As always, Walt Disney Imagineering pavilion at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event is a must-do for theme park fans. This year’s pavilion, Imagineering: Horizons, takes on a Carousel of Progress theme, giving fans updates on projects underway around the world. From Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure to Piston Peak at Walt Disney World and even Space Mountain at Tokyo Disneyland, there’s new art, models, and information for every major project in the works.
D23: THE ULTIMATE DISNEY FAN EVENT
Take a behind-the-magic tour of what’s new and what’s next at Imagineering: Horizons
This year’s Carousel of Progress-themed Walt Disney Imagineering pavilion showcases Disney Experiences projects from around the world. With so much going on from theme parks to the cruise line, making the pavilion a big showcase of project updates made a lot of sense. And if you’re a Disney parks fan, you’re in for a treat.
Disney Theme Park & Resort — Abu Dhabi
Going room-to-room clockwise around the pavilion, Disney’s latest full theme park project is up first — the still-in-development Abu Dhabi resort is highlighted with just a screen showing a sizzle reel on the upcoming park’s official announcement.
Space Mountain — Tokyo Disneyland
Of course, we came here for more than just screens and sizzle reels, and nearby, Tokyo Disneyland’s new Space Mountain is on full display with a great model of the brand new, fresh, modern take on the classic Disney mountain.
Tokyo’s brand-new Space Mountain was built from the ground up after demolishing the original version of the attraction. The new version will feature a brand-new state-of-the-art rollercoaster inside, special effects, and will officially be called Space Mountain Earthrise.
A look at the attraction’s brand new ride vehicles.
Wreck-It Ralph Attraction — Tokyo Disneyland
Also coming to Tokyo Disneyland is a Wreck-It Ralph-retheme of the park’s existing Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters attraction. The Wreck-It Ralph ride is featured in the pavilion with a sizzle-reel video.
Lion King Immersive World — Disney Adventure World
At D23 2024, fans were treated to scale models of the upcoming Lion King-themed flume attraction coming to the recently rechristened Disney Adventure World park at Disneyland Paris. This year, we’re treated to a couple of new glimpses at the upcoming attraction, including a black light study for a potential show scene. Very cool!
A gorgeous maquette of Rafiki’s tree is on display.
Below, a lovely black light study model for a potential show scene in the upcoming attraction. It’s always so great to get sneak peeks at these stages of Imagineering’s development process.
The all new Lion King “world,” as part of Disney Adventure World, does not yet have an official opening date.
Disney Believe — Disney Cruise Line
Disney Cruise Line fans will get a sneak peek at the Disney Believe on Sunday morning, following announcements at Saturday evening’s Disney Experiences Showcase.
The reveal featured maquettes of the new stern characters, Woody and Buzz, as well as a maquette of the Grand Hall staute of Moana.
Buzz and Woody will be drawing “BELIEVE” on the stern of the new ship
Moana will be the Grand Hall character statue on the Believe.
Avengers Attraction — Hong Kong Disneyland
Announced at D23 2024, the upcoming Avengers-themed drop tower attraction coming to Hong Kong Disneyland is highlighted here, with a full-scale model of the attraction and surrounding area.
This will be the second Marvel-themed drop tower attraction Disney will have in its roster, after Guardians of the Galaxy — Mission: BREAKOUT! at Disney California Adventure. This Hong Kong attraction will be part of the park’s larger Stark Expo-themed area and will feature multiple Avengers characters, including Spider-Man. How do you like the look of this tower compared to the version with the pipes and dishes on the exterior at Disney California Adventure?
Spider-Man Themed Land — Shanghai Disneyland
Speaking of Spider-Man, he’ll be swinging into Shanghai Disneyland with an all-new rollercoaster. Disney is calling this a full Spider-Man-themed land, but so far everything announced points to a very small area with a major Spider-Man thrill ride—not what we’d typically consider a fully fledged theme park land. The display here at the Imagineering pavilion is another sizzle reel screen — perhaps we’ll get more details on this project Saturday night.
Avengers Campus Expansion — Disney California Adventure
Disney California Adventure takes up a pretty significant portion of the Imagineering pavilion, with Avengers Campus, Avatar, and Coco all getting some attention. The biggest DCA project highlighted here is the Avengers Campus Expansion, which is well into construction and expected to open in 2027.
