This weekend, Disney Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro will stand on a stage in front of thousands of Disney’s biggest fans and provide an update on the theme parks. Titled ‘A Celebration of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow‘, here’s the official description of the presentation:
Join Disney Parks, Experiences and Products Chairman Josh D’Amaro and special guests for an entertaining presentation looking to the future of Disney parks, featuring updates from around the world and some fun surprises along the way.
The description has been updated since the presentation was first announced, giving Disney Parks fans some hope that there will be some meat on the bone when D’Amaro takes the stage Saturday morning. In this article, we’re going to cover some of our expectations in the form of a wishlist for the Destination D23 event, and – more specifically – the Disney Parks presentation by D’Amaro.
The presentation is scheduled to be 75 minutes long, which is significantly shorter than the nearly 2-hour D23 Expo presentation back in September 2022. That said, there was certainly some extra fluff in the form of live performances from the 2022 presentation that we don’t expect to have at the smaller Destination D23 event this weekend. Regardless, it will be a scaled-back presentation, and we have to remind ourselves of that before we get our hopes up too much.
We’re going to kick off our wishlist with a look back at an article that we penned immediately following the conclusion of the 2022 D23 Expo titled “Will D’Amaro Deliver? A Boundless Future & Endless Questions“. In the article, we talk about some of the “blue sky” ideas, but we’re going to continue to harp on this quote as the single best insight into D’Amaro’s mindset when presenting ambitious ideas that led to knee-jerk skepticism among fans (ourselves included):
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.
Instead of rehashing what we wrote in that article, I want to take a look at where we are now and what Destination D23 could mean for D’Amaro’s Disney Parks division.
Josh D’Amaro, a figure that is largely loved by the fandom, is in a unique position to etch his name into Disney Parks history. To be clear, if the future of the Disney Parks division under his leadership is represented by cutbacks or cancelations to projects like what we’ve seen happen at EPCOT, it’s going to be a bumpy ride. However, D’Amaro has a clean slate. The COVID-19 pandemic is behind us, the theme parks are the golden child of the C-Suite accountants, and D’Amaro has enough charisma to follow in Iger’s footsteps in the years ahead. At the risk of putting too much pressure on a 75-minute presentation, this is D’Amaro’s opportunity to deliver. Surely it will be a better presentation than the last Destination D23 when the famous line “churros are back” was uttered.
Let’s dive in for a park-by-park breakdown of our expectations and wishes.
Magic Kingdom
We’ll try to format our park-by-park dialog from expectations to wishlist. That is, from most likely to least likely, in our opinion. I should also preface this by saying that we are not pulling these predictions out of thin air, this shouldn’t be taken as a rumor article or as a prediction of fact. This is speculation by fans, for fans. Let’s get started with a layup.
Hatbox Ghost Arrival Date
This is already woefully overdue. Announced at the D23 Expo last September, the Hatbox Ghost should’ve debuted by now and we think that if it’s not hidden in a Disney Parks Blog post leading up to the Destination D23 weekend, D’Amaro will have to give an opening date. If it were me, I wouldn’t want to have to stand on a stage and talk about something I already announced a year ago, but with missed obvious opening dates like the debut of the Haunted Mansion movie or the start of Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, it’s time for more info.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
Another nearly sure bet is an update on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. Disney is full steam ahead on the Splash Mountain reimagining and while most of the updates up until this point were focused on the cultural aspect of the attraction and backstory development, we hope to see an inside look at the actual construction taking place. Maybe there is a scene inside the attraction that is dressed enough for a photo. Or, perhaps, we might get our first look at an actual animatronic in development. There will probably be a new piece of concept art, but that won’t be enough to whet our appetite.
Another place to potentially get some news about Tiana’s Bayou Adventure would be the Audio-Animatronics exhibit at the Destination D23 event. This exhibit promises a showcase of Audio-Animatronics over more than a half-century, and it would be really cool to see an animatronic for the upcoming ride on display, but that might be wishful thinking.
Peco’s Bill Retheme
Along with news about Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, we hope to hear more about potential plans for a retheme of Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn & Cafe. Back in February, we saw high-profile Imagineers touring the space, but Disney has not even uttered a whisper of a retheme for the location. It would be hard to imagine that Tiana’s Foods exists across the street, but there would be nowhere for guests to enjoy her food. We’ll see what D’Amaro and Co. have planned.
