D23 The Ultimate Disney Fan Event 2026 included a Disney Parks and Experiences presentation called Horizons, a showcase led by Walt Disney Imagineering and hosted by Neil Patrick Harris. In this episode, we’ll recap the August 15 showcase, including updates coming to Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, Tokyo Disneyland, Shanghai Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland. Highlights include a fixed yeti animatronic at Expedition Everest, the return of Dreamfinder to Journey into Imagination at EPCOT, details about Piston Peak and Villains Land coming to Magic Kingdom, details about Tropical Americas coming to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and more.
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Transcript (Auto-Generated):
Speaker: Disney is reanimating the Yeti at Expedition Everest and updating Tomorrowland at Disneyland. Let’s dive into the details. It’s Sunday, August sixteenth and last night at D23, the ultimate Disney fan event, Neil Patrick Harris hosted a panel called Horizons Disney Experiences Showcase. This is the events that. As fans of Disney Parks and Walt Disney Imagineering, we always look forward to. It’s the event that reveals details and announcements for what is happening in the next five to ten years at Disney Parks, and in particular, this Disney showcase. This year really focused on discussing more details for things that were previously announced at previous D23 events and other Disney Parks updates throughout the years. This is something that I had predicted when I pulled together my predictions episode, and I’m going to close out the end of this episode by discussing my overall thoughts about this year’s showcase and what it means for the future of Disney Parks. And you might also notice if you’re listening and you might hear that I’m not at my home studio. In fact, I’m not even in Anaheim, California. I’m actually sitting at Flametree Barbecue in Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park because while I love to attend D23 events, I decided this year my family was already going to be spending time in Walt Disney World on our annual summer vacation. And to not interfere with that vacation. I knew that there was going to be a lot of announcements posted online, and I was also happy to see that this year’s showcase was live streamed on Disney Plus. So I decided, rather than fly to Anaheim, California and missed this time with my family. I instead flew down to Walt Disney World with my girls, with my wife, and have been enjoying a Disney vacation together at Walt Disney World. Feeling optimistic about the future and all these announcements that are coming to the parks. And I last night sat in bed and watched the full Disney Parks presentation way past my bedtime. I usually go to bed around the time that that panel started here on the East Coast at ten p m East Coast time. But I just wanted to give you that background that if you’re listening to the background music, you might actually hear the Flame Tree barbecue background, some of the screams from Expedition Everest in the background as well, which, as I said, is one of the announcements that I definitely want to discuss. So what I’ll do for you here is help to distill the information that we heard in last night’s panel. Perhaps you watched it and don’t remember everything. Perhaps you need more clarity around the announcements that were made, and perhaps you didn’t get the chance to watch at all. And you just want the rundown for what was announced. I’m not going to go into great detail about every single announcement, but I will highlight the ones that were announced and talk about the my analysis for a few really important ones, so that you have a better understanding of what I’m thinking for timing or any other details that might be relevant and informative as you look ahead. So this year’s panel was, you know, in the past, it was hosted by either Bob Iger, Bob Chapek or Josh tomorrow. This was the first year that it was hosted by Neil Patrick Harris. What an incredible host to pick. He’s not only incredibly talented but also a huge Disney fan. And there were so many celebrity appearances in this presentation as well. It was truly a, an entertainment and entertaining panel. It was not. I can’t even call it a panel. It was a showcase. It was a almost a concert. It was a very expansive, um, you know, fully produced show. And it’s just showing how D23, the ultimate Disney fan event, continues to grow and evolve every single year. So my hat’s off to Neil and the entire D23 team. For all of the showmanship that went into this presentation, it has continued to evolve, and I see where they’re trying to go with this, and they’re turning it into a true, like, blown out show ceremony showcase. So Bravo and all that. And, uh, Neil, what an incredible opening number. They also showed in that opening number, by the way, that they are truly listening to fans. I mean, even getting into such details as calling out the placement of the hatbox ghost in Magic Kingdom and the fact that it should be after Madame Leota, not before, like they were really calling out a lot of the digs that Disney fans have been, in some cases, lamenting online