News D23 Expo 2019

[Dizknee_Phreek]

My thoughts exactly. Brother Bear... Or Pocahontas/Grandmother Willow... Or Chip and Dale... Or even Robin Hood. I've long thought Tiana's Place would be a great addition. But, it belongs at POFQ or POR. Especially given the recent food upgrades to CSR and CBR. POR/POFQ is due!

YESSSS!!!! How did I not think of Pocahontas? Perfect tie-in with a nature theme. And the poor girl never seems to get any love with all the froo-froo princesses around. Your other suggestions would be a perfect fit too. Even Winnie the Pooh would have worked. They have such an extensive collection of characters to work with, but it seems like they only focus on the same few all the time.

 

[MarkTwain]

They have a hotel that's literally based on New Orleans.

So of course Tiana's restaurant is going next to the Davy Crockett bar...

View attachment 401978

A New Orleans-themed hotel with no TSR, and ready to go with an unused dining room (and working kitchens!) no less.

Absolutely baffling. Who makes these decisions??

 

[marni1971]

This crackpot story about recent political issues delaying the Brazil announcement that some "insiders" are using right now to try to save their credibilities is a complete joke. These are the same people who yesterday were swearing up and down it was happening.

Brazil backed out MONTHS AGO. Only reason I thought it was still possible and kept mentioning it as part of my D23 Expo predictions is there was the possibility (and still is) of Disney paying for it. But we know how hard it is for these things to get approved these days.

“Brazil” can’t have backed out. “Brazil” were never in it.

Who’s using recent politics as excuses why it wasn’t announced?

 

[Kev1982]

Just as well Christina mentioned Tokyo “a few times” or you wouldnt have known they have a resort there.

 

[Stripes]

I wouldn't jump to that conclusion just yet.

Speaking for myself, I would rather have an expanded U.K. pavilion with a D-ticket dark ride than Brazil with no ride at all and a carousel at the U.K. pavilion.

I have little interest in Brazilian culture though. Someone that does would probably have a different opinion.

 

[RSoxNo1]

If anyone still believes anything they read online, expect this presentation to be Epcot heavy. There should be something for Shanghai and something for Hong Kong, a few Marvel things for DCA (but don’t call it Marvel) including something I don’t think is “out”’yet - well not in the US (and it’s not Slingshot), boat stuff as well but plenty about Epcot. New CV film details. The UK project everyone’s waiting for. SSE. And the thirds of Futureworld.

Plus a few other WDW items outside of the berms. One of them just outside.

Nailed it.

 

[eddie104]

YESSSS!!!! How did I not think of Pocahontas? Perfect tie-in with a nature theme. And the poor girl never seems to get any love with all the froo-froo princesses around. Your other suggestions would be a perfect fit too. Even Winnie the Pooh would have worked. They have such an extensive collection of characters to work with, but it seems like they only focus on the same few all the time.

She seems to be getting some love in this new resort though.

 

[World_Showcase_Lover007]

Since it started taking them at least 3 years to create anything new besides cupcakes.

To be fair, they can build restaurants #11 and #12 in the Japan pavilion within 2.5 years. Plus I bet they get most of the Target store in Bozeman, Montana up and running within this timeframe.

 

[GhostHost1000]

D23 The D is for Disappointment. The 23 is for the 23rd century.

I was thinking it meant

"D"on't expect us to complete any construction in "2"-"3" years...ever

 

[Dizknee_Phreek]

She seems to be getting some love in this new resort though.

Oh yeah? How so? I completely missed that part of the presentation. I'm going to have to go back and watch it.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Meh.

 

[jt04]

Well evidently they couldn't make an exact clone of Tiana's restaurant considering the fact it was in a old mill so they created something more bayou inspired to fit the resort.

Agreed. And some of the leaked concept art may be intended for a different resort. In theory.

 

[seascape]

I spent the last day thinking about how disappointing the Parks presentation was. I know we all expected more information. I also thought about Universal's statement of why they didn't provide more information and their answer that they wanted to make sure people visited in the time before the new park opened. Then I looked at the attendance numbers for both companies. Universal was down between their announced HP land and when it opened. Disney was down before GE opened. Therefore, I have concluded we will not likely see as much announced in the future on opening dates and ride details. Universal has shown Disney announcing things too far in advance hurts attendance and revenue. This is disappointing but understandable.

