Here's the issue. Blame whichever Bob you want, or both, but there has been a drastic drain of talent at Imagineering. There has been leadership changes with Bruce Vaughn coming back earlier this year along with Barbara Bouza 2 years ago (Dec '21?) at the start of the pandemic. You had that huge mistake with the move to FL that pushed even more people out.
You had Chapek who basically had zero future plans for the parks.
Combine the brain/creative drain plus the directive of the CEO and you basically have zero in the pipeline and to fill that pipeline of expansion is HARD.
With a company the size of Disney (or just Disney Parks) you can't just flip a switch and execute on some major infrastructure project, During good times it takes years before you're ready to start. Now? Longer. This is why they haven't announced anything yet for sure. That's why you have all these "Blue Sky" nonsense announcement. They are covering for themselves because they aren't ready yet.
That's why D23 next year is where they are planting their flag. They've had enough time 2 years under Iger with his "reinvestment" in the parks to hire talent, organize the talent, design and iterate ideas etc. Remember that Iger statement about coming back to the office?
Remember
@lentesta description of WDI when he had a tour and how empty it was?
All that being said, there is going to be a giant 5 year blank spot in WDW updates because they probably had to restart everything.
I don't have any inside knowledge of WDI but I know how engineering teams work. I've worked with teams of fortune 100 companies for complex automation projects and I know how long things take even under optimal situations. And that's just working with technology and not having to work with a creative element.
