pronto!

Trex: "Also, DSTP needs more E-tickets pronto!"

Me: I bow deeply to your awesome awesomeness!

I agree that the other parks need a little work, but Disney is doing just that. EPCOT is better than ever, AK is getting the South America expansion (I hope), and MK has tons on new attractions. DHS with the Toy Story and SW areas are great.

I think that this leads to the logical expansion being a fifth gate, and I hope they do it. I hate how politics have infused into the theme parks, as I go there to escape all the vitriolic behavior of people.

I believe that the issues the parks have is a result of them being so popular, and I also see Disney turning around some box office disappointments with two films this summer that should be very popular, and interestingly both being R rated. Not that I think those IPs would lead to anything park related, but a scary indoor Aliens attraction certainly would compete with some offerings at Universal, but I just could not see it happen.

I hope a fifth gate happens.

This could be an interesting development, though I wonder what a Disney 5th park would look like - if this was 10-15 years ago, it most certainly would be a Villains/Beastly Kingdom concept that was left over from the development of DAK and MK expansions. I highly doubt they would go away from their core family market by making an adult-focused park, but I also don't know how a new WDW theme park would differentiate itself from what they already have. Epic Universe offers a very different approach to the theme park model with the portals and how guests will navigate around the park, which is very different from IOA and USF, which have become more homogeneous as USF has lost its "studio park" persona. I highly doubt Disney would copy Epic Universe (mostly out of shear hubris), but I'm not sure how much they can stretch the idea of a theme park without eventually alienating guests. They could attempt the idea of a single IP theme park, but again guests who aren't into that IP are going to completely reject this new project out of hand - also I would argue they already tried this with the Starcruiser, which didn't exactly work out as planned. Given Iger's recent comments about IP, there's no doubt that any new park would be heavily IP focused, and while Disney has tons of IP to draw from, I worry that so much of that IP is already present in WDW that it would be difficult to create a 5th gate that is truly original (unless they went hard on S.E.A. and built a Tokyo DisneySea-style park). However, I think the one thing that Disney will absolutely do in a 5th gate is to integrate a resort hotel into the park's design. That is probably the one thing that the current WDW parks are all lacking. There are plenty of hotels that are close to parks and even AKL, which is very much an extension of DAK, though guests cannot physically access the theme park directly without getting on an unthemed bus. Integrated themed experiences are BIG money, and while I doubt Disney would utilize a Starcruiser-type model in a 5th gate, they would almost certainly create an experience where guests can stay in a hotel that overlooks the new park and allows guests direct walking (or themed transportation) access.

Have an ‘explorer’s park.’ Bring in Mystic Manor, the Shanghai Pirates, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and bring back 20,000 Leagues but upgraded. You could do a flying house attraction from Up, and then add a few coasters of various sizes, and a water ride. You could even do a Wild West Phantom Manor. A walk through attraction or two is always good. I even really like the Disneyland Sleeping Beauty walk through- not saying do that, but something short and sweet like that.

I understand that this is new in so far as it's been approved by the new "fake RCID." However, this matches with the land use development agreement that was already in place with the previous "real RCID" [one major theme park, 2 minor theme parks]. I think of this similar to zoning in that these are "maximums" that Disney is allowed [ie: they won't need to petition the government to build a 5th gate].

I agree with the others commenters, though, that Disney really needs to build out their 3rd & 4th gates before opening a 5th.

One thing that could be interesting is what they do with a "minor" theme park. One idea I have is an 18+ adults-only park/experience. Combine Pleasure Island with the Adults-Only options of a Disney Cruise. Focus on libations and more adult theming.

A previous comment mentioned Disney's highest-grossing movie this year may very well be an R-rated title. Lean into that! I'm not sure where Deadpool falls in the Marvel/Universal agreement, but an adults-only experience could feature a Deadpool character meet & greet, a show, and perhaps even an attraction. Guests would pay a premium to enter an area free from screaming kids and crying babies. Maybe parents sneak away to this park while the grandparents watch the kids at the resort. Yes, the customer base is more limited, but the rise of "Disney Adults" suggests there could still be an opportunity here.

I believe Deadpool would fall into the X-Men covered under Universal's Marvel license, though I could be wrong.

