Destination D23: These are the Novelties at the Disney Parks

(eap) Disney’s annual “Destination D23” fan event took place this past weekend, with Disney Parks, Experiences and Products Chairman Josh D’Amaro announcing news on current and future projects at Disney parks worldwide.

First and foremost were announcements on Walt Disney World in Florida. At Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park, the “Dinoland U.S.A” themed area will be redesigned in the coming years into an area inspired by a region that sometimes is referred to as “tropical Americas”. Part of this area will be new attractions inspired by the Disney animated film “Encanto” and the popular “Indiana Jones” film series. In addition, a new show based on the animated film “Zootopia” was announced for the “Tree of Life” theatre.

According to Bruce Vaughn, Chief Creative Officer at Walt Disney Imagineering, there are huge expansion plans for the Magic Kingdom Park. New attractions, restaurants and shows will be created here – similar in scale to areas like “Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge” or “Pandora – The World of Avatar”. In addition, a “Pirates of the Caribbean”-themed lounge will be added to the existing “Adventure Land” themed area. The well-known “Country Bear Jamboree” attraction – a show stage manned by bear animatronics – will receive new songs and performances in 2024. The bears will then perform popular Disney songs in a reinterpreted country version.

At Epcot Park, the new walkthrough attraction “Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana” is scheduled to open Oct. 16. The “World Celebration” themed area, which will connect the front area of the park with the new “World Discovery” and “World Nature” themed areas, will complete Epcot’s year-long transformation for now in December. In addition, the “Test Track” attraction will be redesigned together in cooperation with Chevrolet and a new show entitled “Luminous The Symphony of Us” is making its way into the park.

At Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim (California), a new attraction will be built at the Avengers Campus. This will transport heroes in a “world-jumping vehicle” into the “multiverse”. At Tokyo Disney Resort, “Rapunzel’s Forest”, “Peter Pan’s Never Land” and “Frozen Kingdom” will become part of the eighth themed area, “Fantasy Springs”, which is scheduled to open in the Japanese park in 2024.

At Disneyland Paris, the transformation of the Walt Disney Studios park is progressing and with it, among other things, the creation of the new Frozen themed area. At Hong Kong Disneyland the “World of Frozen” opens already in November. Also, glimpses of the new “Zootopia” themed area at Shanghai Disney Resort were shared. At both Disneyland Park in California and Hollywood Studios in Florida as well as at Disneyland Paris, “Ahsoka” is set to become part of the “Star Tours” attraction next spring – the “Star Wars: Ahsoka” series is currently running on Disney+.

Disney Cruise Line: Three new ships and a new destination called “Disney Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point” (Bahamas) are currently under development. The seventh and thus newest ship of the Disney shipping company will be called “Disney Adventure” and will be the first Disney ship to sail from Singapore through Southeast Asia starting in 2025. ■