The 2024 D23 conference revealed big Disney expansion plans for the company’s USA based theme parks. Disney’s future plans include new attractions, lands and other experiences.
As we dive into the proposed Disney World expansions proposed for the upcoming years, be sure to bookmark this page and keep checking back. While some details are sparse at the moment, we’ll continue to make updates as more information becomes available about Disney park expansion plans.
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Disney Expansion Plans at Disney World Magic Kingdom Park
Magic Kingdom at Disney World is certainly seeing its share of the love in the future plans for Disney World. Two new lands are part of the Disney expansion as well as new rides and attractions.
Magic Kingdom Frontierland to Welcome Lightning McQueen
If Disney’s future plans for Magic Kingdom’s Frontierland play out as well, guests are in for a real treat, as an all-new Cars Land transforms a lesser used section of Magic Kingdom.
Taking up residence where Tom Sawyer Island and the Rivers of America currently reside, the new Cars Land will feature a rally race across rugged terrain and mountain slopes. The ride will feature several interesting elements, including mud holes and geysers.
The race ride will be geared toward taller riders, so the new cars land will also feature an attraction for shorter guests. Details are sparse at the moment, even though construction should be starting in 2025.
Villains Haunt the Day and Night Beyond Frontierland
Leaving Frontierland, an all-new experience opens at Magic Kingdom, taking guests out of the fanciful land of fairytales and into the dark side. This land, dedicated to Disney villains, will be a “place where poison apples are aplenty and magic potions can ruin your whole day,” according to Disney Parks Blog.
According to Josh D’Amaro, chairperson of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, this villainous undertaking could result in a whole new side of Magic Kingdom, as characters we both love and loathe make happily ever after feel like a distant dream.
If this addition to Magic Kingdom feels a little out of place, it’s important to note that many guests have been asking for such an addition for quite awhile. Just harken back to 2021 when Qcastro proposed a villain-themed 5th gate on Reddit and Mickey Central offered up an idea for an adult-focused Villains Kingdom park.
While the new land may not live up to the dastardly dreams of the villain fans, it will offer guests immersion into a different side of Disney films, with two major attractions, dining, and shopping all focused on the darker side.
Disney Future Plans for Magic Kingdom Near Term
While the aforementioned enhancements will take a period of years to construct, Disney also has plans for the Magic Kingdom that guests will realize in the near term:
- “Disney Starlight” nighttime parade will be welcomed to Magic Kingdom Park beginning summer 2025. If you are a fan of the “Main Street Electrical Parade”—and even if you’re not—you won’t want to miss this new nighttime spectacle. Watch, as The Blue Fairy brings the magic of Disney characters from classic Walt Disney Animation Studios films to life, including “Peter Pan,” “Encanto,” “Frozen” and more, using the latest in available technology.
- Welcoming pirates both big and small, a new Pirate Themed lounge will open in Magic Kingdom in 2025. The new watering hole will featurea “sea-worthy selection of grogs and grub,” according to Disney Parks blog.
Disney Expansion Plans at Disney World EPCOT
As EPCOT park continues an ongoing renovation phase, few new enhancements were revealed for this park at the 2024 D23 session. However, EPCOT will see a few changes in the near future.
Test Track to Reopen a New Experience
The biggest announcement revolved around Test Track, a ride that shut doors in 2024 for an extended refurbishment period. News from D23 revealed that the closure would be more than a small spruce up.
When the ride reopens in 2025, guests can expect a re-imagined experience, still sponsored by Chevrolet, but now celebrating the past, present and future automation. If you’re thinking that description refers to more than cars, you could be right.
According to Rachel Paige, Senior Manager, Editiorial at Disney Parks Blog, the new ride will highlight the people and vehicles that help push us into the “next chapter in our motion journey”, through 6 distinct exhibits within the ride queue.
New show scenes during the ride will take guests on a journey through technological advances that highlight the connection between lifestyles and mobility. These include onboard technology, customization and personalization.
If it all sounds a little vague or bland, rest assured the ride could still deliver on the thrills as well, with a scenic jaunt through the countryside to remind us of the joys of driving and spending quality time with friends and family.
New Space Themed Lounge Coming to EPCOT
Following up on the popular Space 220 Lounge, Epcot will welcome a second space-themed venue. This one, designed to elicit the optimism and hope inspired by the Spaceship Earth ride, will offer a peaceful space patterned after everyone’s favorite geometric sphere.
Disney Expansion Plans at Disney World Hollywood Studios
Mike and Sulley plan to join Woody, Buzz and friends at Hollywood Studios as Disney expansions in Florida take shape.
Monsters Inc Land to Dominate Hollywood Studios Landscape
Stroll the streets with Mike, Sulley and other lovable monsters from the Pixar film in Disney’s new monster inspired land at Hollywood Studios. Guests will be invited for the first time into the world of Monsters, Inc.
The main highlight will be the factory tour. Here, guests will generate their own laughter as they fly through on a door, just like Mike and Sulley did in the 2001 film.
