For the first time ever, D23 Expo’s big Disney Parks and Resorts presentation was held on the final day of the convention. So this year it seems the best may have been saved for last. The always highly-anticipated presentation showcased the latest projects in the works at Disney Parks around the world. My colleagues Chloe and Samantha here at MiceChat are covering the announcements for Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, and International Parks and I’m here to bring you the latest news for Disneyland!
From Tiana’s Bayou Advenutre to the re-imagined Mickey’s Toontown, the “A Boundless Future: Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products” presentation was packed full of new details, exciting announcements, and new magic coming to the Disneyland Resort. But it’s not all happy news, there are some omissions and disappointments ahead.
Let’s see what’s new and what’s next:
A Boundless Future at the Disneyland Resort
Disney Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro kicked off Sunday’s big Parks presentation with the place where it all started — Disneyland! While the announcement-packed presentation didn’t include any word on a new Tomorrowland, who’s moving into Adventureland’s Treehouse, or any super new details for Tiana’s Bayou Bash, it DID include some major announcements.
Below, the “A Boundless Future” presentation began with a stirring performance of “Happily Ever After” from the Walt Disney World fireworks show
Disney Parks: A Boundless Future begins with a rousing live rendition of “Happily Ever After” from Walt Disney World #D23Expo pic.twitter.com/eZ12hZSri4
— MiceChat (@MiceChat) September 11, 2022
From a new E-Ticket in Avengers Campus, to HULK making his park debut, to new nighttime shows for Disneyland and California Adventure — there’s a lot here! Including a BIG hero taking over Pacific Wharf at DCA! Check it all out!
Grogu lands in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge!
Josh D’Amaro kicked off the Disneyland announcements by welcoming Disney Legend Jon Favreau on stage to discuss Star Wars.
Favreau spoke about his love of Disneyland and how exciting it is to be at D23 Expo with all of the fans.
The filmmaker and actor largely wrote the Disney+ series “The Mandalorian” and was excited to announce a live walk-around version of The Mandalorian and Grogu are coming to Disneyland.
Favreau said Disney has been at work on bringing these characters to life for the parks since before the global health crisis forced the parks to shut down. Bringing Grogu to life for the parks was a labor of love for everybody involved.
The popular duo will land in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge starting November 2022!
A Multiverse of new adventures in Avengers Campus
After discussing new characters in Galaxy’s Edge, D’Amaro moved to Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure. D’Amaro noted how characters have played a massive role in bringing that land to life, with new characters debuting, on the same day as their films and TV shows debut. For fans of these characters, D’Amaro said Disney and Marvel “are just getting started,” saying the plan for Avengers Campus has always been “more.” More characters, more action, and more of the land itself. With that, D’Amaro welcomed Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige to the stage
Actor Mark Ruffalo interrupted Kevin and Josh to say that Avengers Campus needs some new color, suggesting some green!
And with that, a brand new HULK walkaround character smashed onto the stage!
Check out the scale of Hulk compared to Feige and D’Amaro!
The new walkaround character will debut NEXT WEEK in Avengers Campus. Hulk will only be visiting the Campus for a limited time… for now!
Kevin Feige is a lifelong fan of Disney Parks and is involved with everything Disney is doing with Marvel in the parks. The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s plans for the multiverse have transformed plans for the third attraction at Avengers Campus.
Now, the multiverse will come to Avengers Campus and the third attraction will take guests into a battle through the multiverse, where “every character from every when” will be present.
Below, is concept art for the new attraction. The art shows what appears to be some sort of screen-heavy simulator experience.
All of those characters in the multiverse include a brand new character, King Thanos. “This is a Thanos that won,” said Feige.
King Thanos will enter the Marvel Cinematic Universe via this new attraction and is the first character to enter the MCU through a theme park experience. Guests will come face-to-face with King Thanos and other villains while aboard the new attraction.
San Fransokyo’s BIG debut at Disney California Adventure
The Pacific Wharf area of Disney California Adventure will be re-imagined as San Fransokyo from Disney’s “Big Hero 6”! The re-themed area will include a Baymax meet-and-greet but is currently still in the “early stages” of development.
It’s unlikely that this area will receive any sort of new attraction — there simply isn’t much space here to accommodate a ride. This will likely amount to a pretty simple re-theme of the space, which already heavily evokes San Francisco’s famed Fisherman’s Wharf. But surprise! Over a decade after the Golden Gate bridge was removed from Disney California Adventure, a new one is now on its way!
Paradise Pier Hotel transforms into Pixar Place Hotel
D’Amaro announced the official name of the re-themed Paradise Pier Hotel will be “Pixar Place Hotel.” Disney revealed the logo for the new hotel below:
The new Pixar theme will include new decor throughout the hotel and character-driven experiences including a new Finding Nemo splash play area on the pool deck.
Great Maple, a third-party restaurant chain serving upscale, modern American comfort food, will open a flagship location in Pixar Place Hotel. Great Maple will also operate the other dining locations throughout the hotel.
Porto’s Bakery coming to Downtown Disney
Downtown Disney’s ongoing transformation continues with over a dozen new dining and shopping experiences coming to the re-imagined shopping district.
Porto’s Bakery will be among the new dining additions, with the Southern California institution serving its famous baked treats, famous potato balls, and Cuban-American fare. 
The audience all received a special Porto’s treat at the end of the presentation!
D’Amaro also revealed concept art for the previously-announced Din Tai Fung restaurant. The Chinese dumpling house is famous around the world for its xiao long bao (soup dumplings). It looks like it could possibly replace the existing Tortilla Jo’s Mexican restaurant.
