Disney IP anchors theme parks. Here’s why it works

The “Happiest Place on Earth” turns 70 this week.

Disneyland, a pillar of the Anaheim, California, group since 1955, was a ardour challenge of founder Walt Disney, a spot the place adults and their kids may have enjoyable collectively. It additionally served as a spot the place the longtime media firm may showcase and weave collectively completely different items of its enterprise from movies, tv reveals and comedian strips to music and merchandising.

Disney’s portfolio of mental property has been the bedrock of its theme parks because the very first location opened its doorways. As of late, the corporate’s experiences division, which incorporates parks, resorts, cruises and client merchandise, stays one among its finest revenue drivers. Working earnings for the unit for fiscal 2024 was greater than double that of the content-centric leisure division, the place the IP originates.

Disneyland in Anaheim started with greater than a dozen sights, lots of which have been pulled immediately from Disney’s archive of theatrical movies. Amongst them have been Mad Tea Social gathering based mostly on “Alice in Wonderland,” Mr. Toad’s Wild Trip from “The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad,” Peter Pan’s Flight, Snow White’s Enchanted Want and Dumbo the Flying Elephant.

Over the previous seven a long time, Disney has opened a complete of 12 theme parks throughout the US, Europe and Asia, with one other set to open in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, within the coming years. It additionally has a fleet of cruise ships, which is about to double by 2031, and almost 60 resort inns and trip properties globally.

“Should you return now 70 years in the past, Walt knew the good tales that he was creating, if he mixed these with the applied sciences that have been at hand on the time with this concept of an immersive expertise that he may create one thing that nobody else had ever executed,” stated Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Walt Disney’s parks and resorts. “And it actually set the Disney model aside.”

The primary rides at Disneyland have been interspersed with authentic creations like Jungle Cruise, Autopia and the Disneyland Railroad.

Whereas Disney would carry a lot of non-IP sights to life over the following few a long time — Matterhorn Bobsleds, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Huge Thunder Mountain and Area Mountain, amongst them — within the final decade, the corporate has dedicated to using its present catalog of tales to gas new and up to date sights in its home and worldwide theme parks.

A lot of that technique has come within the wake of CEO Bob Iger’s acquisition of 4 main studios — Pixar (2006), Marvel (2009), Lucasfilm (2012) and twentieth Century Fox (2019) — which introduced coveted franchises beneath the Home of Mouse roof.

“I believe we have been lucky now in that now we have gone after that IP, introduced it into the Disney fold, and simply made the model much more highly effective,” D’Amaro stated.

Many of those manufacturers already appeared within the firm’s parks as a part of licensing offers, like Star Excursions, which opened in 1987; Indiana Jones Journey, added in 1995; and Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster, which debuted in 2005.

The corporate additionally opened whole lands — curated areas which have themed rides, meals and leisure centered on one piece of IP. This included A Bug’s Land, which opened in 2002 at Disney’s California Journey park, based mostly on Pixar’s “A Bug’s Life” and Pandora — The World of Avatar, set on the fictional planet Pandora from Fox’s “Avatar” movie and constructed at Animal Kingdom in Florida.

Many of those additions got here beneath the management of then-CEO Michael Eisner, who helmed the corporate from 1984 till 2005.

Chief amongst his acquisitions was securing the IP for Star Wars and Indiana Jones — two of the largest franchises of the time — in keeping with Gavin Doyle, founding father of MickeyVisit.com. Eisner “went and licensed it and introduced it into the parks,” Doyle stated.

Many years later, Disney acquired Lucasfilm, which owns each movie franchises, and expanded their presence.

In 2019, the corporate opened two an identical Star Wars-themed lands, one in Florida at Hollywood Studios and one in California at Disneyland. A brand new Indiana Jones attraction is deliberate for Disney’s Animal Kingdom as a part of the park’s new Tropical Americas space. It’s set to open in 2027.

Final yr, income development in Disney’s experiences division was the strongest of any Disney division.

Experiences posted file income and revenue for fiscal 2024, with income rising 5% for the complete yr to $34.15 billion and working earnings up 4% to $9.27 billion.

Heading into 2025, the corporate stated it anticipated to see 6% to eight% revenue development for experiences in fiscal 2025 — and that is earlier than it breaks floor on a slew of deliberate land expansions, new rides and re-themed sights.

“Whereas investor focus understandably stays on near-term attendance and client spending tendencies, renewed momentum in creating profitable content material with Disney’s premium IP play an important function in producing long-term earnings energy throughout parks, Disney+ and accelerating the distinctive benefit of the Disney flywheel throughout its portfolio,” stated Robert Fishman, analyst at MoffettNathanson.

Disney is relying closely on IP as a part of its 2023 pledge to make investments $60 billion in experiences over the following decade.

On the docket is a brand new villains land coming to Magic Kingdom, a “Monsters Inc.” land at Hollywood Studios, an “Encanto” journey at Animal Kingdom and the enlargement of Avengers Campus with two new sights. Disneyland can also be anticipated to open a brand new Avatar space impressed by the surroundings within the upcoming “Avatar: Fireplace and Ash.”

After all, these new developments additionally include some drawbacks. Fan-favorite rides and even complete lands have shuttered or been re-themed consequently.

Anaheim’s A Bug’s Land closed in 2018 so the house could possibly be used to construct Avengers Campus, a Marvel-themed land. DinoLand at Animal Kingdom is disappearing to create space for the brand new Tropical Americas space. At Magic Kingdom, Rivers of America, Tom Sawyer Island and the Liberty Sq. Riverboat have shut all the way down to make room for an space referred to as Piston Peak — a second Vehicles-themed land modeled after America’s pure parks.

For particular person rides, the latest change was the re-theming of Splash Mountain at each Disneyland and Walt Disney World. It was refreshed as Tiana’s Bayou Journey, based mostly on the characters from “The Princess and the Frog.”

Whereas some Disney parks followers have balked on the adjustments the corporate has made to the parks, the technique has expanded the corporate’s fan base and pushed income development throughout its international footprint.

“It is attention-grabbing as a result of the IP just isn’t all the time for probably the most vocal theme park fan,” Doyle stated. “By definition, the IP is supposed to broaden the viewers.”

“The entire firm’s premised on entertaining, nice storytelling,” D’Amaro stated. “And in all of our tales, whether or not they be in animation or by our conventional characters or Star Wars or Marvel or Pixar, there’s this sense of connection to those characters. There’s this emotion that is created, after which we supply that by into the theme parks.”