NEWS: CEO Bob Iger Makes Surprising Comments on Disney's $60 Billion Expansion Plans

Disney’s $60 billion expansion plans aren’t quite what you think they are.

Cinderella Castle

Back in September 2023, Disney announced a massive investment in park expansions in the next ten years, but the company has largely been quiet on what exactly can we expect from these expansions. Now, Disney CEO Bob Iger is sharing more on what that $60 billion will cover.

During a recent media event we were fortunate enough to attend at Walt Disney Imagineering, CEO Bob Iger spoke a bit more candidly about Disney’s $60 billion investment.

Bob Iger and Josh D’Amaro address media at Walt Disney Imagineering event

He shared that while a portion of that money has already been put to use — and even more of it allocated — some of it has not yet been designated. And there’s a good reason.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

The second-time CEO continued that Disney has put some of the $60 billion on hold so they can decide what to do with it at a later time. Iger used the example that if five years down the road Disney comes out with another hit at the box office and wants to eventually create a ride or experience based on it, some of this $60 billion could be used for that. And Disney wants to provide for that potential.

On the other hand, if the entire $60 billion were already allocated to projects, Disney would have to find room in the budget elsewhere for this hypothetical new IP expansion.

Hollywood Studios

Iger stressed that in the future, there may be something new — like a character or movie — that people end up loving, and Disney would want to capitalize on that in the parks. Keeping part of this investment on the back burner ensures that there is enough room in the overall budget to do so.

Of course, there are concrete plans and strict budgets for some of the money already — Iger made that clear as well. But, when it comes to the unknown, Disney still has some safeguards in place to make sure the well doesn’t come up dry.

Animal Kingdom

Based on a recent Disney SEC filing, we know 50% of the budget (about $30 billion) will go towards the Disney Parks and resorts, 30% (about $18 billion) to Tech and Maintenance, and 20% (about $12 billion) will go towards the Disney Cruise Line and non-specified entertainment.

What those individual allotments break down into further, we’ll have to wait and see.

Slinky Dog Dash

In the meantime, you can be sure we’ll be on the lookout for even more news and announcements about what’s on the horizon for the Disney parks, so stay tuned to DFB for more!

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Disclosure: In nearly all circumstances, Disney Food Blog writers and photographers pay full price for their own travel, hotel, food, beverage, and event tickets. We do this because it’s important to us as journalists to ensure not only that we give you unbiased opinions, but also that you can trust us to do so since we’re paying our own way. On rare occasions, when we are invited by a company to attend a preview as media, and when we choose to accept that invitation, we will always make you, our readers, aware of that situation. Today, we were invited by Disney to attend their media preview of the latest Imagineering projects. Note that when we attend events as media we are 1) Not required to review that event/food on any of our channels, and 2) Not required to review that event/food favorably. You can always count on DFB to give you a 100% unbiased and honest review of any event that we attend, food that we eat, or beverage that we drink. You can see more in our Disclosure Policy. Thank you for reading. — AJ