Disney World gets final approval for $17 billion development plan that could include a fifth theme park
It looks like a "Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" is on the horizon for the roughly 58 million guests who visit Walt Disney World annually.
On June 12, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, which oversees land use and public services within the area Disney World owns and operates, unanimously voted to approve a 15-year development plan that could bring major changes to Disney World in the coming decades, including a possible fifth theme park.
Disney published a legal notice detailing the development plan in the May 29 edition of the Orlando Sentinel and received conditional approval June 5. It outlined Disney's planned investment of up to $17 billion over the next 10 to 20 years, with an initial commitment of $8 billion in the next 10 years.
As the plan outlines, those funds can be used to develop new office space, hotels, restaurants, retail spaces and theme parks. The agreement encompasses approximately 17,370 acres of land under the CFTOD's jurisdiction, the majority of the land they oversee.
Under the plan's terms, Disney World can potentially raise its total number of hotel rooms from the more than 36,000 it currently has to 53,467; retail and restaurant space will also be increased. Walt Disney World already has four theme parks and two water parks, but yesterday's approval could pave the way for Disney to build a fifth theme park and three additional smaller, more minor parks, such as a water park.
The agreement also calls for Disney to "donate land for public infrastructure improvements necessary to support the new development," commit at least $10 million to attainable housing projects and award at least 50% of the goods and services related to design, development and construction under the plan to Florida businesses.
This plan reconfirms The Walt Disney Company's $60 billion commitment to "accelerate and expand investment" in its global theme parks, cruise line and other vacation experiences announced last September by CEO Bob Iger.
"You can pretty much conclude that they'll be all over — meaning every single one of our locations will be the beneficiary of increased investment and thus increased capacity, including on the high seas, where we're currently building three more ships," Iger said during the company's first-quarter earnings call in February.
Since the announcement, the company opened the World of Frozen at Hong Kong Disneyland and a "Zootopia"-themed land at Shanghai Disney Resort. It will also open Fantasy Springs at Tokyo Disney Resort on June 6. Additionally, Disney recently received approval to build new lands and attractions at Disneyland and shared early concept "blue sky" ideas for Disney World expansion plans.
This development agreement solidifies Disney's and the CFTOD's continued commitment to investing in Central Florida. Disney's investment would bring growth and development to the area through new jobs, more tourists and additional state and local revenue.
Negotiations between Disney and the CFTOD have not historically been this amicable. The contentious relationship began in 2022 when Disney spoke out against Florida's so-called "Don't Say Gay" bill that prohibited discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida classrooms, a bill that Gov. Ron DeSantis championed.
Disney's criticism drew DeSantis' ire, leading him to remove Disney's self-governing status and special taxation benefits by taking control of the Reedy Creek Improvement District (now the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District), renaming it and appointing five hand-picked representatives to the board that was previously wholly controlled by Disney.
Before they were ousted, Disney's board members attempted to push through a development deal, which has kept the two in legal battles ever since. On March 27, Disney and the CFTOD reached a settlement that nullified any previous development agreements, with both parties agreeing to negotiate a new development plan.
With the plan's approval, Disney World is poised to get an even better makeover than Cinderella did before the royal ball.
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