or, you know, just discussing online that not the best, best things that Disney wants to hear, but they’ve been calling all those out and they really highlighted so many of them in that opening number. So, um, I loved the theme of Carousel of Progress and Horizons and pulling those two together and looking at the future. This was a long preamble. So I apologize for five minutes in and we haven’t gotten to announcements. So let’s, let’s dive right in. The first person to come on stage after Neil Patrick Harris and Thomas Maslin was Bruce Vaughan, alongside Leslie Iwerks. I love Leslie, she’s been doing incredible work. I’ve had the privilege of interviewing her twice on the show, and the first thing that she announced was, first of all, you might know, you know, she shared more details about Disney World Worldbuilders, which is coming to Disney Plus August twentieth. This is going to be diving a little bit more into the legacy of Bob Iger and many of the acquisitions and the ways that those impacted the Disney parks. Sort of double tapping on a lot of the expansive lands that we know and love and how Disney Imagineers create these expansive worlds in the Disney parks. So she made sure to promote that. But the exciting announcement was coming in. Twenty twenty eight is The Imagineering Story season two. Disney fans have been asking for this one. I have really longed for a season two of The Imagineering Story, and we only have to wait another two years because there has been, as Leslie said, so many new developments and this expansion beyond when she first produced The Imagineering Story. So Disney fans, we can celebrate the fact. And Imagineering fans can celebrate the fact that we’re going to get The Imagineering Story Season two in twenty twenty eight. We then pivoted to Carousel of Progress. This was previously announced. We know that there is an update to Carousel of Progress coming to Magic Kingdom opening spring of twenty twenty seven. We know that it’s going to take us from the nineteen sixties to the nineteen eighties to Y2K to a distant off planet future. They showcased some concept art that was not previously shown in Disney Parks blogs announcements, but the major announcement for this one was the casting. Mother and father. Progress, or John and Sarah. If those remain, their names are going to be played by Bryan Cranston and Jamie Lee Curtis. This is a really cool. In my opinion. I think this is a really cool casting choice and I can’t wait to see and hear what that sounds like. When Carousel of Progress reopens the spring of next year. Pivoting over to Disneyland. One of the things that I have said time and again is while I love the. And I appreciate the, uh, continued various versions of World of Color, nothing has really hit the same emotional note as the original world of color, and if only they could update the technology from the original world of color, bring back the original feel sure update some of the scenes include some newer franchises, some newer films and characters, but bring in that new technology that they’ve debuted with World of Color one and World of Color Happiness. Well, finally getting that the original world of color is going to be returning to Disney California Adventure and the best parade at Disneyland Magic happens is also returning to Disneyland Park. And I remember as a kid going to see, well, I was a teenager at that time, but going to see remember, dreams come true at Disneyland and fireworks nighttime spectacular. That is also going to be returning in February of twenty twenty seven with a refreshed appearance, a refreshed look and feel. For the next part of this presentation, Disney took us into outer space. One of the things that I predicted and was incorrect about, and that happens and perhaps is something that they might announce in a future parks blog article or future event is Space Mountain at Magic Kingdom, and I had said that now might be a good time to refresh Space Mountain at Magic Kingdom in a way that’s similar to what they just completed with Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at that park, where they didn’t dramatically change the storyline, the track layouts the same. The ride is basically the same, but they completely replaced the track. They gave the attraction new special effects and just brought new life, breathed new life into the experience. So I would love to see that happen at Magic Kingdom. I think the timing is right soon to do that. Maybe they’ll wait until Piston Peak opens so that they have another major attraction or two. Of course, we’re gonna talk about Piston Peak today. Um, but they did discuss two Space Mountain attractions at the Disney parks that are getting updates. The first is a look back, one that’s going back to its roots, and the other one is going completely into a distant future of Space Mountain. So the one that’s returning to its original roots is over at Disneyland Paris. The original Space Mountain there was called Space Mountain de la Terre a la Lune, which is based on the Jules Verne novel. Because it’s not in Tomorrowland there, it’s in Discoveryland, which is based on the world of Jules Verne and his version of The Vision of the future, but it is currently