A close-up look at the Stark Flight Lab ride vehicle. This attraction will take guests on a wild kuka-arm ride through a Stark testing facility.
The model showcases how all of the major new elements of the Campus expansion will fit together. The Stark Flight Lab will go through a covered outdoor area, with the entrance to the E-Ticket Avengers: Infinity Defense attraction on the left.
It’s interesting to see how all of this will fit together — with these two new attractions and a new outdoor beverage kiosk doubling the size of the Marvel-themed land.
AVATAR Destination — Disney California Adventure
Next up for California Adventure, the new AVATAR attraction is highlighted here. Oddly called an “Avatar Destination,” the new area is expected to take over the Hollywood Studios portion of Hollywood Land and will feature a major new boat ride-style attraction.
It looks gorgeous, even if it makes no senses for California Adventure.
Previously unconfirmed, Imagineers in the pavilion this year are saying this ride system will be a version of Shanghai Disneyland’s unique boat ride system that was developed for their Pirates of the Caribbean attraction.
Spot the Ikrans on a ledge:
The model also shows how the Disneyland Monorail could be incorporated into the new land.
Coco Attraction — Disney California Adventure
The highly-anticipated Coco-themed attraction is featured here as well, but with just a maquette of a new statue coming to the land. The statue is of Miguel’s great-great-grandfather, Hector — this seems to confirm the ride will take place after the events of the 2017 film.
D23 guests can take a look at the Hector statue as well as submit their favorite Disneyland memories, which will be included in the foundations of the new attraction.
Carousel of Progress — Magic Kingdom
The journey through the carousel of projects underway at Disney theme parks continues with the Carousel of Progress at Magic Kingdom. The attraction is currently closed for a major update, which will add a Walt Disney animatronic host and shift the timeline of its scenes to bring the show up to date with all new eras.
New costumes for Father and Mother.
Rover animatronic figure
A look at the updated Act I and Act IV scenes coming to the Carousel of Progress.
Act I:
The all-new Act IV scene:
Indiana Jones Attraction — Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Are you ready for Indiana Jones? The new Tropical Americas expansion at Disney’s Animal Kingdom gets highlighted next, with a maquette of the facade for the Indiana Jones re-theme of the former DINOSAUR! attration.
The new Maya temple facade looks fantastic!
At Saturday night’s Disney Experiences Showcase, it was revealed the name of the new Indiana Jones attraction will be Indiana Jones and the Myth of the Jade Serpent. That titular jade serpent, Tsukán, is a mythological giant serpent from Maya folklore who will play a promient role in the new attraction. A scale model of this jade serpent was revealed in the Imagineering pavilion Sunday morning. Snakes… why’d it have to be snakes?
Encanto Attraction — Disney’s Animal Kingdom
While we’re in the new Tropical Americas area, let’s take a look at the major new Encanto-themed attraction that’s under construction now.
Animatronic figures and ride vehicle maquettes for the new attraction are on display here and look great so far — hopefully we get more information on what the ride experience will be like in Saturday’s Disney Experiences Showcase.
A show scene model for the upcoming Encanto attraction.
Tropical Americas Carousel — Disney’s Animal Kingdom
As part of the Tropical Americas area, the land will get a new themed carousel that will feature stylized carvings of Disney animals that guests will ride on, including Pua from Moana and Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. Several animal maquettes are on display.
Piston Peak — Magic Kingdom
Certainly the biggest model on display at this year’s Imagineering pavilion is the sprawling, stunning model for the Cars-themed Piston Peak area coming to Magic Kingdom.
The new Walt Disney World addition is replacing Rivers of America, a hugely controversial decision for Disney when they announced it. Fans lamented the loss of the Magic Kingdom’s classic river, but it seems Imagineers are really working overtime here to assuage fan concerns with this year’s display
The massive model is absolutely beautiful — with obvious nods to classic Disney experiences such as Nature’s Wonderland. It’s a shame that even with Florida’s “blessing of size” that Walt Disney boasted about, the Rivers of America had to be lost for this project — but if Piston Peak turns out as lush and pleasant as the model looks, then at least the Rivers of America will have been lost for something high in quality.
It seems like the team in charge of this project really cares about doing things right, and at an extraordinary level of detail.
I opposed closing the Rivers of America at Walt Disney World when Disney made its initial announcements in 2024. I’ll always miss the River, but I’m certainly far more optimistic that this will be a unique and beautiful addition to Magic Kingdom.
