12 Biggest Disney World Announcements Missing From the 2026 D23 Expo

The D23 Parks Panel was huge for Walt Disney World news. It was the biggest night in 2 years, with major announcements for Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, and even EPCOT. As covered in our Rankings of All 22 Announcements at the 2026 D23 Expo from Worst to Best, the biggest news was for the former Future World, which was completely overlooked last time.

Speaking of overlooked, there were several conspicuous omissions from the 2026 D23 Parks Panel. Announcements that seemed like a sure thing on the basis of credible rumor, and almost everyone had on their predictions. Or in other cases, details about projects that we already know are in development or are under construction, but didn’t get any airtime at D23 for whatever reason.

This list covers both the unannounced potential plans that were strongly rumored ahead of D23 and the already-announced projects already underway, and what to make of their absences. Because sometimes what Walt Disney World does not say is as interesting as what they do reveal, so reading between the lines can be illuminating and insightful for its own reasons…

One thing worth addressing is the dynamics of D23 itself. The event is aimed at pleasing multiple constituencies, or perhaps more accurately, not upsetting any of them too much. You have the fans in the Honda Center who bought standalone tickets, and Disney feels obligated to put on a show for them.

You have the ones at home who are more inclined to view that as fluff, and would just prefer a fact-dense PowerPoint presentation, like those in the Imagineering booth on the show floor. This balance is how you end up with more time spent on performances by Sheryl Crow than details about Spaceship Earth, or a new Disneyland Paris parade being cut for time and quietly announced on social media while Beck gets stage time.

Then there’s the company itself. To say not everyone at Disney loves the D23 Expo would be an understatement. Every time the announcement comes that the event is returning, I breathe a sigh of relief, as I have heard so many complaints over the years and a lot of wishful thinking about this being the “last” D23. (I’m still surprised it came back post-COVID.) I’m eternally skeptical of projects like “OneDisney” because I’ve talked to countless people internally over the years who only begrudgingly tolerate participating in D23.

Even against the backdrop of those general attitudes, there’s the practical reality that each unit within Parks & Resorts, and even the segment as a whole, has its own concerted campaigns. It’s probably fair to say that everyone wants their marquee project that’ll bring down the house time to shine in the spotlight, it’s also the case that those working on smaller projects may not want their work getting lost in the shuffle.

Then there’s just the nature of marketing rollouts and Disney’s desire to maintain a slow trickle of news. The hype machine never stops, and Disney has become incredibly adept at slowly doling out announcements to maintain fan excitement and engagement. They also have divergent approaches to delivering positive and negative news, which is why you’ll seldom hear anything that could even be construed as bad on stage at D23.

All of this is to say that the D23 Expo should not be treated as the end-all, be-all for news. Something not being announced or revealed for Walt Disney World doesn’t mean it’s not happening or isn’t high priority, as we’ve already seen with news in the couple of weeks since. It could mean that, but it could also mean that the powers that be have a different marketing or communications strategy.

Against that backdrop, let’s cover the biggest omissions from D23, starting with the known quantities before discussing the unrealized rumors and projects that seem obvious to us, even if there’s less basis for believing they’re happening…

Disney’s Lakeshore Lodge

With a significant announcement in the weeks leading up to D23 and a deliberate cadence to DVC announcements, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that Disney’s Lakeshore Lodge wouldn’t have a presence at the Parks Panel. That was the right move–I’m old enough to remember when the Reflections segment resulted in criticism for Bob Chapek delivering a timeshare sales pitch back at the 2019 D23 Expo.

Fast forward a week, and Walt Disney World Revealed the Opening Date, Reservation Timeline, and Inside Resort Rooms & Club Level of Disney’s Lakeshore Lodge. That leaves largely DVC logistics still to be announced: points charts, pricing, incentives, and the start of sales. None of that would’ve been appropriate for D23, but the opening date might’ve been.

