12 Things Disney Will (and Won’t) Announce for Disneyland at 2026 D23 Expo

Major news is about to be announced for Disneyland and Disney California Adventure during the 2026 D23 Expo. Details about new lands, ride reimaginings, added entertainment, and other enhancements are on the horizon–along with (hopefully) a few wildcards. Here are my predictions as to what’ll be revealed at the Parks Panel and on the show floor, plus what is not announced.

D23 Expo is cyclical. The 2024 D23 Expo was arguably the best since 2017, with Disney pulling out all the stops and making major announcements that set the slate for the next 5 years at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland. We’re likely out to the 2030s with the expansion projects, so it stands to reason that Disney won’t add blockbuster new lands and attractions for even more distant dates. There are likely two more D23 Expos after this one before the Avatar area opens!

Accordingly, it’s our expectation that the announcements for Walt Disney World and Disneyland at the 2026 D23 Expo will mostly be backfill of details and smaller scale projects. The kinds of projects that can be started and opened between now and the 2028 D23 Expo. Think ride reimaginings, enhancements, entertainment, seasonal overlays, and other offerings that can be deployed in an off-year to otherwise boost attendance and lure locals back to the parks before Avengers Campus Phase 2 debuts.

The bottom line is that the 2026 D23 Expo is not going to be on par with two years ago. Josh D’Amaro already delivered last time with bombshell after bombshell. That presentation probably helped get him the CEO job! Now the hard work has begun with building, and that’ll continue for the next ~4 years.

This is widely accepted as conventional wisdom. If you look around at predictions for the 2026 D23 Expo, you’ll probably see a sea of sameness. It’s pretty safe to predict updates on Avengers, Coco, Avatar, maybe even Eastern Gateway and what’s being built in Downtown Disney if they need filler. Everyone knows this is the “fill in the blanks” detail-oriented D23.

Accordingly, we’re going to start our predictions with the safe, garden variety ones and then get more outlandish as the list goes on. Because it’s pointless to make the same prognostications as everyone else. And they’re not really predictions at all if we all know they’re going to happen, right?!

Avengers Campus Updates

The safest of safe predictions is that Disney will provide a lengthy update on the global Marvel Cinematic Universe projects. At Disney California Adventure, Avengers Campus is doubling in size with the addition of two new rides, Stark Flight Lab and Avengers Infinity Defense.

Construction continues on these attractions being built backstage, with the massive Marvel expansion show building stretching all the way behind Cars Land. It’s tough to see progress from inside Avengers Campus, as the canopy appears complete, but the backstage show building itself is now being enclosed.

While we expect news about both the secondary Stark Flight Lab and the Avengers Infinity Defense E-Ticket, the focus will likely be on the latter. There’s really only so much that can still be said about Stark Flight Lab, save for the possibility of a groundbreaking Tony Stark Audio Animatronic. Perhaps there’s a wow-moment where it’s revealed that footage of Robert Downey Jr. talking on screen is actually that AA.

It’s expected that the Avengers Infinity Defense ride system will be similar to or the same as Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure (or Spider-Man at Universal), and feature a melding of physical and screen-based show scenes. We expect to see that, both via footage of ride testing and new concept art from inside the attraction.

An opening year for the Avengers Campus expansion is also possible, and would be a bullish sign. We suspect the doubling of Avengers Campus will open between Late 2027 and Summer 2028. If it’s announced at D23, it’s probably a 2027 project. That would be unexpectedly positive news. We would not expect a specific date.

Coco Ride Reveal

Two years ago, Disney announced the Coco boat ride at the D23 Expo. Last year, Disneyland moved forward the project timeline, revealed the location of the expansion, and commenced construction.

Despite that, we still don’t know much about the Coco boat ride. The attraction will be filled with the characters and music from the beloved movie, as you join Miguel on a trip to the land of the dead.

Walt Disney Imagineering will draw inspiration for the attraction from beloved classics, like Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. “We’re bringing our skeletal cast of characters to life in a big way through the latest Audio-Animatronics technology,” D’Amaro said at the last D23 Expo. “These figures will appear in ways you’ll have to see to believe.”

It’s safe to predict that Disney will show off more of the ride, with a couple pieces of concept art and more fleshing out of the show scenes and ride description. Speaking of fleshing out, perhaps we’ll see footage from Imagineering of the real use-case of the human-to-skeleton transforming Audio Animatronics figure that’s being tested in Pirates of the Caribbean. Do not expect an opening year at this point.

Avatar Axed or Affirmed

We floated the possibility of Avatar being axed last year, reasoning that it was the project that was furthest into the future, posed logistical challenges, and that Pandora is a pet project of former CEO Bob Iger, who had affinity towards Avatar.

