All The Disney Parks Announcements From D23 Sunday
Image Source: Disney/D23 via Carson J. Kelly
Sunday at D23 Expo had quite a bit going on, though easily a bit lighter than Friday or Saturday. However, that doesn’t mean there was nothing to make a little noise. The day’s biggest presentation was A Boundless Future: Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products, essentially the Parks’ showcase. I will certainly concede to underplaying it when reporting the live stream schedule. This was as big and grandiose as everything else in Hall D23.
It began with the announcement that “Happily Ever After” will play again during nighttime spectaculars over Cinderella’s castle at Walt Disney World, reversing a quite unpopular change. Paris is getting a new Pixar stage show. The (ex-?)Mandalorian and Grogu were given a first look as walk-around characters for Galaxy’s Edge in Disneyland, where they will debut in mid-November. Kevin Feige came on to unveil the way they’re getting Hulk, whose theme park rights have long been with Universal, into Disney parks: by disguising him! Kind of. Specifically, they’re putting him in the time heist suit from Avengers Endgame, since they’re character assets that didn’t exist at the time to be sold off. That led to the Avengers Campus attraction with the multiverse story, featuring King Thanos. The concept art features the HYDRA Stomper, Steve Cap, Captain Carter, and Sam Cap, as well as Daredevil, the Werewolf by Night, Moon Knight, and Freshman Year Peter Parker.
RELATED:
Image source: Disney Parks Blog
At Disney California Adventure, Pacific Wharf will be transformed into San Fransokyo, the setting of the Big Hero 6 franchise. They also assured the crowd that the Paradise Pier Hotel is continuing to transform into the Pixar Place Hotel, and showed off a look at the Din Tai Fung, a Chinese restaurant in the Downtown Disney District. The runDisney event returns in 2024. Looks at Disneyland’s Mickey’s Runaway Railway and the public’s first at Tiana’s Bayou Adventure with confirmations of cast reprisals came next. They brought out Anika Noni Rose for performances of Almost There and Dig a Little Deeper. At Walt Disney World, EPCOT is getting its own all-new nighttime spectacular for Disney’s 100th-anniversary celebration late next year. Oh, and Figment’s going to be a walk-around character again! Journey of Water, which has TeFiti from Moana teaching the water cycle, comes in late 2023. The Hatbox Ghost is now bicoastal, as he will begin appearing in Walt Disney World’s Haunted Mansion next year. Tron LightCycle arrives in the spring! “Wondrous Journeys” at Disneyland park will feature nods to all 60 Walt Disney Animation Studios films, and feature a new song called “It’s Wondrous”.
They also gave updates on the cruises and moved into international parks, such as Shanghai’s Zootopia attraction with a Clawhauser animatronic at the police department. The popular Duffy character from Disney’s Asian parks was announced to be getting a six-episode stop motion series for Disney+, one of the few TV or film announcements on this day. Hong Kong is getting its own new Walt and Mickey statue, Frozen is getting its own world in Hong Kong Disneyland in late 2023, a land in Paris joined by a new and separate Tangled attraction, and a place at Tokyo DisneySea. The Disneyland Hotel in Paris is getting rooms themed to both as well as Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. Space Mountain in Tokyo is getting a remodel befitting a new story in 2024.
And that was pretty much it, though there were some check-ins on fan ideas like a villain's world, they’re things that have far less of a chance of happening. That was a lot, but considering it’s an event held every other year and doesn’t have as many public events to be seen, it makes a lot of sense.
READ NEXT:
Source: Disney Parks Blog