Disney Tips Your Guide To A Great Disney Vacation
After years of rumors, we may have some inkling of when and where Disney will build a new theme park.
Disney currently boasts six theme park resorts worldwide (five, if we’re being technical, given that Tokyo Disney Resort is operated by The Oriental Land Company), but fans continue to clamor for the next big expansion.
Credit: Kaleb Tapp, Unsplash
Where Will Disney Build Its Next Park?
Over the years, we’ve heard rumors of everywhere from Anaheim to Paris receiving additional gates. At Disneyland Resort, the approval of the DisneylandForward initiative paved the way for a potential third addition to the resort – something many believed impossible for a long time, considering the resort’s restricted space.
Over on the East Coast, Walt Disney World Resort has ample room for new parks and attractions. In fact, it’s thought that 62% of the land Disney owns in Florida is undeveloped or conservation. Last year, chatter of a potential fifth park joining Magic Kingdom Park, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom started heating up once again, with many theorizing that the resort will do whatever it can to compete with the ever-expanding Universal Orlando Resort (which will debut its third theme park, Epic Universe, in May 2025).
Credit: Disney
Meanwhile, Disneyland Paris is, for all intents and purposes, legally required to build a third theme park at some point in the future. While the legalities are complex, the bottom line is that after Disney acquired Euro Disney SCA in 2017, it renegotiated to extend the third park deadline from 2026 to 2036. With this, Disney now has until 2036 to begin development—or until 2040 if they reach a combined annual attendance of 22 million visitors. If they miss this mark, the French government may reclaim and repurpose the land.
Is Shanghai Disneyland the Most Likely Candidate?
While we’re sure Anaheim, Orlando, and Paris will receive their just desserts one day, it’s becoming increasingly likely that Shanghai Disneyland is high on Disney’s expansion priority list.
Shanghai Disneyland is Disney’s newest theme park, having opened on June 16, 2016. Designed with a blend of classic Disney storytelling and Chinese cultural influences (or, in Disney CEO Bob Iger’s words, “authentically Disney” and “distinctly Chinese”), it distinguished itself from other Disney castle parks by introducing unique lands such as Treasure Cove – the first pirate-themed land in any Disney resort, featuring the groundbreaking Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure – and a stunning new centerpiece, Enchanted Storybook Castle, that takes home the title of the tallest Disney castle in the world.
Credit: Shanghai Disney
Since opening, the park has undergone a handful of expansions, such as Toy Story Land in 2018 and City of Zootopia in 2023. As announced by Disney in 2024, the resort will also welcome a new Spider-Man roller coaster in the coming years.
We’ve always known that there were plans for additional theme parks at Shanghai Disney Resort. In January 2011, a Chinese government official confirmed that it would eventually contain three theme parks. But recently, some fans have grown more convinced that the first of these additions is right around the corner.
Credit: Shanghai Disneyland
Plans for a Second Park at Shanghai Disneyland
It was recently discovered that the land for Shanghai Disneyland’s second park has been hit by a planning adjustment. As announced by the Chinese government, this changes its designation to commercial services, parking lots, and transportation hubs, which some have taken to be an indication that the resort is in the early stages of developing its second theme park.
The land for Shanghai Disneyland’s second park has recently seen a planning adjustment announced by the government, changing its designation to commercial services, parking lots and transportation hubs. Could this indicate the early development of the second park has begun?
The land for Shanghai Disneyland's second park has recently seen a planning adjustment announced by the government, changing its designation to commercial services, parking lots and transportation hubs. Could this indicate the early development of the second park has begun? pic.twitter.com/FLDmX9YUhU
— RiverDai (@RiverDai1992) January 26, 2025
What, exactly, this park would look like remains to be seen. While we’d love to see a totally original Disney park – à la Tokyo DisneySea – it seems more likely that the park will borrow at least its core identity from an existing model.
Some of the most common rumors include Shanghai Disneyland’s very own version of EPCOT, with reports that the former president of Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI), Bob Weis, confirmed as much in the past.
Preparation for a 2nd theme park at Shanghai Disneyland? President of WDI mentioned it being a next generation Epcot!
Preparation for a 2nd theme park at Shanghai Disneyland? President of WDI mentioned it being a next generation Epcot! pic.twitter.com/TCieMEkHIT
— Universal Apex (@universalapex) January 26, 2025
This wouldn’t be the first time a Disney resort has contemplated building its own version of the Disney World park (remember WestCOT?), but it would be the first time it’s ever come to fruition. While the EPCOT of today may have lost some of its original spark, we’re fairly confident that, considering the innovation (and budget) that went into Shanghai Disneyland, its own version would be nothing short of spectacular.
There’s also been talk of Shanghai Disneyland receiving its own version of Animal Kingdom, with this cited as a possibility as far back as 2014 (alongside mentions of an EPCOT dupe). Notably, Animal Kingdom is Disney’s biggest theme park in the world, spanning over 500 acres. The vast majority of that is, of course, occupied by Kilimanjaro Safaris. Whether or not Shanghai Disneyland would replicate something of this scale is up for debate, but again, we can’t imagine an effort that’s anything but impressive.
Where do you think Disney should build its next park?
