Will Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro deliver? It’s a question we asked following the 2022 D23 Expo, and I don’t think we can answer it just yet. That said, time is ticking, and patience among the fan community is wearing thin. With Disney World largely wrapping up a construction cycle, another construction boom appears to be on the horizon. But is what we see on the horizon an oasis or a mirage?
When we wrote that article back in 2022, things were a little different in the company than they are now. Then-CEO Bob Chapek had just locked down a contract extension and it was D’Amaro’s first D23 Expo as the head of the theme parks division after a couple of years on the job. Revenge travel was in full swing and the theme parks had finally found solid ground following the COVID-19 shutdowns. It looked like D’Amaro was poised to take the reins of the theme park, resort, and cruise line business and put his stamp on it.
Since then, we’ve seen Disney finish some of their previously announced projects, such as Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, TRON Lightcycle Run, and the EPCOT Overhaul. That said, other projects seemingly fell by the wayside, were changed, or simply haven’t come to fruition yet. Most notable is the Tropical Americas project which saw a complete revamp of the concept in roughly a year’s time. At the 2022 D23 Expo, it was going to be Moana and Zootopia. By the 2023 Destination D23 event, D’Amaro and company had shifted gears to a concept that brings Encanto and Indiana Jones to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. In hindsight, it was probably the right move for the park, but fans are growing restless – and Disney needs to put shovels in the ground, not paint to canvas.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Universal’s Epic Universe theme park being built just a 25-minute Uber ride away. The new theme park will contain lands dedicated to Harry Potter, Nintendo, How to Train Your Dragon, and Universal Classic Monsters. It will be a game-changer for Universal and could create some real competition for the tourist dollar in the coming years as Disney “turbocharges” investment in its own theme parks.
Disney CEO Bob Iger says they aren’t going to respond to Epic Universe. Iger said that Disney has known about Epic Universe for “more than a decade“, and they rolled out updates such as Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Pandora – The World of Avatar, Toy Story Land, TRON Lightcycle Run, an expansion at EPCOT, and more. Disney doubled down in a statement to the Wall Street Journal, framing Epic Universe as Universal Orlando playing catch-up to a decade of growth at Walt Disney World.
I don’t buy it, and I’m not sure many fans are buying it. Even if there’s a hint of truth to the statement, it doesn’t much matter in 2025 and 2026 when guests are weighing where to spend their summer vacation and hard-earned dollars. Analysts believe that Epic Universe will bring a bump of 8 million guests to Universal Orlando and that Disney World will lose 1 million guests during that time. But we’re getting off-topic, back to the upcoming D23 Expo.
Because this is an opinion piece, it’s time for my opinion. I love Blue Sky sessions. It gives fans a look inside Imagineering, and sometimes, gives fans a look at concepts so early in production that they’d otherwise never be seen. I wish that Disney would do more of it, but I also understand that the D23 Expo might not exactly be the right place to do it.
The upcoming Disney Experiences (theme parks, cruise line, and products line of business) keynote presentation is, fittingly, called Horizons. Going back to the premise of this article, is what we see on the horizon a mirage or an oasis? As much as I love a good Blue Sky session, it’s time to see some shovels in the dirt. So, what will make Disney theme park fans happy? We’ve compiled a list of things that we think Josh D’Amaro & company need to define, at a minimum, for fans to leave happy. We’ve also added some wishlist items that would be great to hear about.
Walt Disney World
We’ll start with Walt Disney World. The 50th Anniversary seems like a distant memory, and Universal Epic Universe is set to open next summer – it’s time to see where that $17 billion figure is going. Of course, we don’t expect Disney to announce $17 billion worth of news, but we’d love to get some solid updates on things that have already been announced, as well as a few surprises.
Necessary Updates
- Tropical Americas at Disney’s Animal Kingdom
- Closing date for DINOSAUR
- New concept art/backstory for Indiana Jones ride
- New concept art/ride details for Encanto attraction
- Opening year (make this project feel real)
- Zootopia at Disney’s Animal Kingdom
- Closing date for It’s Tough to be a Bug, or an entirely new concept for the Tree of Life theater show
- Beyond Big Thunder Mountain at Magic Kingdom
- Phase one details (theme and ride/show descriptions)
- Big Thunder refurbishment closing date & details
- What does the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island look like at the end of this?
