We're back today with another update from Walt Disney World, today an update from Disney's Animal Kingdom thanks again to Renée. 

We'll take a look at the work being done around the park and the new Harambe marketplace and the new Starbucks set to open soon. 

Thanks again to Renée for another great update from Walt Disney World. We're excited to start bringing you more from the FL parks and we'll be expanding our coverage even more in the next few months. 

So stay tuned for that. =)

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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. 

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. 

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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While the rest of the online theme park community was at the Disney press event the past two days (and therefore all covering the exact same thing) we have another Animal Kingdom update. 
More pictures of the enormous project known as Avatar which from looking at the pictures below is going to be HUGE (in size). 
We also have some pictures of the new area for Festival of the Lion King and it looks awesome. We'll wrap up this update with the secret project being worked on over directly behind the nature trails. 

Not sure if we should be calling this Avatar, Avatar Land, Pandora, James Cameron Village or Joe Rohde Camp ... but whatever it is going to eventually be called, it's going to be huge. 

Next up, we have the new home for Festival of the Lion King. They've really done a great job on the new area for the show. 

Lastly, the super secret project that is currently going on behind the nature trails. The Google Maps image below shows where the construction is currently taking place. 

As far as we can tell nothing was announced at the recent media event concerning this area. Anybody know anything? 

That's going to wrap it up for this update. We'll have some more Walt Disney World stuff for you soon and we have some friends heading to FL this week so hopefully we'll be able to get some soft-opening pictures of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. 

If you enjoyed this update please share with your friends and make sure you "like" us on Facebook and "follow" us on Twitter. 

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