Fly like Iron Man. Join a battle in Wakanda. Here are the major theme park projects Disney has announced

By Natasha Chen, CNN

Anaheim, CA (CNN) — On the heels of an earnings report with slumping domestic parks attendance, Disney announced a slew of future theme park and cruise projects to be developed in the coming years, including a villains-themed land, an “Encanto” ride, an ability to take flight like Iron Man, and a new level of audio-animatronic technology that will bring Walt Disney to life in front of guests.

Fans at Disney’s biannual D23 convention had been eagerly anticipating details of these new projects for several years, complaining that previous announcements had teased only vague concepts. But at Saturday night’s high-octane presentation at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, 12,000 fans in attendance learned how the company’s promised $60 billion investment in parks and cruises will take shape over the next decade.

In an interview with CNN, Chairperson of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Josh D’Amaro, said, “What we’re doing, I think, more aggressively than we ever have before, is taking advantage of technology, not for technology’s sake, but to create magical – almost mind-bending – experiences.”

Here are those newly announced projects.

What’s coming to Walt Disney World in Florida

The biggest expansion ever to come to Magic Kingdom will be developed behind the existing “Big Thunder Mountain Railroad” ride, and will include one land themed to villains, as well as one land themed to Pixar’s “Cars” movie.

The concept art shown Saturday for the villains-themed area depicts an ominous setting, where Disney promises two major rides. The “Cars” announcement, marked Saturday night with a live rendition of “Life is a Highway” by Shaboozey, detailed a land that will not be a replica of Cars Land in California, but an “off-road” adventure, with one thrill ride and one family-friendly ride. The Cars area will break ground in 2025.

Magic Kingdom will also be getting its first nighttime parade called “Disney Starlight,” in summer of 2025.

Also within Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, Disney’s Hollywood Studios park will have a new “Monstropolis” land, based on the “Monsters Inc.” franchise. Billy Crystal, who voiced the character Mike Wazowski, came on stage on Saturday night to announce this development, which will feature the first suspended coaster to appear in any Disney park, where guests can zoom through the door vault in the Monsters Inc. factory.

In both Florida and California, Millennium Falcon Smuggler’s Run, located in Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge, will see a new storyline featuring the Mandalorian and Grogu.

At Disney’s Animal Kingdom park, the previously announced Tropical Americas area is now confirmed to open in 2027. It will include the first ride based on the film “Encanto,” and take place inside the magical “Casita” where the movie’s Madrigal family lives. Guests will be able to journey through the day that the character Antonio receives his magical gift, following him as he opens his door to reveal a lush landscape full of animals with whom he can talk.

The same area of the park will feature an “Indiana Jones” ride within the former Dinosaur ride building, but it will not replicate the current “Indiana Jones” rides at Disneyland in California or at Tokyo DisneySea. Instead, people will ride through an adventure where Indiana Jones discovers a Maya temple.

Oscar-winning actor Ke Huy Quan, who appeared as a child in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” was on site to introduce the new attraction.

“That sounds great,” he said of the ride. “But will there be any snakes?”

Disney will build a central “town” within Tropical Americas, called Pueblo Esperanza, with lush foliage, Spanish-style architecture, and a carousel with wood-carved characters.

Animal Kingdom will also see a “Zootopia” show, previously announced, at its theater under the Tree of Life, beginning in late 2025 or early 2026.

At EPCOT, the revamped Test Track will open in 2025. The park will also be getting a new Spaceship Earth lounge that looks out at Dreamer’s Point, where a statue of Walt Disney stands.

When asked whether the Florida resort would get a fifth theme park in coming years to compete with Universal’s Epic Universe park opening in 2025, D’Amaro told CNN, “We’re always thinking about the next thing. For right now, we have so much to celebrate and talk about with what we’ll share with our D23 fans, that I think it will be so overwhelming for them, this is all they’ll be thinking about.”

What’s coming to Disneyland Resort in California

The original park, Disneyland, will celebrate its 70th anniversary in 2025. To mark the occasion, the company will create the first-ever audio-animatronic version of Walt Disney, with a level of complexity of technology that has yet to be seen in a Disney park.

He will be presented on a stage, while guests in the theater can see him sitting in his office, telling stories about what it was like during his time at the helm of the company. This will be a show in rotation with the current “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln” in the Main Street Opera House.

“For me it’s an emotional thing,” D’Amaro said. “It’s an important thing for our guests, it kind of showcases our legacy on one hand, but it also showcases the unbelievable technology and innovation that we have within the halls of Imagineering.”