Even though I didn’t expect anything from Lakeshore Lodge at the Parks Panel, I’m somewhat surprised that wasn’t a ‘quick hit’ that would’ve anchored the presentation a bit more, like the resort’s July 1, 2027 grand opening date. Especially since a key complaint was the lack of dates or specifics for the near term.

Hurly Burly Bar

Walt Disney World has lost several restaurants and retail locations in the last several years at the BoardWalk. Among other vacancies, both Big River Grille & Brewing Works and Jellyrolls have been closed for a couple years without replacement.

The good news is that Walt Disney World has finally announced replacements for these vacant venues along the BoardWalk. Later in 2026, the new Hurly-Burly bar will open, bringing live music and light bites to the table. Also on the horizon is a new counter service restaurant concept to replace Big River, the details of which have been teased but not announced.

These are both big wins, and would’ve played well with the D23 crowd since the BoardWalk is more than just a regular resort. At the same time, even interesting new restaurant concepts don’t rise to the Parks Panel level in a good year. Given the pace of these projects, we’re expecting more on both very soon.

Resort & Restaurant Reimaginings

Beyond the BoardWalk, there are several other significant resort and restaurant reimagining or refreshes happening all around Walt Disney World. Since even a brand-new restaurant would probably be beneath the level of what receives the D23 reveal treatment, it’s no surprise that these projects didn’t get airtime.

Nevertheless, we’re expecting news on Turf Club Bar & Grill and Grand Floridian Cafe soon, and Yachtsman Steakhouse very soon, especially since it reopens tonight! There’s also the potential for other restaurants to be expanded, redone, or even reopened.

As for the resorts, there are major projects all around Crescent Lake and the monorail loop. While most of these amount to routine maintenance, we remain optimistic that the multi-year project at Disney’s Contemporary Resort yields a redone Grand Canyon Concourse. If so, that would be the perfect announcement for the 2027 Destination D23. The home crowd would love that news!

More on MODA

The last ‘big’ opening of 2026 at Walt Disney World is The Magic of Disney Animation. For those who aren’t familiar with MODA, this what’s old is new again addition is coming to the Walt Disney Studios Lot, which replaced the former Animation Courtyard at Hollywood Studios. The courtyard itself has been open for the last couple of months.

What’s not yet open is the Roy E. Disney Animation Building. The Magic of Disney Animation will feature the Once Upon a Studio Theater, Olaf Draws Animation Academy, Drawn to Wonderland Play Area, and Off the Page Character Meet & Greets once it opens on September 14, 2026.

Being the last big thing of the year, Walt Disney World has already shared a lot about MODA. I’m not sure what else they could’ve revealed at D23 that would’ve wowed the crowd, so it makes sense that this wasn’t mentioned. There’s also the fact that the rest of the Cool Kids’ Summer slate already opened, so this straggler is a bit more backward looking (even though it’s yet to debut) than the rest of the Parks Panel.

Tropical Americas Timeline

Tropical Americas is the project at Walt Disney World that’s furthest along. It’s also the only expansion for either coast with a confirmed opening before the next D23 Expo, and possibly even Destination D23. Or so we thought?!

Unfortunately, Disney did not divulge an opening season during the Parks Panel. They didn’t even reiterate the previously-announced 2027 opening year. They did reveal that Monstropolis will start opening in 2027, just as we predicted in Is Monstropolis On Track To Open Early in 2027 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios?!

However, as discussed in When Will Tropical Americas Open at Animal Kingdom?, we also believe(d) these three attractions will debut in phases beginning around the same time as Monstropolis. It’s possible that announcing that Tropical Americas will “start opening” in 2027, as opposed to fully debuting next year, would’ve been construed as negative news or a delay.

Guest Experience Improvements

Can you imagine the reaction if Parks Chair Thomas Mazloum walked out on stage, shouted “we’re bringing back Disney’s Magical Express!” and dropped the mic? The screams would’ve been so loud they would’ve been heard in Buena Park, the standing ovation so long that would’ve been the only thing they had time to announce.