New/Returning Parade
We’re going to start wading into the “unlikely” territory for Magic Kingdom and the possibility of a new or returning parade. We’ll actually explore the concept of a parade at another park, but suffice it to say that Paint the Night and the Main Street Electrical Parade aren’t doing anyone any favors by collecting dust.
Even more of an outside possibility is a new parade. The Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade will be 10 years old next March and Disney World has not been operating a full parade since it returned last year following a COVID-19 pause. We hope that Disney has some plans for the parade, even if that means rebranding a return to normal as something new.
Beyond Big Thunder Mountain
One of two “blue sky” concepts presented by D’Amaro at last year’s D23 Expo, we don’t think that there will be an update on this project given how far out into the future it likely is. If anything, maybe we’ll get a hint that Imagineers are still exploring ideas of the space.
EPCOT
Ah, the magic of possibilities. The EPCOT Overhaul project is coming to a close this year and we expect that Disney will have a lot to share about the theme park throughout the Destination D23 event. Again, we’re going to travel down our wishlist from most likely to least likely.
Journey of Water – Inspired by Moana
We’ll get an opening date. We have to, right? Cast Member previews are underway and have been since late July. Confusingly, the nature trail that invites guests to cool down and learn about the water cycle via interactive stations will miss the summer season. Technically summer runs through late September, but with kids back in school and Labor Day behind us, is it really summer still?
Figment Meet & Greet
Did we say that summer was over? Well, technically summer suns through September 23rd, and Disney will likely use every day to try and hit the “late summer” opening timeframe for the Figment meet & greet. We hope to get an actual start date for that experience too.
If D’Amaro is feeling particularly playful, he might even hint at an Imagination Pavilion overhaul, but it’s more likely that fans will have to settle for a hug with Figment (“hugs are back!”).
Dreamer’s Point & CommuniCore
Instead of the parks department declaring that The Pit has been filled, we expect that there will be some talk about the various spaces within the central park of EPCOT (aka, World Celebration). We expect an update on Dreamer’s Point where guests will find a statue of Walt Disney, and hopefully some more details about CommuniCore Hall & CommuniCore Plaza, although we don’t imagine there are any tricks up Disney’s sleeve with these two areas that have largely been fleshed out already.
EPCOT Nighttime Spectacular
This is a tough one to predict. Originally, D’Amaro announced that EPCOT would be getting a new nighttime show during the Disney100 celebration. Technically (don’t you love that word?), the Disney100 celebration begins at EPCOT on September 22nd. That said, it will run through the end of 2023, so a debut of the new show during that timeframe might fulfill the original timeline announced last year?
The wrench is that the nighttime show has not been mentioned in quite some time and while barges have arrived backstage for the new show, there is still infrastructure work taking place in World Showcase Lagoon to support it. We anticipate learning more about the new show in the form of descriptions and maybe a new piece of concept art, but we don’t expect to hear anything in terms of an opening date.
Unfinished Business
While Disney will certainly be happy to get some construction walls removed from World Celebration later this year, there are still many projects that remain in limbo. Things like a Spaceship Earth overhaul that was just weeks from starting, a Mary Poppins teacups-style ride, and an update to the China film were all expected. Don’t even get us started on the PLAY! Pavilion.
Interestingly, and perhaps better suited for another article, EPCOT is going to go through something similar to what Hollywood Studios is going through now. That is, hundreds of millions of dollars were poured into the park, but still not built out properly. Of course, things are a bit more dire at Hollywood Studios (more on that in a bit), but there is still going to be so much more that could, and should, be done at EPCOT when the ribbon is cut later this year.
As far as a prediction, it’s more likely that we hear Chapek’s name than anything about a Spaceship Earth overhaul or the status of the PLAY! Pavilion, but I’d have the biggest smile at the back of the
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Only a few sentences removed from a tease about the future of Hollywood Studios, we’ll elaborate a bit more about what we hope to hear and why we don’t anticipate hearing anything. Over the past five years or so, Hollywood Studios has gone through a significant transformation. From the introduction of Toy Story Land to the immersive Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge to the zany Mickey & Minnie’s Runway Railway, there is no doubt that the park has received a ton of capital. We think there’s still room for growth and a need for growth.
