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Disney Hits New Low as Massive Magic Kingdom Expansion Plans Drag Company Down

A split image shows a statue of a man holding hands with a mouse character outside Magic Kingdom on the left, and a view of the entrance gate of Magic Kingdom, Disney World, with the text "Magic Kingdom" overhead, on the right. The ground appears wet from rain.
Credit: Inside the Magic

If you think the Mouse’s plans to invest billions into Disney World and potentially open a fifth theme land would be good for business, the numbers are here to prove you wrong. Disney’s value is cratering, and thousands of Guests should prepare for the consequences.

Crowds of people walk in front of a grand castle with blue accents and spires, framed by lush greenery under a cloudy sky. The lively, colorful scene evokes a Disney World atmosphere.

Credit: Inside the Magic

After several years of collapsing box office profits (exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic), near-empty Disney Parks, and embarrassing legal issues with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, The Walt Disney Company finally seems to be on the upswing. At the very least, Pixar finally managed to crack a billion dollars in theaters with Inside Out 2, things seem to be normalizing with Disneyland and Disney World (even if prices are wildly out of hand), and things have settled down with DeSantis.

Related: The Supreme Court Sides With DeSantis in Punishing Disney World Cast Members

In fact, the legal battle between Disney World and DeSantis has been settled to the point that the governor’s Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board of supervisors, which has previously acted as the politician’s enforcing arm against the theme park, has voted to approve a massive, $17 billion expansion of Magic Kingdom. It wasn’t that long ago that DeSantis was singing the praises of the upcoming Disney World rival Epic Universe, so circumstances are indeed very different now.

Ron DeSantis giving a thumbs up next to an image of Epic Universe, an amusement park with fireworks, and an illustration of Mickey Mouse covering his mouth with his hands as if shocked.

Credit: Inside The Magic

However, it is very likely that those ambitions to expand Disney World (and Parks around the world) are actually bleeding the company dry. For the first time in months, the value of Disney stock has plummeted below $100 a share; it has not recovered and currently stands (as of publication) at $97.97 a share.

To underline how much value Disney stock has lost since it was announced that it would expand Disney World, compare it to March 2021, just a few years ago, and the peak (to date) of its value. Currently, Disney stock is worth less than half of its peak of $201.91 a share. While stock price is not an absolute indicator of the health of a publicly traded company, it’s not a bad one either.

Shocked Mickey Mouse next to a descending stock arrow

Credit: Disney/Canva, edited by ITM

The value of a stock has much to do with shareholders’ confidence in the company, and it is very telling that the news that Disney is spending $17 billion on Orlando (and $60 billion on Experiences worldwide) in the next decade has shattered that confidence for thousands of Disney stock owners.

Forbes experts estimate that much of the issue of confidence here has to do with Disney World revenue becoming a much more important part of the company’s value as cinema grosses go down. But now that Disney is committing billions upon billions of dollars to expanding those valuable assets, they become that much riskier.

Related: ‘Inside Out’ Land: Major Update Follows Disney World’s $17 Billion Expansion Announcement

Statue of walt disney holding hands with mickey mouse, known as the "partners" statue, with cinderella castle in the background at a sunny disney theme park.

Credit: Becky Burkett

It does not help that “Disney World” is becoming synonymous with “price-gouging,” with prices rising far above what inflation could possibly justify. New reports indicate that nearly half of Disney Guests go into debt to try to afford vacations for their families, which cannot be sustainable. Thousands of guests are already panicking at the new changes being made to Genie+ and, at a certain point, the reliance on Disney World as a cash cow must break.

Disney stock may bounce back in the short term, but plans to expand Disney World are already causing the value of the company to crater. If the Mouse can make it through the next decade of sequels and Universal competition, maybe all those billions will be justified.

Do you think Disney is overextending itself with its Parks plans? Speak up below!

About Nathan Kamal

Nathan Kamal is a Chicago-based writer and comic, who enjoys cooking, hanging out with his cat, and seeing as many movies as possible.

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