Magic Kingdom opened in 1971 as the iconic centerpiece of the "Vacation Kingdom of the World."But just eleven years later, EPCOT Center joined the lineup, creating in Walt Disney World a jaw-droppingmulti-parkdestination.And if you can believe it, it was just seven years afterthatthat The Disney-MGM Studios opened, besting Universal's race to enter the Orlando market and making Walt Disney World the home ofthreeseparate theme parks. And even though the opening of the Disney-MGM Studios may feel like ancient history, it was justnine years laterthat Disney's Animal Kingdom debuted as the first 21st century theme park developed with a whole new mindset of immersion.
Obviously, the timeline of Walt Disney World's history – from a single theme park and two hotels around the Seven Seas Lagoon to a sprawling, behemoth, gargantuan, international destination packed with four theme parks, two water parks, two dozen hotels, hundreds of miles of roadways, and multiple interconnected transit systems spread across a San Francisco-sized property – is awe-inspiring.
But more to today's point, isn't it interesting that nearly all of that development took place in the first half of the resort's 50 year history? Think about it: in roughly itsfirst25 years, Walt Disney World opened four theme parks. In itssecond25 years, it's opened... well... none. Big picture wise, Walt Disney World in 1999 (above) looks pretty much like Walt Disney World today!
Don't misunderstand... for decades, fans have speculated over what Walt Disney World's imaginary "Fifth Gate" could be. Rumors of a Villians-themed park made the rounds in the 2000s; an evening-only "Night Kingdom" was the subject of much discussion board fodder in the 2010s...
...after Disney acquired Lucasfilm, fans went wild for a idea of a highly-immersive, limited attendanceStar Wars-themed boutique park (which, in some ways, came to be with the one-two punch of Galaxy's Edge and the Galactic Starcruiser experience).
And listen – "armchair Imagineering" a Fifth Gate is a time-honored tradition among Disney Parks fans. It's even likely that explorations into potential new parks have been tossed around at Imagineering.Disney World has been so firmly associated with four theme parks for so long that Cinderella Castle, Spaceship Earth, the Hollywood Tower Hotel, and the Tree of Life are pretty much baked into pop culture imagery. Imagining what that fifth piece could be is exciting! But let's be clear: if you're holding your breath waiting for a fifth theme park at Walt Disney World... don't. Here are a few reasons why...
1. Walt Disney World is largely viewed as "mature"
There's areasonthat Disney World hasn't added a new theme park since 1998, nor a waterpark since 1995. It's because Disney World is viewed as a largely "mature" enterprise; one whose growth phase is behind it, and that has now settled into a very nice, steady, and respectable status quo. This perspective imagines Walt Disney World as something of a "Goldilocks" with just the right amount of things to do – enough for a once-a-year family from the Midwest to stay five nights with a four day ticket, but enough for a British family to stay on-property for two weeks without getting bored.
Being viewed as "mature" doesn't mean Walt Disney World is doomed to stagnate. New rides like Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, and TRON Lightcycle Power Run demonstrate that investment willforever be poured into keeping Disney World's offerings fresh and its parks stocked with new things to do. Likewise, bold additions like the Skyliner andStar Wars:Galactic Starcruiser offer glimpses into the audacious mindset that Michael Eisner brought in the '80s and '90s, creating the Walt Disney World we know today.
But structurally, Disney World is clearly in the midst of a "settled" era that puts the parks in a mindset of optimization. (Which, under previous CEO Bob Chapek at least, meant rotating entertainment, meet-and-greets, limited-release merchandise, franchise-focused promotions, and pulsing more Disney + Pixar + Marvel +Star Warsin lower-cost overlays like Pixar Pier, Mission: BREAKOUT, Journey of Water, Mary Poppins meet-and-greets, and more.)
Meanwhile,expansionis reserved for what many call the truecore business of Disney World: hotel occupancy and real estate interests. (In other words, we're likely to continue seeing hotel inventory and DVC inventory expand, even as the parks' capacity remains quite steady.)
2. Disney World needs to fix its second, third, and fourth parks first
Though our reasoning here may send Disney World fans racing to the comments, there's an undeniable truth that we all have to face as Disney Parks fans: EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom all need a whole lot of love. Actually, we tried to put into words what we'd prioritize for each parkto succeed in the long-run, but one unavoidable truth about Disney World's second, third, and fourth gate is that they desperately need more rides. It's shocking how far down on our Ride Count Countdown Disney World's parks rank – so much so that Disneyland's two theme parks together contain more rides than all four of Disney World's combined. That's not good.
So imagine if Disney announced a concept park like Disney's Fantastic Worlds – a park with lands dedicated toMoana,The Avengers,Big Hero 6,TRON, and more were en route to Florida. Obviouslyit would be international news for the general public and "Break the Internet" level news for theme park fans.
But surely, as the daze wore off, cooler heads would prevail and fans would begin to say, "Wait a second... instead ofBig Hero 6and Moanalands in a new park, why not add them to Hollywood Studios where they're needed? Why dump hundreds of millions of dollars into afifththeme park when Animal Kingdom has only eight rides? Are you really going to build a fifth theme park with EPCOT still in shambles?" In other words, Disney World already has three parks with varying, debilitating needs and "half-day" status...That'swhere the investment needs to go, not yetanothertheme park.
The question is, are Walt Disney World'sotherparks – particularly its second, third, and fourth – so "complete" that investment can be funneled into a fifth? Of course even the most die-hard Disney fans would have to concede that they're not... which, to our thinking, means that a fifth gate isn't called for.
As a thought experiment, we sort of asked the same thing about Universal Orlando and its new theme park: is Epic Universe going to spread the resort too thin? After all, while welovethe idea of a Super Nintendo World, and a Universal Classic Monsters land, and aHow To Train Your Dragonland, at some point you have to go, "Wait a second... those lands and / or that budget would actually begreatfits for your twoexistingparks, both of which need that love!" While a third park is exciting, what if those concepts and that money were instead used to build-out theexistingtwo parks? Which brings us to another point...
