food IS a theme park
Disney hasn’t been resting much lately, what with all the new lands coming to parks across the world, the release of Zootopia 2, all the hotel refurbishments going on, new technology being developed, and more.
©Disney
Recently, Disney gave us a glimpse into what’s happening with the company and dropped some gigantic news bombs with opening dates, new animatronics, and more. So let’s take a closer look at those big announcements that Disney just dropped on us.
In January, a series of devastating wildfires destroyed properties throughout Southern California, particularly in the Los Angeles area.
©Disney
The Walt Disney Company, which has long-time ties to the Los Angeles area, made a $15 million commitment to help L.A. recover from the disaster. The company recently announced that $5 million will support the reopening of Altadena’s Charles White Park, which was destroyed by the fires.
ESPN and Major League Baseball have announced a new agreement featuring national rights, local out-of-market rights, and in-market rights.
©ESPN
Per the agreement, ESPN will become the exclusive rights holder of MLB.TV, which means thousands of baseball games will be available each season on the ESPN app and MLB platforms in 2026.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Walt Disney Company has extended its contract with Chief Financial Officer Hugh Johnston for four more years.
Walt Disney Company Headquarters in Burbank
Disney entered into a new contract with Johnston that will keep him on as CFO of the company through January 31st, 2029. Johnston succeeded longtime Disney CFO Christine McCarthy and became Disney’s CFO in 2023.
The annual TEA (Themed Entertainment Association) Global Experience Index just released its official report for 2024. The report summarizes data from the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA), Entertainment + Culture Advisors (ECA), The Park Database (TPDB), and InPark Magazine. Now, we finally have a list of the most visited theme parks worldwide in 2024! While the report includes the most visited theme parks globally, Florida’s own Magic Kingdom Park topped the list. Are you surprised? As theme park reporters ourselves (who travel to major amusement parks all over the world), we’re not surprised.
Magic Kingdom
In fact, Disney won big in this category, claiming four of the top five most visited theme parks worldwide in 2024. Following Magic Kingdom, the list includes Disneyland Park, Universal Studios Japan, Tokyo Disneyland, and Shanghai Disneyland.
The Walt Disney Company is shaking things up at the executive level yet again.
Walt Disney Company Headquarters in Burbank
While we still don’t know who the next CEO will be after Bob Iger officially leaves in 2026, reports have indicated that there is one clear leader. But it looks like Disney has made another executive change ahead of the CEO swap — Michael Moriarty has just been named Executive Vice President and CFO of Disney Experiences.
We have a new date that could lead to some more potential Disney news!
Magic Kingdom
The Walt Disney Company is having its quarterly financial meeting soon, and you won’t want to miss it.
Disney, Universal Pictures, and Warner Bros. Discovery have sued a Chinese artificial intelligence image and video generator for copyright infringement, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
©Disney | Walt Disney Company Headquarters
This is the second lawsuit over alleged copyright infringement that Disney, Warner Bros., and Universal have joined together on, with the first being against Midjourney for its image-generating service.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has specific rules when it comes to delivering online content to children.
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You’ve probably seen an example of these rules if you’ve ever uploaded a video to YouTube, which asks if your content is specifically “Made for Kids.” This distinction brings YouTube’s content in line with a federal law that protects children from having their data collected and used for advertising. Now, though, according to Variety, the FTC has ordered Disney to pay $10 million for violating that law on the YouTube platform.
There are several important people who help lead The Walt Disney Company, each with their own distinct jobs.
Walt Disney Company Headquarters in Burbank
From heading up parks and experiences to taking the lead in the media industry, Disney has a team of executives that run various facets of the business. And coming soon, one of those executives will be doing a Q&A.
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