Hyperspace Mountain. Disney announced that that version of Space Mountain is going to be closing in twenty twenty seven, and they are going to be bringing back the original look and the gorgeous original soundtrack for Space Mountain de la Terre a la Lune at Disneyland Paris, then the one that is getting a complete overhaul. In fact, they are demolishing the old one. Building a new one with a reimagined Tomorrowland is over at Tokyo Disneyland. This new attraction is not just going to be called Space Mountain, but Space Mountain Earth Rise. They had showed a little bit about the, you know, little the concept art before, but what looks really cool that they showed in this presentation was an updated launch sequence. And I don’t get the impression that this is going to be a launch coaster. I still think it’s going to be a chain lift style roller coaster, but the special effects make it look like it’s launching into space. Perhaps there will be some launch sequence involved with it from a physical perspective, but in either case, this looks to be a new generation of space mountains, one that waltz would have only imagined and longed for if he had been alive long enough for this technology to catch up to his vision, and one that I am really excited about, and the other space they discussed, and this is one I did predict in a previous episode, is they are bringing back the Spaceship Earth update. This is long overdue. As they said in the presentation, this version of Spaceship Earth. Spaceship earth has gone through many iterations. It’s actually gone through for. This is the fourth iteration, but it is the longest iteration of Spaceship Earth. It hasn’t been updated in over twenty years or about twenty years. Um, so they didn’t give too many details about what we can expect with this one, except that the theme is going to evolve from human communication to human connection. And I think that is a significant evolution, and one that also follows how globalization has brought us from just simple communication to connection and all different ways. So one, I am hoping to get more details about in the future, one that I am happy to hear about. And one of the things on my wish list is that backward sequence used to have these really glorious live, um, stage prop, practical stages that were there. Now it’s of course all sort of curtained up with these black tarps as you are focused on the gaming part of the ride on your screen. Um, but if they could bring back those scenes, or just bring back the fact that there were scenes there and update them for the new version. I think if they left the other classic parts of the ride largely untouched, update them, you know, give them new technology, perhaps give them a refreshment, but still leave that part of the story, but then continue to expand upon it with the backward sequence as you descend back to earth. I think that would be a home run, would be a perfect fit and would still bridge the gap. You know, one foot in the past, one foot in the future as they look to honor the legacy of Spaceship Earth while also protecting its future for other generations to come. Okay, now I’m at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, like I said. So let’s talk about a few Animal Kingdom announcements and double tap on them. And the first one, which really came out of left field, but is one that, you know, they kind of jabbed at in the beginning, the animatronic theme song that they this ten minute presentation at the beginning of the panel where Neil Patrick Harris is hosting this like ten minute musical about animatronics. Um, they have this, you know, this, uh, moment where the, the animatronics stop working, right? And there’s technical difficulties and all of a sudden you see Disney legend Joe Roady come out, fix Neil Patrick Harris and get the animatronics working again, which is, of course, a dig at this long desired thing that Disney fans want to happen, which makes sense is for them, you know, say Joe fix the Yeti at Animal Kingdom. But I think many Disney fans don’t realize is that the Yeti is fine. The Yeti is not broken. That animatronic is working as it should. The problem is, it is so powerful because it is so massive and has to move so fast. I was lucky enough to get to see it when it opened. Um, it moves so fast and is so large and so powerful that it is damaging the structure of the mountain itself. So it’s not a Yeti problem necessarily. Um, it is more to do with the fact that it is um it cannot stably operate in the mountain. Well I guess they’ve identified a way to fix that issue. So they did announce that the Yeti will be moving once again. They didn’t give a timeline for this one. But I’ll tell you when I think this is going to happen. Tropical Americas is opening in twenty twenty seven. I think after that point, either late twenty twenty seven or early twenty twenty eight, that’s when I suspect Expedition Everest will close for what will probably be a rather lengthy refurbishment to fix this. Um, and the reason I think that is they can’t afford to close Expedition Everest. With Dino lands now being closed and being replaced by tropical Americas, there will be too few attractions here, but once they open tropical Americas then