Hollywood Studios has four attractions that have averaged more than a 50-minute wait over the past month – more than any other park. In fact, Hollywood Studios has more attractions that average a 30-minute wait than any other park. In short, there are too many high-wait attractions at Hollywood Studios. When there are effectively 7 headliner attractions, the day gets lopsided and the experience dwindles. That said, we don’t see capital getting pumped into the park anytime soon, but here’s what we’d love to hear about during Josh D’Amaro’s panel.
Star Tours: The Adventures Continue to Continue
Remember the April announcement that new scenes were coming to Star Tours? No? We don’t blame you. It was almost a throwaway line from Imagineer Scott Trowbridge announcing that a new destination would be added to the flight simulator ride in 2024. No details about the destination were given because the location was likely not fully known yet and will be introduced in a Disney+ show.
With information already announced that a new destination is coming, we imagine there will be some sort of 45-second update on the location. Even this update isn’t a sure bet, but it’s the most likely scenario we can think of if Hollywood Studios gets a mention.
Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser
We’re going to throw the Galactic Starcruiser into the mix with the theme park because we hope that Disney is able to find a way to integrate it with a day at Hollywood Studios. As we opined back in February 2022 before the experience debuted, Disney World essentially put what was promised for the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge land within Hollywood Studios behind a $6,000 paywall in the Galactic Starcruiser.
Having done the Starcruiser a few times, there is no doubt that the experience is transformational, but Disney was never able to get the marketing and price right. That said, we can’t imagine that bulldozers roll in on October 1st after the final guests have left. Although very unlikely at this point, we’d like to see Disney provide a vision for what’s next. Not only for the physical Starcruiser venue but for the immersive theater concept that the Starcruiser represents.
Marvel
It’s no coincidence that Marvel is our next topic, but we’ll have to leave that hint alone for now. Instead, let’s talk about how Disney might expand Hollywood Studios to bring new franchises into the park. The addition of Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind shows that Disney is able to represent some Marvel franchises east of the Mississippi, but could underutilized space within Hollywood Studios (both onstage and backstage) offer a more full-throated effort be in the works?
The Animation Courtyard and Star Wars Launch Bay can’t possibly remain as is for the next 10 years, so would Disney consider adding in some Marvel IPs to better build out the park? Again, we think that substantial investment in Hollywood Studios is probably out of cycle, but the park could use it.
Nighttime Parade
If we don’t see a nighttime parade at Magic Kingdom, the next obvious choice would be Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The park is in a bit of a weird spot at the moment with nighttime entertainment. When building Toy Story Land, Disney built out an entire fireworks launch point for its nighttime shows. The problem is that it was built on the other side of World Drive, the main roadway through Walt Disney World. That led to some dangerous conditions for drivers and a deprioritization of the launch site.
Instead, two projection shows with low-level fireworks shot off from within the park “anchor” the nighttime entertainment. Fantasmic is also shown nightly in an outdoor amphitheater on Sunset Blvd. The park could use some more nighttime entertainment to spread out crowds a bit (or even entice some guests to stay later). We would be overjoyed to hear about a nighttime parade at Hollywood Studios, but logistics and other factors may prevent it.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Disney’s Animal Kingdom is the overwhelming favorite for some attention at Destination D23. Of the two blue sky concepts presented at the D23 Expo last year, the DinoLand USA reimagining was, by far, the most mature concept. We’ll start there.
DinoLand Extinction Event
If only the dinosaurs had as much advance warning as Chester and Hester have had. With Tiana’s Bayou Adventure scheduled for a 2024 opening, it’s high time that Disney gets some shovels in the ground for their 2025 projects (and it may already be too late). There probably isn’t much more that we can add to the already rampant speculation, but we can’t imagine D’Amaro would get on a stage in September 2022 and say “We are not daydreaming” and then fail to announce any progress at the year’s premier Disney fan event a year later.
Nighttime Entertainment
Animal Kingdom needs some help. If any theme park at Walt Disney World was going to be the capital expenditure golden child over the next 5 years, we could see it being Animal Kingdom. DAK rode a years-long wave of increased attendance following the debut of Pandora – The World of Avatar, but it now sits in fourth place of the Walt Disney World theme parks in terms of attendance and even has lower attendance than both of the Universal Orlando theme parks. Not great.
