With 56 million annual visitors and four theme parks covering 25,000 acres – that’s twice the size of Manhattan – Walt Disney World is a substantial ongoing business, ever-growing and evolving. Naturally, that doesn’t come cheap but you might be surprised at just how much investment is going in to keep these parks developing.
There are major transformations going on right now, and The New York Times take a closer look.
For the 2018 fiscal year, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts had an operating profit of $4.5 billion, an increase of more than 100 percent from five years earlier. For comparison, Disney Media Networks, home to ESPN and ABC, had a profit of $6.6 billion, a 3 percent decline.
Hong Kong Disneyland Lantau Island
1. “Avengers” ride 2. “Ant-Man” attraction 3. “Frozen” land 4. “Moana” stage show 5. Castle and amphitheater (overhauled)
Disney Studios Park at Disneyland Paris Marne-la-Vallée, France
1. “Frozen” land 2. “Star Wars” land 3. Marvel superhero land 4. “Iron Man” roller coaster (overhauled)
Epcot Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
1. “Guardians of the Galaxy” roller coaster 2. Space restaurant 3. Skyway gondola station 4. “Ratatouille” ride 5. Future Showcase (overhauled) 6. Fireworks show (overhauled)
California Adventure Anaheim, Calif.
1. Marvel superhero land 2. Pixar Pier (overhauled)
Hollywood Studios Lake Buena Vista
1. Mickey Mouse ride 2. “Toy Story” land 3. “Star Wars” land 4. “Star Wars” resort
Each of Disney’ssix theme park resorts around the world is undergoing major expansion, along with Disney Cruise Line. Michael Nathanson, a longtime media analyst, estimates that Disney will spend $24 billion on new attractions, hotels and ships over the next five years. That’s more than Disney paid for Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm combined.
And let’s not forget Galaxy’s Edge.
In terms of attracting crowds and creating excitement, nothing quite compares to the “Star Wars” franchise.
In 2019, Disney World and Disneyland will open matching 14-acre “lands” called Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. On one lavish attraction, guests will board anImperial Star Destroyer, where roughly 50 animatronic stormtroopers await in formation. On another, guests will be able to pilot an interactive Millennium Falcon.
“It’s a personalized intergalactic ride — live your own ‘Star Wars’ story,” saidScott Trowbridge, the Disney creative executive overseeing the Galaxy’s Edge projects. “If you crash into a wall, that’s what you will see out the cockpit window.”
The Millennium Falcon ride will use real-time video rendering technology invented byIndustrial Light & Magic that responds to the way guests use 200 cockpit controls.
Exploring the galaxy since 1978, Mark wrote his first fan fiction in '81 and been a presence online since his first webpage Fanta War in 1996. He currently contributes to ILM.com and SkywalkerSound.com, having previously written for Star Wars Insider, StarWars.com, Star Wars Encyclopedia, Build The Millennium Falcon, Starburst Magazine, Geeky Monkey, TV Film Memorabilia and Model and Collectors Mart.
He is a four-time Star Wars Celebration Stage host (the only podcaster to have appeared on every Celebration podcast stage since it began in 2015), the Daily Content Manager of Fantha Tracks and the co-host of Making Tracks, Canon Fodder and Start Your Engines on Fantha Tracks Radio.
- Advertisement -
- Advertisement -
With 56 million annual visitors and four theme parks covering 25,000 acres – that’s twice the size of Manhattan – Walt Disney World is a substantial ongoing business, ever-growing and evolving. Naturally, that doesn’t come cheap but you might be surprised at just how much investment is going in to keep these parks developing.
There are major transformations going on right now, and The New York Times take a closer look.
For the 2018 fiscal year, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts had an operating profit of $4.5 billion, an increase of more than 100 percent from five years earlier. For comparison, Disney Media Networks, home to ESPN and ABC, had a profit of $6.6 billion, a 3 percent decline.
Hong Kong Disneyland Lantau Island
1. “Avengers” ride 2. “Ant-Man” attraction 3. “Frozen” land 4. “Moana” stage show 5. Castle and amphitheater (overhauled)
Disney Studios Park at Disneyland Paris Marne-la-Vallée, France
1. “Frozen” land 2. “Star Wars” land 3. Marvel superhero land 4. “Iron Man” roller coaster (overhauled)
Epcot Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
1. “Guardians of the Galaxy” roller coaster 2. Space restaurant 3. Skyway gondola station 4. “Ratatouille” ride 5. Future Showcase (overhauled) 6. Fireworks show (overhauled)
California Adventure Anaheim, Calif.
1. Marvel superhero land 2. Pixar Pier (overhauled)
Hollywood Studios Lake Buena Vista
1. Mickey Mouse ride 2. “Toy Story” land 3. “Star Wars” land 4. “Star Wars” resort
Each of Disney’ssix theme park resorts around the world is undergoing major expansion, along with Disney Cruise Line. Michael Nathanson, a longtime media analyst, estimates that Disney will spend $24 billion on new attractions, hotels and ships over the next five years. That’s more than Disney paid for Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm combined.
And let’s not forget Galaxy’s Edge.
In terms of attracting crowds and creating excitement, nothing quite compares to the “Star Wars” franchise.
In 2019, Disney World and Disneyland will open matching 14-acre “lands” called Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. On one lavish attraction, guests will board anImperial Star Destroyer, where roughly 50 animatronic stormtroopers await in formation. On another, guests will be able to pilot an interactive Millennium Falcon.
“It’s a personalized intergalactic ride — live your own ‘Star Wars’ story,” saidScott Trowbridge, the Disney creative executive overseeing the Galaxy’s Edge projects. “If you crash into a wall, that’s what you will see out the cockpit window.”
The Millennium Falcon ride will use real-time video rendering technology invented byIndustrial Light & Magic that responds to the way guests use 200 cockpit controls.
Exploring the galaxy since 1978, Mark wrote his first fan fiction in '81 and been a presence online since his first webpage Fanta War in 1996. He currently contributes to ILM.com and SkywalkerSound.com, having previously written for Star Wars Insider, StarWars.com, Star Wars Encyclopedia, Build The Millennium Falcon, Starburst Magazine, Geeky Monkey, TV Film Memorabilia and Model and Collectors Mart.
He is a four-time Star Wars Celebration Stage host (the only podcaster to have appeared on every Celebration podcast stage since it began in 2015), the Daily Content Manager of Fantha Tracks and the co-host of Making Tracks, Canon Fodder and Start Your Engines on Fantha Tracks Radio.
When you visit any web site, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Control your personal Cookie Services here.
For performance reasons we use OneSignal as a notification service. This saves a number of cookies in order to apply notifcation services on a per-client basis. These cookies are strictly necessary for OneSignal's notification features. It is essential to the service that these are not turned off.
