The Walt Disney Co. plans to significantly bolster its investments in its amusement parks and cruises, announcing Tuesday that it will spend around $60 billion over the next decade on the parks, experiences and products (DPEP) segment of its business.
The company said in an SEC filing the increase in capital expenditures is nearly double what it spent on the DPEP over the past 10 years, and it aims to expand capacity at its parks and cruise lines worldwide.
Disney CEO Bob Iger is set to meet with Wall Street analysts and investors Tuesday to discuss the company's growth strategy, which will be focused on leveraging Disney's stories, building on its already massive theme park footprint, and reaching more fans, the company said in a press release.
DISNEY'S MAGIC KINGDOM PARTIALLY CLOSED AFTER BLACK BEAR SPOTTED ON THE LOOSE, LATER CAPTURED
"Disney’s Parks business is a key driver of value creation for the company, and positive segment results in recent past quarters through [third quarter of fiscal year 2023] have come in part from strong performance at Disney’s international parks, particularly those in Asia," the company reported, saying expansions at its Shanghai Disney Resort and Hong Kong Disneyland are set to open later this year.
While Disney already has the largest physical footprint of any global theme park business in the world, the company said it also owns over 1,000 acres of land surrounding existing sites that could be developed and used to expand capacity.
The company said roughly 100 million people visit Disney Parks each year, and it sees the opportunity to welcome many more.
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
"There is still enormous untapped potential for reaching more consumers," the company said in the release. "According to Disney’s internal research, there is an addressable market of more than 700 million people with high Disney affinity it has yet to reach with its Parks. In fact, for every one guest who visits a Disney Park, there are more than ten people with Disney affinity who do not visit the Parks."
