Somewhat surprisingly, Disney has received a lot of social media attention about its D23 presentations this week for being light on detail and new announcements. What Disney did show you is worth so much more – it showcased what is real. All the projects we learned about this week are actually happening, they’re too far down the road to be stopped.
Compare this approach to the blue sky segment at the end of D23 Expo 2022’s presentation where we received around 30 minutes of blue sky “what if?” ideas. If getting excited about stuff that’s never going to happen is your thing, that presentation sounds outstanding. I prefer to live in the real world, I want to know what is actually going to be happening, that is infinitely more valuable than blue sky ideas. Don’t get me wrong, blue sky ideas are fun, and I do not doubt they were born somewhere in reality. But finding out that Piston Peak in Magic Kingdom will have a rally-style attraction where you’ll feel the road and just how bumpy it is, that’s far more interesting because it is real, it is happening, construction is underway.
Back in 2019, it was my first D23 Expo and I sat there and watched Step in Time being performed on stage, then Dick Van Dyke came out on stage to a thunderous round of applause. It was a great thrill, I was blown away and felt excited. This was the setup to a Mary Poppins attraction coming to Epcot as part of the park’s transformation. Well, that transformation is now complete, and that attraction is nowhere to be seen. What D23 does best is invigorate the fandom; fans leave the event feeling more connected to the brand and the stories they are creating, and indeed the company’s legacy. But if you keep announcing projects that never materialise, you get to a point where you lose the excitement for the event because you heard cool stuff and got blown away by big performances, but the things you heard don’t excite you because they’re not happening.
I see D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event 2026 as a course correction. A bit of a reset if you will, one that actually started two years earlier. In late 2022, then-CEO Bob Chapek was ousted from Disney and Bob Iger was brought back to lead the company. Josh D’Amaro was brought in to lead the Disney Parks, Experiences and Products division (as it was then called). Josh showcased quickly that he understood the needs of guests and fans. At the 2024 D23 event you saw the severe underinvestment in the Parks on full display. A lot of what was announced was very early-stage concept. Guests were allowed to board the train at the very start of its journey instead of in a final stage. That’s why in 2026 we sit here with a Disney Experiences presentation with what some would describe as “very little new”. It reflects more on the 2024 presentation than it does right now. D’Amaro said back then that the company was not just talking about these projects, but doing them. That was both a direct point back at the 2022 presentation, and also a promise to fans. And a promise very much kept.
We know that Iger was very fond of intellectual property. Almost every project green-lit under him had a level of IP involvement. Josh’s new leadership is allowing the fans in – we learnt this weekend that good stories are good stories, regardless of IP. The Dreamfinder is coming back – those are the kinds of announcements that aren’t necessarily going out there to large-scale audiences; they’re for us – the fans. Fans know that good storytelling isn’t necessarily related to a movie, or a comic book. It can exist only in the physical space of a theme park, and guests will find something they love in those stories.
Fans have also lamented in recent years the brain drain at Imagineering. Losing names like Tony Baxter and Joe Rohde did not inspire confidence. But hidden in announcements this week have been several items of note that indicate that this knowledge is being restored under the current leadership. Bob Gurr is being brought back to consult on the Carousel of Progress. Bob is one of the last living imagineers who actually worked with Walt Disney and is now working on restoring one of his great originals! Joe Rohde is involved in the Tropical Americas project, which is situated in the park he was the lead imagineer on. Tim Delaney seemingly has some level of involvement with Space Mountain: de la Terre à la lune, the attraction he designed and opened in Disneyland Paris back in 1995. If this does not inspire confidence in the current state of Walt Disney Imagineering, and the overall health of the parks division, I do not know what will!
Looking forward, where do I think this leads us? I think D23 in 2028 will be another one of those exciting instalments. You look at all the projects announced this year, and the majority of them will be open by the time that fans once again assemble in Anaheim in 2028. That leaves the door open to 2028 being another very big year of announcements – and hopefully a year in which we can point to it and also say “all of this will be open by the time we meet again in 2030”. What can be better than going to a panel and knowing that everything you see is actually going to happen?
Sure does beat getting excited and then seeing your favourite projects being cancelled down the line.
Main image: The Walt Disney Company/Image Group LA
Other images: Disneyland Paris
