It’s that time again…the bi-annual event Disneyland fans wait for with bated breath: the Disney Parks panel at D23. This year’s panel, which took place on the final day of the convention, covered all the Disney parks, non-park properties, and the Disney cruises. Again, I’ll just be covering Disneyland-related news, but if you’re looking for a more holistic look at the parks panel announcements, check out the following sources:
And now, what you’ve been waiting for.
MAGIC HAPPENS
Disney announced plans to debut a new parade at Disneyland, called “Magic Happens”. This parade, launching next spring, will feature brand new floats and characters celebrating the magic at the heart of Disney stories. New characters include Moana, Miguel from Coco, and the three fairies from Sleeping Beauty.
Source: Disney Parks Blog
This daytime parade will also include an original song created by Todrick Hall. Disney promised to share more information on this parade in the coming months, so for now all we have is a brief description and some beautiful concept art.
Source: Disney Parks Blog
CONCEPT ART GALORE
The panel also introduced further concept art for the Avengers Campus, a.k.a. California Adventure’s Marvel land.
Source: Disney Parks Blog
Here’s everything we know so far:
- The land will be introduced in two phases.
- Phase 1 (opening day) will include a Spider-Man attraction (riders help Peter Parker catch Spider-Bots), the Pym Test Kitchen (dining), and Avengers meet & greets.
- Phase 2 (no date announced) will include the Avengers Headquarters (attraction traveling to Wakanda), additional character meet & greets, and to-be-announced entertainment.
Source: Disney Parks Blog
Over in Disneyland, we also saw our first concept art for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, which will be headed for Toontown in 2022.
Source: Disney Parks Blog
This attraction will take riders on a tour of Toontown’s history, before Goofy leads passenger trains on a wild adventure through the world of toons.
Source: Disney Parks Blog
WHAT WASN’T ANNOUNCED
The biggest surprise from the panel was the absence of any Tomorrowland announcements. With ongoing construction at the front of the land and the arrival of Galaxy’s Edge making the Launch Bay redundant, fans expected Disney to announce a major overhaul. This of course doesn’t mean they won’t – it just came as a surprise that it wasn’t addressed during D23.
That’s it for this year’s D23 roundup! For more information about the Disneyland announcements and upcoming attractions, check out the Disney Parks Blog.
Some of us debated about why a Tomorrowland revamp wasn’t announced. Most of us came to the conclusion it likely won’t open until 2023 or 2024, because there is still so much happening with the Avengers area, and many of that team could be on the Tomorrowland team as well. Delaying the announcement until the next D23, in 2021 means they have something really big to announce at their Parks & Resorts panel, and by that time they would have concept art and better plans to showcase. I think what many people fail to remember is that Galaxy’s Edge was announced two D23s ago, back in 2015, and construction didn’t start until January 2016, and opened only just this year. They could also not want to close Tomorrowland until after the Marvel area is in full swing, which is 2022.
Those are great points! I guess I was just surprised they’ve already started working on the rocks, so I was thinking they’d at least tease something. But your logic makes a lot of sense.