Disney to Scale Back Domestic Expansion

[chesirecat]

The opening of Carsland has prompted a lot of speculation regarding new lands and attractions in both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. Maybe because BVS and Carsland look so good and have gotten off on a great foot, fans figure a "sequel expansion" is in the works.

However, recently the Orlando Sentinel reported that Disney will cut back significantly on domestic spending ($6 billion for Carsland, BVS, Fantasyland Expansion, a Hawaiian resort and cruise ships), and that the only big project on the slate is Avatarland, which will open by 2016 at the earliest . . . if they decide to actually build.

As it opens new attraction, Disney prepares to cut capital spending - OrlandoSentinel.com

There's a Kevin Yee blurb.

Looks like DLR might be entering a half-decade drought where nothing new is announced. Most of the attention will probably be on Shanghai Disneyland and the new stuff being built in Hong Kong.

The article mentions that Universal backed by wealthier Comcast is outspending Disney domestically, I guess in terms of parks as it looks like Disney put slightly more into Aulani and cruise ships than attractions and new lands on each coast.

Though . . .

Domestic spending 2011 - $2.3 Billion
Domestic spending 2012 - unknown, expected to be more
Projected spending 2013 - article didn't say
Projected spending 2014 - $1.5 Billion

And the analyst said that the 2014 number might be conservative. If they don't build any more hotels or cruise ships, then DLR might get a big chunk of the $1.5 Billion, right? That would be enough to start building a $150-200 million dollar ride/land expansion in Disneland, assuming a good chunk of domestic spending is upkeep.

[MrsMonroe]

can somebody say Paul Pressler.... this should be an interesting thread

[brenden]

Looks like DLR might be entering a half-decade drought where nothing new is announced.

AWESOME! It'll be nice to be rid of walls for a while after dealing with them constantly for the past 5+ years.

(Although, I don't think they'll stop working on the park, though. There will probably be updates and improvements through the years, but without the fanfare of a $1 billion DCA expansion.)

[explodingboy]

Hopefully we can still see something happen with Tomorrowland, but I like the sound (and sight!) of no walls for a while.

[Mr Wiggins]

Looks like DLR might be entering a half-decade drought where nothing new is announced. Most of the attention will probably be on Shanghai Disneyland and the new stuff being built in Hong Kong.

Not surprising. People tend to forget, in all the giddiness over DCA 2.0, that Disney is still a hyper-tightfisted corporation whose theme parks are run by the the most tightfisted "sharp pencil boy" of them all, Michael Eisner's former Chief Financial Officer, Tom Staggs. Along with Bob, Jay and the rest of senior management, these guys pride themselves on not spending a dime unless they have to. And as long as crowds continue to pack DLR and WDW, they don't have to.

Meanwhile, it'll be interesting to see what gets announced... and what doesn't.... at the next D23 Expo.

The telling quote from the article:

"We should be coming down substantially — substantially — in domestic spending," Disney Chief Financial Officer Jay Rasulo said during a recent presentation to stock analysts.

Yep -- that Jay Rasulo.

[Uncle Bob]

I don't think that article suggested that nothing new would be coming to DLR for six years. It just said they were cutting back on capital spending. The things that are seeing the major cutbacks are outside of resort spending. The 1 to 1.5 billion a year will largely be spent on the existing resort properties, not building new destination hotels and cruise ships like that have been in the last few years. The destination resorts was being pushed by Rosulo when he was in charge on P&R and Staggs has moved away from that. Anyway, the Avengers are hot, I can't see them waiting six years to get them into Anaheim.

[biggsworth]

Hard to tell if this news is really that bad. When it comes to money being spent of course it will be scaled back versus how much they put into the past couple of years. In 2014, 1.5 billion is more than enough to work with. And of course it's lower than 2011 considering they were working on DCA and MK as well as Aulani and the Dream.

[Baloo]

I agree with uncle Bob, i think Disney is most likely refering to large capital investments outside of the parks including new park gates or additional free standing hotels. The parks will most likely continue to see growth with addition of attractions within those years along with upgrades.

[toonaspie]

That money needs to find its way to WDW, stat. DLR can take care of itself with its local base and recent DCA expansion. But I fear that the FL expansion and Avatar won't be enough to get WDW where it needs to be especially when surrounded by so much competition. Too much needs to be done with Epcot, DHS, and DAK.

[DARTH MAUL]

Anyway, the Avengers are hot, I can't see them waiting six years to get them into Anaheim.

Hopefully they'll wait forever.

As for the article, not only has Disney changed their mind on things in the past, but there are certain things that really can't wait any longer. Tomorrowland for instance. Plus the 60th is bound to cause something to happen. I think the people saying it only refers to larger than normal spending are probably correct.

[DisneyIPresume]

Harry Potter coming to USH.

Knotts is already starting to make improvements in the right direction and doesn't appear to be letting up.

Disney doesn't build anything new AND raises ticket/AP prices excessively.

This doesn't bode too well for Disney in my opinion. Locals get easily bored with new offerings fast. If Disney doesn't offer an alternative to what the other parks will be offering in the future they may very well regret the day that they decided to raise their ticketing prices.

[Mojave]

Basically agreeing with what others have said...

Cutting back from 2 cruise ships, a major hotel, a rebuilt Fantasyland and the $1.1billion DCA makeover DOES NOT MEAN nothing new is coming. It simply means not to expect another 2 cruise ships, a major hotel, a rebuilt Fantasyland and a $1.1billion DCA makeover in the next couple of years.

[DCAfanatic]

"Disneyland will never be completed as long the money keeps rolling in" more rides more money?

[mondo]

Only if they fix Tomorrowland at DL, then I would be okay with no big projects for couple of years. I still think there will be something for the 60th.

[Micoofy Duck]

well I too suspect Tomorrowland will finally get a remake but I suspect it will be done on the cheap side. Meaning building something onto top of something and repainting the theme or something simple. I just don't expect a grand scale Tomorrowland. Just a refresher tomorrowland is what I expect. I WOULD like a revamp and gutted and changed tomorrowland but we'll see what's really next for Disneyland.