Disney fans got a glimpse at the future of the Disney theme parks at this weekend’s D23 Expo during a panel titled “A Boundless Future”. More than 6,000 fans packed Hall D23 at the Anaheim Convention Center as Disney Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro presented Disney’s vision for the future of the theme parks. Announcements ranged from a life-sized Hulk debuting in Avengers Campus next week to an early look at concepts being explored for adding popular franchises such as Coco and Encanto to Magic Kingdom. This was the first time that a D23 Expo has been held since COVID-19 shut down a significant portion of Disney’s business in March 2020, but it was also the first D23 Expo for D’Amaro, who was named Disney Parks chief in May 2020 after a short stint as Walt Disney World President.
This was the first time that D’Amaro could take a big swing and define what the theme parks might be under his reign. Disney CEO Bob Chapek recently received a contract extension after a rocky start that saw him dealing with various self-inflicted and natural crises. With the top spot seemingly settled at The Walt Disney Company, D’Amaro might be setting his sights on creating a name for himself as the Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products division leader.
We Don’t Talk About Delays, No No No
We’ll start with a look at what wasn’t mentioned, and the list is significant. We’ll start at EPCOT, which is in a weird limbo as we approach the 40th Anniversary of the park. Back in 2019, then Disney Parks Chairman Bob Chapek presented plans for the largest expansion in the park’s history. While some of the projects have been delivered such as the impressive Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind roller coaster and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure family ride, there has been a deafening silence on other projects such as the Spaceship Earth overhaul and PLAY Pavilion. Other projects like the Mary Poppins expansion in the United Kingdom pavilion included trotting out Dick Van Dyke in the original announcement before being paused for COVID-19. D’Amaro was silent on all of those projects and we continue to have unanswered questions about EPCOT as the park gets ready to celebrate its 40th Anniversary in a few weeks.
Another significant offering that D’Amaro didn’t mention was a reopening date for Fantasmic. It’s possible that the show continues to experience issues, but with an official Disney announcement that rehearsals had started, it seemed like a shoo-in that we’d get an opening date during this weekend’s panel. Staying at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, there was no opening date given for the Roundup Rodeo BBQ at Toy Story Land that was previously announced to open this year.
A rumor that had quite a bit of smoke surrounding it was a nebulous enhancement to Disneyland’s Tomorrowland. Disney has previously announced that Tomorrowland would receive an updated entrance, but that project still hasn’t been completed and concept art from 2019 remains on construction walls in the area. Also at Disneyland is the former Tarzan’s Treehouse which is still behind scrims with no official indication as to what will replace it. Rumors point to an Encanto overlay, but D’Amaro’s division remains silent on something that would’ve been easy to announce.
The only new attraction formally announced during the “Boundless Future” panel was the third attraction for Avengers Campus. While the attraction is technically a new announcement, Disney has previously announced a third attraction for Avengers Campus before plans changed. If we don’t count the new multiverse attraction as a “new” attraction announcement, then D’Amaro stood on stage during his first-ever D23 Expo and announced nothing of substance in terms of attractions. Instead, Disney fans were presented with “Blue Sky” concepts for Walt Disney World. Let’s examine what that means.
Blue Skies… Guaranteed?
In Walt Disney Imagineering, the term “Blue Sky” refers to very early concepts or even “thought starters” as D’Amaro called them during the panel. These concepts have not been green-lit and are not official announcements. That said, D’Amaro stressed, and we will stress too, that the concepts shared are not “daydreams”. Here’s the exact quote:
What we’re going to talk about next is way early in the creative process. It’s what our Imagineers call “Blue Sky”. I want to be clear with everybody in here though – we are not daydreaming. It’s important to me that you know that these things that we’re going to talk about – they are very real. They’re very serious discussions that I’m having with our teams about the future of our parks and experiences.
This quote really set up an interesting 13 minutes that saw Imagineering Creative Portfolio Executive Chris Beatty and D’Amaro have a tug of war of sorts over how they presented the concepts that they’re working on for Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Another interesting aspect of the announcements was the addition of Jennifer Lee, Chief Creative Officer at Walt Disney Animation Studios, to talk about how they’re thinking about incorporating some of their recent hit movies into the theme parks.
