By Dawn Chmielewski
ANAHEIM, California (Reuters) -Walt Disney unveiled several new attractions for its theme parks at the D23 fan event on Saturday as it looks to build more revenue from its profitable parks and cruise ships division.
It will build a new 'Avatar' experience at its Disney California Adventure theme park, based on the second film in the science fiction franchise, “Avatar: The Way of Water", the company said.
A show based on the life of Walt Disney, featuring an audio-animatronic figure of the company's founder, will be opened to commemorate Disneyland's 70th anniversary next year, one of a number of announcements at the D23 event being held this weekend.
The company also declared two attractions for the new Tropical Americas expansion coming to Disney's Animal Kingdom park in Orlando, Florida. One follows Indiana Jones on an exploration of a Mayan temple. Another is inspired by the Disney animated film “Encanto” and follows the character Antonio on the day he received his magical gift. Tropical Americas is set to open in 2027.
Actor Billy Crystal took the stage to announce an area at Disney's Hollywood Studios dedicated to the Pixar film, “Monsters, Inc”. The area, known as a land in Disney theme park parlance, will feature a suspended roller coaster designed to simulate zooming through the door vault at the Laugh Factory, just like characters Mike and Sulley in the film.
Pixar’s “Cars” film franchise also comes to the Magic Kingdom in Orlando, in a re-imagined area of Frontierland, with two new attractions planned. One will take guests on an off-road thrill ride into the wilderness beyond the film’s fictional Radiator Springs setting. Construction is scheduled to begin early next year.
These announcements reveal how the company will begin $60 billion in capital investments, nearly doubling spending over the next decade to improve attractions at its 12 parks and increase cruise line capacity.
"Everything that we’re going to share with you tonight is in active development," said Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D'Amaro. "This means that plans are drawn. This means that dirt is moving. I just want to be clear with all the fans out there. This isn’t blue sky."
Disney said it will add four cruise ships to its growing fleet, capitalizing on an industry that has been enjoying a rebound from the global shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company currently has five cruise ships in operation, and previously announced four others, including one Tokyo-based vessel and another that will set sail from Singapore in 2025. These new vessels will take sail between 2027 and 2031.
D’Amaro was joined onstage by the company’s creative leads to discuss Disney’s collaboration with video-game maker Epic Games. The company invested $1.5 billion in Epic earlier this year, giving Disney an equity stake in the creator of Fortnite and Unreal Engine.
Disney announced new characters and stories are coming to the online game, including Disney villains as well as characters from the Pixar superhero film, “The Incredibles,” and the Disney+ series “The Mandalorian,” about a lone bounty hunter from the Star Wars universe.
Disney's parks have become a reliable profit engine, helping to cushion the impact of declines in traditional television and losses in its video streaming business, which last quarter turned a profit.
The experiences unit, which includes parks, cruise ships and consumer products, contributed 60% of the company's operating profit in the most recent quarter - up from 30% just a decade ago.
Disney CEO Bob Iger has said the company planned to spend $17 billion over the next decade at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando.
These investments would build on such recent attractions as Tiana's Bayou Adventure - inspired by Disney's animated movie "The Princess and The Frog" - the Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind roller coaster, and the Tron Lightcycle/Run.
The company faces intensifying competition in central Florida from rival Universal Studios, which plans to open Epic Universe next year, adding 750 acres (303.5 hectares) to be populated by Harry Potter, dragons from the Viking world of "How to Train Your Dragon," classic Universal movie monsters such as Frankenstein and Nintendo's Donkey Kong.
(Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Anaheimm, California; Editing by Sandra Maler and Christian Schmollinger)
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