ORLANDO – Major adjustments are coming to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, and enthusiasts are excited about the news.
Details of the new projects were revealed this weekend at Disney’s biannual D23 convention, where they announced a series of long-term cruise and theme park projects that will be developed in the coming years.
The largest expansion ever made to Magic Kingdom will evolve in the existing direction of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and will come with villain-themed terrain as well as Pixar’s “Cars”-themed terrain.
Concept art unveiled Saturday for the villain-themed area depicts a sinister scenario, in which Disney promises two main attractions. The “Cars” announcement, marked Saturday night via a live performance of Shaboozey’s “Life is a Highway,” detailed a country that won’t be a reproduction of California’s Cars Land, but rather an “off-road” adventure. “, with only one emotion: a walk and a circle of family. The Cars domain will open in 2025.
Magic Kingdom will also host a new “Disney Starlight” nighttime parade in summer 2025.
Also within Walt Disney World Resort, Disney’s Hollywood Studios park will feature a new “Monstropolis” land, founded on the basis of “Monsters Inc. ” franchise. Billy Crystal, who played the character Mike Wazowski, took the stage Saturday night to announce the development, which will feature the first suspended roller coaster to appear at any Disney park, where guests will be able to zoom through the box. strong factory of Monsters Inc.
In Florida and California, Millennium Falcon Smuggler’s Run, set in Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge, will see a new story starring The Mandalorian and Grogu.
At Disney’s Animal Kingdom park, the previously announced Tropical Americas domain will now open in 2027. It will feature the first attraction based on the movie “Encanto” and will be located inside the magical “Casita” where Madrigal’s circle lives. family members of the film. Guests will be able to go on adventures during the day that the character Antonio receives his magical gift, following him as he opens the door to reveal a lush landscape full of animals he can talk to.
The same park domain will feature an “Indiana Jones” ride in the former Dinosaur amusement building, but will not mirror the existing “Indiana Jones” rides at Disneyland in California or DisneySea in Tokyo. On the other hand, other people will delight in an adventure in which Indiana Jones discovers a Mayan temple.
Oscar-winning actor Ke Huy Quan, who gave the impression of a child in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” was on hand to introduce the new attraction.
“It looks great,” he said of the attraction. But will there be snakes?”
Disney will build a central “city” in the tropical Americas, called Pueblo Esperanza, with lush foliage, Spanish-style architecture and a carousel with carved characters.
Animal Kingdom will also see a previously announced “Zootopia” display at its theater under the Tree of Life, starting in late 2025 or early 2026.
At EPCOT, the revamped control track will open in 2025. The park will also get a new Spaceship Earth living room overlooking Dreamer’s Point, where a statue of Walt Disney is located.
When asked if the Florida hotel would get a fifth theme park in the coming years to compete with the opening of Universal’s Epic Universe park in 2025, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts president Josh D’AmaroArray told CNN: “We are thinking about the next one. Right now, we have a lot to celebrate and communicate with what we’re going to share with our D23 fans, which I think will be so overwhelming for them, it’s all they’re going to think about.