What will Disney announce for Disney World at the 2022 D23 expo?

mattpeto

Well-Known Member
WDW needs a big response. Parks and Experiences is still doing fairly good with all things considered so I have some optimism. Especially with so little spending for the 50th. With the removal of free fast passes, termination of the Magical Express and price hikes, they definitely need some good news for fans. Plus, like said earlier, Chapek needs to deliver 'big news' to strengthen his leadership appeal or he may be facing a swift departure. Below is what I believe are realistic announcements that could be introduced at D23 as they relate to just the US Parks.

EPCOT: More info about the re-Imagineering of the park. Hopefully some news on Play Pavilion and the Festival Center. I think there is a good chance we see one more surprise project since the crews are already on site. Could be one already announced and now green-lit again (Spaceship or Mary Poppins), or something new like Figment overhaul or Encanto.

Magic Kingdom: Do we finally see a Lilo and Stitch replacement or Speedway switchover to Electric Cars? My hunch is that Wreck it Ralph will overtake the Stitch building. I can also see a new large scale 100 year parade announced. Wild card here would be Frozen Land expansion.

Animal Kingdom: DAK is next on the list as far as Capital Investment. I can definitely see a new E-ticket announced for Dino land. Maybe even Excavator or total re-theme of area. I also see a new land/expansion announced. Could go many different directions: Zootopia, Indy, South America, etc. Will include another E-Ticket. Wild card - Updated or Alternate version of Pandora Avatar with new films on the way. Prob not going to happen but DAK needs a Lion King Dark ride. I mean come on, how can Lion King not be at DAK. Construct large Pride Rock façade and then a trackless dark ride using Hong Kong Beauty and Beast tech for attraction.

DHS: Not much here. Some stuff on Fantasia and maybe the future of Rockin' Roller Coaster. Wild Card here would be a new Indy Attraction to create a land next to stunt show. Could use the Shanghai boat ride tech for this new attraction. New film on the way! Also, could see Animation Courtyard overhaul but I think that is further down the line.

Out west: Updates on new Toon Town, Tron coming to Disneyland and the confirmation of Marvel E-ticket attraction coming. Maybe some small stuff on Disneyland Forward project.
All of those things sound great, it's just to hard to seeing them being so bold right now.
 

HauntedPirate

Park nostalgist
Premium Member
I'm going to go way out on a limb and say... something something immersion... something something storytelling.

Honestly, there is zero creativity in their PR:

Screenshot 2022-02-28 095055.jpg


I thought I was the magic? That's what a lot of their prior PR gobbledeegook told me. Now they want me to immerse myself in ... myself? This is getting weird and awkward.
 

doctornick

Well-Known Member
I do think they will announce something new for WDW. They need to counter growing disgruntled sentiment about the parks and deflecting with some new shiny thing can be valuable. Plus, they'll want to have something opening to counter Epic Universe and draw attention at that time.

With the ability to monetize new rides via Genie+, they also have greater incentive to loosen the pursue strings to build. I'll be curious how GotG does in that regard - I expect it to sell out quickly like RotR does for LL - which can be further proof of concept in getting return for the investment in new builds.

@ToTBellHop has mentioned they have significant plans ready to go that are just waiting to be greenlit. Seems like DAK would be the next park to get attention if something is announced.
 

HauntedPirate

Park nostalgist
Premium Member
Magic Kingdom: Update on Tron.
Epcot: Update On Journey of Dirt, maybe on SSE future too.
DHS: Return date of Fantasmic! (If it's not back already)
AK: Update on Nemo replacement show.

Another B-roll/pat on the back for Starcrusin'.

Magicband+ infodump/release date if not out already by that time.

All announced by The Man in Skinny Jeans, who will be fawned over by Josh stans.
 

G.L.A.D.I.O

Well-Known Member
Magic Kingdom :
•return of the Main Street Theater project

EPCOT :
• Opening date revealed for both the PLAY ! Pavillon and the Moana water maze
•Figment ride announced
• Coco ride announced
•Words on the projects that have been undefinitly put on hold during the pandemic

DHS
*Pixar themed land placemaking annonced for both Animation Courtyard and Rock and roller coaster

DAK
• Primeval Whirl replacement announced
•expansion of Pandora with a menagerie walkthrough
 

Parker41056

Active Member
Magic Kingdom :
•return of the Main Street Theater project

EPCOT :
• Opening date revealed for both the PLAY ! Pavillon and the Moana water maze
•Figment ride announced
• Coco ride announced
•Words on the projects that have been undefinitly put on hold during the pandemic

DHS
*Pixar themed land placemaking annonced for both Animation Courtyard and Rock and roller coaster

DAK
• Primeval Whirl replacement announced
•expansion of Pandora with a menagerie walkthrough
Main Street Theater would be great for Capacity and to rotate IP's. I could see a world class performance here that rotated every few years. Would be a great place to test popularity of IP's with a show and Meet/greet. Queue up Encanto!
 

