Disney Drops Clue About Potential 'Wakanda' Land Coming to Parks

There are quite a few parks expansions on Disney’s to-do list for the future.

We learned about several of them earlier in the month at Destination D23, but the leaders of the company have high hopes for even more growth in the next decade. It was announced that Disney plans to spend $60 billion on the Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products division over the next 10 years…and now we’ve got a peek into the possibilities.

Disney has shared that they have more than 1000 acres of land that could be developed for the theme parks. Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products Josh D’Amaro shared with the New York Times that the parks business has managed to recover well. “Every time there has been a moment of crisis or concern, we have managed to bounce back faster than anyone expected,” he said.

D’Amaro declined to specifically comment on how the $60 billion will be spent, but did offer some ideas. “Imagine bringing Wakanda to life,” he said, referring to the fictional kingdom in Black Panther. “In terms of bringing the latest Disney-Marvel-Pixar intellectual property to the parks, we haven’t come close to scratching the surface. And we have learned that incorporating Disney I.P. increases the return on investment significantly.”

“We have a wealth of untapped stories to bring to life across our business,” said D’Amaro during the Disney Parks investor summit in Orlando. “Frozen, one of the most successful and popular animated franchises of all time, could have a presence at the Disneyland Resort. Wakanda has yet to be brought to life. The world of Coco is just waiting to be explored. There’s a lot of storytelling opportunity.”

Disney currently has plans for expansions at both Disney World and Disneyland Resort. On the east coast, Dinoland, USA is set to be rethemed and a project is in the works to expand Magic Kingdom beyond Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

At Disneyland Resort, the company is currently hoping to get approval for the Disneyland Forward project. The plans set forth would allow Disney to expand the parks into unused space and rearrange some of the structures already in place.

We’ll be interested to see how Disney uses the expansion spaces on both coasts, and which IPs might be included in the projects. Stay tuned to AllEars for all the updates.