there will be a reason to close Expedition Everest. That’s just my hypothesis, but we’ll see if that comes to life. So let’s pivot over to tropical Americas. There are two major attractions that are opening and then a third attraction. So the first major attraction that’s opening is the Indiana Jones, um, replacement of dinosaur, an Indiana Jones adventure style EMV ride. They gave an official name for this one, which is going to be Indiana Jones and the myth of the Jade serpent. So we’ll talk about the story in a second. But one of the things I love is that they are modeling the Indiana Jones animatronics after Harrison Ford himself. So it is going to probably look even better than the animatronics at Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland Resort and Tokyo Disney Resort. But the story for this one is going to take place in the nineteen fifties. Um, it is going to involve a legend that says there’s a tunnel in this temple that leads to the Mayan underworld. So Indiana Jones, get curious, gets curious about this, and we follow Indy as we inevitably find out that the legend is true and we get sucked into a portal into the Mayan underworld. Now we learn that we have to escape, of course, and that the temple in the underworld is being guarded by this serpent. And this follows actual Mayan mythology, because according to Mayan mythology, there is a serpent called a two, two, two sukhan. I think it’s called Sukhan. I apologize, I don’t remember the pronunciation. Um, that guards the Mayan underworld. So it’s modeled after that real legend, which is very similar to how Expedition Everest legend of the Forbidden Mountain is modeled after the real legend of the Yeti. So I definitely appreciated that little detail. The smaller attraction that is coming to Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Tropical Americas is going to be called El Carrousel de Los Animals, and it’s going to. Disney announced feature twenty two unique animals. This is a carousel and it’s going to feature twenty two unique, uh, unique animals that you’re going to get to ride. And as Imagineering put it, the folks at Disney Consumer Products are definitely going to love this one. And I totally agree. Now, the other major attraction coming to tropical Americas, and this is all opening in twenty twenty seven is the Encanto attraction. Now they did give more details about this one. We had concept art before, but here’s more information about what this attraction is going to involve. The name is going to be Antonio’s Fiesta de Encanto, and it’s going to involve all the original actors from Encanto, and they showed some footage showing the original cast lending their voices to this attraction. And in the attraction, you’re going to be invited into Casita to celebrate Antonio’s new gift. It’s taking place essentially in the middle of the film. What’s fun is that the vehicles look like they’re made of pieces of furniture that casita assembled together to form a ride vehicle for something for you to sit in and ride through Casita. So Casita made the ride vehicle, which I think was really creative. And there were going to be fifty over fifty animals in the attraction, and it’s going to have no height requirement because as Disney said, this is going to be in the style of a classic Disneyland attraction, which I love. So I love the fact that you are actually going to get to experience something that the whole family can enjoy together. Um, I’m not getting the sense that this is a trackless ride vehicle. I’m getting the sense that this is actually a tracked ride because they’re saying that it’s in the style of a classic Disneyland attraction and the new patents. You might have seen some information, rumors about this new patent that was released. They showed some concept art that showed these vehicles moving up staircases. And the patent involves, um, optical illusions around elevation changes. So I think that that’s the way that they can make a tracked ride look like it’s going upstairs or changing elevation in different ways. I’m excited to see what more information they have. This might be it. They might share some more information in the future, but I think they’re going to leave a lot of details to the imagination and surprise guests when they go to see it for themselves. Now, in the realm of Disney animation, the panel then shifted, or the showcase then shifted to Disneyland’s California and to California Adventure. Because Coco, as we know, is also getting an attraction at Coco is getting an attraction at that park. Um, and what Disney announced yesterday was there’s going to be a new film called Coco two, and that’s going to take place after the events of the first film. Um, and they told us that this attraction is going to pick up about a year after the original film as Miguel looks back on his journey. We’re going to enter through a museum dedicated to his great great grandfather. and we saw concept art of that. You could head to Disney Parks blog and see the concept art for that. And the ride is going to take us through Miguel’s memory of the land of the dead. And based on the concept art, this is going to be a water ride attraction. It looks very similar to the type of attraction