Earlier this year in 11 Great Changes Josh D’Amaro Could Make at Walt Disney World for Big Wins as New CEO, we discussed how it’s common for CEOs to make major changes to set the tone and legacy build. Of the projects that are underway, Avatar is the most obvious candidate for that. We’ve gone on to discuss how Zootopia would be a savvy switch for several reasons, from logistics to costs to fan reception.

Throughout this, we’ve never suggested there was any credible rumor to this. Or even that it was likely to happen! Specifically, I wrote this: “It’s not a high likelihood, just higher–relatively–than any other announced project. Probably still less than 51%…but I do think it’s double digits.”

It was purely speculative; something that struck us as being plausible even if unsupported by the underlying facts. In the months since, the “Zootopia is replacing Pandora” story has spread like wildfire, and is being treated as a foregone conclusion. Despite this, we still have yet to hear a single credible rumor to support this. It is, as before, purely speculative!

As an “only good news” event, it’s unlikely that the company is going to state, outright “Avatar is dead.” But one way or another, we’ll be able to read between the lines and know where Avatar stands after the Parks Panel. If Disney announces Zootopia for DCA “by popular demand” or as a result of “listening to feedback from our fans,” that will mean Avatar is dead. If Avatar is not mentioned except in passing, that will mean Avatar is dead. Conversely, if extensive time is devoted to it, that will (obviously) mean it’s happening.

During the August 2026 earnings call, Disney released a slide showing the “Avatar Experience” as being in development (above). This certainly suggests that Avatar hasn’t been axed, but we don’t view it as conclusive. And something Avatar could still come to Disneyland Resort, even if it does not feature the blockbuster boat ride revealed at the last D23 Expo.

Ultimately, my prediction is that Disney bets big on Pandora West, and we do hear a major update on Avatar. I’d love to hear a name for the expansion (land? area?) so we can stop oddly referring to it as an “Avatar Experience.” I also think a domestic Zootopia land is inevitable just based on the franchise’s popularity, but I do not expect an announcement at the 2026 D23 Expo.

Ride Reimaginings

As before, the problem with the bombshell announcements from the last D23 Expo is that they’re several years into the future. Most of what was announced two years ago will not open until 2028 to 2031.

Between now and then, Disney has nothing major on deck for Disneyland or DCA in terms of actual attractions. The 70th Anniversary is over. Aside from aggressive discounting (which will probably be needed regardless), there’s no plan for 2027. Without some gap-fillers, the current attendance woes will only worsen.

The answer to that will almost assuredly be ride reimaginings and entertainment (more on the latter below). We’ve already seen that in the last year at Walt Disney World with a reinvigorated Imagineering team that’s leveraged a ‘singles and doubles’ strategy to spectacular success. Their approach is refreshing, and feels more “Disneyland-esque” than anything Disneyland has been doing.

It’s baffling this hasn’t spread to the California parks already. In more ways than one, Disneyland feels asleep at the wheel. If history is any indication, that won’t last. We expect the 2026 D23 Expo to awaken a slumbering monster, with a slew of attraction enhancements and entertainment additions announced for 2027 and 2028.

As for what that could entail, pick anything from our list of Top 10 Ride Reimaginings Needed at Disneyland. Specific predictions I’ll make are Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters, Autopia, Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin, and Goofy’s Sky School (hey, a guy can dream, right?!).

Walls of Tomorrowland 8th Anniversary Celebration

There’s a reason “New Tomorrowland” makes our wish list for every D23 event, and why the company itself announced “A Great, Big, Beautiful Tomorrowland Entrance Coming Soon to Disneyland” back in November 2019. Tomorrowland has been embarrassingly bad for at least the last 15 years.

The walls are still up and the concept art on them had become so faded that they replaced it. That construction wall will soon be of legal drinking age in some territories. Like mold or rabbits, those walls will likely soon spawn more walls. It’s only a matter of time.

That entrance was likely the first step in a planned, long overdue transformation of Tomorrowland at Disneyland. It seems logical that the next “new” Tomorrowland will revisit the 1967 ideas of Walt Disney and his Imagineers that envisioned it as a “world on the move,” streamlining the design to remove the visual hodgepodge and replace it with clean mid-century modern stylization.

To be clear, the prediction here is not a fully-fledged reimagining of Tomorrowland. I’ve lost hope in that. Based on what I’ve heard, Tomorrowland is viewed as too popular to take offline for wholesale update. Disney cannot afford to lose that crowd-absorbing capacity.

However, the recent ‘singles & doubles’ projects at Walt Disney World, as well as the Animation Courtyard reimagining and piecemeal Tomorrowland project at Magic Kingdom could serve as the template for a “make it less embarrassing and worthy of the Disney brand” caliber project out at Disneyland. If Tomorrowland really is too popular to touch, the real mistake would be letting it further rot in plain sight for another decade, and tarnish the brand as it does.

