Disney to Nearly Double Spending on Parks, Experiences and Products to $60 Billion Over 10-Year Period

variety.com:

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Disney is planning to super-size its theme parks and cruise lines business. The Walt Disney Co.

disclosed plans to boost capital spending in the Disney Parks, Experiences and Products business segment to nearly double in a 10-year period, as compared with the previous decade, to approximately $60 billion in aggregate.

Top Mouse House execs, including CEO Bob Iger and Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, are scheduled to discuss the plans Tuesday at an investor summit at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla., with analysts and shareholders.

The plans, revealed in an SEC filing Tuesday, call for “investing in expanding and enhancing domestic and international parks and cruise line capacity, prioritizing projects anticipated to generate strong returns.” Disney lays claim to having has the largest physical footprint of any global theme park travel business, comprising 12 parks across six sites globally and Disney Cruise Line, which visits 94 ports in 40 countries. “Notably, Walt Disney World Resort is twice the size of the island of Manhattan,” the company said in announcing the capital-spending boost, while “Disneyland is the most ‘Instagrammed’ place on Earth, and tens of millions of guests travel on Disney’s transportation networks each year.” About 100 million people visit Disney’s theme parks each year, but “there is still enormous untapped potential for reaching more consumers,” the company said.