Walt Disney theme parks explains massive expansion plans

Walt Disney does not think of its theme parks merely as destinations or revenue drivers. Instead, it sees them sort of as ambassadors for the entire brand.

Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products Josh D’Amaro revealed this strategy during the MoffettNathanson 2025 Media, Internet & Communications Conference Call on May 14.

“Our experiences are incredibly powerful. So bringing stories to life through attractions and entertainment and doing so in a way that can pull consumers into the stories that they love — it's incredibly powerful….It essentially creates brand ambassadors that then utilize the full array of businesses that we have in the Walt Disney Company,” he explained.

The parks serves as the company's front line for its interaction with customers.

“We have somewhere around 120 million guests, on average, every year coming through these theme parks. So anytime we plant the Disney flag, so to speak, in an international market, it has a very powerful effect on the company,” D'Amaro added.

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He said this strategy worked in Shanghai when Walt Disney (DIS) opened a theme park there in 2016.

“We saw an immediate impact — positive impact on the brand as well as an incredibly powerful business. And we know the same thing will happen with Abu Dhabi,” D'Amaro said.

Many of Disney's properties have global appeal.

Image source: Walt Disney

Disney has big plans for Abu Dhabi

D'Amaro made it clear that Walt Disney bringing a new park to Abu Dhabi is a giant deal for the company.

“Disneyland will be 70 years old in just a couple of months. Our first park opened on July 17, 1955. And since then, we've built six different resort destinations around the world. So…once every decade, essentially, we're talking about something like this,” he said.

The chairman also explained how the company landed on Abu Dhabi.

“When we were thinking about where we wanted to be in the world, we knew that there was demand for Disney product around the world. I've said this publicly before: For every one theme park visitor that we have in our existing experiences today, we believe there are 10 more out there that want to come and participate in the Disney experience. They just haven't had an opportunity to do so,” he added.

Abu Dhabi was not the only option.

“As we looked around the world, we looked at the Middle East and UAE specifically and ended up in Abu Dhabi,” D'Amaro said. “The numbers are incredible in Abu Dhabi. If you look at a 4-hour flight radius into Abu Dhabi, one-third of the world's population is there. It's a pretty significant number,” he explained.

Disney's answer to Universal's Epic Universe

Disney's key theme park rival, Comcast's Universal Studios Epic Universe, its third Florida theme park, opened on May 22. D'Amaro has not commented much directly on the competition.

He did, however, share that Disney has a long-range plan and doesn't make moves based on what its rivals do.

“One of the things that I think is important for this audience to understand is our…investment strategy across all of our experiences and particularly Walt Disney World. If we just go back five or 10 years and you think about what's happened at Walt Disney World, we've always been on the offensive. You'll never find us in a defensive position,” he shared.

Basically, the answer to Epic Universe is all the rides built over the past few years and the many new ones planned.

“Magic Kingdom, for example, [has] a TRON roller coaster, which I hope some of you have had a chance to experience,” D'Amaro said. “[In] Animal Kingdom, we opened the world of Pandora with arguably one of our coolest attractions, Flight of Passage. [In] Disney Hollywood Studios, we built a massive new land based on Star Wars, which is incredibly popular. And then even at Epcot, it's totally transformed, with a new attraction there called Guardians of the Galaxy, which is now one of our top attractions literally around the world.”

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