D23 Expo – Everything That Was Announced For Theme Parks

With the recently passed D23 Expo came a huge amount of news and updates about the Disney theme parks across the globe. Let’s take a look at everything that was announced for each theme park!

Disneyland Resort

Disneyland Resort, located in California, will be the first park to begin the 100 Years of Wonder celebration. This celebration is meant to celebrate the 100 years of Disney as a company.

Disneyland Park

Guests will once again be able to see the Magic Happens parade in this theme park, as well as a new nighttime spectacular. In Disneyland Park, guests will be treated to Wondrous Journeys, a projection and firework show that will pay homage to all of the Disney’s 60+ animated films.

The updated Mickey’s Toontown will be opening in early 2023, with the addition of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway.

Disneyland Resort will also be seeing the return of runDisney in 2024.

Also in 2024, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will open as a replacement for Splash Mountain. The new theming will include Anika Noni Rose (who voiced Tiana) and other film cast members as the voices of this attraction.

Disney California Adventure

The World of Color in Disney California Adventure will be coming back, “like you’ve never seen it before”.

Avengers Campus will be featuring new park characters. Hulk will be at Avengers Campus this upcoming week, and Mandalorian Din Djarin and Grogu will be out to greet guests in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in November.

It is not just characters that will be making their way into A third attraction will be coming to Avengers Campus in Disney California Adventure as well. This new attraction promises to “bring the multiverse to Avengers Campus,” by taking visitors to the battle between the Avengers and Thanos.

Disney California Adventure will also see a transformation of the Pacific Wharf into Big Hero 6’s San Fransokyo. This transformation will also include a Baymax meet and greet, but no timeframe on this change has been declared yet.

Downtown Disney

New dining locations will be coming to Downtown Disney with a Din Tai Fung and Porto’s opening soon in the shopping and dining district.

Resorts

The Paradise Pier Hotel at Disneyland will be renamed the Pixar Place Hotel. This is a fitting change given that Pixar Pier replaced Paradise Pier in Disney California Adventure some years ago. This name change seems for in line with the times of the Disneyland Resort park.

Walt Disney World Resort

Magic Kingdom

The new TRON Lightcycle Run rollercoaster will be making its debut in the park in Spring 2023.

Also in 2023, guests will see the return of the beloved firework show Happily Ever After after Disney Enchantment comes to an end.

Guests will also see the Hatbox Ghost enter the Haunted Mansion in Magic Kingdom. When the Hatbox Ghost returned in Disneyland, guests were absolutely thrilled, so it is no surprise that they are bringing him to Walt Disney World as well.

Also just like Disneyland Park, Magic Kingdom will also be changing Splash Mountain in to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure in 2024.

Part of the Blue Sky announcement that was made suggested that Magic Kingdom may soon see a land created behind Big Thunder Mountain. Although there is no concrete plan at this time, many ideas as to what this new land would entail were thrown out such as Coco, Encanto, and even a Villians-themed land. All of which have been highly desired by fans for quite some time.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

During D23, another part of the Blue Sky concept was announced. With the Blue Sky concept, DinoLand in Disney’s Animal Kingdom would be receiving some updates, if not a complete overhaul. Imagineering’s Chris Beatty and Walt Disney Studios’ Jennifer Lee gave some teases as to what may be possible, with the ideas for Zootopia or Moana concepts being at the top of their lists.

EPCOT

The Moana Journey of Water walk-through attraction will be opening in late 2023, with the official opening still to be determined.

Figment will be coming back to EPCOT for a character meet and greet as well in 2023, but again no official date for that has been determined at this time.

Harmonious at EPCOT will be ending in early 2023, and will be replaced by a new 100th anniversary nighttime spectacular.

Disney Cruise Line

A new ship will be joining Disney Cruise Line. The Disney Treasure will be setting sail in 2024. It will feature an adventure theme that will have Aladdin and Jasmine as their Grand Hall characters, with the entrance hall featuring influences from Africa and Asia.

Disney Cruise Line will be setting sail to Australia and New Zealand in October 2023 for the first time ever.

Also the Disney Wonder will be changing course, with Disney Cruise Line’s first South Pacific voyages. It will include stops in both Fiji and Samoa.

The Lighthouse Point in The Bahamas has also begun work. On an additional note, Lighthouse Point will be 90% powered by solar.

International Parks

Hong Kong Disneyland

Hong Kong Disneyland will be getting a little bit more Walt in the park, with a new Walt and Mickey statue. This statue features Walt and the mouse who started it all sitting on the Griffith Park bench where he had begun to envision Disneyland.

Hong Kong Disneyland will also be also be getting a Frozen-themed land. World of Frozen will be opening in the park sometime in the second half of 2023.

Tokyo DisneySea

Tokyo DisneySea will also be seeing a Frozen section come to the park as a part of the Fantasy Springs project. This is set to open either in late 2023 or in early 2024.

Disneyland Paris

Another Frozen themed land will be coming to Disneyland Paris, with no official opening date set yet.

The Frozen land will include a garden-filled promenade that will include the new Tangled attraction.

Shanghai Disneyland

There is much talk about bringing Zootopia into Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and although that is not a for sure plan yet, Shanghai Disneyland is in fact getting its own Zootopia land. No opening date has been revealed yet, but there is plenty of concept art.

Conclusion

As you can see there was so much to take in at D23 Expo, from not just stateside, but internationally as well. What was your favorite theme park announcement from D23 Expo? Comment below what you are looking forward to most in the theme parks! Also, stay tuned into the DVC Shop Blog for the latest news on opening dates for each of the attractions!