Moana and Zootopia in Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Of the two “Blue Sky” concepts presented, it’s clear that the Animal Kingdom project is further along in the planning stages. The concept art is more detailed and insiders indicate that the project could be approved as early as this year, even if Disney doesn’t make another announcement until later next year. Earlier today, we took a look at how the Moana and Zootopia concepts fit into the existing DinoLand USA space.
As the three executives bounced back and forth, talking about how Walt Disney Animation Studios and Walt Disney Imagineering work together from early film concepts to see how a movie or series might fit into the theme parks, Jennifer Lee announced that one property that is a fit for Disney’s Animal Kingdom is Zootopia. Beatty talked about the possible places that guests could visit in a Zootopia themed area and Lee built upon that concept by hinting that even more Zootopia districts not yet explored in the films could play a role in the theme parks.
D’Amaro then suggested that Moana could also come to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Lee talked about the storylines of Moana and how they fit into Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Themes that Lee discussed were a connection to nature, adventure, healing a broken world, and meeting mysterious animals and creatures.
Beyond Big Thunder Mountain at Magic Kingdom
Another “Blue Sky” project that was explored during the panel was a project that executives referred to as Beyond Big Thunder Mountain. This “Blue Sky” concept was far more “Blue Sky” than the Animal Kingdom concept art. There were no obvious attractions in sight and pathways and concepts were vague.
Just before Beatty was able to reveal the plans, a frame from Coco flashed across the screen behind him and the crowd erupted. It’s clear that Disney’s biggest fans want more of the recent IP successes to enter the parks, and Beatty, D’Amaro, and Lee should all be encouraged by the reaction that they received. However, the biggest and most sustained cheer would come in a few minutes, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
When exploring the idea of Coco, Beatty considered that we would visit the city of Santa Cecilia, Mexico. The city would be in the midst of the celebration of Día de Muertos and, a few “what if”‘s later, Beatty talked about climbing onto the back of Alebrije and flying into the Land of the Dead. Beatty closed by saying “that’s what could be out there”.
Lee then jumped in and said, “I’m just asking…what if we do want to talk about Bruno”. Even more cheers from the audience met the idea of bringing Encanto to Magic Kingdom. She turned to D’Amaro and playfully asked him if he heard the cheers for the idea of Encanto. The concept that Lee shared was walking into the magical Casita and meet the family from Encanto. Mirabel would be your guide, introducing you to all the magical spaces of the Casita including Bruno’s tower and Antonio’s room. They then posited stepping up to a door where you’d be able to discover your own magical gift.
D’Amaro then asked Beatty to share just one more concept. D’Amaro said that this concept is “not planned anytime soon, but it is something that we know all of you talk about. It’s a fun idea that’s always in the back of our minds. It’s an area that’s overrun by villains!”. The crowd erupted and cheered for 25 seconds as some villains flashed across the screen behind the trio. D’Amaro said that he “can’t wait to keep talking more about these ideas and start locking some of this in”.
Will D’Amaro Deliver?
Of course, the big question is where do we go from here? It’s fun to dream but now it’s time to do. Before D’Amaro presented some of the Blue Sky artwork, he briefly acknowledged COVID-19 and the impact that it had on various projects. While he noted that some projects were “put on hold while the world was stopped”, but then noted that Disney is “back on track, picking up steam”.
With the disappointment of shelved, delayed, or canceled projects, many Disney fans are a little bit jaded (to say the least) about the type of “Blue Sky” concept art shown off by D’Amaro. While EPCOT is the poster child for unrealized announcements, even Main Street USA is not exempt from canceled projects. These are not always “Blue Sky” concepts either – some of them were mature ideas.
The question now is how will D’Amaro run the parks and the projects that he excitedly presented to Disney’s biggest fans during the D23 Expo? More concisely: can D’Amaro deliver?
