A closer look at Disney's park spending numbers

Yesterday our friends over at Screamscape ran an article from Fool.com about how much Disney was actually spending inside it's parks since 2011. 
While the numbers are "technically" correct, what they were actually spent on has been lumped together with numbers from the motion picture and consumer products divisions to make certain things (MyMagic+) seem like it was a higher cost than it was. 

Luckily Chris is a spreadsheet master and put together some numbers to show exactly what was spent and where it was spent. We'll take a look at the Fool.com numbers and show you what was ACTUALLY spent and where. 

The author of the article took the number for ALL capital expenditures for all parts of Disney including movie production and consumer products.. He used the bottom number on the spreadsheet below instead of using the number next to domestic Parks and Resorts. 

As you'll see, the TOTAL for all Parks and Resort expenditures since 2011 is $6.7 Billion not the $14 Billion that is mentioned in the article. 

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Walt Disney World Numbers: 

The article states that $3.8 Billion was spent on New Fantasyland in Florida and an additional $2.8 Billion was spent ONLY on MyMagic+. 

The numbers break down more like this: 

• Art of Animation Hotel = $105 Million
  
• Grand Floridian Villas = $95 Million
  
• Test Track = $50 Million
  
• New Fantasyland = $550 Million
  
• Disney Springs (Initial Construction) = $200 Million
  
• Princess Hall Meet and Greet = $15 Million
  
• Lion King Relocation = $10 Million
  
• Star Tours 2.0 = $25 Million (Split with Disneyland for a total cost of $50 Million)
  

• My Magic+ = 1.5 Billion
  

So yes, a LOT of $$ was spent on MM+. More than DCA 2.0 and CarsLand combined. And it's an obscene amount of money. But it's still about $1.3 Billion off from what the article states. 

Disneyland Numbers: 

Moving over to the West Coast and the numbers for DCA 2.0 and CarsLand area actually LESS than MyMagic+. Could you imagine what DCA would look like if the numbers were actually $3.8 Billion? 

• California Adventure 2.0 and CarsLand - $1.3 Billion
  
• Star Tours 2.0 = $25 Million (Split with Walt Disney World for a total cost of $50 Million)

Additional Parks and Resorts Numbers: 

And lastly, not even mentioned in the article was spending for the Disney Cruise line and Aulani. 

• Disney Dream = $900 Million
  
• Disney Fantasy = $950 Million
  
• Disney's Aulani = $264 Million (Total cost of $800 Million assuming 33% in 2011)

So at the end of the day, Disney is still spending a LOT of $$ in their parks and resorts. MM+ cost a LOT of money, so there is some truth to all those articles you've been reading over the last few years. 

But this just is another example of shoddy journalism to try and prove a point. In this case, you don't really need to fudge the numbers, the proof is already there. 

What are your thoughts? 

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