 

[Donaldfan1934]

I feel like they wasted this D23. I feel like we've been reminded of many of these things for years now. lol. They could have better teased future investment but they really didn't. We know from here other things are brewing so it really almost felt like a waste of time. It was meant to be a hype panel, really, and it fell flat (despite the vloggers cheering at each and every thing). I think we all set our expectations too high. We we kind of warned to not get hopes high. I didn't, but it was still such an awful presentation. The entire thing was a chore to sit through.

D23 2021 falls during the start of WDW's 50th and 2022 is Epcot's 40th. If they want to leverage buzz and hype, they can announce a Coco overlay, Imagination, more about Mary, etc. Animal Kingdom turns 25 in 2023 and DHS turns 35 in 2024 so they could pick 2021 as the time to announce projects there (just all a guess! But I give them too much credit). There's a lot that could make 2021 better. Let's hope!

I definitely think 2021 should be better given that a lot of the projects they talked about at this D23 will be completed by then, but that’s still no excuse for not giving us more than what they did. All it would’ve taken is a few announcements regarding Imagination, the 50th, or even the reimagining of WDSP to turn the panel into a success. It’s a real shame how they wasted so much time with projects like the Target partnership or Disney Genie that would’ve been better suited for a shareholders meeting or DisneyParks Blog post respectively.

 

[SirLink]

I definitely think 2021 should be better given that a lot of the projects they talked about at this D23 will be completed by then, but that’s still no excuse for not giving us more than what they did. All it would’ve taken is a few announcements regarding Imagination, the 50th, or even the reimagining of WDSP to turn the panel into a success. It’s a real shame how they wasted so much time with projects like the Target partnership or Disney Genie that would’ve been better suited for a shareholders meeting or DisneyParks Blog post respectively.

They have all year to announce projects - so don't be surprised when a project gets announced on rainy Tuesday morning in September or Sunny Thursday in May. Plus with October approaching that is the time the Board will vote on new projects for financial approval.

 

[ChillSeaker]

I find it interesting that there were still posters that were not "revealed" at Sunday's parks presentation. I'm just speculating but my gut is telling me the board has pulled back on investment budget because of Galaxy's Edge reaction and attendance sagging. The huge EPCOT overhaul became more planters and fountains to kill Future World. They are going to spend money on the festival space (which they can put high cost experiences in to recoop the cost) and a minimal overlay for Spaceship Earth. Notice they only announced the entry facades for Mary Poppins...not even the ride concept. It was all very suspect, and the presentation seemed to be filled with speeches designed to eat up time that could have been used to show new things. I would also like to point out that if the stock market has recession worries, Disney parks generally don't perform well, so there could have been some pump back on all the "new" just because they are waiting to see what happens with the economy. They are going to put a Walt statue in the park, that seems to be the default solution to any park problem. The issue here though is that EPCOT Center wasn't Walt's vision, it was the best Imagineering knew to do based on his vision, now they are removing all trace of that. Maybe they can rework the statue so he has his head in his hands in total disbelief.

 

[Indy_UK]

Epcot overhaul was the last major annnouncemene before Iger and probabaly Chapek go in 2021 as a new team may want to do things differently

 

[ChillSeaker]

Epcot overhaul was the last major annnouncemene before Iger and probabaly Chapek go in 2021 as a new team may want to do things differently

Last we heard Chapek was in line for the throne. He will have to leave to spend more time with his "<company selected family member or hobby>" before 2021.

 

[ppete1975]

@marni1971 "Plus a few other WDW items outside of the berms. One of them just outside." was that the Disney hotel or did I miss an announcement.
BTW I like your new avatar better now that it doesn't have the pink lines from time racers I assume

 

[LukeS7]

Figured I would pop in here really quick to provide some info for those curious about the Epcot posters. The artists are Eric Tan and Stacey Aoyama. According to Eric's Instagram, they'll be released for sale at some point, but even he doesn't know the exact details. I'd recommend following either/both of them on Instagram if you want to find out when they're available: