D’Amaro: TRON Lightcycle Run Is The “Tip of the Iceberg” for Future Investments in Disney Parks Projects

    Earlier today, we spotted Josh D’Amaro at Magic Kingdom as he toured Walt Disney World. D’Amaro is the chief of the Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products division of The Walt Disney Company. As it turns out, he was in town (among other things) to ride TRON Lightcycle Run with invited media. The Orlando Business Journal was able to ride with D’Amaro and got a few soundbites from the exec about the future of the parks.

    First, some context. Back at the 2022 D23 Expo, D’Amaro stood in front of 6,000 of Disney’s biggest fans and presented some “blue sky” plans for Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom. A DinoLand retheme and a project titled “Beyond Big Thunder Mountain” that explores some unused land in the northwestern corner of Magic Kingdom. The plans were ambitious and it seemed like half of the fandom dismissed them as unlikely or at least so far in the future that they weren’t worth considering. However, D’Amaro would confidently double down on the plans to any fan who talked with him at the Expo.

    Adding to the story is the newly recrowned Disney CEO Bob Iger. In a recent earnings call, Iger said that he is “very, very bullish on the theme parks”, and even hinted that investments and expansions of the theme parks would be a wise way to capitalize on “extraordinary” demand for a Disney vacation. In the same earnings call, Iger teased an Avatar experience coming to Disneyland but offered little in the way of details.

    Fast forward to the article from the Orlando Business Journal today, and comments from D’Amaro that paint a more bullish picture of the future than the currently announced projects would suggest. Here’s what D’Amaro said about TRON with a strong statement about the future of theme park investments:

    Our Imagineers, our entire team, are incredibly ambitious about the experience here and how it will continue to grow and evolve. You’ve seen it come to life with the 50th anniversary coming out of the pandemic and how we stood right back up and brought back all the things people love and added new things. You have seen it at Epcot — it’s totally transforming — and that will continue to transform.

    TRON is spectacular, and adding something of this size and scope to the most visited theme park in the world is pretty ambitious and incredible. You see the guests walking off that experience … the look on their faces — and it adds to the whole experience we offer here. But there’s no end … TRON is the tip of the iceberg of what’s coming.

    We are just getting started.
    Josh D’Amaro, Disney Parks Chairman

    As for Disney World, the biggest projects on the DPEP pipeline are the completion of The Pit at EPCOT and a retheme of Splash Mountain into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. Beyond that, there really isn’t a lot of substantial theme park investment officially announced for Walt Disney World. That takes us back to the 2022 D23 Expo and D’Amaro’s “blue sky” plans. In our opinion, you don’t bring executives from Walt Disney Animation Studios and Walt Disney Imagineering out on stage if you aren’t fully committed to bringing those IPs and experiences into the parks. That brings us back to a question we couldn’t escape while flying from California to Orlando – will D’Amaro deliver?

    Will D’Amaro Deliver? A Boundless Future & Endless Questions
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    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!

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    1 COMMENT

    1. Boring. The ride isn’t inspiring or interesting. Yes, it’s unique, but doesn’t leave you with any lasting memories. They should have sprung for some characters and put in a short pause with a 3-8 second monologue followed by another launch.

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