used for, um, Gran Fiesta tour, which I know many Disney fans would hope that that would get a future replacement with a Coco ride. Um, but the Imagineers confirmed that is going to fit the storyline for both Coco and Coco to, to have it make sense for both of those films over at Disneyland Paris. The other thing they announced was the more information about The Lion King ride. So there is a Lion King water flume ride that is, you know, similar to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure that is going to be coming to Disneyland Paris. So in this one, they shared two pieces of information. First, this going to involve the retelling of Simba’s journey from Cub to King very in the style of you know, again, Disneyland’s classic Disneyland attractions, where you are riding through the events of the film. So we are going to be able to ride through the story of The Lion King. And this involves the includes or includes the final confrontation between Simba and Scar. And they showed concept art for this. It looks terrifying. It looks magnificent. I can’t wait to see what it looks like when it comes to fruition. Now over at. I know I’m jumping around a bit, but I’m going a little bit in order of what Disney was announcing. When we go out of order in just a minute. So next thing they double tapped on was over at Tokyo Disney. There is a Wreck-It Ralph attraction coming that is called Sugar Rush Sweet Rescue, where you’re going to have to help Ralph and Vanellope restore the sugar bugs to their original form, and it’s going to feature King Candy. That is pretty much all the information we got for that one. I don’t know really what type of attraction it’s going to be or when it’s going to be opening, but that is coming to Tokyo Disney. Now I want to go out of order for just a second and focus on Disney Cruise Line. Um, Disney Cruise Line is going to have thirteen ships by late twenty thirty as they continue to expand the fleet. The final ship in the wish class, the fourth in the wish class of ships, is going to be called the Disney Believe. That was previously announced. And it’s going to be celebrating belief in family magic, the power of nature, and believing in yourself. What they did announce is that the bow of the ship is going to feature Tinker Bell, and the stern of the ship is going to feature Woody and Buzz using crayons to write the ship’s name. And in the Grand Hall you are going to have Moana featured as the main icon in that space. The other thing they announced is that there is going to be a new class of ship that is going to debut in twenty twenty nine. What’s interesting is that Disney Cruise Line has continued to make bigger and bigger and bigger ships. This one is going to be smaller. It’s going to be between the, uh, the wish class and the classic classes. So between. Think between somewhere between the magic and the wonder and the. The wish and the treasure and the destiny. Um, they did show some brief, a brief little teaser of it, but not too much information. So we’ll have to wait until a later date to learn more about this class of ship. Okay, let’s next pivot to Magic Kingdom. There are two highly anticipated lands that are opening at Magic Kingdom, both previously announced. The first is Piston Peak and this one is going to be opening first. So this is the one that they shared a lot more about in this presentation. They also featured the model for Piston Peak over in the Imagineering exhibit over at the Anaheim Convention Center. And if you look up close, this model is truly impressive. I had the opportunity to see the model in person. And when you look at the details, first of all, you notice that they are being very cognizant of sight lines and making sure that, for instance, in Liberty Square, you’re not going to see cars whizzing by because it just doesn’t make sense for there to be cars necessarily in Liberty Square. And they’re also paying very careful attention to how the rivers of America form. Rivers of America brought guests from, you know, Arizona, New Mexico, over in Big Thunder Mountain railroad area to the, uh, New England area with Haunted Mansion. Um, and, you know, and everything in between. So as you look at the, the landscape of Piston Peak, you’ll notice that it changes from these geysers over near, um, you know, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to these snow capped peaks to these, really incredible, um, you know, green mountains. And there is just this real thoughtfulness to how the, the lands moves through Frontierland and Liberty Square since it’s, it’s really surrounded by those classic lands. And when you really focus on how this is going to impact the, the, the vistas you’ll get at Magic Kingdom and the feeling, you know, they did. It’s not going to be rivers of America that they bring back. They did bring back that waterway where rivers of America used to be. And there’s going to be a lot of the same spaces that, you know, one love from Rivers of America. There’s going to be nods to Tom Sawyer’s Island, some Easter eggs left behind from that, you know, and even some nods to the former rivers of America. So they’re really being thoughtful about this one. And I think, you know, they’re adding if you look