It would’ve been a similar story with pretty much anything on our list of 11 Great Changes Josh D’Amaro Could Make for Big Wins as New CEO, for that matter. Unfortunately, this kind of nuts & bolts ‘guest experience update’ has been deemed unsuitable for D23, which is the same reason why the Eastern Gateway, our #1 current construction project at Disneyland, was saved for this week. That too would’ve gotten tremendous cheers from the Anaheim crowd, especially after just dealing with the nightmarish transportation to the Honda Center.

With new top to bottom leadership, it stands to reason that guest experience enhancements are on the horizon. We fully expect these as an ‘offset’ when the price increases hit in mid-October. That’s the typical Disney playbook on this type of thing.

Singles & Doubles Doubledown

The single biggest surprise to me from the Parks Panel was the lack of ‘singles & doubles’ for both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. This is doubly true given that the timelines that were offered, with the exception of (half of) Monstropolis, pushed dates further into the future than expected. This suggests a slim slate for Walt Disney World and Disneyland in 2027, and that could’ve been rounded out by some quick hits.

Between that and the fact that Walt Disney World and Imagineering have already had tremendous success with the ‘singles & doubles’ strategy, we expected to see much more of it. This is a good way of putting together marketable summer slates, and enticing fans to take trips. It’s a winning blueprint!

Aside from the former Future World at EPCOT, we didn’t get much. We predicted upgrades to Fantasyland classics for Magic Kingdom, along with several other possibilities. And of course, there are about a half-dozen options in Tomorrowland. Speaking of which…

The Trouble with Tomorrowland

When it comes to Tomorrowland at Walt Disney World, we got a little bit more about the Carousel of Progress reimagining during the Parks Panel. I attended a media briefing over the summer where a lot more was shared and shown, and expected a repeat of that presentation with concept art and behind the scenes photos and added details for each scene.

Instead, we got the news that Bryan Cranston and Jamie Lee Curtis will portray the Progress Parents, plus a new piece of concept art for the 1980s scene. That’s it. Now it seems inevitable that this news will be shared during the upcoming Walt Disney World 55th Anniversary D23 event.

Then there’s the rumored Space Mountain reimagining, which feels inevitable. However, we questioned whether Disney would want Magic Kingdom’s Space Mountain spotlighted alongside the blockbuster $500 million rebuild at Tokyo Disneyland, since the two projects are not of the same scale or budget. There’s also the fact that reactions to the Space Mountain reimagining have been mixed, and D23 is a “good news only” event.

There are many more wildcards, as we covered recently in Walt Disney World’s Stealth Tomorrowland Transformation. Replacements for both Stitch’s Great Escape and Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor feel inevitable in the next 2 years, and I’d be surprised if Tomorrowland Speedway still exists in its current form (and length) in the 2030s. This is all big news without a concrete timeline, so perhaps it’s being saved for the 2027 Destination D23.

New DHS Stage Show

With “Welcome to Monstropolis” and the surrounding courtyard moving forward to open in Summer 2027, I’m surprised that Walt Disney World isn’t taking a different Disney’s Hollywood Studios stage show offline for reimagining or replacement. Disney recently redid most of the live entertainment productions at DHS, with only two legacy ones remaining.

Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular is still going strong nearly four decades after it debuted, but there’s the new Indiana Jones Adventure and associated area under construction at Animal Kingdom, replacing DINOSAUR. That’s doubly true after the viral incident last year, as the boulder still has not returned. Even so, we expect a refresh to Epic Stunt Spectacular as opposed to a replacement.

Then there’s Beauty and the Beast: Live on Stage, which just feels old. It’s the totality of it all, and how it contrasts with newer adaptations of animated movies that give it away. So many more modern productions have come and gone at Disneyland and Disney Cruise Line that could be plugged into DHS and would be a breath of fresh air, comparatively speaking.

