The Disney Experiences Showcase during D23 2024 indicated a lot of significant changes are coming to Disney’s theme parks and experiences division. Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro delivered big announcements that will significantly impact both the domestic Disney theme parks and Disney Cruise Line.
D’Amaro noted that these plans are in active development and are not blue sky concepts. That doesn’t mean these plans won’t be adjusted, changed, or scaled down, but it does mean guests should see the below in some way, shape, or form.
Let’s take a look at the five biggest announcements from the showcase. We’ve combined some of these to reflect the overall changes coming to a given park. We’ll also throw in some commentary to run alongside each of the announcements.
Animal Kingdom’s Tropical Americas Land
RIP DinoLand USA. You’ll be missed. The announcement that a new Tropical Americas land will replace the old DinoLand USA wasn’t particularly surprising since Disney first revealed the concept in 2023. However, now we have “official” confirmation that Indiana Jones and Encanto will have attractions in the land.
The Indiana Jones ride will take over the Dinosaur attraction (we’ll miss you Dr. Seeker!) with a brand new story, while the Encanto attraction will take guests inside Casita. Antonio just received his special gift to speak with animals, and guests will journey through his new rainforest room. Disney didn’t share a ton of specifics about the attractions, but it sure sounds like the Encanto ride has similarities to Mystic Manor in Hong Kong Disneyland.
The concept art for the Tropical Americas land as a whole reflects an updated carousel, an overhauled and rethemed Restaurantosaurus, and more. It’s unclear whether any real animals will live in the Tropical Americas section, but we sincerely hope Disney will remember what Disney’s Animal Kingdom is all about.
Major Additions to Disney California Adventure
The bulk of the California theme park announcements centered around Disney California Adventure. The park will have a new Avatar-themed land, two new Avengers attractions in Avengers Campus, and a brand new Coco attraction.
Starting with the Avatar land, the addition won’t simply be a copy of Pandora found in Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The land will reflect the second Avatar film, the Way of Water, and future upcoming Avatar movies. Disney included some brief details about a boat excursion attraction that sounds like a larger, more exhilarating version of Navi River Journey.
Shifting to the Avengers Campus changes, the land will finally receive its major E-ticket attraction – Avengers Infinity Defense. We’ve already seen the ride vehicle for this attraction that guests will use to travel to Asgard, Wakanda, and New York City while battling King Thanos. Avengers Campus will also receive a second new attraction, Stark Flight Lab, that has guests board a Kuka arm in an outdoor environment.
Finally, a new Coco attraction is also coming to Disney California Adventure. With construction expected to begin in 2026, guests will board a boat and travel through the colorful sights and sounds of Coco. The concept art makes the Coco ride look like a cross between Gran Fiesta Tour at EPCOT and the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.
Disney Cruise Line Adding Even More Ships
Currently, Disney Cruise Line has five ships – the Magic, Wonder, Dream, Fantasy, and Wish. More ships are on the way in the Treasure (launching in December 2024), the Destiny (launching November 2025), and the Disney Adventure, which is the repurposed ship that will be based in Singapore. The Oriental Land Company is also bringing a new ship to Japan.
Got all that? That’s a total of nine ships. But, that total is increasing again as Disney announced that four more cruise ships are planned for the future. That’d bring the fleet’s total size to 13 ships, which is obviously a massive expansion of Disney Cruise Line.
Disney didn’t reveal what the new four ships will be like, but we hope they’ll learn from what worked and what didn’t work from the Wish-class style of ships.
Monsters Inc. Land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
A Monsters, Inc. land is coming to Disney’s Hollywood Studios with a first-of-its-kind roller coaster for Disney. The long-rumored door coaster is finally becoming a reality. This will be the first suspended coaster in a Disney theme park, and it brings a project to fruition that has been discussed for more than a decade.
We hope this announcement represents a genuine capacity increase at Hollywood Studios. And, we hope it gives more guests of all ages something to do as the park is a bit light on attractions.
The Monsters, Inc. area does raise plenty of questions with it that we’ll touch on more in a different article. Our biggest question is about where the Monsters, Inc. land will reside in Hollywood Studios. Are the Muppets in jeopardy? Is Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster about to close? What’s happening?
Cars Rides and Villains Land at Magic Kingdom
There’s been a lot of talk about what’s beyond Big Thunder Mountain since Disney teased the idea more than a year ago. Now, it looks like we have some more concrete answers. Magic Kingdom is getting two unique Cars attractions that will become apart of Frontierland. This is note a clone of Radiator Springs out in Disney California Adventure, but is instead its own unique concept.
And, beyond that, Disney confirmed the Villains land is finally happening. The Villains land will have two major attractions, dining, and shopping. That’s all the details Disney provided, but the concept art (which you should never rely on) did seem to show a pretty major roller coaster.
These two changes represent the largest expansion in Magic Kingdom history. We’ve been begging, perhaps annoyingly so, for Disney to increase capacity at its Walt Disney World theme parks. That appears to be finally happening here at Magic Kingdom, though we question if things like Tom Sawyer Island and the Rivers of America are safe.
