Disney ip anchor theme parks. Here’s why it works

The happiest place on earth “is 70 years old this week.

Disneyland, a pillar of the community of Anaheim, California since 1955, was a passionate project of the Walt Disney founder, a place where adults and their children could have fun together. He also served as a place where the longtime media company could show and weave different pieces of his business, films, television shows and music and merchandising comics.

Disney The intellectual property portfolio has been the foundation of its theme parks since the whole opened its doors. Nowadays, the company’s experience division, which includes parks, seaside resorts, cruises and consumer products, remains one of its best engines. The operating income of the unit for the 2024 fiscal year was more than double that of the entertainment division centered on the content, where the IP comes from.

Disneyland in Anaheim started with more than a dozen attractions, many of whom were drawn from the Disney archives of theatrical films. Among them were Mad Tea Party based on “Alice in Wonderland”, the wild ride of Mr. Toad since “the adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad”, the flight of Peter Pan, the enchanted wish of Snow White and Dumbo The Flying Elephant.

Over the past seven decades, Disney has opened a total of 12 themed parks in the United States, Europe and Asia, with another set to open in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, in the coming years. It also has a fleet of cruise ships, which should double by 2031, and nearly 60 resort and vacation properties worldwide.

“If you come back now 70 years ago, Walt knew the beautiful stories he created, if he combined those with the technologies that were at hand at the time with this idea of an immersive experience that he could create something else had ever done,” said Josh of Amaro, president of the parks and stations of Walt Disney. “And it really distinguished the Disney brand.”

The first trips to Disneyland were interspersed with original creations like Jungle Cruise, Autopia and Disneyland Railroad.

While Disney would give life to a certain number of non -IP attractions in the coming decades – Matterhorn bobslets, Caribbean pirates, haunted manor, Big Thunder mountain and Space Mountain, among the last decade, society has committed to using its catalog of existing stories to feed new and updates in its national and international theme parks.

A large part of this strategy occurred in the wake of the acquisition by the CEO Bob Iger of four major studios – Pixar (2006), Marvel (2009), Lucasfilm (2012) and 20th Century Fox (2019) – which brought franchises coveted under the house of the roof of the mouse.

“I think we were lucky now insofar as we went after this IP, introduced it into the Disney fold and that we made the brand even more powerful,” said Amaro.

Many of these brands have already appeared in the company’s parks as part of the license agreements, such as Star Tours, which opened in 1987; Indiana Jones Adventure, added in 1995; And Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster, who made his debut in 2005.

The company has also opened entire land – organized areas that have themed rides, food and entertainment centered on a single piece of intellectual property. This included a bug field, which opened its doors in 2002 at California Adventure Park in Disney, based on “A Bug’s Life” by Pixar and Pandora – Le Monde d’Avatar, located on the Fictive Pandora Planet of the film “Avatar” by Fox and built in Animal Kingdom in Florida.

Many of these additions were submitted to the management of the CEO of the time, Michael Eisner, who led the company from 1984 to 2005.

The chief of his acquisitions was to obtain the IP for Star Wars and Indiana Jones – two of the greatest franchises of the time – according to Gavin Doyle, founder of Mickeyvisit.com. Eisner “went the opportunity and brought it to the parks,” said Doyle.

Decades later, Disney acquired Lucasfilm, who owns the two films of films and extended their presence.

In 2019, the company opened two identical lands on the theme of Star Wars, one in Florida in Hollywood Studios and one in California in Disneyland. A new attraction of the Indiana Jones is planned for the kingdom of Disney animals as part of the new region of the tropical Americas of the Park. It should open its doors in 2027.

Last year, the growth of income from the Disney experience division was the strongest in any Disney division.

Experiences have posted record income and profits for the year 2024, with an increase in revenues of 5% for the full year to 34.15 billion dollars and an operating income up 4% to 9.27 billion dollars.

Before 2025, the company said it expected to see profits growth from 6% to 8% for experiences during the year 2025 – and it is before it allows a series of planned land expansions, new rides and repentant attractions.

“Although investors naturally focus on short -term attendance and consumer spending trends, a renewed momentum in the creation of successful content with Disney High -end IP plays a crucial role in the long -term gains generation in the parks, Disney + and accelerating the single analyst of Disney Flywheel through his portfolio,” said Robert Fishman Moffetnathanson.

Disney relies strongly on the IP as part of its 2023 commitment to invest $ 60 billion in experiences during the next decade.

On the file is a new land of bad guys who arrives at Magic Kingdom, a “Monsters Inc.” Land in Hollywood Studios, an “Encanto” walk to Animal Kingdom and the expansion of the Avengers campus with two new attractions. Disneyland should also open a new avatar area inspired by the landscape in the next “Avatar: Fire and Ash”.

Of course, these new developments also have drawbacks. Favorite walks of fans and even whole land have closed or reassembled accordingly.

Anaheim is a buckt land closed in 2018 so that space can be used to build Avengers Campus, land on the theme of Marvel. Dinoland to Animal Kingdom disappears to make room for the new tropical region of the Americas. In Magic Kingdom, Rivers of America, Tom Sawyer Island and the Liberty Square Riverboat closed to make room for an area called Piston Peak – a second land on the theme of cars on the model of natural parks of America.

For individual rides, the most recent change was the resumption of Splash Mountain in Disneyland and Walt Disney World. He was refreshed like the adventure of Bayou de Tiana, based on the characters of “the princess and the frog”.

While some Disney Parks fans fell on the changes that the company has brought to the parks, the strategy has widened the company fans base and has led to income growth through its global footprint.

“It’s interesting because the IP is not always for the fan of the most vocal theme park,” said Doyle. “By definition, the IP is intended to expand the public.”

“The whole of society is based on the good entertaining narration,” said Amaro. “And in all our stories, whether in animation or through our traditional or Star Wars or Marvel or Pixar characters, there is this sense of connection with these characters. There is this emotion that created, then we do it in theme parks.”