Can $60 Billion Boost Disney's Theme Park Magic?

600亿美元能否为迪士尼的游乐场魔法注入活力?

The Journal.

2026-01-29

21 分钟
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Disney’s largest source of revenue is its theme parks and cruises. The people responsible for designing those attractions are the secretive Imagineers. WSJ’s Ben Fritz reports that the company is spending $60 billion to create more Disney magic and it's up to the Imagineers to make it work. Ryan Knutson hosts.  Further Listening: - Disney’s Big AI Dilemma - Disney Gets Into Gambling Sign up for WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  • A few years ago, Disney hit a pivotal moment.

  • For the first time,

  • the company made more money from its theme parks and cruises than from movies and TV.

  • Parks have become the most important part of Disney's business.

  • They account for the majority of the company's profits now.

  • That's our colleague Ben Fritz, who's been covering the company for years.

  • For a long time, that wasn't true.

  • Like most media companies, Disney made the majority of its profits from television.

  • You know, those cable networks like ESPN and the Disney Channel were hugely profitable.

  • But of course, we've all cut the cord now, right?

  • So there's a lot less money coming in from television and Disney's really leaned into its parks as a result.

  • Disney is leaning hard into parks.

  • In fact, right now, it's investing $60 billion into its parks division,

  • nearly double what it's spent in the prior decade.

  • They're expanding all the parks, they're nearly doubling the size of the cruise ship line,

  • they're building a new park,

  • and they're really relying on that investment to drive the company's growth.

  • And the people within Disney in charge of spending all this money and delivering Disney's dreams,

  • They are a mysterious group called the Imagineers.

  • Imagineers, a portmanteau of imagination and engineers,