at the number of trees, there’s a lot of shade that’s going to be here. And when you look at the attractions, which they finally did announce the second attraction as well, it looks like it’s going to be something worth coming to Magic Kingdom for. So let’s get into the details. The first attraction, the main attraction is going to be cars ride, run, rally. And this has cars competing to be the fastest car in the wilderness. They had a lot of puns in this presentation. Um, you’re going to move up these snow capped peaks. You’re going to run through a geyser fields, the largest one being old Tankful. They said the ride is going to be very bouncy. And while the original concept art showed two cars racing in the style of Radiator Springs racers, this is going to be a single track. And it is more thinking, you know, think about. They’re trying to set. You’re trying to set a record to be the fastest car to ever go through this track? It is, you know, an off road style attraction. It is a new type of attraction for Disney that is an evolution of the slot car design for Radiator Springs racers and test track. And it just looks like a lot of fun for the whole family. The other one is a flat ride that we knew there was going to be a flat ride, but not much about it. We still don’t know exactly what type of ride it’s going to be. It looks a little bit like it. It could be similar to Luigi’s Rollickin Roadsters. It could be similar to Mater Junkyard Jamboree, or it could be something completely different. It’s really hard to tell, but it’s going to be called Miss Fritter’s Daredevil spinoff, Miss Fritter’s from cars three. You’re going to get a large bus sized animatronic of the bus. Miss fritter and this one is going to be also, you know, not as thrilling as the main attraction, but one that if you think about how cars land is designed, it is going to be the mater’s Junkyard Jamboree to the Radiator Springs Racers. I’m going to skip Disney’s Hollywood Studios for a minute so that we can continue with Magic Kingdom and talk more about Villains land. So they announced that the official name of Villains Land is going to be ready for it. Villains land. Now, I know a lot of Disney fans were kind of saying like, well, yeah, um, I’m very happy with this name. It does make a lot of sense because you have Frontierland, Adventureland, Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, and now Villains Land. So I think this fits. I’m very happy with it. And they announced what two attractions are coming to this. So the first is going to be a Maleficent roller coaster. Um, not many more details besides that. And the second one is going to be sort of like in the bowels of the Queen’s Castle. You’re going to get to ride this evil queen inspired water ride. I know some fans were thinking maybe there’s going to be like a Hades attraction. It’s not going to be Hades water ride. It’s going to be an evil queen water ride. Not too many details about what these interactions attractions will involve, but we know that we’re getting a roller coaster and a water ride, one based on Maleficent, one based on the evil queen and the land officially going to be called Villains Land. Okay, let’s jump over to Disney’s Hollywood Studios because we have Monstropolis. That is going to be they announced opening next year, and there’s going to be a new theme song that was written that they performed called Welcome to Monstropolis. It was written by Randy Newman, which is an excellent choice. It’s also going to be the name of the show that is coming to the Globe Theater. And in this new show, uh, monsters are going to be welcoming humans, and Mike and Sulley are the hosts. Mike is going, you know, over the top, as he tends to do. And they’re just trying to invite humans and welcome them into Monstropolis. They also talked about Harryhausen’s restaurant and showed this new Sushi chef animatronic that is going to mimic the the the sushi chef in the film, like throw like this octopus style monster that’s preparing sushi. So you’re going to get an animatronic of that in this restaurant. I think it’s going to be really hard to get a reservation here when it opens, because this is a highly anticipated restaurant that’s going to really bring you into the film. They also talked a little bit more about the Monsters, Inc. suspended Doors Coaster and said that the lift we already know that there’s going to be this, um, dual load platform where the track itself is actually going to lift into the air, representing and mimicking how the doors get lifted onto a track in the film. And they said that the coaster’s going to lift you forty feet in the air in four seconds. That’s and it’s going to launch you into the ride. Like that’s a pretty dramatic start to the experience. And again, this is something that’s going to be definitely a lot of fun and one that I think Disney fans are going to be pining to come back to Disney’s Hollywood Studios to experience when it opens next year. Okay. Now, the last two major announcements that were snuck in there at the end. Um, but I’ll be honest, there’s not a lot that they announced about this. Um, so I’m just going to highlight them quickly. The first one is, you know, and both of these speak to