2nd Disney European Resort in Spain?

[JaKnight]

I know it’s a rumor that comes and goes over time, but I’ve been reading on social media that the rumor about Disney considering a second European park in Spain has resurfaced. Is there any credibility to this? Would a second Disneyland in the EU be viable? Perhaps if they made a park different from a Magic Kingdom like Disneyland Paris, with IPs and lands not present there, and located near Barcelona’s cruise terminal to combine a park + Disney Cruise experience…

 

[IMDREW]

I know it’s a rumor that comes and goes over time, but I’ve been reading on social media that the rumor about Disney considering a second European park in Spain has resurfaced. Is there any credibility to this? Would a second Disneyland in the EU be viable? Perhaps if they made a park different from a Magic Kingdom like Disneyland Paris, with IPs and lands not present there, and located near Barcelona’s cruise terminal to combine a park + Disney Cruise experience…

Probably no

 

[Pizza Moon]

Once they get their political and economic situations in order, Spain would be the perfect place for a unique concept park like Epic Universe or Shanghai Disneyland/UAE.

It just wouldn’t happen until both of DLP’s parks are truly up to par, and likely a third park would also have to be added and be very successful first.

I could totally see over the coming decades new parks at, with an aggressive expansion timeline at:

• Shanghai Disneyland (2020s… likely the only one that’s totally planned)
• Tokyo Disneyland (probably some modification of the Tokyo DisneySky concept if that was real adapted for totally new project, reclaimed land I’d assume. Once OLC’s diversification into DCL is done and the parks themselves are maxed out (Adventureland & Port Discovery would happen first at least) ROI would make sense to shift to a third park, and it thankfully, like the UAE, won’t take up Disney’s spending, as while it would cost around $1 billion to reclaim more land, it is actually possible unlike buying that much property in Tokyo, so it is inevitable someday in my view, and probably on an actual timeline that is worth talking about unlike these other theoretical projects.
• India (2040s)
• Texas Triangle (between Dallas/Houston/Austin/San Antonio (2040s)
• Brazil/Argentina (2050s)
• New Jersey/Maryland/Northeast (2050s)
• Spain (2060s)
• Disneyland Resort (or LA in general, late 2030s), idk what their plans are for DisneylandForward but even if they go that route, a third park opening after it seems super logical.
• Disneyland Paris (my guess is they get another extension, but they probably end up doing it in the late 2030s early 2040s, I mean, DAW will have its Avatar or whatever land open before construction would even start on it for this timeline, and DLP would probably have a new E-ticket by then.m at least. A third park opening would actually make the park feel like a destination, though I’d prioritize an indoor/outdoor waterpark, honestly, very popular in Europe and I feel necessary to get people to linger on property; you can make a stay there but it’s not a resort like WDW and UOR feel like and that needs to change.
• Hong Kong Disneyland (if the government would give them the ability to use their plot again they could make the resort into a destination with a Disney Springs concept and a park with an in-park hotel, but my guess is it wouldn’t be planned until years after Shanghai’s second park opens at the earliest, if they even have the ability to do so).
• Walt Disney World (probably the 2040s, I’d be surprised if it took them until the early 2050s, and Disneyland needs one first, so that I imagine would be the priority. There’s still a lot more to do at their current parks, but I could see it happening next decade if they really wanted to go that route, but I think Disney has their hands full with expansions on the resort and will need a DisneylandForever scaled improvements to their parks too before they add another. At least ROI-wise it wouldn’t make sense to build new infrastructure for a new park when EPCOT has plots for half a dozen pavilions open.

 

[Mr. Sullivan]

• New Jersey (2050s)

Have you ever been to Jersey? There's not shot in hell of a Disney park there.

 

[Pizza Moon]

Have you ever been to Jersey? There's not shot in hell of a Disney park there.

Yes I have, location wise with NYC and Philly metro’s and the Northeast corridor rail line yes, it would be perfect.

Weather and high local costs are the main two issues, but someday, it could make sense from an ROI perspective if the parks continue growing.

Texas, South America, 3rd and 5th parks in Orlando, and India would probsbly all make sense first though.

Reclaiming land is an option that no one talks about.

 

[Mr. Sullivan]

Yes I have, location wise with NYC and Philly metro’s and the Northeast corridor rail line yes, it would be perfect.

Weather and high local costs are the main two issues, but someday, it could make sense from an ROI perspective if the parks continue growing.

Texas, South America, 3rd and 5th parks in Orlando, and India would probsbly all make sense first though.

Reclaiming land is an option that no one talks about.

It would not be perfect. It would not work at all. End of story.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Once they get their political and economic situations in order, Spain would be the perfect place for a unique concept park like Epic Universe or Shanghai Disneyland/UAE.

It just wouldn’t happen until both of DLP’s parks are truly up to par, and likely a third park would also have to be added and be very successful first.