Lil Copter Cap

Well-Known Member
They should rethink that.

Universal isn’t a threat to Disney’s brand. The biggest threat to their brand is themselves. If they continue destroying their own brand UO will gladly fill the void.
I keep thinking about Bob Chapek's comment that went viral about Disney's IP is what sets them a part from competitors.

But let me check my notes here...

Nintendo
Mario
Donkey Kong
Zelda
Pokémon
Fantastic Beasts/HP
Minions
Jurassic Park
A variety of Monsters and How to Train Your Dragon
etc etc

Competitors can't take away Snow White, Cinderella, or Moana.
But they can certainly add and diversify to their growing portfolio of nostalgic-loving Millienial IPs and give them a run for their money.

This is all said, of course, knowing that Disney's attendance far surpasses Universal's parks and it isn't so much a numbers game than a long-term, guest loyalty game. Money makes the world go 'round, but if this CEO is gonna claim IPs as their major differentiator...watch out.
 

jaxonp

Well-Known Member
Universal doesn't really own the rights to the IPs they use. Disney knows this and sits pretty. It's really annoying. If anything we need Universal to keep knocking it out of the park. They need another Potter like experience to wake up the folks at Disney and even then I'm not so sure.
 

Lil Copter Cap

Well-Known Member
Universal doesn't really own the rights to the IPs they use. Disney knows this and sits pretty. It's really annoying. If anything we need Universal to keep knocking it out of the park. They need another Potter like experience to wake up the folks at Disney and even then I'm not so sure.
They don't own the rights to the IPs, but they certainly have the rights for their use in a theme park (minus the whole Marvel situation) and I would say the average guest couldn't tell you anything about licensing and couldn't tell you the difference between the two.

I agree with you about another Potter experience. I think Super Nintendo World could be that once all expansions are complete (which, lord knows how long that will be). But even Universal struggled to deliver a fully fleshed-out land for Mario.

What a time to be alive.
 

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
If they want to have a response to Epic Universe, they better announce something given how long it takes Disney to build things. Like with Destination D23, I’m expecting announcements on previously announced projects.
If Disney had planned anything to counter Epic Universe they would have already announced it. Epic Universe was supposed to up late next year. Disney knew that.
 

FigmentForever96

Well-Known Member
I’d imagine updates on Epcot projects, maybe some new entertainment somewhere and then an announcement of the new AK attraction being planned for Dinoland…maybe
 

VJ

Well-Known Member
Expansions to all four parks. New entertainment. New additions to Disney Springs. It'll be a celebration rivalled only by the original 100 Years of Magic celebration in 2001.

...oh wait, this is Chapek and D'Amaro.

You'll get a $25 cupcake and a blurb about how great Cast Members are and you'll like it. And probably an announcement of a Marvel storytelling hotel ala Galactic Starcruiser (because you know GS will be touted as a roaring success) that'll be open in 20 years, though you won't hear about it again for 15.
 

Brer Panther

Well-Known Member
Prediction: They won't announce any new rides, because they don't see Epic Universe as a threat to their pricing and brand power.
That, and they cancelled a bunch of projects to save money for the Splash Mountain retheme. Somehow, I doubt they're going to be announcing anything new until after that's completed.
 

HauntedPirate

Park nostalgist
Premium Member
That, and they cancelled a bunch of projects to save money for the Splash Mountain retheme. Somehow, I doubt they're going to be announcing anything new until after that's completed.
What if... it never happens? There's a part of me that believes it was announced as a knee-jerk reaction, and they've scrambled to come up with a way to make it happen and have little-to-nothing to show for it, for whatever reason (I could be 100% wrong, of course, but the lack of movement after how many years makes you wonder...). I mean, the characters in the ride have no ties to the movie, they were plucked from it and a new story for them was written for the ride.
 

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