In that time, Disney has abandoned its nighttime show, Rivers of Light, and other nighttime offerings. Yes, DAK isn’t an easy park to get right when it comes to nighttime entertainment, but Pandora was built on the premise that it comes alive with bioluminescence when the sun sets and the average guest doesn’t get to experience it.
Do we think that Disney will reinvest in nighttime entertainment at Disney’s Animal Kingdom? No, but promising a Moana attraction, however ambitious it might be, to open in 2026 or later isn’t going to move the needle for a park that so desperately needs it.
Disneyland Resort
It’s Wondrous
In a setting like a D23 event, easy wins are welcome by presenter and audience alike. At the D23 Expo last year, the easiest win was the announcement that Happily Ever After was returning to Magic Kingdom. This year, the easy win for D’Amaro would be to announce a return date for Wondrous Journeys at Disneyland. It’s very likely that Disneyland’s Happily Ever After show will return next year following the holiday season, but why not get the suspense out of the way and take the easy win?
Avatar “Experience”
Teased now on a couple of investor calls, an Avatar “experience” is coming to Disneyland. What is it? Nobody knows. When is it coming? Nobody knows. Where is it going? Nobody knows. The Avatar IP is the only Fox property of substance to live in the Disney theme parks and it’s possible that we hear something a bit more concrete at the Destination D23 event, but it still feels like a bit of a longshot.
The King Has Returned (Maybe?)
Another project that was announced at the D23 Expo last year was the King Thanos attraction coming to Avengers Campus. While a gift shop is being built, we’re still too far out to hear anything about the ride…I think.
DisneylandForward
Speaking of a longshot, it still feels too early to give updates on the DisneylandForward project, but it might be strategically beneficial to stand on a stage in the hostile state of Florida and talk about plans for a massive expansion in the Disney-friendly state of California.
International Parks
We’ve probably used up all of the allotted 75 minutes for the presentation, but there are two international park expansions that will open this year and one major expansion that will open next year, so we imagine that D’Amaro will want to highlight some of the soon-to-open lands and projects.
Hong Kong Disneyland
At Hong Kong Disneyland, the World of Frozen is slated to open sometime in November. We hope to hear an exact date for that.
Zootopia in Shanghai
In Shanghai Disneyland, a Zootopia-themed land is expected to open later this year. With a news dump recently on what guests can expect when it opens, we imagine D’Amaro will give fans an exact date.
Fantasy Springs
Another project that will move the needle in a big way is the Fantasy Springs expansion over in Tokyo. The three-land expansion is set to open next Spring and we did just get a news dump on that expansion, but we think that D’Amaro will want to roll it into an international parks update too.
Walt Disney Studios Park
In Paris, the Walt Disney Studios Park is also receiving a significant expansion. Back in 2018, Iger announced a 2 billion euro expansion that would include the now-open Avengers Campus, a Frozen-themed area (set to open next year), and a Star Wars-themed area that seems to have been canceled.
If Walt Disney Studios Park gets a mention, the bet is that the conversation will be around the Frozen area, but it would be great to hear about what plans Disney has beyond what is already being built.
Disney Cruise Line
Hidden Treasure
Earlier this week, Disney revealed most of the offerings for the upcoming Disney Treasure cruise ship. However, some details were held back. We can see D’Amaro filling in the blanks from the deck plan that will likely include a Haunted Mansion experience of some sort aboard the ship.
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!
I got my wishlist and predictions on Destination D23 2023 event:
*Spaceship Earth: Our Shared Story as fifth renovation of the ride at EPCOT
*Star Tours’ new destination and experiences at Disney Parks around the world
*New unnamed Mary Poppins teacup spinner ride as retheme at EPCOT
*PLAY! Pavilion at EPCOT
*World of Frozen at Disney Parks around the world
*New unnamed nighttime spectacular show at EPCOT
*Stark Expo at Hong Kong Disneyland
*New unnamed Avengers Multiverse ride at Disney California Adventure and Hong Kong Disneyland
….. And along with all of these and more!!!!
You see? This is what I want to see a sneak preview of every upcoming attractions and projects at EPCOT and Disney Parks, and along with all of these and more in Destination D23 2023 event!!!
And the Destination D23 2023 Livestream event are coming this weekend!!! Good luck and we love you!!!