The $60 billion question How might Walt Disney World grow?

Disney is preparing to spend $60 billion on its theme parks worldwide, but an expansion plan for Walt Disney World, or any of its other parks, has not been made public.

There has been a sprinkling of news and hints from company officials, including refurbishment of DinoLand at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and blue-sky talk for a land of some sort “beyond Big Thunder” at Magic Kingdom.

Attractions experts say the investment could mean original rides and lands for Disney World, such as a villains-driven domain; cloning of recent international projects based on “Frozen” and “Zootopia”; or even a fifth theme park, which would be WDW’s first since Animal Kingdom opened in 1998.

Putting more money into theme parks is a “nobrainer,” Walt Disney Co. Bob Iger has said. The billions earmarked for attractions will go into properties around the globe, including Disney Cruise Line, he said.

“If you look at the return on invested capital of that business over the last 20 years, particularly over the last 10, the track record is extraordinary,” Iger said in a recent interview at the Morgan Stanley Technology,

Media and Telecom Conference.

“We have thousands of acres of land still to develop. We could actually build seven new full lands, if we wanted to, around the world,” he said.

In May 2023, Iger suggested the possibility of withdrawing investment in Florida amid the company’s standoff with Gov. Ron DeSantis. Tensions began after Bob Chapek, then CEO of Walt Disney Co., vowed to fight for repeal of Florida’s Parental Bill of Rights law.

The governor and Florida Legislature later dissolved the Reedy Creek Improvement District, Disney World’s governmental body. The replacement, called the Central Florida Tourism Oversight, will have influence over future expansion plans.

Whatever gets built, Disney is probably thinking big, said Brian Morrow, owner of Kissimmeebased B Morrow Productions, an attractions-design studio.

“I definitely don’t see — particularly in the Disney and Universal category — any change by building lesser lands or less grandiose environments,” Morrow said. “That’s really how [guests] are making some of their decisions. … ‘How amazing is it? How new is it?’ ”

But he’s not expecting another theme park, the long-awaited “fifth gate,” to be announced for Walt Disney World.

Dreamstime / TNS Animal Kingdom, which opened in 1998, was Disney’s fourth major theme park to open in the Orlando area. With Disney preparing to spend up to $60 billion on its theme parks worldwide in the near future, is the central Florida area up for a fifth park in the future?

ALLIE GOULDING Tampa Bay Times The ‘Partners’ statue, featuring Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse, is in front of Cinderella’s Castle at Magic Kingdom at Disney World in Orlando.