D’Amaro said the project is being developed with the endorsement of Disney’s family.

Disneyland’s former Splash Mountain has now turned into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and will open on November 15, a ride which has similarly been transformed and opened earlier in the summer at Disney World in Florida.

Across the esplanade at Disney California Adventure park, Avenger’s Campus will more than double in size, with construction beginning in 2025.

The first major attraction added to this area will be a thrill ride called “Avengers Infinity Defense,” where guests will discover that a portal technology has gone missing, causing King Thanos to wreak havoc across multiple worlds. Guests will battle alongside Avengers in defending New York City, as well as battles in Thor’s Asgard and Black Panther’s Wakanda.

The second major ride in this expanded area will be called “Stark Flight Lab,” where guests can ride a test flight like Iron Man, in a two-person pod picked up by a robot arm that makes the pod fly. There will be different test flights to experience, and the ride will not involve virtual reality effects. The robotic arm will be doing the work of physically carrying the ride vehicle.

Disney California Adventure will also be getting a new ride themed to Pixar’s “Coco,” a family-friendly adventure, breaking ground in 2026. Guests will be able to follow Miguel’s journey through the land of the dead, traveling through colorful scenes and seeing animatronics of the skeletal characters from the movie.

An all-new Avatar land will also be coming to California Adventure, based on “Avatar: The Way of Water” and future Avatar films. It will include a new attraction different from what’s currently at Pandora in Florida.

Disney fans in attendance at the presentation appeared most excited about the attractions with detailed concept art and “shovel to soil” start dates. Tom Bricker, who writes Disney Tourist Blog, told CNN that those details and surprise plans will ease recent skepticism among the parks’ most loyal visitors, but some may hold off on visits as well.

“These projects won’t do anything for near term attendance,” Bricker said.

As previously reported, Disneyland Resort will vastly expand its ability to build theme park attractions on its existing property, to the tune of at least $1.9 billion over 10 years.

Victoria Wade, a D23 fan and a content creator who attended the presentation, told CNN “[Disney] essentially got on our level and showed us that they heard our feedback, they [listened] to us and that they want the parks to grow and succeed just as much as we do.”

Wade said she and her friends summarized the evening this way: “We are so back, baby.”

What’s coming to the Disney Cruise Line

Disney Cruise Line currently has five ships, with four more in production. The company announced on Saturday that it will add another four ships by 2031, nearly tripling the size of the current operating fleet.

“The demand is so high against our relatively small fleet today, we have huge confidence in our ability to invest and deliver incredible experiences – and this last part is important – around the world,” D’Amaro said. Specific locations for the ships’ journeys have not yet been announced.

The new Disney Destiny ship will be getting a Hercules stage musical on board.

Robert Niles, founder and editor of Theme Park Insider, said the biggest surprise of the night might have been this cruise line expansion: “That’s a huge turnaround from just four years ago, when people were predicting the death of the cruise industry because of the pandemic.”

What’s coming to the international Disney Parks

Shanghai and Hong Kong Disney parks will be getting new Marvel rides. Shanghai Disneyland will get a thrill ride about Spider-Man, the first time Marvel will appear in that park. In Hong Kong, another major Marvel attraction featuring Spider-Man and one of his foes will be added to the “Stark Expo” area of Tomorrowland.

In Paris, Disney’s first-ever theme park attraction based on “The Lion King” will be built at the renamed Disney Adventure World park. Visitors will see this new log-flume style attraction, following Simba from cub to king, in a land themed to the pride lands.

A nighttime show will come to the lake being built in the same park, called “Adventure Bay.”

Disneyland Paris’ original park along with Tokyo Disneyland will also get new nighttime shows. Paris will see its show start in January, with projections on the castle and (for the first time there), on Main Street. Tokyo’s show, called “Reach for the Stars,” will begin on Sept. 20.

What’s coming to Epic Games

Disney had previously announced a $1.5 billion equity investment in Epic Games. At Saturday’s D23 event, the company announced new players in Fortnite, a portion of the presentation that was watchable via livestream on that platform.

The new characters  include ones from Disney, Star Wars and Pixar’s “The Incredibles.” The next Marvel season coming to Fortnite will come on August 16 and feature Dr. Doom.

“This is what Disney needed tonight – a big, emotional win with its biggest fans. The next step is to amplify that excitement to draw in casual fans and occasional visitors. That’s Disney’s next challenge, going forward,” Niles said.

CNN’s Megan Thomas contributed to this report.

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