Is Disney World Planning a Fifth Gate?
I try not to get people’s hopes up when something is far from certain.
So, please take everything I’m about to say with a huge grain of sand.
However, as someone who has been reporting on Disney for well over a decade now, I’ve learned which stories pass the laugh test.
Historically, the one I’m about to discuss wouldn’t have, but now something has changed.
Is Disney finally planning a fifth gate at Walt Disney World? My position has recently evolved from “Of course not!” to “Maybe?”
Please allow me to explain what’s happening.
Reunited, and It Feels So Good
You didn’t need to follow Disney to know the company was feuding with some Florida politicians.
The sitting Governor of Florida unsuccessfully ran for President of the United States.
One of the platforms, an anchor of his campaign, was the Florida Feud, wherein the politician locked horns with the state’s golden goose.
Disney brings tens of billions of dollars to the Sunshine State each year, which made the whole tiff strange.
Imagine if Don King feuded with Mike Tyson. Okay, bad example. What if Scooter Braun picked a fight with Taylor Swift? Err, never mind.
Anyway, let’s just say when somebody makes giant stacks of cash from something, they often treat it with respect.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis took the opposite approach, which was entirely his choice.
The outcome of this battle damaged the Governor and Disney, leading to the weirdest possible outcome.
Nearly 60 years after Florida politicians courted Disney by offering it self-governance, different politicians removed that power.
Suddenly, Disney lost control of its own land, although the company took steps to address the problem.
That’s part of what leads us to today’s topic. When Disney provided its final development plan in 2023, it allowed for a fifth gate.
The Florida legislature later negated that agreement, leading to multiple court proceedings that may never be settled.
That bit of legalese happened around the same time the Governor appeared at a live interview and threatened to add a prison at Disney World.
We’re talking about a real thing that happened, and it speaks to the animus that existed between Disney and DeSantis.
Now, those two parties haven’t kissed and made up per se, but they’re on friendlier terms.
There’s Something There
I’ve been thinking about this Beauty and the Beast song a lot lately, and Disney’s reunion with Florida politicians seems similarly unlikely.
Former enemies appear to share a vision for what happens next at Disney World. Who could have seen that coming?
The answer is, “Nobody six months ago.” It was an impossibility due to the acrimony.
Then, Disney and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD) suddenly laid down their weapons and agreed to make peace.
Soon afterward, the Governor declared victory in the feud, as we always knew he would.
However, what was fascinating was a comment he made in the process.
DeSantis indicated his desire for Disney to build a fifth gate at Disney World.
Again, that’s the very thing that Disney had tried to guarantee with its King Charles III clause.
In other words, DeSantis asked for the thing that he’d just strong-armed the Florida legislature into taking away from Disney.
For its part, Disney had sent up a development plan that allowed up to five “minor” theme parks and five “major” theme parks.
You’re probably wondering what the difference is between the two.
A minor theme park is something like Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon or ESPN Wide World of Sports.
The major theme parks are the ones you’d expect: Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, EPCOT, and Magic Kingdom.
Disney provided itself the legal means to build a fifth major theme park, but then Florida politicians negated the plan.
That’s why so many lawsuits wound up filed by both sides.
You can imagine how much of a reversal it seemed to many that the Governor went from saying “prison at Disney” to “new Disney theme park!”
Debating a Fifth Gate
On June 5th, the CFTOD will hold public hearings on a prospective new development plan at Disney World.
As part of the proposal, Disney regains the ability to build a fifth theme park.
I realize many of you don’t care about the bureaucracy here. So, let’s focus on what this means for you as a Disney fan.
Presuming that both parties agree to this proposal and nothing falls apart during the public hearings, Disney can build a fifth park.
Just in case you’ve forgotten, a competitor in the area, Universal Studios, is prepping a new theme park as we speak.
Universal Epic Universe should open next summer, and some analysts have already described that moment as the start of the theme park wars.
I consider the “battle” between Universal and Disney to be largely overblown, as do Disney officials.
Still, the quickest way for Disney to steal the thunder of Epic Universe would be to announce a fifth gate of its own.
Then again, many Disney officials, including CEO Bob Iger, have previously indicated they prefer more even-handed expansion.
As I discussed here, the benefit of adding several themed lands and attractions across the parks is that the expansion proves modular.
Disney can schedule a series of constructions, giving each park something as a new selling point over time.
A recent example at Disney World would be the debuts of Pandora – The World of Avatar, Toy Story Land, and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
Those three lands opened in consecutive years from 2017-2019.
As Iger noted, the problem with opening one park is that once it’s open, that’s all you’re gonna do for a while.
Is Disney Planning a Fifth Gate?
Here’s the thing, though. For all Disney’s bluster, we shouldn’t overlook the filings themselves.
Disney tried to give itself the power to build a fifth theme park.
After the CFTOD took away that ability, the two parties negotiated a new development plan.
Once again, the ability to add a fifth gate is in these plans as well.
Importantly, the agreement will last for 15 years, with Disney contractually obligated to spend $8 billion in a decade.
Disney had previously indicated it would spend that much anyway, as it made an SEC filing for theme park expansion.
The company has notified its investors that it’ll spend $60 billion on Disney Experiences over the next decade.
Executives later clarified that 70 percent of that (roughly $42 billion) will go toward theme parks and Disney Cruise Line.
We know from the DisneylandForward agreement that Disney will spend $1.9-$2.5 billion in Anaheim over the next decade.
Since Disney doesn’t pay for Tokyo Disneyland expenditures (the Oriental Land Company does), we can remove them from that total.
Overall, Disney could direct as much as $10 billion or possibly even $15 billion toward Disney World alone.
So, Disney could have more than enough money to build some new themed lands AND a theme park.
The reason why I’m starting to believe the possibility of a fifth gate is that all the legal filings we’ve discussed lead down that path.
In fact, Disney has ferociously fought to ensure that it CAN build a fifth gate over the next 15 years. Technically, it’s done that twice!
As a reporter, I’ve learned to separate what people say from what they do, and Disney has definitely given itself some leeway here.
When Would Disney Announce a Fifth Gate?
Here’s the final piece of the puzzle. Disney has a D23 Expo coming up in August.
By that point, the new development plan for Disney World should be finalized.
Notably, the paperwork suggests that both parties must agree before any changes can be made to that agreement.
Once the CFTOD and Disney ratify the paperwork, neither of them can change it unless both parties consent.
So, once this agreement becomes official, presuming it does, Disney doesn’t need to worry about any changing political climate.
That’s been the sticking point all along with any major park announcements.
While Disney was feuding with Florida, the company lacked confidence about whether bad actors would interfere.
Those concerns vanish in a couple of weeks, barring something unforeseen.
Ostensibly, Disney could steal Universal’s thunder by announcing a fifth gate this year.
I don’t expect that to happen, as I suspect Disney would wait at least one more year before announcing…but it’s suddenly a possibility.
When Bruce Vaughn returned to Disney, my first thought was that something big was brewing.
I even told you to feel excitement over the coming changes. Still, I wasn’t expecting a fifth gate at the time.
Now, after examining Disney’s recent behavior in totality, I believe that this is legitimately a coin flip to happen…maybe even better.
The one word of caution here is that a downturn in the economy could change these plans, which is always true in tourism.
Still, I find meaning in Disney’s fight to protect its ability to construct a fifth gate.
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