On a substantive level, we already know this is going to happen to some extent. Autopia is not a prediction; it’s been confirmed. Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters getting a ‘recharge’ a la its Magic Kingdom counterpart feels inevitable. As Hyperspace Mountain has proven, Space Mountain could become an entirely “new” ride via the strategic use of screens. Something more permanent could be a big draw and done without significant investment or downtime.

Then there’s the old Innoventions/Super Hero HQ/Star Wars Launch Bay building. The Star View Station DVC lounge only takes up a fraction of this valuable real estate, and that’s closing for refurbishment during the D23 Expo. Purely coincidental, I’m sure! So while we do not expect a blockbuster announcement that Disneyland is bringing back the PeopleMover and adding two brand new attractions, there’s a lot of middle ground between that and nothing at all.

Fantasyland Refreshes

It’s hard to believe that it’s been over a decade since the Fantasyland enhancement projects started ahead of the Disneyland 60th Anniversary Diamond Celebration.

For that milestone anniversary, Imagineering updated the Alice in Wonderland dark ride and Peter Pan’s Flight. There were rumors of similar such “plussings” for the other Fantasyland classics, but nothing else was updated until Snow White’s Enchanted Wish. That was the last project, and that was now over 5 years ago!

It would make sense to give the same treatment to Pinocchio’s Daring Journey and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. I’m especially eager (albeit cautiously so) to see what Imagineering could do with the latter, as there are ways to use modern technology to really make Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride pop.

The worry is that irreverence and zaniness is essential to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, and I fear it could lose some of its edge in the process. Disney would never build something like that today, but hopefully Imagineering has the sense not to ruin it. The very things that make that attraction so special are its oddities; it’s an oddball attraction, great precisely because of that.

Fantasmic 3.0

Like Murphy the Dragon, Disneyland got roasted by fans with the return of Fantasmic after the nighttime spectacular’s year-plus hiatus. Frankly, I don’t know what fans were expecting. We warned everyone for months that Fantasmic’s return was being delayed not to rebuild the dragon, but as a cost-savings measure. That the show would basically be in b-mode and not actually “enhanced” or “reimagined.”

Regardless, I’m pleased that Disney didn’t get away with cutting the show for a year and then passing off a downgraded version as something special. Hopefully, Disneyland management realizes Fantasmic is in a sorry state, and there are plans to actually reimagine and improve the marquee nighttime spectacular.

A new dragon would be a good start, but more could be done for the scenes in between. Just look at the Disney’s Hollywood Studios version–after years of being inferior, that’s currently the #1 version of Fantasmic. Disneyland should be embarrassed by that. See Fantasmic Needs a New Dragon and Reimagining in 2027 for more.

Remember Dreams Come True 2: Electrical Light Parade Boogaloo

That header is a bit nonsensical and stupid, but I happen to like it. This combines two things that strike me as plausible.

One would be bringing back Main Street Electrical Parade for its 1,955th farewell run. I assume this will happen since 2027 will be the parade’s 55th Anniversary. The problem is, each time the ancient parade is trotted out again, its impact is lessened. One option is investing in major updates, such as new floats. Another is pairing MSEP with another fan-favorite.

Personally, I’d love to see a redux of Remember…Dreams Come True, modernized and enhanced. But I’d be fine with the other options, or something brand-new. Disney Live Entertainment has been on a roll with fireworks, and even the returning Pixar Fest nighttime spectacular was pretty good thanks to the enhancements. Twenty years later, they could do a good job with a proper spiritual successor to RDCT.

With all of that said, the elephant in the room here is Disneyland’s 75th Anniversary in 2030. Disney will want to work backwards from that nostalgia-drenched event, and play its hand accordingly. My gut is that we’ll get the regular MSEP in 2027 and perhaps Paint the Night in 2028, before nothing in 2029 to build anticipation for the next night parade, which should be a reboot of MSEP in 2030.

World of Color: Wondrous Journeys Edition

If Disneyland gets fireworks that are a love letter to the parks themselves, then DCA should get a nighttime spectacular that’s a love letter to Walt Disney Animation Studios. Basically, Wondrous Journeys but via World of Color.

I’d also accept a return of the OG World of Color, but with updated scenes to reflect fan-favorite new movies in the last 15 years. Along with that, introduce a pre-show randomizer (maybe guests get to vote on it?!) that features all of the best pre-shows from TRON Legacy to the Muppets!

With no parades possible at Disney California Adventure for the next few years, it stands to reason that the park will need its best version of World of Color. And unlike Disneyland, DCA has expansion debuting in 2028-2031, so they can really pull out all of the stops now, without worrying about spreading things out until the 75th Anniversary.