“Remember in the movie how those claws grab the doors and hoist them up into the air to take them away?” said D’amaro at the D23 event. “We’re doing that, too. And you’re going along for the ride.”
This imaginative experience will be Disney’s first ever suspended coaster and has generated no small amount of excitement.
New Missions Come to Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run
If you ever dreamed of taking to space aboard the Millennium Falcon on a new and different mission, you’ll soon have your chance. The new experience features Mando and Grogu, but no definitive opening date has been announced.
Disney Expansion Plans for Disney World Animal Kingdom Park
Expanding the appeal of this conservation-themed park, Disney expansion plans will veer a little off course for Animal Kingdom park. Following in the footsteps of the Pandora Land creation, new shows and attractions proposed at this park will focus more on Disney’s intellectual property than high ideals. While we’re excited to see the proposed enhancements, we do miss the previous focus on animals and conservation.
DINOSAUR Goes Extinct to Make Way for Encanto and Indiana Jones
New Disney Expansion plans at Animal Kingdom include the creation of an 11-acre new tropical themed land that will replace DINOland USA. Rides and attractions in this section of the park will begin closing in phases throughout 2024 to make room for the future expansion.
Oddly enough, this new section of the park will be home to attractions based on 2 drastically different films. One will focus on the Madrigal family as Tony learns to communicate with animals and his room is transformed into a magical rainforest.
The second is likely to take up space in the building where DINOSAUR once transported guests back in time to catch a now extinct reptile. A new Indiana Jones experience is coming to the future tropical themed land at Animal Kingdom, taking guests on a wild ride through a Mayan Temple.
If you’re wondering why an Indiana Jones themed experience would be incorporated into a tropical land featuring the Madrigal’s, here’s the connection. The DINOSAUR ride operates on similar ride vehicles as the Indiana Jones attraction in Disneyland, making it easier to replicate within the existing space.
While we welcome Indiana to his new adventure, we’ll miss the Iguanadon all the same, if not the inoperable animatronics of the current ride.
Zootopia and Animal Kingdom Finally Collide
For all the fans who thought Zootopia characters belonged in Animal Kingdom Park, you’re about to get your wish. Starting next winter, Judy Hopps, Nicke Wile and their friends will take over the Tree of Life Theater. The new film will adventure through the different biomes from the film.
There has been no word on whether the attraction will be 3-D or if it will permanently replace the “It’s Tough to Be a Bug” show currently running in this space. Announcements about the new attraction have been rather hushed on this question.
California Adventure and Disneyland Expansion Plans
To kick off the park’s 70th anniversary in 2025, expansion plans have also been revealed for Disneyland and California Adventure. New rides, experiences and lands are part of the California expansion at Disneyland resort.
Pandora to Open at Disneyland
Guests of Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Florida will be familiar with bioluminescence and riding a banshee through the treetops, and Disneyland guests will soon be able to experience some of the Avatar magic for themselves. However, the new land will not be an exact replica of the space found in Florida. Instead, Disneyland’s Avatar land will take inspiration for the film, “Avatar: The Way of Water,” offering new experiences and attractions.
Walt Disney Comes to Life at Disneyland Park
Beginning in 2025, a Walt Disney animatronic will take center stage as part of a new show inside the Main Street Opera House at Disneyland. The current studio houses “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln,” which will temporarily go into retirment before being brought back out of moth balls to rotate with the new Walt Disney show, titled “Walt Disney — A Magical Life.”
First Ever Coco Themed Attraction Set to Open at Disneyland
Courtesy Disney Parks Blog.
“We’re bringing our skeletal cast of characters to life in a big way through the latest Audio-Animatronics technology,” said D’amaro to the crowd gathered at the D23 event. “These figures will appear in ways you’ll have to see to believe.”
Disneyland Millennium Falcon Receives New Mandalorian Mission
Earlier, we announced that Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run at Disney World’s Hollywood Studios would receive a new mission for guests to experience. The same is now true at Disneyland, where a new story centered on The Mandalorian and Grogu will premier in 2026 in timing with the new film release.
Avengers Campus Continues to Expand
The Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure is set to double in size with the addition of 2 new hero-inspired attractions. Infinity Defense invites guest on a search for missing technology that allows Avengers to jump between worlds. Travel to iconic locations like Asgard, Wakanda, and New York City as you fight to stay one step ahead of Thanos.
If that isn’t enough excitement, head out to Stark Labs on a 2-person pod to see what the amazing mind of Tony Stark has dreamed up now. Just beware. The journey could get a little rough as a robot arm grabs your pod and whirls it through time and space (That last part is probably my imagination, but the robot arm and pod are all true).
Conclusion
While the released Disney expansion plans are far from detailed and specific, we’re excited to see major renovations taking place at Disney World parks. With 2 new Universal Studios parks opening in Orlando in 2025, Disney will need to pull innovation off of moth balls and give carte blanche to imagineers to keep pace. The recent launch of Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind was a small sampling of what these talented minds can do. We look forward to seeing them push the envelope further as these new plans are put into action.
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