Mickey’s Toontown opens early 2023!
Mickey’s Toontown continues is major transformation and re-imagining. D’Amaro confirms the land is scheduled to reopen in “early 2023.”
When the land opens, it will debut the new Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. This new attraction is an enhanced version of the ride currently in operation at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida.
The Disneyland version will have an entirely new queue, themed to the new El CapiTOON Theatre.
D’Amaro noted some fans were concerned that Donald’s Boat would be disappearing as part of the Toontown project but is happy to announce it will be staying. Donald’s Boat will become a water playground, joining new experiences coming to Goofy’s House next door. All of Toontown will become more accessible for children of all abilities.
Take a look at our video overview of the Mickey’s Toontown models on display at the D23 Expo Disney Parks pavilion:
Goofy’s House will be transformed inside and out, with new interactive play elements. Kids will be able to play with Goofy’s candy-making kitchen inside and create music in the “sound garden,” play on slides, or explore Max’s clubhouse in the backyard.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will be a “love letter” to New Orleans
Next up, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, opening in late 2024! The new attraction, replacing Splash Mountain at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, is being infused with the culture of New Orleans. The goal is to create an authentic Big Easy experience celebrating the people, food, and flavor of New Orleans.
Imagineers Carmen Smith, Charita Carter, and Ted Robleto were welcomed on stage to discuss the new adventure. Imagineers didn’t reveal too much new information but did note that the attraction’s storyline will take guests on a journey with Tiana who is on the hunt for a special ingredient for a big Mardi Gras celebration!
The ride will be filled with new characters alongside familiar faces from the film. Special lighting and mist will be used throughout the ride like “paint on a canvas” to create “true bayou magic.”
The team is designing the attraction to be a “love letter” to the city, and want guests to feel like they’re actually there. “If you’re from New Orleans, you should feel like you’re coming home. If you’ve never been to New Orleans, this attraction will make you want to go!” Daytime and nighttime renderings of the new attraction were shown, with the team noting that it’ll be particularly beautiful at night.
Nighttime view of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure:
Take a look at our video sneak peek at the model for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure on display at the Disney Parks pavilion:
D’Amaro announced the attraction will include the voice cast from the original film, including Anika Noni Rose as Princess Tiana, Jenifer Lewis as Mama Odie, Michael Leon Wooley as Louis the Alligator, and Bruno Campos as Prince Naveen!
And with that, the voice of Princess Tiana arrived on stage with a full New Orleans jazz band and a whole slew of dancers to perform two songs from the film!
A New Orleans Mardi Gras band marched through the audience during the rousing performance of “Dig A Little Deeper”
runDisney races back to Disneyland in 2024!
For the runners out there, runDisney races are officially returning to the Resort in 2024!
Disneyland to be heart of global Disney100 celebration
D’Amaro went on to announce a slew of projects for Walt Disney World and taking a look at projects in the works at international parks. He wrapped up Sunday’s big presentation by taking a look at the timeline of projects underway at Disney parks around the world.
D’Amaro wrapped up the presentation by returning at Disneyland for some final announcements.
Starting in late January, Disneyland will be the heart of the global Disney100 celebration. The Resort will be adorned with new “platinum-infused” decor, new looks for Mickey and Minnie, and will debut all-new entertainment.
At Disneyland, the “Magic Happens” parade will return! The brand new parade ran for mere days before the parks were shut down in 2020 but had not yet returned — until now! This will mark the return of a full daytime parade to Disneyland since the parks reopened.
In Disney California Adventure, “World of Color: One” will debut, celebrating 100 years of Disney animation. D’Amaro said the show will “be unlike any World of Color show, ever”
At Disneyland, the new “Wondrous Journeys” fireworks will celebrate all 60 Disney animated films. Projections and effects will transform the park into a canvas around you, as the fireworks dance in the sky.
D’Amaro wrapped up the presentation with a live performance of the theme song for Disneyland’s new “Wondrous Journeys” fireworks. Mickey, Minnie and a cavalcade of Cast Members and characters from the parks joined the fun to round out the big presentation!
What Do You Think?
So what are your thoughts? Were Sunday’s announcements a big hit or a huge disappointment? Much-rumored and highly-anticipated plans for a brand new Tomorrowland failed to materialize. Will the languishing land ever get the overhaul it so desperately needs? Details on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure remain surprisingly vague, despite having a big part in the show and on the show floor. Are they still trying to figure out what to do with this attraction (could we see big revisions in the future)? And what about Tarzan’s Treehouse? They’re actively constructing something there right now — but not a peep about what’s on the way! Strange. Avengers Campus is finally getting its big E-Ticket ride — but will it be as ambitious as the Quinjet attraction they originally teased at D23 Expo 2019? We may never know, but hey — at least we’ll continue to see new characters populating the land!
Overall, the big Parks show seemed to announce a lot but with so much of it being characters or just vague announcements, the haziness of it all left us unsatisfied and wanting more. Three years since the last Expo, a forced closure of the parks, and three days of this year’s Expo later and the future seems unclear, even if Disney claims it’s boundless.
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Don’t Miss The News From The D23 Expo!
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More Disney Parks News
There are plenty more announcements from the Disney Parks panel this year. To find out what has been announced for the other Disney Parks worldwide, check out the following articles:
Walt Disney World – New Villains Land, Zootopia, Figment, and More!
New Lands and Frozen, Frozen, Frozen for Disney’s International Parks
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