I assume by "active plans" they mean those that have hit a certain step of approval/are green lit or close to it. SE and JII are still fighting it out on who's first likely and then the winner will go into 'active plans'.
Yeah that was my initial guess, I’m happy to hear both are potentially in line for some work coming up here soon. At the very least I’d imagine we might get some bluesky concept for either this year. Then again, I can see them wanting to commit to a finalized plan for JII & then announcing it, because bluesky plans can change and we don’t need anymore false promises… ESPECIALLY when it comes to the first official news of them giving this attraction the attention it has needed for over 2 decades now. I would think that almost has to be a homerun of an announcement given the touchy circumstances of the situation. A grand reveal is the way I see it. Otherwise they could share bluesky plans for SSE & wait a couple years for a JII announcement. One more significant element of this is the fact they just redid another Baxter attraction, & I remember you alluded to this being a catalyst for which might go first if any
but if one should get sponsor funds, the other would get more funding from Disney,I would assume?
Off topic — but is this a project that has some current motion behind it? Seems like it was pretty close at one recent point.
After TT 3.0 you have a better chance at them taking another swing at Wonders of Life than you do JII. Spaceship Earth will more than likely be EPCOT's next project though.
There's current things being done for SSE and JI in terms of future development from what I've been told. I've heard nothing about Wonders of Life outside of "Disney is trying to court Epic Games into sponsoring a revised Play! Pavilion". All three have motion but I feel more confident in saying JII and SSE is going before any WoL development.
WoL turning into the Fortnite pavilion wasn’t on my 2024 bingo card
Isn’t Wonders sitting bare? More capacity at Epcot would be nice.
Would he be willing? Absolutely.
It’s a damn shame because he is responsible for so many iconic attractions (both operating and defunct).
I honestly think it depends on who is leading the JII refurb on whether Disney would have Baxter back. For example, I overheard him telling another Imagineering CM that he was behind the scenes involved with helping on the Splash Mountain refurb (whether that was on the technical, creative, etc. side, I don't know). But point being, Tony hasn't hung up his Disney ID card for good and would certainly be up to it and Disney has clearly worked with him recently.
He was brought on and then promptly left after learning what the refurb entailed.
It’s probably all of the hosted people.
I am curious why you think this D23 is going to be a good one? The last big one had lots of announcements that were all later cancelled...
I can say as someone who has been to a few big D23 panels, it’s the atmosphere of the room. I was there in 2022 for the movies showcase and the crowd was electric. We cheered for every clip they showed, every star they brought out, every logo on screen. Only after the panel did I realize that I wasn’t actually looking forward to any of those movies. But being in a room filled with hardcore Disney fans and feeling like you’re getting EXCLUSIVE access does a lot.
Sadly, I think there's a lot they could do with that. Gameplay stations aside, they could host dance parties, sell mix & match apparel, have a hot beverage stand called The Teabag. They could host major e-sports tournaments there. Never mind the family of other brands that are now tied into Fortnite.WoL turning into the Fortnite pavilion wasn’t on my 2024 bingo card
A lot of the announcements from 2019 did come about or were cancelled due to the pandemic causing budget slashes. I remember some insiders on here saying that Disney had budgeted some spare money for if they did go overbudget, but can;t remember who said it