what Disney fans have been asking for. The first is over at Disneyland. Tomorrowland is going to be reimagined. It’s going to be updated. It’s going to return to the spirit of optimism set forth by Walt Disney. And Thomas Mazloum said that there’s going to be these, you know, they’re imagining more open spaces, new attractions, or updated attractions and a place to come and dream about the future. So whatever it entails, I know Disneyland fans in particular are happy to hear that there is thought going into Tomorrowland at Disneyland. This could be five years out. Could be six years out. Could be longer. But it is something that Disney will hopefully follow up on and begin work on conceptually now and in the near future. The second one is at Epcot, and this is one that, again, Disney fans have been asking for. I’m definitely in that camp as well. They are bringing back the Dreamfinder. Now, if you were not around or don’t remember the original journey into Imagination attraction, which opened in the eighties and was around until the late nineties, it was a longer attraction. I don’t think they can bring back the the original track length itself because they’ve they’ve shifted the building around now like part of the queue space is where the ride used to be. It’s just a lot of, you know, engineering issues there, but they are going to bring back Dreamfinder. So I imagine this will probably be the same ride track, same ride system. If I had to guess, but probably an updated storyline to bring back Dreamfinder. I don’t think anybody’s really upset about this one. You know, there’s always a chance that somebody might be. But and again, we don’t have a timeline, but this is going to be coming to Epcot in the future. Now, before I get into my recap of all of this, I just realized I skipped a couple of announcements that involve Avengers characters and Marvel characters. So let me let me jump back to that. This is what happens when I go out of order. So the expansion to the Hong Kong Stark Expo. Um, this is going to include an attraction called Avengers Research Testing Labs, which is going to involve this one hundred and twenty plus foot storytelling tech that’s going to take you to Asgard, Wakanda, and other places using sling, using the sling ring from Doctor Strange. Um, essentially, you know, this one looks like it’s going to be in the style of Tower of Terror or Guardians of the Galaxy mission breakout, but an Avengers style attraction that’s going to be coming to Hong Kong over in Shanghai. There’s going to be the Shanghai Division of Web um, which is over at Disney California Adventure. This is going to be the only land at the Disney parks entirely devoted to Spider-Man. And it’s going to include murals from local artists in Shanghai. And the final track for the roller coaster that’s going to be opening at this park was already installed. So work definitely continues on this new experience. And over in Avengers Campus at Disneyland, which they announced is opening in twenty twenty eight, both new attractions. There are two attractions that are being developed. We already know both of these Avengers Infinity Defense and Stark Flight Labs. So Avengers Infinity Defense is going to be the e-ticket ride that’s going to take you into this battle. Um, you know, very picture Star Wars rise of the resistance, that sort of, um, theme, but applied to Marvel and applied to the Avengers and in stark Flight Lab, which is this really cool, like stark tech based technology. We’re going to go above this, go onto this robotic arm and go through this test flight. So Avengers Infinity Defense is, they said, going to have these massive physical sets. They showed like a very large hammer, for instance. It looks awesome. Um, and it’s going to seamlessly blend those massive physical sets with these really larger than life media screens as well. And in the story, you’re going to be welcomed as new recruits. Miss Marvel is going to host this brief pre-show, which is going to brief you on the fact that it’s up to you to assemble the Avengers and stop King. Thanos and Disney announced that the original cast for, you know, Hawkeye being Jeremy Renner, Iron Man being Tony Stark, etc. Falcon, they are all going to be played by the original cast, and Stark Flight Lab is also going to feature the original cast of The Avengers featuring Captain Marvel, Iron Man and Falcon. So I’m really excited about those announcements. And again, both attractions are opening in twenty twenty eight. So now let me get to my overall thoughts about this showcase and presentation. I had predicted and said that Disney is going to be focusing on the projects that were previously announced with maybe a couple of surprises thrown in, and that is exactly what we got. And the reason I predicted that was because of everything currently in development. Yes, Disney is big, Imagineering is a big team, but I think it’s impractical to expect that level of energy every two years, because that means that every two years they’re going to have something this massive opening. It’s unscalable and it just it doesn’t make business sense to do that. And the timing of how these attractions are opening the. You know, many Disney fans want a fifth