Imagineering’s Next Era: Inside Disney’s $60B Expansion and Creative Revival

Imagining the Future: Walt Disney Imagineering – the fabled creative engine behind Disney’s theme parks, rides, and cruise ships – is at the center of some big plans and big changes. The Walt Disney Company recently signaled an enormous commitment to its Parks & Experiences division, announcing intentions to invest nearly $60 billion over the next decade in park expansions, cruise line growth, and new attractions worldwide. And guess who is responsible for dreaming up and executing all those projects? Imagineering, of course. A new profile in The Wall Street Journal pulled back the curtain on this legendary division, highlighting its current challenges and triumphs as it embarks on perhaps its most ambitious period in history.

For Disney fans and industry watchers, this moment is being seen as a potential “Next Golden Age” for Imagineering – a chance for the creatives to flex their muscles with unprecedented funding, and maybe recapture some of the boundary-pushing magic of earlier eras. But it’s not happening in a vacuum; it comes after a decade of corporate push-and-pull that changed how Imagineering operates. Let’s take a look at where WDI (Walt Disney Imagineering) stands today, and where it’s headed with all that investment.

Big Budget, Big Dreams: First, the scale: $60 billion through 2033 for Disney Parks, Resorts, and Experiences. That’s almost double what Disney spent in the last ten years on parks. Imagineering currently has roughly 3,000 employees – artists, engineers, designers, programmers – who will be orchestrating this massive expansion effort. The WSJ profile emphasizes that this relatively small team is punching above its weight, carrying the company’s growth on its shoulders (no pressure!). Parks and experiences are now the most profitable arm of Disney’s business, even more so as streaming and film divisions have been volatile. So the company is betting big on what WDI can create to keep guests coming for decades to come.

What will $60B buy? While specifics are always closely guarded until Disney is ready to announce, we have some clues. At Disney World, the Magic Kingdom expansion beyond Big Thunder Mountain is in development (fans dub it “Disney’s Villains Land” among other Blue Sky concepts). Imagineers are reportedly very excited about this project – in fact, it’s described as the thing they’re “most excited about,” since it allows them to craft a mostly original environment, albeit populated by Disney Villain characters. In an era dominated by intellectual property (IP) synergy, a Villains-themed land is seen as the closest thing to an original idea we’ve gotten in a long time – there’s no single movie it’s based on, but rather an original concept tying together various villain characters. It harks back to when Imagineers would create new stories (think Mystic Manor or Expedition Everest) rather than just replicating film plots. Seeing leadership green-light something like that has WDI buzzing.

Other projects on the horizon likely include a long-awaited overhaul of DinoLand USA at Animal Kingdom (potentially adding “Tropical Americas” region or Encanto and Indiana Jones attractions, as teased at D23), and abroad, expansions at every Disney resort: the DisneylandForward initiative aims to add rides and perhaps a whole new gate in Anaheim over the next decade, and parks like Disneyland Paris and Shanghai are getting new lands (Frozen and Zootopia, respectively, are already in progress). On the Disney Cruise Line side, Imagineering has two new cruise ships under design (the Disney Adventure and another yet-to-be-named ship) as well as a new island destination in the Bahamas (Lighthouse Point). All these fall under that $60B banner and WDI’s purview.

From “Blue Sky” to Reality: The sheer number of projects means Imagineering must juggle creative vision with execution and budgets more than ever. And that leads to the other side of the story: the internal culture shifts WDI has experienced. The WSJ piece and others have pointed out a divide that had formed between Imagineers and Disney’s top executives in recent years. In the past, WDI had a lot of autonomy – they were a separate company (WED Enterprises) until 1965, and even after, they operated somewhat independently, trusted to innovate without too much interference. That changed during the tenure of former CEO Bob Iger (in the late 2000s) when Disney shifted to an “IP mandate” – basically, every new attraction should leverage a known Disney franchise. Out went the days of building a Pirates of the Caribbean from scratch; instead, it’s “what existing movie can we make a ride out of?” This wasn’t purely an Imagineering choice; it was handed down as marching orders. While it yielded hit attractions (Avatar’s Pandora, Guardians of the Galaxy coaster, etc.), some fans lament the loss of originality, and even Imagineers felt creatively boxed in. One former Imagineering president, Barbara Bouza, noted how frequently her team would ask if they’d ever get to create new original stories again.

Then under CEO Bob Chapek (circa 2015–2022), another shift: an intense focus on budgets. Chapek, who used to run Parks before becoming CEO, was known for cost-cutting and imposing tight financial scrutiny on WDI. According to Imagineering lore (and even statements in a former exec’s memoir), Chapek installed a process where financial executives were embedded at Imagineering, reviewing expenses line by line, even for tiny items. This “red tape” era was demoralizing for many Imagineers; it led to project cancellations (the oft-rumored massive Disneyland Tomorrowland revamp got shelved during this time) and layoffs of veteran staff. Essentially, creativity felt hamstrung by spreadsheet guardians. Not surprisingly, some high-profile talent left the company. The Florida relocation fiasco was another blow – Chapek’s team announced in 2021 that Imagineering would move its headquarters from California to Lake Nona, Florida, uprooting families and prompting even more resignations. (That move was eventually canceled in 2022 amid backlash and Chapek’s exit.)

