On the heels of an earnings report with slumping domestic parks attendance, Disney announced a slew of future theme park and cruise projects to be developed in the coming years, including a villains-themed land in Walt Disney World.
Fans at Disney’s biannual D23 convention had been eagerly anticipating details of these new projects for several years, complaining that previous announcements had teased only vague concepts. But at Saturday night’s high-octane presentation at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, 12,000 fans in attendance learned how the company’s promised $60 billion investment in parks and cruises will take shape over the next decade.
In an interview with CNN, Chairperson of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Josh D’Amaro, said, “What we’re doing, I think, more aggressively than we ever have before, is taking advantage of technology, not for technology’s sake, but to create magical – almost mind-bending – experiences.”
Here are those newly announced projects.
What’s coming to Walt Disney World in Florida
The biggest expansion ever to come to Magic Kingdom will be developed behind the existing “Big Thunder Mountain Railroad” ride, and will include one land themed to villains, as well as one land themed to Pixar’s “Cars” movie.
The concept art shown Saturday for the villains-themed area depicts an ominous setting, where Disney promises two major rides. The “Cars” announcement, marked Saturday night with a live rendition of “Life is a Highway” by Shaboozey, detailed a land that will not be a replica of Cars Land in California, but an “off-road” adventure, with one thrill ride and one family-friendly ride. The Cars area will break ground in 2025.
Magic Kingdom will also be getting a new nighttime parade called “Disney Starlight,” in summer of 2025.
Also, within Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, Disney’s Hollywood Studios park will have a new “Monstropolis” land, based on the “Monsters Inc.” franchise. Billy Crystal, who voiced the character Mike Wazowski, came on stage on Saturday night to announce this development, which will feature the first suspended coaster to appear in any Disney park, where guests can zoom through the door vault in the Monsters Inc. factory.
In both Florida and California, Millennium Falcon Smuggler’s Run, located in Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge, will see a new storyline featuring the Mandalorian and Grogu.
At Disney’s Animal Kingdom park, the previously announced Tropical Americas area is now confirmed to open in 2027. It will include the first ride based on the film “Encanto,” and take place inside the magical “Casita” where the movie’s Madrigal family lives. Guests will be able to journey through the day that the character Antonio receives his magical gift, following him as he opens his door to reveal a lush landscape full of animals with whom he can talk.
The same area of the park will feature an “Indiana Jones” ride within the former Dinosaur ride building, but it will not replicate the current “Indiana Jones” rides at Disneyland in California or at Tokyo DisneySea. Instead, people will ride through an adventure where Indiana Jones discovers a Maya temple.
Oscar-winning actor Ke Huy Quan, who appeared as a child in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” was on site to introduce the new attraction.
“That sounds great,” he said of the ride. “But will there be any snakes?”
Disney will build a central “town” within Tropical Americas, called Pueblo Esperanza, with lush foliage, Spanish-style architecture, and a carousel with wood-carved characters.
Animal Kingdom will also see a “Zootopia” show, previously announced, at its theater under the Tree of Life, beginning in late 2025 or early 2026.
At EPCOT, the revamped Test Track will open in 2025. The park will also be getting a new Spaceship Earth lounge that looks out at Dreamer’s Point, where a statue of Walt Disney stands.
When asked whether the Florida resort would get a fifth theme park in coming years to compete with Universal’s Epic Universe park opening in 2025, D’Amaro told CNN, “We’re always thinking about the next thing. For right now, we have so much to celebrate and talk about with what we’ll share with our D23 fans, that I think it will be so overwhelming for them, this is all they’ll be thinking about.”
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