A Comprehensive of List of Everything Announced for Disney Parks at D23 2022

Every two years, the Walt Disney Company hosts the D23 Expo at the Anaheim Convention Center in order to showcase “all the magic, wonder, and adventure of Disney at this remarkable gathering created especially for the most passionate and loyal fans.”

After an extended break due to COVID-19, the Expo returned, and presented three full days of “inside-the-magic” experiences, including exclusive sneak peeks at upcoming films from Walt Disney Studios, dazzling celebrity appearances, the Disney Legends ceremony, and the Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives exhibition, which spotlights crown jewels from Disney’s timeless legacy.

And of interest to theme park fans: a look at what’s coming from Disney Parks and Resorts and Walt Disney Imagineering. Each D23, this panel showcases a little bit of everything coming to Disney Parks and Resorts around the globe, and is one of the hottest tickets of the weekend. In an effort to streamline everything, we’ve curated a list of everything that was mentioned during the parks panel, to hopefully make it easier to digest!

First, we’ll start in the United States at Disneyland Resort. 

New Character Meet & Greets

If you’re a fan of Star Wars or Marvel, one of the soonest changes coming to Disney Parks and results will be the ability to meet new characters. Beginning next week, guests will be able to meet “Smart Hulk” from the Disney+ series “She-Hulk” beginning next week. Beginning in mid-November, Star Wars fans will be able to meet Grogu (Baby Yoda, for those who aren’t Star Wars inclined) and The Mandolorian from the Disney+ Star Wars Franchise.

Over at Disney’s California Adventure, Avengers Campus is also going to become the beneficiary of a new attraction, the third in the land. While details, including a name and attraction type were not mentioned, the attraction will feature an all new story, where the Avengers team up to battle King Thanos, a multiverse variant designed specifically for Avengers Campus.

Elsewhere in California Adventure, the park’s Pacific Wharf will be re-themed and reimagined as San Fransokyo from the Big Hero 6 franchise. The new land will feature a Baymax meet & greet, along with new shopping and dining options. No date was announced for this transformation.

At Disneyland, Mickey’s Toontown, along with the West Coast iteration of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway will open in early 2023. Concept art was released for the re-imagined area, including the queue, but no specific details of any differences between Runaway Railway attractions

There are two new nighttime spectaculars coming to Disneyland Resort: World of Color – One at Disney’s California Adventure and Wondrous Journeys at Disneyland. Both shows are designed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Disney. The “Magic Happens” parade will also return in 2023.

Outside the parks, the Disneyland Paradise Pier Hotel is being rethemed to the Pixar Place Hotel, and will feel “completely new.”

Two new restaurants – Porto’s Bakery & Cafe and Din Tai Fung – will be opening at Downtown Disney at Disneyland.

And finally, for the last bit of west coast-specific news, RunDisney will be returning in to Disneyland in 2024.

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure

The Parks & Resorts panel also provided an update on the semi-long-awaited reimagining of Splash Mountain at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World into a Princess and the Frog-themed attraction. The attraction will be known as Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, and is scheduled to open at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World in late 2024.

Set in 1927, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is an “all-new” story, and will feature multiple actors from the original film. More details on surrounding shopping and dining options will be released at a later date.

A model showcasing Tiana’s Bayou Adventure was also on display this week at D23.

Walt Disney World

 

In case you haven’t seen Harmonious at Epcot yet, you might want to make plans. A yet-to-be-named new nighttime spectacular is coming to Epcot for Disney’s 100th Anniversary, and will be replacing Harmonious, a show that was originally announced at the 2019 D23 Expo.

The park also announced a meet-and-greet with Figment, coming to EPCOT by the end of 2023.

Elsewhere in Epcot, the Moana-inspired Journey of Water, along with the rest of World Celebration are scheduled to open at the park by late 2023.

At the Magic Kingdom, we finally have an opening timeline for the United States version of TRON: Lightcycle Power Run. It will open in Spring 2023, after originally being announced at D23 2017.