A New Hope – Enter Iger (again) and Josh D’Amaro: When Bob Iger returned as Disney’s CEO in late 2022, he and Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro made it a priority to mend fences with Imagineering and boost morale. One of their smartest moves was bringing back Bruce Vaughn in early 2023 to co-lead Walt Disney Imagineering. Bruce Vaughn is a respected Imagineering veteran who had departed Disney in 2016; by all accounts, he has a great mix of creative vision and business sense. D’Amaro believed Vaughn could rebuild trust, and so far, that seems to be happening. Vaughn’s return also coincided with the cancellation of that Imagineering relocation – a huge relief for the team in California.

Now, with Vaughn at the helm (alongside WDI President Barbara Bouza), there’s an emphasis on empowering Imagineers again. According to reports, Vaughn is encouraging more blue-sky thinking, re-hiring some seasoned Imagineers or at least consulting with Disney Legends to mentor younger staff, and trying to strike the right balance between creativity and budget discipline. After all, $60B comes with expectations to spend wisely, but Vaughn’s approach seems to be to involve creatives early in budget decisions so it’s a collaboration, not a top-down veto process.

He’s been quoted as saying this is “by far the most ambitious period of Imagineering’s history” – a strong statement considering these are the folks who built Disneyland, Epcot, etc.! But it rings true: the scope of projects globally and the technological frontiers (animatronic stunt robots, anyone?) they’re exploring are immense. Projects like the upcoming Villains Land at Magic Kingdom exemplify the new balance: it leverages known characters (villains from various movies = IP, check) but in an original setting/story (a realm concocted by WDI, not a copy of a movie scene). That kind of compromise could define this era.

Importantly, leadership recognizes that imagination needs room to breathe. The WSJ article implied that Iger and D’Amaro are working to give WDI more freedom again, after the Chapek years of micromanagement. Already we’ve seen a few decisions that suggest a creative-first mindset: the Country Bear Jamboree updating with new songs (keeping a classic but plussing it in a cute way), the bold choice to re-theme Splash Mountain to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure (leveraging IP but also addressing cultural sensitivities – a creative and values-driven decision), and greenlighting new nighttime spectaculars at Epcot and Magic Kingdom that involve original music and concepts rather than purely IP montages.

Challenges Ahead: Of course, all is not simply merry pixie dust. With great budgets come great accountability. Imagineering will be under pressure to deliver on time and on budget – something it has struggled with at times (remember the multi-year delay of Space 220 restaurant, or the Galactic Starcruiser costing way more and ultimately not panning out long-term). The key will be whether the partnership between creatives and executives truly improves. The hope is that a reinvigorated WDI can convince Disney’s top brass that sometimes spending a little more for a truly outstanding, perhaps even original attraction, yields returns in guest satisfaction and brand strength that are worth it. If successful, we could witness a new wave of attractions that stand the test of time, not unlike the E-ticket boom of the late 80s/early 90s (think Splash Mountain, Star Tours, Tower of Terror era).

One encouraging sign: Josh D’Amaro at the recent Destination D23 event seemed genuinely enthusiastic about projects in development and gave stage time to Imagineers to share ideas (some Blue Sky, some concrete). That’s a far cry from a few years ago when future plans felt more corporate.

The Bottom Line (Literally): The $60B question is, will Disney let Imagineering spend what it needs to create brilliance, or will they only pony up for safe bets? So far, expansions announced or in construction heavily feature proven franchises (Frozen, Tangled, Zootopia overseas; Avengers Campus continued in California; Princess and the Frog and Moana in the US). But beyond those, the next chapter might get more bold. The Villains concept is one such example. There’s also talk of original attractions for the Animal Kingdom expansion (some speculate a **Mystic Manor-like original ride could sneak in). If these come to fruition and are hits, it will validate that Imagineering’s original ideas alongside IP can drive attendance.

Another insight from the WSJ piece: Imagineering now works more closely with other arms (like Disney Animation, Pixar) early on – we saw that with the Space Mountain refurbishment in Tokyo being done in conjunction with Imagineering to add story, or the Pirates of the Caribbean refresh in Paris adding an animated character (Red) with Imagineers and studio input. The synergy is high, but hopefully in service of creativity, not at the expense of it.

To sum up, Disney Imagineering stands at a crossroads of colossal investment and creative potential. The next few years will likely bring us new lands, perhaps even whole new parks, and technological marvels we can’t yet predict. For those of us who geek out over ride systems and themed design, it’s an exciting time. The combination of leadership (Iger back, Vaughn back), money on the table, and lessons learned from a tumultuous past decade could indeed usher in a new golden era of Disney attractions.

Imagineering’s motto has long been “plus ultra” – ever further, beyond the ultimate. With $60 billion and a bit of renewed creative freedom, we can’t wait to see how far beyond the ultimate Disney can go.

Until next time, keep believing in magic. — Behind the Wish