Disney Working on New Multi-Billion-Dollar Theme Park, Update Given

After years of speculation, it seems like Disney is officially working on a new park.

What started as “Walt’s Folly” has evolved into a theme park empire over the past 68 years. The opening of Disneyland Park – a place where “age relives fond memories of the past” and “youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future” – ushered in a new era for themed entertainment, immersing guests in the world of their favorite characters and movies.

Today, there are six different Disney resorts located across the globe. While Disneyland Park was joined by its neighbor California Adventure in 2001, Walt Disney World Resort boasts four theme parks and two water parks – Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Blizzard Beach, and Typhoon Lagoon – in Orlando, Florida.

Further afield, Disney licenses (but doesn’t technically own) Tokyo Disney Resort and its two theme parks: Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea. It also operates Hong Kong Disneyland, Shanghai Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris.

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The latter has had a bumpy ride. Originally opened as Euro Disney Resort in 1992, local residents staged protests against Disney’s presence in France. After underperforming in its first few years, its name was later changed to Disneyland Paris, a second park was opened (Walt Disney Studios Park), and Disney took full control of the resort in 2017.

As of 2023, the resort is in the middle of a major glow-up. Walt Disney Studios Park – often lambasted for a lack of Disney magic – recently welcomed its own Avengers Campus and will soon add a land inspired by Frozen (2013) to its lineup. It’s also set to receive a third new land – once announced as a version of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, but now heavily rumored to be inspired by The Lion King (1994).

Its flagship hotel, Disneyland Hotel, will reopen with a new princess theme in January. Another hotel, Sequoia Lodge, is also set to undergo a makeover in 2024, while numerous new attractions are rumored to be included in the $15 billion investment heading to the resort.

For years, parkgoers have theorized that a third gate is a part of future plans in store for Disneyland Paris. When Disney purchased the land for its French parks, this came with certain requirements. One of these stipulates that it must construct three parks.

The original deadline for this requirement was 2026. However, in February 2020, the regional council of Seine-et-Marne amended this agreement, meaning Disney now has until 2036 to debut its newest French park.

Considering the amount of money being injected into Disneyland Paris over the next decade, now seems like the perfect opportunity for Disney to make a start on this next location. In fact, if the latest information is anything to go by, Disney has already started putting this plan into action.

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According to X (formerly known as Twitter) user @aalllllyyyyyy, co-founder of OutsidEarsDLP, Disney recently came up in a public meeting about the new local intercommunal urban planning plan of Val d’Europe – a sector of Marne-la-Vallée built by The Walt Disney Company and the French state.

In this meeting, the design office confirmed that a third park is currently on the table for Disneyland Paris.

Of course, as @aalllllyyyyyy points out, this doesn’t necessarily mean that a third park will open in the immediate future. However, it does offer some form of confirmation that Disneyland Paris hopes to use some of its upcoming investment to fund another park – solidifying the resort as Europe’s premier tourist destination.

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If the rumors are to be believed, Disney may soon face some steep competition in the region. Recent reports have suggested that Universal Studios is planning to repurchase PortAventura World, the Catalonian theme park resort of which it previously sold its shares in 2004. With its rival possibly popping up across the border, Disneyland Paris may have to act fast to hold onto its crown – making a new Disney park more of a necessity than ever.

Meanwhile, Walt Disney World Resort is also rumored to receive a fifth theme park with its own share of Disney’s billion-dollar investment into its parks. Like Disneyland Paris, it also faces a new threat from Universal with the opening of Epic Universe – the third park at Universal Orlando Resort – in 2025.

What would you like to see from a third park at Disneyland Paris? 

This post originally appeared on Inside the Magic.