Disney CEO Bob Iger said the company will build a second Avatar-themed land in California.
Iger previously said Disney was looking at building an Avatar-themed “experience” at its Disneyland Resort in California after opening Pandora – The World of Avatar at Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort in 2017. But today, during a talk at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecommunications Conference, Iger said, “We have one Avatar-based land, Pandora, in Florida. We're putting a second land here in California.”
“It all starts with how you allocate capital as a business,” Iger said. “If you look at the return on invested capital in that business over the last 20 years, especially the last 10 years, the record has been phenomenal. And we still have thousands of acres to develop. We could actually build seven new properties. All of that. “We can secure complete landholdings around the world, including the ability to increase the size of Disneyland in California by 50%, which we consider to be landlocked.”
Disney's ability to develop the land in California depends on the city of Anaheim approving the Disneyland Forward proposal. The proposal would change land use rules for Disneyland Resort property, allowing Disney to partially develop land currently reserved for use as parking. Provides a buffer between Disneyland Resort attractions and nearby residents.
“You can look at every single location we have and there is a land opportunity,” Iger said. “But most importantly, we have so many IPs in mind that we have the opportunity to create experiences that people will want to have in our parks.”
In addition to Avatar, Iger also mentioned the new World of Frozen and Zootopia lands, which opened at Hong Kong Disneyland and Shanghai Disneyland, respectively, late last year. But while Disney Experiences President Josh D'Amaro previously mentioned the land as the kind of project Disney could build in Anaheim, he today said the land would not be available to other Disney properties around the world. You didn't mention that it would be included. DisneylandForward has been approved.
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