@Happyhaunt - As much as I would love to see a park like Tokyo DisneySea here in the US that really leans into the S.E.A. IP, I just don't see that happening given Iger's comments about utilizing more IP moving forward. I understand S.E.A. is technically a Disney IP, but it's not on the same plane of awareness the likes of Star Wars, Pixar, Princesses, Mickey, Marvel, etc... Also, park IPs have not fared well with the GP with PotC being the only one to have any sort of success beyond its park application.

Regardless, I don't suspect we will see another major E-Ticket at Walt Disney World or at either USF or IOA until 2027 or 2028.

Also, do we really have to use an acronym rather than just spelling out the words "general public"? Just sayin'.

@TH - I think it's possible that Disney could probably rework Dinoland USA into Americas by mid-late 2026 if they really wanted to since it sounds like it would be a minimal retheme, and would technically include an e-ticket assuming Dinosaur is indeed converted into a clone of Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye.

Aside from that, I absolutely agree that we're probably going to have 2-3 years of bupkis in Orlando, but after that, we might be in for a smorgasbord of expansion and additions across both WDW and UO.

They seem to be putting Disneyland expansion first.

Disney has been working behind the scenes for a decade to get the zoning, infrastructure, and government approvals arranged for a fifth major theme park.

However that does not mean they are going to build one anytime soon. $17 billion is a LOT of money, and to any normal company it would mean a theme park, but Disney spends a ton of money building mundane things. Look at the asinine amount of time and money they spent re-doing the fountain plaza area of Epcot where they added literally nothing.

When you consider how much "Beyond Big Thunder" (which i'm sure will consist of multiple lands and major attractions), the Dinoland project, there will unquestionably be other major new attractions added to their existing parks over the next 20 years, the new DVC and resort projects that they like to frequently do, they still have two waterparks that are woefully outdated, etc.

Plus 20 years is a long a** time to have nothing go wrong that would derail the $17 billion. At some point there will be some kind of economic pullback or recession and companies (including Disney which made major cuts to all expansions many times over the past few decades, even when the economy was good) always seem to cut their plans down when the economy contracts.

Plus, and this is my personal opinion and totally anecdotal, there is going to be a point of diminishing returns to all of these IP theme park expansions. I mean do people really want ANOTHER major theme park in Orlando? Maybe in the future, but to me Disney needs to get their act together on what they currently have. They have so much stuff at WDW that it is in constant need of billions of re-investment just to keep what they have up to date. The parks they currently have unquestionably need to add capacity when it comes to attractions (Bob Iger is even saying this now). Like I said earlier the waterparks are woefully outdated compared to the industry standard and need work. I'm just not seeing it worth it to build another major theme park filled with redundant IP at this time. If they built something really unique (that is NOT a $5,000 immersive hotel experience) then maybe, but another Epic Universe would be so boring and played out.

I'd like to see Disney pour a ton of money into making its existing WDW parks more comfortable in the ever-increasing heat. Lots of trees and shade everywhere. (That alone might bring in more guests, especially in the summer.)

Honestly, unless Disney is going to take a radical departure from their historical practices and design a very different type of theme park than we've seen from them (one aimed at an audience that doesn't currently visit Walt Disney World regularly), I don't know that a fifth park would really be worth the investment. The resort already offers enough to fill the time and budget allowances of most vacationers, so more of the same would not encourage additional revenue from the same visitor pool. Additionally, three of the four existing parks still offer incomplete experiences, so if Disney can get similar ROI by adding new attractions to those rather than spending the billions it would take to build a park to their standards, it makes far more sense to just keep doing that.

I find it VERY difficult to believe that Disney commits (at any level) to building a fifth gate or anything else really substantial until after Robert Iger's successor is in place. Once Dana Walden takes the reigns, then we will see actual decisions made on significant expansions.

Really interesting post.
Kind of on-topic I wondered if any of you have any information on Disney's forward planning viz-a-viz expansion of the Parks and with it any expansion of the Resorts ?
Were it just a Park we would all enjoy less congestion at the existing venues making it all very....1990s.
Yet I'm concerned that a new Park might bring with it another Resort or two. Great for Disney's revenue but maybe doesn't address any possible overcrowding issues currently experienced in high season.
So I'm just asking if new park = increased Resort capacity.

No way they don’t build a fifth gate without multiple new moderate, deluxe, and vacation club hotels.