I could totally see over the coming decades new parks at:

• Brazil/Argentina (2040s)
• Texas (2040s)
• India (2040s)
• Spain (2050s)
• New Jersey (2050s)
• Disneyland Resort (or LA in general, late 2030s, early 2040s).
• Disneyland Paris (my guess is they get another extension, but they probably end up doing it).
• Tokyo Disneyland (reclaimed land I’d assume, could support it as early as the 2040s once the OLC’s diversification into DCL is done and the parks themselves are maxed out, ROI will make sense to shift to a third park, it would cost around $1 billion to reclaim more land, but it is actually possible unlike buying that much property in Tokyo, so it is inevitable someday)
• Hong Kong Disneyland (if they still have the rights to the plot?)
• Walt Disney World (probably the 2040s)

Be sure to also tell TWDC this news...


I'd pay top dollar for that NJ park though! Name it Waltlantic City. RnRC starring Bon Jovi, (blasting off to '...shot through the heart...and you're to blame...'). A Main Street themed after Springsteen's hometown, called Thunder Road. A Sopranos style Frontierland, and a Jersey Urban Jungle Cruise ("how you doin', I'll be your guido for the day...")

 

[Pizza Moon]

Be sure to also tell TWDC this news...


I'd pay top dollar for that NJ park though! Name it Waltlantic City. RnRC starring Bon Jovi, (blasting off to '...shot through the heart...and you're to blame...'). A Main Street themed after Springsteen's hometown, called Thunder Road. A Sopranos style Frontierland, and a Jersey Urban Jungle Cruise ("how you doin', I'll be your guido for the day...")

A New Jersey park with a radical departure for a parks concept like Shanghai Disneyland or Epic Universe and big budgeted like them?

Money printer, even if you account for a less busy winter season like Paris.

The local population is huge with a gigantic middle class and upper class population, I’d say just put it in NYC if there were more room, I mean, I don’t know enough about the place but could Long Island work or is Jersey, taking in part of NYC’s METRO, the more logical choice? I’m just thinking about capturing the region in general too, but that NYC local population is enticing too.

It would drop WDW attendance slightly since they have similar tourist crowds (kind of like how Universal UK is poised to for Universal Orlando Resort but bigger), but it also has the potential to be a local’s park like LA and Tokyo, which is so huge for the Disney brand by creating big time loyalists in their loc cultures, and is an entire audience that is totally untapped.

There’s a reason Disney considered a park in Maryland/Virginia. It would’ve been a hit, but they should do it right if they ever do and not half a#%ing it.

Spain I truly believe would’ve been far more successful for Disney than Paris, still to this day, but that doesn’t mean Paris shouldn’t have happened to eventually. I still think there’s room for a Spanish resort, if their political and economic situation becomes a lot better, but that’s decades away, and in the distant future for that property, as Paris still needs a third park and they have a lot to do to fix the resort still.

The issue is, per dollar spent, you’re going to get a higher return on investment by building say 6 new lands at WDW, so of course they’re going to do that first; it’s also why they expand their current under built parks instead of building more. It’s good business, and also good for the park experience. You don’t want these parks spread thin as we’ve been battling that at WDW ever since Hollywood Studios opened, instead of expanding EPCOT and MK and then doing AK on DisneySea level in the 1990s (tho the series of events that got us four parks are probably the only way they end up happening, so I’ll take it for now… the parks in the Orlando 2030s will be pretty set, and there’s no indication that it slows down, it probably ramps up as the $60B spend is focused on the second half anyway.

Plus, states like New Jersey and Maryland would likely either require land reclamation or a huge plot near the high speed rail corridor or at least an interstate, ideally. The only way it happens is if a state in the Northeast they’d do it in would give billions in tax breaks and incentives, and clears the way of any local NINBYism and helps pay infrastructure costs. But that probably would happen honestly if Disney announced they were looking to build a new resort. It would be Amazon HQ2 on crack, and actually justified in its incentives instead. I mean, it would be a bigger deal than a sports stadium and entertainment complex AND THEN SOME.

They’d need a very favorable political environment too, basically, which is possible, but a big if.

Where as in Texas, I wouldn’t put it in a Metro area at all, I’d try to create its own Walt Disney World in that its just a good location for most of the state and a tourist destination for the central US, not a local’s park in the same way, so it’s feel different. They both should have water parks through as part of their phase 1 expansions and a Disney Springs type of complex. 2-3 hotels is all you need opening day, don’t pull a Paris. I’d do one in-park, one deluxe and one value. Basically cloning the Universal Orlando Epic South Complex and Shanghai Disneyland, but modifying it to be way more space intensive like Tokyo, and that’s likely what new resorts in America would look like.

But notably that Northeast region is totally untapped, and that Texas triangle would be easy enough to do for APs or short trips still, just not like the Tokyo and LA and Northeast potential levels of “you have half of the entire metro easily able to go.”

I’d imagine Disney would fully own any American parks and for foreign expansions they’d probably continue their licensing or joint venture strategy.

Imagine if say India or Brazil happen over the next 25 years and one of them is a joint venture and the other is licensed.

Like this timeline is totally possible barring some catastrophe. I mean, if Disney wants to grow this is really their only way at scale to.