Also at the Magic Kingdom in 2023, The Hatbox Ghost, an original, quickly removed, and later-restored element of the Disneyland version of The Haunted Mansion, will be joining the 999 happy haunts at the Florida Haunted Mansion.

Disney Abroad

At Disney Parks abroad, there were a number of quick mentions during the D23 Parks and Resorts panel.

At Shanghai Disneyland, there was footage of the Officer Clawhauser animatronic coming to the park as part of its new Zootopia Land. New concept artwork was also revealed.

Hong Kong Disneyland unveiled a new Walt Disney statue coming to the park, and additional concept art for the “World of Frozen” land opening at the park in the second half of 2023.

In addition to a “Frozen” land of its own, Disneyland Paris will also be opening a new “Tangled” family attraction. Disney Studios Paris will be the recipient of a new Pixar-inspired show called “Pixar: We Belong Together.” Disneyland Paris’ Disneyland Hotel will also re-open in 2024, with new “Frozen” suites.

Not leaving Japan out, there was new concept art released for Tokyo Disneysea’s new “Fantasy Springs” area that features “Frozen,” “Tangled,” and “Peter Pan” attractions.

There was also a video showcasing the new Elsa animatronic that will appear in the Frozen attraction. If you ask twitter, it’s a significant upgrade over Frozen Ever After at Epcot!

At Tokyo Disneyland, the park’s version of Space Mountain will undergo a major face-lift beginning in 2024, that is scheduled to be complete by 2027.

The attraction will look drastically different between day and night!

Blue Sky

The final portion of the presentation focused on what was referred to as “Blue Sky.” Please note, despite what you might be reading across the internet, these additions, all focusing on Walt Disney World are NOT CONFIRMED AS ACTUALLY HAPPENING AS OF THIS WRITING. That’s kind of the point of the “Blue Sky” idea phase.

First, there were discussions about replacing Dinoland U.S.A at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. (If you’re new to Coaster101, welcome. But we’ve hypothesized about what could replace Dinoland already. Check it out!) These discussions were centered around IP like Zootopia and Moana.

A reminder, these are purely just concepts and ideas at this phase and have not been confirmed. Another “Blue Sky” idea focused on the land “Beyond” Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Magic Kingdom. This new land could feature “mini” lands centered around Coco, Encanto and Disney Villains.

There was also conjecture online if these new lands would be “in” Magic Kingdom itself, or are the beginnings of a “fifth” Walt Disney World park. We’re not too much in the business of speculating what this could mean, but again, these are concepts and ideas at this point.

Not Mentioned:

There were several things not mentioned in this year’s D23 Parks and Resorts Panel that were mentioned in 2019 – including the Epcot Play Pavilion, Mary Poppins Attraction, Spaceship Earth refurb, and Avengers Campus Quinjet attraction. We’re not sure what the status is regarding these attractions.

Which attraction addition are you most excited for? Let us know in the comments below! For more information on D23, be sure to visit the D23 website!

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Sep 11, 2022 by Features 3
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Andrew Stilwell

Andrew Stilwell has been writing for Coaster101 for more than a decade after finding a way to combine his seemingly unrelated passions for roller coasters and creative writing. He is also the host and producer of Coaster101.com's weekly-ish podcast, the cleverly titled "The Coaster101 Podcast." A native of North Carolina, his favorite coaster is Carowinds at Fury 325, followed by a list that honestly changes depending on the day.

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3 Responses

  1. Andrew Wirtanen says:
    Sep 12, 2022 at 9:11 am

    Solid roundup. One thing: I think we can assume the Multiverse and King Thanos are part of a new storyline for the Quinjet attraction.

    Reply
  2. Jacob says:
    Sep 12, 2022 at 5:04 pm

    D23 should stand for disappointment 23

    Reply
  3. Parker says:
    Sep 18, 2022 at 7:39 pm

    Yeah I know Disney didn’t mentioned the PeopleMover returns to California but it’s just the rumors the PeopleMover returns in the near future in Anaheim!

    Reply

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