Don't Expect Disney To Make Frozen or Wakanda Land Anytime Soon

Disney is making big money moves by pouring more funds into making its popular Parks and Cruise Lines. While the U.S. properties — like Disneyland and Walt Disney World — have struggled over the past few years with reduced admissions, visitors, and hotel bookings, and flops like the infamously-ill-fated-Star Wars hotel, that’s not true everywhere. In fact, internationally, the parks are doing well, and they’re pouring an investment of roughly $60 billion dollars over the next decade into making sure those parks keep kicking, per CNBC. And while that’s super exciting for fans of the franchise, don’t hold your breath for a Frozen or Wakanda land anytime soon.

The company plans to focus on its own brands and intellectual properties as it expands the attractions in its theme parks and cruises, which was outlined during the company’s presentation during its investor day.

“Today, as Disney considers future growth opportunities, there is a deep well of stories that have yet to be fully explored in its theme parks,” the company shared. The company shared some teasers, mainly touting the possibility of new attractions based on their famous movies, including Frozen, Coco, and Wakanda.

“Frozen, one of the most successful and popular animated franchises of all time, could have a presence at the Disneyland Resort.” Experiences and Products Chairman Josh D’Amaro said. “Wakanda has yet to be brought to life. The world of Coco is just waiting to be explored. There’s a lot of storytelling opportunity.”

As for what those potential new attractions could bring, it’s hard to say what they might be like. Being immersed in the world of Frozen sounds like a challenge when the parks are in hot-weather territory like Florida and California, but plans for Frozen are already underway at Hong Kong Disneyland, Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris, and Tokyo Disney Resort.

A Coco-themed park could be really cool, especially if it’s music-focused to help spark the love for music for kids and adults alike. And there’s so much that could be done with a Wakanda-themed attraction — and Disneyland Paris has recently released plans to have a brand new themed photo box at Super Hero Station and new Wakandan-inspired cocktails exclusively at Skyline Bar.

In addition to the upcoming potential new attractions at the theme parks, the company is expanding its Disney Cruise Line. The company previously announced that over the next two years, the company is tracking to nearly double the capacity of its cruise lines, Disney shared.

It’s been a while since the U.S.-based parks saw anything significantly new offered to its guests. Besides Galaxy's Edge, which opened on May 31, 2019, at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, and on August 29, 2019, at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, not a whole lot new has changed. The company is in the middle of a reboot of its Splash Mountain attraction and converting it under a new theme: Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, based on Disney’s first Black princess. But other than those, there haven’t been any new fully immersive exhibits — at least nothing that’s been successful. In other words, when the potential new attractions do hit the U.S. at Disney World or Disneyland, there’s no promise they will be a resounding hit.

After all, the first fully immersive Star Wars experience at the park — the Galactic Starcruiser Star Wars hotel that charged $5,000 a night — ended up being a big flop in the market, struggling to get bookings and closing down just 19 months after opening.

All this is super exciting because who doesn’t want to enjoy even more at the Happiest Place on Earth? But it’s worth noting that these changes and upcoming attractions are ones you probably have to wait for.

The company stated the infusion of cash and new offerings are being planned to take place over a decade — so don’t expect to make vacation plans quite yet to enter the world of Arendelle or the kingdom of Wakanda any time soon.