- Pirates of the Caribbean Bar
- Opening month (not season, month)
- Test Track 3.0
- New concept art & details
- Opening season
Wishlist Items
- Magic Kingdom nighttime parade
- Will there also be a daytime component? What happens to Festival of Fantasy as it turns 10 years old?
- New Tomorrowland Attraction
- There isn’t a ton of space at Stitch’s Great Escape, but it can’t sit empty during the parks “turbocharging”, can it?
- Frontierland rebranding
- Will Frontierland stay Frontierland? Will a new concept be introduced that will play better with Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and “Beyond Big Thunder Mountain”?
- Will Peco’s Bill finally be addressed?
- Do we get a look at concept art for the Frontierland DVC lounge?
- Moana ride?
- Rumors have been swirling about a Moana-themed attraction coming to Magic Kingdom’s Adventureland now that it has been removed from Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Will Disney want to expand on Moana beyond a simple nature trail at EPCOT?
- Lion King ride
- Rumors have also been floating around about a Lion King ride for Disney’s Animal Kingdom
- Animation Courtyard
- Is that the opening montage for a Marvel movie I see playing on the screen behind Josh D’Amaro?
- Something has to happen to Animation Courtyard
- EPIC PLAY Pavilion
- Something has to happen with the Wonders of Life building, right?
- Spaceship Earth Reimagining
- We were weeks away from EPCOT’s centerpiece attraction closing back in 2020, surely Disney will want to revisit that at some point
- Imagination Pavilion
- Is it possible to put together a D23 Expo article without mentioning Figment?
- Drone Show
- Disney Dreams That Soar is really good, and continues to bring in massive crowds to Disney Springs – how about keeping Animal Kingdom open past dinnertime with a drone show?
- Reflections – A Disney Lakeside Lodge
- Permits suggest that this project is back from the dead, will we get an update?
- Magical Express
- With more families looking to visit Universal Orlando in the coming years, will Disney be able to reel them back in with the return of the Magical Express?
- Galaxy’s Edge/Galactic Starcruiser
- Will Disney let the Starcruiser fade into history, or will they find a way to reignite the spark?
- Will a long-planned dinner show featuring Gaya come to Galaxy’s Edge?
- What about those planned scene updates to Smugglers Run?
Disneyland
Disneyland is kind of in an interesting spot. The DisneylandForward zoning project was approved, and Disneyland is surely keen on getting started, but there is quite a bit of infrastructure work that needs to take place before substantial announcements can be made. To that end, we don’t foresee a lot of solid DisneylandForward details, and hopefully Josh D’Amaro can read the room and resist the urge to introduce Blue Sky ideas for 2030 and beyond.
Necessary Updates
- Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
- Opening date
- 70th Anniversary
- West Coast Pandora
- Details on placement (likely DCA) and attractions/shows
- King Thanos Ride
- Construction start date & more attraction details
Wishlist Items
- Tomorrowland
- Something has to be announced for Tomorrowland, right?
- Is there an update on the electrification of Autopia?
- New Land
- Will Disneyland wait for the DisneylandForward expansions before introducing new lands to the parks, or will they bring something from the international parks back stateside?
International
- Space Mountain Update (Tokyo Disneyland)
- Disney Adventure World Update (Disneyland Paris)
Cruise Lines
- Nothing pressing, but Disney loves this line of business, so expect to hear something from the high seas
That is a lot of bullet list items, and I’m not sure that D’Amaro would even have time for half of them during his keynote presentation. More than ever this year, I think that the D23 Expo will be judged less on the projects that are presented, and more in the way they are presented. As I said in the opening paragraph patience among the fan community is wearing thin. While this D23 Expo, and specifically the Experiences keynote, can be bigger than ever, if your fans don’t actually believe what you’re saying, what’s the point?
I’ll close by saying this. I hope that what’s on the horizon is an oasis and not a mirage. I’m still waiting to answer the question originally asked back in 2022 on whether or not Josh D’Amaro can deliver for Disney Parks fans, but I hope that we can start to see the future of the parks come into focus at this year’s D23 Expo and that the future we see is a promising one.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