Star Wars Land Soft Reboot

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Walt Disney World needs to break the sacred timeline and use the setting of the land as a jumping off point for new adventures. This already started to happen at Disneyland with the introduction of Darth Vader, Han Solo, Leia Organa, and Luke Skywalker. Hopefully that’s been a success, and Disney is ready to double-down on this for the 50th Anniversary of Star Wars in 2027.

A soft reboot of the Star Wars land would be an opportunity to introduce legacy characters, use the catwalks in the land for mini-shows, and make the land more lived-in thanks to droids and additional performers. They could also finally build out the restaurant and add the dinner show. Recycling assets from the failed Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser would make a lot of sense.

The lack of any Star Wars news during D23 was curious, especially after Neil Patrick Harris teased an announcement during a media preview we attended. That’s doubly true once you consider that a large section of the show floor was dedicated to the (awesome) Hugo’s Sweets & Fizz food pod. That’s probably destined for Disneyland, but here’s hoping Walt Disney World gets something. Maybe timeline changes weren’t announced for Florida because they’re “old news” to the California crowd.

Anything Entertainment

Aside from the return of fan-favorite entertainment at Disneyland in 2027, nighttime spectaculars and parades were absent from the Parks Panel. And probably a purposeful one. It’s one thing to highlight what’s coming to the California gates to the Anaheim audience, but another for the other parks.

I’ve droned on endlessly about a drone show coming to Animal Kingdom and I’m going to double-down on that again. “Disney Dreams That Soar” is just too good to be the final culmination of drone shows at Walt Disney World and Animal Kingdom needs to keep guests later in the day too badly.

With Tropical Americas not getting a timeline, it’s not super surprising that no new entertainment was announced for Animal Kingdom. Perhaps this is another 2027 Destination D23 announcement, although that seems a tad later than we’d hope.

Captain EO Comeback

The lack of Captain EO news at D23 wasn’t surprising at all. But at the same time, Captain EO should return…again. Its replacement has limped along for a decade, and is glorified Disney+ content that has no business being an “attraction” at Walt Disney World. And even though Captain EO has not aged well, it has a campy quality that is “in” right now.

On top of that, Michael Jackson is more popular than ever, with the passage of time since his death making him less polarizing. “Michael” has surpassed $1 billion in global ticket sales, becoming the first biopic to achieve the coveted box office milestone.

Lastly and most importantly, we finally got the news that Dreamfinder & Figment Are Reuniting in Ride Reimagining of Journey Into Imagination at EPCOT. Unless the entire pavilion is going down, bringing back Captain EO when the ride is down could help offset the capacity lost, and keep this corner of the park from becoming a dead zone.

Play Pavilion Unpausing

Walt Disney World already did a lot of work fixing the roof and other infrastructure issues for the planned Play Pavilion. Not only that, but this is a prime piece of real estate now that Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is drawing people to this corner of the park. So it probably won’t sit empty forever, but at the same time, it’s been radio silence on this for so long and we got so much other EPCOT news that its absence wasn’t a surprise.

It also won’t be the Play Pavilion after the concept has been paused for ~7 years. Still, we’d love for this to be an interactive kid-friendly offering. My dream is for a revival of the ‘Health Pavilion’ concept featuring Baymax and an assortment of other characters, along with a Big Hero 6 simulator ride.

Another option would be some sort of Marvel pavilion. There were rumors of a Wakanda Tech Expo even before Play Pavilion, and that could be good while also expanding Marvel’s footprint in this corner of the park. I also wouldn’t mind seeing this once again become the festival center, leaving CommuniCore Hall permanently in GoofyCore mode.

Then there was the recently-released Disney Worldbuilders documentary, which gave an outsized amount of attention to the Wonders of Life during the Inside Out portion with Pete Docter, complete with remastered footage of Cranium Command. Perhaps that’ll soon be put to use in the pavilion itself?!

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Your Thoughts

What were you surprised to see not announced for Walt Disney World at the 2026 D23 Expo? Any snubs or obvious news that didn’t make the cut? What about rumors or speculation that didn’t come to fruition…yet? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback—even when you disagree with us—is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!