An Epic Problem
While Disney Parks executives were presenting their vision for the future, and Disney fans were grumbling that Disney’s vision would never come to life, Universal Orlando was moving dirt and welding steel as they work to bring their third theme park to life by Summer 2025. Epic Universe will contain lands dedicated to Nintendo, Harry Potter, How to Train Your Dragon, Classic Monsters, and more. The new theme park is a massive addition to Universal Orlando and it may just change the landscape of what a Central Florida vacation looks like for many families.
Back in March 2021, we wrote an article titled “Universal Bets, Disney Balks on Future of Theme Parks“. In that article, we talked about how Disney’s approach to their theme parks and theme park projects essentially opened the door and welcomed Universal to take some of the tourist dollars in Central Florida.
Before the D23 Expo kicked off, we were talking with friends about what Disney would have to do at a minimum to show that they can respond to Epic Universe. My answer was: announce two new lands in any of the Disney World theme parks. Ultimately, Disney did announce the development of two new themed areas within their Walt Disney World theme parks, but with serious questions about timing and the ability to deliver, it’s likely that Epic Universe is completed before Disney puts a shovel in the ground at Magic Kingdom. Movement at Disney’s Animal Kingdom will likely happen before Summer 2025 as Disney will want to deliver something substantial in 2025 and 2026. Currently, Disney has only offered guidance through the end of 2024, and they will likely leave any talk about projects that would be delivered in 2025 and beyond until their 2023 convention.
A Boundless Future and Endless Questions
Hall D23 was packed to watch Josh D’Amaro’s debut presentation as the head of the Disney Parks division of the company. After a Destination D23 presentation that included the line “churros are back”, expectations were high for D’Amaro to present a vision for the future that would be ambitious and perhaps reflective of a reinvestment into the theme parks that are making billions of dollars per year. Instead, we got a vision of the future that raised far more questions than answers. With an embattled Imagineering workforce that was hit with resignations over a forced move to Orlando, it’s not exactly clear how they will deliver on the vision that was presented.
There’s little question, in our opinion, that what D’Amaro presented was bold enough, only time will tell if D’Amaro hits it out of the park, or swings and misses.
If You Can Dream It, You Need To Do It
While a fair bit of this article has approached the Blue Sky concepts with skepticism, what happens if D’Amaro delivers? The future of the parks is IP, that much is clear. It doesn’t matter if Bob Chapek is running theme parks as he did for many years, or if D’Amaro is at the helm – Intellectual Property is the foundation of decisions. The 100th Anniversary of The Walt Disney Company is around the corner, and such a significant milestone gives executives and Imagineers time to dream. During the Boundless Future presentation, Jennifer Lee said that Walt Disney Animation Studios has been working with Imagineering to find a way to bring films from the past decade into the parks.
We almost think that it’s imperative that D’Amaro gets some of the proposed lands built. As far as attractions at Walt Disney World go, the most recent IP to get an attraction is either Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) or Star Wars (2015) depending on if you count the new Star Wars movies. Beyond that, the most recent animated IP to get an attraction is Frozen (2013). When it opens in 2023, Journey of Water – Inspired by Moana will be the only attraction at Walt Disney World based on an animated movie from the last decade. When you consider that Disney builds for the next generation of theme park fans, it is critical that movies like Encanto and Coco are implemented into the parks in a meaningful way.
Ultimately, we hope that D’Amaro is able to put his stamp on the theme parks. It’s clear that he wants to, and with COVID-19 issues largely behind the parks, it’s time to show fans what he can do.
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!
Disney is making a huge mistake by not announcing concrete projects at its four parks. The four parks NEED new attractions. Any discussion about a fifth gate is silly. If Disney would add at least one new “e” attaction/ride, not a refit either like what is going on at Splash Mountain, it would help. Zootopia or Indie at Hollywood Studios, Alpine Bobsleds at Germany or Alladin at Moracco in Epcot, Disney Springs with Frozen, Tangled and Encanto at Magic Kingdom behind Fantasy Forset and finally Beastie Kingdom at Animal Kingdom with the Dragon Tower, the Maze and Fantasia Gardens. This would be a major upgrade, but if Disney wants to fall behind Universal, so be it.