At Destination D23 2023, it was announced that the World Celebration neighborhood in EPCOT will ... [+]
The future of the Disney Parks, along with other travel arms of the Walt Disney
During the presentation, D’Amaro was joined by executives from Disney Parks, Disney Signature Experiences, and Walt Disney Imagineering to share updates about what’s coming to Disney Parks around the world, plus a look into what Imagineers could bring to life in the future. “Over the next decade, we’re going to have more projects underway than at any point in our history,” D’Amaro said during the presentation.
Disney fans who attended DestinationD23 and watched online via live stream were some of the first to know these announcements and forward-looking ideas, but if you missed the presentation or slew of social media updates, we’ve rounded all of them up here, plus insight of what it means for the future of Disney.
The international Disney Parks continue to grow in popularity, and new lands and attractions opening soon will bring Disney stories to life in a new way for those visiting.
A new World of Frozen land will debut at Hong Kong Disneyland on November 20, 2023. The new Frozen-themed land will feature two attractions, Frozen Ever After and Wandering Oaken’s Sliding Sleighs. The land will also feature a hyper-realistic village that blends into the natural surroundings and mountains near Hong Kong Disneyland.
Imagineering has been working on a Zootopia-themed land at Shanghai Disney Resort. The land is set to open by the end of this year, and feature an all-new attraction called Zootopia: Hot Pursuit, where guests get to join Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde in a police chase around the various neighborhoods of Zootopia.
Dining, shopping, and character meet and greet opportunities will also be available in Zootopia when it opens.
Both the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando and the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California are getting some fun enhancements.
Star Tours
Star Wars fans will be excited to know what Star Tours at Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios, Disneyland Park in California, and Disneyland Paris will see the debut of Ahsoka Tano on the attraction starting next spring. In the past, other enhancements to this ride include the addition of Kylo Ren from the final Skywalker trilogy; and the segment about Batuu, the Star Wars planet that Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is based on at Disneyland Park and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Disney’s upcoming animated film Wish will hit theaters on November 22, 2023. The star of the movie, Asha will be meeting with guests at the Disneyland Resort, Disney World’s EPCOT, and Disneyland Paris later this year.
On September 10, Figment, the purple dragon featured in the EPCOT attraction Journey Into Imagination With Figment started meeting guests inside the Imagination pavilion.
At Destination D23 2023, it was announced that a new Pirates of the Caribbean-themed lounge is ... [+]
The Haunted Mansion is a popular attraction at Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World. In late November, the Hatbox Ghost will be placed near the Endless Hallway of the ride. The audio-animatronic currently has a spot inside Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion attraction too.
The Country Bear Jamboree in the park’s Frontierland section is getting a new act in 2024 that has all of the bears singing Disney songs with a country music twist. Imagineering was inspired by music revues in Nashville.
Over in Adventureland, a new Pirates of the Caribbean-themed lounge will open. There is no set timeline for the debut of this new space and Imagineering is still working on the overall design of the lounge.
At Destination D23 2023, it was announced that beginning Oct. 16, 2023, Walt Disney World Resort ... [+]
EPCOT has been one large construction zone for years, but the finishing touches are finally being put in place for World Nature and World Celebration. The center of the park, World Celebration, will open in December 2023. This new area of the park will include access to Creations Shop and Connections Eatery, Dreamers Point and open the main walkway into World Showcase once again.
The highly anticipated opening of Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana will officially open on October 16, 2023. The walk-through experience teaches people about the water cycle through the lens of the Disney animated movie, Moana. Near Journey of Water, there will also be a dedicated space for people to meet Moana at EPCOT. The character meet and greet starts October 16 as well.
A new nighttime spectacular is also coming to EPCOT. The show is called “Luminous The Symphony of Us,” and starts December 5, 2023. The show will feature fireworks, fountains, lasers, music and lighting effects.
Test Track, the attraction based how cars are built and tested for road use is getting refurbished. Teams at Imagineering and the attraction’s sponsor, Chevrolet, are looking back at Disney history and previous rides like World of Motion, to get inspiration for the newest version of Test Track.
The only confirmed project for Disney’s Animal Kingdom is a new show inside the Tree of Life theater based on Zootopia. The theater is currently occupied by It’s Tough to be a Bug, based on the Pixar film, A Bug’s Life.
Logo for upcoming Disney Adventure
Disney Cruise Line is experiencing a season of growth. The Disney Wish launched in 2022, and its sister ship, the Disney Treasure will take its maiden voyage on December 21, 2024. The next ship in the lineup for Disney Cruise Line will be the Disney Adventure, which is the seventh ship in the Disney fleet. The Adventure was a partially completed cruise ship that Disney bought and is currently making modifications to at a shipyard in Germany. The Disney Adventure’s itineraries will take place in Singapore and Southeast Asia.
Disney also announced that its new private island destination will be known as Disney Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point. The stretch of beach is located in the Bahamas.
The second half of the presentation looked at what Imagineers are thinking about doing at the Disney Parks. This is known as Blue Sky, where creative teams work to see all of the possibilities for a space and then narrow down what’s actually going to be implemented. These possibilities are just that, one of what could be hundreds of options for new attractions and lands coming to the Disney Parks. Even though concept art is made, what’s shared in a presentation to Disney fans may not actually show up in a park at all.
At the D23 Expo in Anaheim in 2022, Imagineers talked about a Magic Kingdom concept called “Beyond Thunder Mountain,” with concept art that included dedicated spaces themed to Coco, Encanto and Disney villains. At DestinationD23, Bruce Vaughn, Chief Creative Officer at Walt Disney Imagineering shared that the Beyond Thunder Mountain project would be similar in scale to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge or Pandora - The World of Avatar with attractions, shows, and dining.
At Destination D23 2023, it was announced that Walt Disney Imagineering is planning to reimagine ... [+]
Disney Imagineers have been toying with various concepts for a complete overhaul of DinoLand U.S.A. at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Disney did announce that Imagineering is planning to retheme the land into an area inspired by Central America and the northern part of South America. Within the reimagined land, Disney is considering experiences around Encanto and Indiana Jones.
Disney is investing a significant amount of money into its parks and resorts around the world, plus its cruise line. In fact, according to CNBC, The Walt Disney Company is set to invest $17 billion in Walt Disney World. This money is for the completion of the transformation of EPCOT, the revamp of Splash Mountain to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, and some of the “blue sky” plans that were announced at the D23 Expo and expanded upon at DestinationD23.
While Disney fans are often excited about any new project or enhancement around the parks, these projects take time. According to TechCrunch, the popular Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge took five years of planning and two years of building before guests even walked into the new lands at Disneyland Park and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Even though Disney fans are patient, there aren’t any headliner attractions with set opening years or seasons on the horizon for fans to look forward to after 2023. This year brought the addition of Tron Lightcycle / Run to Magic Kingdom and the upcoming opening of Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana to EPCOT. While 2024 will bring updates to existing experiences, the hard truth is that Disney can be slow to build anything brand new in its parks. But all of these announcements should keep Disney fans engaged with the brand for the next few years as creative teams build and open new experiences over the next decade.