Party in the castle penthouse... We get it — Disney+ is going to be a big deal and Marvel is a money-making movie machine. The stock is up 14% since Disney's big streaming announcement. But now a report on its world-leading theme parks deserves your attention:
- Disney owns the top 4 theme parks worldwide: Orlando's Disney World, California's Disneyland, and 2 in Tokyo.
- The Magic Kingdom led with 20,859,000 visitors last year.
- And 8 of the top 10 properties are Mickey's.
Magical timing... On May 31st, Disney unleashes its new “Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge” park in Anaheim, CA — the biggest expansion of a Disney park ever. Drop a cool $200 on a lightsaber after you've crushed some galactic Tandorian chicken. Or go for the $99 custom drone that interacts with the Planet Batuu scenery around you. It's an aggressively immersive park.
It all goes back to a 62-year-old diagram... In 1957 (29 years after he drew Mickey), Walt Disney sketched out this biz plan, with Disney characters at the center. Connected to them were 5 "areas": Film, TV, music, merchandise licensing, and theme parks. Today's theme parks tie directly back to that diagram — A never-ending profit ecosystem.