Sorry Disney Fans, A Day After Iger Announced Disney ‘Could Build Seven New Lands,’ The Company Walks It Back

While speaking yesterday at a conference hosted by Morgan Stanley in San Francisco, Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger made waves with what appeared to be a massive announcement about the future expansion of Disney Parks.

Iger said: 

We have thousands of acres of land still to develop. We could actually build seven new full lands if we wanted to around the world, including the ability to increase the size of Disneyland in California, which everybody thinks is kind of landlocked by 50%.

Related: Enough! Disney Fans Want Fewer Announcements About Park Expansions and More Action

Iger also emphasized that despite what the public believes, Disney Imagineers have been hard at work developing new ideas for those theme parks. He also stressed that Disney could build another seven Disneyland-sized theme parks at its existing global parks.

Shortly after Disney CEO Bob Iger made his announcements, Disney fans were abuzz with ideas for future gates at the Walt Disney World Resort and expansion plans for other Disney parks. But less than 24 hours after Iger’s announcement, Disney clarified their position on what Iger said, tamping down expectations for immediate announcements of expansions.

Related: Bob Iger Admits Disney is “Quietly Killing” Some of Its Films

Today, Disney insider Scott Gustin report that Disney has clarified Iger’s remarks and that Disney fans may have missed one key word in Iger’s statement. He said “could,” not “would.” Gustin wrote:

When Iger said Disney could build ‘7 new lands’ he was actually referencing a 2023 company statement that said Disney has ‘over 1,000 acres of land for possible future development … across its existing sites – the equivalent of about 7 new Disneyland Parks.’

This essentially pours cold water on the Disney fans’ expectations for an expansion plan. With Universal Orlando opening Epic Universe next year, Disney World fans were hoping that the Happiest Place on Earth would have something to match what Universal will have to offer fans.

But while Iger dashed the hopes of fans, he did have one concrete plan to announce.

A clarification: When Iger said Disney could build "7 new lands" he was actually referencing a 2023 company statement that said Disney has "over 1,000 acres of land for possible future development … across its existing sites – the equivalent of about 7 new Disneyland Parks." https://t.co/c1OKndYZFf

— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) March 6, 2024

Disneyland Expansion

Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that the Disneyland Resort would be getting a Pandora land similar to the one at Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Disney World.

Iger said:

We have one Avatar-based land, Pandora, in Florida. We’re going to put a second one in California. It doesn’t mean we can’t put one in — somewhere in Asia and somewhere in Europe as if, for instance. We opened up a Frozen Land in Hong Kong in November. Tremendous response to that. Good investment, big investment, but build it right, build it with excellence, and they will come.

It is unclear if the new land will be a part of Disneyland or Disney California Adventure. This new Pandora land will be a part of the Disneyland Forward project, which has teased attractions based on Black Panther, Coco, and Tangled. 

So, while the Disneyland Resort starts to firm up some of its expansion plans with an Avatar experience, Walt Disney World is still waiting for more announcements. Josh D’Amaro teased an expansion of the Magic Kingdom at the D23 Expo, but nothing more has come of that. And there is a plan to remake part of Disney’s Animal Kingdom into an Encanto-themed land.

We will see what the Walt Disney Company has in store for Central Florida, hopefully in the near future.

What do you think of Disney walking back Iger’s statement? Let us know in the comments.