Villains — Magic Kingdom
Another major project announced at D23 2024 was an all-new Villains-themed land in Magic Kingdom. It’s been two years, and we were hoping to see a bit more on this project than just two spooky trees.
Hopefully we’ll get more insight during the Disney Experiences Showcase on Saturday.
Monstropolis — Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Similarly, the Monstropolis land coming to Disney’s Hollywood Studios was announced with a lot of fanfare at D23 2024. Two years later, and all we’re seeing here are some monster critter statues and a bulletin board with some concept sketches. We were hoping for more, but again, maybe they’re holding onto the good stuff for Saturday night.
Anzellan Creature Workshop
The final item on the horizon at the Imagineering pavilion is the Anzellan Creature Workshop, which features alien animatronic characters who could end up being potential future additions to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge!
Yes, please — more of this! These guys are so great and would help make Galaxy’s Edge actually feel like a real, live-in, Star Wars destination!
Look how cute they are!
Even with the cuteness of the guys we just showed you, the big draw here is Hugo’s Sweets & Fizz, a snack stand manned by animatronic alien characters Hugo and Grogu! — While Imagineers are saying this one-of-a-kind snack stand hasn’t been announced for the parks yet, we certainly hope it will be. Galaxy’s Edge needs way, way more “living” elements like this to help the land feel more alive and lived-in.
Check out our video of Hugo’s Snack Stand in action:
Alright, that wraps up this first look at the Imagineering: Horizons pavilion at D23 2026! Which Disney Experiences projects are you most looking forward to and what are you hoping to hear more about during Saturday night’s big Showcase? Let us know in the comments section below!
Are you headed to D23 this weekend? Don’t miss our full guide to this year’s expo:
D23 2026 Starts Today: Your Complete Guide to Disney’s Biggest Weekend
Stay tuned to our social media and website for much more from the D23 Expo:
So, what are they going to do with poor Tiana stuck back in the corner in the bayou, surrounded by Big Thunder, Piston Peak, Diamond Horseshoe, Country Bears, Pecos Bills, et al all western themed? Is a reimagined version coming themed to a mountain log ride?
At this point, re-theming it to look like Knott’s Timber Mountain Log Flume would be an upgrade! Here’s hoping 🤞
New Indiana Jones ride is most exciting.
Here’s hoping the Lion King version of Splash Mountain is more elaborate and “Disney” than the super sad, entirely underbaked Tiana version of Splash Mountain.
Hoping lots of Lion King animatronics. The more the merrier.
Oh wait…first Disney will have to come out with a mountain themed river adventure movie so they have an IP to tie it to. 😉
The Hugo’s Sweets & Fizz looks like it will be a sort of enhanced vending machine type thing, where you place your order (probably at a kiosk or … ugh… phone app) and you get to see a little animatronic show deliver your food? That would be really cool and definitely add some life to Galaxy’s Edge. Kind of a leveled-up Frito Kid (the original Frontierland coin-operating vending machine where an audio animatronic figure dropped your chips order down a slide)
why does Disney do this to us? They leave us hanging onto crumbs. I mean… evil trees… that’s all we get for Villains land… and those sizzle reels for the stuff we really want to know about! Geez! Disney gives us a whole lot of almost nothing!
Thanks for bringing this to all of us folks who couldn’t be there. I’m very excited for all of this, especially Avatar in CA and Piston Peak at Magic Kingdom. The Stark Flight Lab conveyor belt beginning reminds me of Adventure through Inner Space–but I won’t hold that against it!
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Billions of $$$’s being spent to retheme/rework existing attractions and lands and not even $1 spent to expand the DVC kiosk to hide the sad and crumbling infrastructure of Tomorrowland at DL. How many years have those walls been up for a simple planter? I know the argument is the PeopleMover tracks are connected to the buildings and it would require a complete tear down and rebuild, but heck think of how much extra money they could suck in for the long run by adding IP themed rides in the long run? Realistically they could do the demo around Space Mountain, but closing a 1980s tech motion simulator, aka Star Tours, is no big loss especially when that universe exists over at Galaxy’s Edge. It literally blows my mind how money is spent everywhere else but Tomorrowland, and since it all comes down to how much revenue could be recouped from each capital project, yet they are losing money by continuing to not do anything.
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