If you’re a regular reader of our site, you’re likely familiar with the Walt Disney Company CEO drama that went down in the fall of 2022.

Bob Iger ©New York Post

Back in November, Bob Chapek was ousted as the head of the company and replaced by his predecessor, Bob Iger. Since then, we’ve seen many changes — in personnel, operations, and in business strategies for the company. Bob Iger has a lot of forward-thinking ideas for Disney, and in a recent interview, he mentioned some big plans for Disneyland Resort.

During the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference, Disney CEO Bob Iger was interviewed and asked multiple questions about his ideas for the future of the company. But perhaps some of the most interesting things he said were the comments made when the discussion turned to the theme parks.

©Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images

After talking about managing capacity in the parks and the bounceback from the pandemic, Iger said, “We actually have more opportunity in California than people are aware.” He continued, saying that building out new capacity or new attractions “gives us the ability to, one, service more people” and that “we can also mine our IP more effectively.”

Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland

He went on to say that “those are really important because those franchises that we do well with — in film and in television — are truly leverageable at the parks level as we learned with the Star Wars investments that we made, the Avatar investment that we made in Florida, and the Toy Story investment that we made.”

Toy Story Land

So what does this mean? Well, a little while ago Iger announced that Disney has plans to bring Avatar to Disneyland Resort after the success of the land at Animal Kingdom and the box office success of Avatar: The Way of Water. Adding major franchises is one strategy that Disney can use effectively to draw more guests into the parks.

Pandora

By adding more lands and more physical space in the theme parks, it naturally increases the capacity. This way, Disney can fit more visitors into the parks without the risk of making them “too crowded.” It’s a plan that Iger has mentioned multiple times recently — a focus on balancing profitability with a good guest experience.

Disney California Adventure

What else could happen with Disneyland Resort in the future? Well, you may recall that a WHILE back, Disney announced a big proposal for the resort called “Disneyland Forward.” This expansion of Disneyland and California Adventure would fill in unused space between the parks, the hotels, and Downtown Disney. There’s not much room to grow outside the property since the resort is surrounded by the city of Anaheim.

Concept Art ©Disney

We haven’t heard any updates about this initiative in a very long time, as it seems to still be in the early stages of getting government approval. But if it goes through, it would give Disney the space to add new lands to the parks, more attractions, and more capacity for guests. It could bring some VERY big changes.

©Disney

So will getting Disneyland Forward approved be a focus of Bob Iger’s in the next year and a half? We’ll have to see. Avengers Campus has proved to be a success for the resort, so it’s likely the company would like to replicate that kind of hype with new IPs in the parks. 

Avengers Campus

We’ll be on the lookout for any more announcements and official updates about changes coming to Disneyland Resort, so stay tuned to DFB!

Click Here to Learn More About Disneyland Forward!

What would you like to see included in a Disneyland Resort expansion? Tell us in the comments!