gate at Walt Disney World. They want things to open faster, and they look to Epic Universe as an example of what Disney should do. But let’s now look back a little bit at the game that Disney has said. They’re playing a strategy set forth by Bob Iger and how Epic Universe and Universal has performed. If you just look at the last couple of shareholder reports, um, from Disney and Comcast, Comcast owns NBC universal and therefore owns Universal Studios. Um Disney has been exceeding attendance expectations. They have been performing very strongly with the parks. And that includes Walt Disney World. That includes especially Disney cruise line has been dominating their parks growth, you know, Disneyland. They still remain the top two most visited. Magic Kingdom and Disneyland remain the top two most visited theme parks in the world. And a lot of fans, um, or some online commentary, I should say. I don’t think there’s a lot of fans, but I think some very loud voices online said that when Epic Universe opens, it is going to, you know, really hurt Disney. Um, Comcast has not been doing well. Um, and that’s because I should say specifically Universal Studios has not been doing well. And they’ve said that Epic Universe has sort of met what they expected, but you could tell that they were not glowing about the performance for Epic Universe. And there is some compared to Disney, um, their attendance has not grown as significantly as Disney’s attendance has grown. So why am I bringing this up? I do not want to see epic fail. I actually would love to. I’m not a universal fan. I can’t really do any of the attractions at Epic Universe because I get motion sick and there’s just not much incentive for me to go there. But I still think having a strong competitor is good for Disney, so it’s also good for tourists, it’s good for the local economy, it’s good for so many things. So I am in the camp of I want to see epic universe succeed, right? I want it, but you know, epic universe was done really fast. Um, they were focusing on speed to get that to market and they, um, you know, it’s, it’s had some, some flaws as, as, you know, it’s had definitely some high points, some incredible technology, incredible attractions, incredible themes. Um, but I think it’s just gone to show when you look at the performance from the business side, the number side never lie. And, uh, the numbers never lie and Epic Universe just hasn’t been doing as well as I think some people anticipated And has not been doing as well, frankly, as Disney. I bring this all up to say that strategically, from a business perspective, Disney knows what it’s doing right now. Um, you know, I, I think that they knew that there was going to be this expectation of a lot of really major announcements, new lands, new attractions, maybe new parks that are coming in addition to the things that they previously announced. Um, and despite that, you know, they still had to, um, you know, they’re not working on or they’re already working on so many new lands, so many new attractions, so many new experiences. So they can’t add on top of it now and can’t overpromise for things that are going to be happening over ten years from now. And then that leads into a problem two years from now, when they have another D23 Ultimate Disney fan event that they’re going to have to present more information about. So they still had to present it. So that’s why this particular presentation was all about sharing and shedding more light on the projects that were already announced, and giving fans something to look forward to. And you can tell that all these are staggered, right? Like there are things that are opening in twenty twenty seven. Things are bringing back in twenty twenty seven, things are opening in twenty twenty eight and things that are opening beyond that. So it gives Disney fans a reason to come back and experience new things year after year without just doing everything at once and then moving on to a huge swath of new projects. It’s also not necessarily financially responsible to build, you know, that level of of projects year after year after year after year. But I think Disney is finding this really perfect sweet spot, to be honest, of revitalizing old classic attractions, still honoring their legacy, bringing them new life. sort of refreshing and breathing new life into them, while also giving fans new things to look forward to. Of course, I want to get your thoughts and remember that you can get bonus content and more. A lot more fun over on Patreon at patreon dot com slash Imagination Skyway. That includes ad free episodes, and you can also, if you’re excited to book your next trip on, you know, in this year, twenty twenty seven. Whatever else you’re looking to, to plan a trip to Disney to experience any of these new or older attractions, reach out to our travel partners at travel dot com slash. Remember to, as always, keep moving forward. Thank you so much for listening to the show. I want to know your thoughts again about D23 so you can leave your thoughts on this podcast episode. You can reach out to me. You can tag me on social media, whatever works best for you. Thanks as always, for listening to the show and remember to keep moving forward.