Maybe 2027 is finally the year that a stage show returns to the Hyperion Theater?! Hahahahahaha! Sorry, absurd of me to think that the vacant venue should actually be used for its intended purpose. That would only give guests something to do, offset the capacity losses from construction, and improve the experience. Disney cannot conceivably afford such a move as it notches record revenue quarter after quarter. Silly daydreaming on my part!

Mickey Avenue Reimagining

It’s an off-year tradition for D23 to announce superfluous, superficial reimaginings to lands at Disney California Adventure that are largely IP-free and utterly pointless. At some point, that trend is going to come for the remaining original DCA lands.

Building on the “legacy” of Pixar Pier and San Fransokyo, our guess is this comes next for Hollywood Land. Or rather, what’s left of it after Avatar or Zootopia swallows up the backlot. The big twist here is that this placemaking project will be an actual improvement–something worthwhile that fans actually want.

Enter Mickey Avenue. Or perhaps Oswald Boulevard. Either way, the general thrust of this would be bolstering the depth and detail of the thoroughfare to be more on par with Buena Vista Street, which, thankfully, would not be touched.

Substantively, we’d expect this to be like the Animation Courtyard overhaul at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Take what was left on the drawing board there, recycle other elements, expand and reimagine the Animation Building. It could use some love.

Camp Woodchuck Retheme

When it comes to reimaginings to inject IP, Hollywood Land is the obvious one. But another underrated option is the only area of the original Disney’s California Adventure (note the possessive) that was actually any good: Grizzly Peak.

Imagineering is probably ready to revisit Grizzly Peak, which was rumored to receive more attention a decade ago in a phase two overhaul of Disney California Adventure that never happened. Instead, we got the completely unnecessary Pixar Pier.

While I would prefer to see Paradise Pier and California Screamin’ restored, we’re about a decade away from that nostalgia play. Instead, giving Grizzly Peak thoughtful enhancements makes sense.

The long-running rumor/wishful thinking is adding the Country Bears to Grizzly River Run. I don’t see that happening, especially with their Hungry Bear takeover at Disneyland. But adding characters and more scenery to Grizzly River Run could make sense.

Disneyland has tested the waters with Humphrey the Bear lately. Giving Grizzly Peak a light refresh to add that character and Ranger J. Audubon Woodlore (who is also receiving a nod in Piston Peak at Magic Kingdom) along with nods to Brownstone National Park would make sense.

As would giving Redwood Creek Challenge Trail an overlay themed to the Junior Woodchucks. The Imagineers now leading Disneyland were previously leads in Japan, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see them pull from the playbook of Camp Woodchuck Kitchen. That was a fantastic expansion and placemaking project.

New Themed Area at Disneyland

Disney has backed itself into a corner with the “pitch” for DisneylandForward. The aggressive campaign has locals believing that this is a big project that’ll massively expand the footprint of Disneyland Resort–maybe even adding a third gate!

There’s absolutely no reason to believe that’s the case, at least not in the short term. I’m on record saying that I think a third gate at Disneyland will happen, and most likely over on the Toy Story Lot. In fact, I’d bet on that over park expansion by Pixar Place Hotel! (A better wildcard is another hotel over there.)

While I doubt it’ll happen, I’ll throw out Arendelle as a Fantasyland expansion at Disneyland as a final wild card. DCA is already getting help, Arendelle is awesome, and I suspect Disney knows they “need” a domestic version of that land, like yesterday. Maybe a World of Frozen miniland that’s even smaller than the Disney Adventure World version could be squeezed in here. Very much a longshot, but we’ll toss it on the board and see if it sticks.

Planning a Southern California vacation? For park admission deals, read Tips for Saving Money on Disneyland Tickets. Learn about on-site and off-site hotels in our Anaheim Hotel Reviews & Rankings. For where to eat, check out our Disneyland Restaurant Reviews. For unique ideas of things that’ll improve your trip, check out What to Pack for Disney. For comprehensive advice, consult our Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide. Finally, for guides beyond Disney, check out our Southern California Itineraries for day trips to Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, and many other SoCal cities!

Your Thoughts

Care to make it interesting by placing your own predictions about what will be announced at the 2026 D23 Expo? Do you think it will be a time for big attraction announcements, or will mostly focus on details about projects that are already underway? Any surprise announcement predictions? Obviously, none of us know what the future holds (unless you’re a Disney executive or Imagineer…in which case, please let us know what’s going to be revealed!), but it’s fun to take some guesses and see who ‘wins’ just the same. We’ll revisit this post in a week or so and whoever got the most right will win…bragging rights!