Is a fifth gate even possible?

[Heppenheimer]

IMHO, I think COVID knocked the crud out of Disney and it may take them decades to open a fifth park (If they ever do it). I look at it like a mini Dark Ages. That 500 years in human history damped down our growth as a species. We'd be a lot farther along right now if we didn't lose those years. COVID was like a mini Dark Ages for Disney parks. Just that is just me thinking out loud.

Heck, look at all the projects that got delayed, scaled back or cancelled after the 2008 recession. And the resorts didn't miss a day of operations for that one.

One mitigating factor this time, though, might be that the demographic that probably makes up a substantial portion of Disney's income wasn't hit particularly hard by the pandemic. There's a whole lot of pent-up demand and excess vacation funds just waiting for an outlet. Disney's balance sheets might need more time to recover, but their most lucrative customers this time are ready to spend now.

 

[castlecake2.0]

I often wonder if they regret building celebration instead of saving it for further use. I was thinking the other day how it could been an area to put a second magic kingdom style area with room for a park and several hotels another campground etc, but I think eventually the logistics of running an operation that big and so spread out is not worthwhile to them.

 

[TYOTimer]

IMHO, I think COVID knocked the crud out of Disney and it may take them decades to open a fifth park (If they ever do it). I look at it like a mini Dark Ages. That 500 years in human history damped down our growth as a species. We'd be a lot farther along right now if we didn't lose those years. COVID was like a mini Dark Ages for Disney parks. Just that is just me thinking out loud.

I agree, yet disagree in this. Disney did get the snot beat out of it over the past 15 months, and likely will over the summer months, especially with Velocicoaster opening to kick off the summer in Orlando. The other thing that Disney is going to have to regain is local consumer confidence and trust. Disney did more damaged than they realized, by telling their base that they didn’t matter basically by not selling APs, and also telling them they mattered the least out of all their groups, which is true financially, but not something that should be publicly said.

But, the thing with Disney is, they are going to be okay by the time the end of the 50th anniversary comes around. A potential half dozen new rides, hopefully some new shows, and other things, along with rising consumer confidence, will make Disney likely soar to higher profits than most years ever for WDW.

In short, while Disney is down a well right now, they’ll likely be back where they should be in a matter of years, if not months, unless they can’t regain local consumer trust that has been lost during the pandemic

 

[Willmark]

Second, they would probably end up cutting the budget to the bone once construction timelines approached, so it might be left, at opening, with one E ride and one D and a whole lot of fluff and nonsense at best, leaving it a 1/3 of a day park.

Leave Avatarland out of this.