Top 8 Rumored D23 Expo Announcements
2. Gondolas (Walt Disney World)
This one seems like a slam dunk. At this point, it’s an open secret with the details already having been confirmed by the mainstream media. Construction on the gondolas will become visibly obvious within the year, too. This means that if Disney does not make its own announcement soon, it’ll be a rehash of Bay Lake Tower’s construction.
For those who don’t remember, everyone knew Disney Vacation Club was being built–and vertical progress was visible from the monorail–yet Disney continued to deny the existence of the project. At that point, the rationale for playing coy was to avoid hampering Disney Vacation Club sales at Animal Kingdom Lodge.
In this scenario, there is not a necessary nexus between the gondola and upcoming Disney Vacation Club development at Caribbean Beach Resort, so further denial is less likely (but not out of the question). In other words, the gondola can be announced without a Caribbean Beach announcement; the latter likely won’t occur due to sales of Copper Creek Villas.
1. Not Much At All (Worldwide)
While there are a lot of rumors swirling, my biggest fear is that we won’t hear a single new announcement of substance, only updates on existing projects. I really hope this does not happen, but I could see it occurring due to existing project timelines, what Disney wants to promote with this Expo, and date of the next D23 Expo.
With Star Wars Land wrapping up in 2019 and the next D23 Expo also occurring in 2019, it would make sense for all of the major projects listed above to have opening dates beyond 2019. Heck, some of these projects might not even break ground until late 2019.
In fact, it would not surprise me if over half of the projects listed here are not scheduled to break ground until Fall 2019 (or later). About the only things with a sense of urgency attached to them are Super Hero Land at Disney California Adventure and the gondolas at Walt Disney World. The gondola system will no doubt be announced before 2019, but this may not be the right time, strategically, to make such an announcement.
All of this might set us up for a 2017 D23 Expo that focuses heavily on Star Wars Land, and minimizes other announcements so they don’t overshadow Star Wars Land (or more likely, vice-a-versa). If the Star Wars Land presentation and model on the show floor are strong, that’s all anyone beyond Disney blogs is going to write about, anyway.
If the other news is largely going to go unnoticed, is this D23 Expo the best time to share it? Particularly when it’s all sufficiently distant in the future that it could be announced in a year…or even two years?
Such a scenario would open the door for another major slate of announcements at the 2019 D23 Expo, after the first guests have already set foot in Star Wars Land (at least at Disneyland). Then, the emphasis can be shifted to the rumored projects that present the next phase of development at Disney Resorts around the world. I really hope this is not the case, and we are in store for a blockbuster D23 Expo with a wealth of new attraction announcements, but there’s this lingering fear in the bottom of my stomach that the more likely scenario is the 2017 D23 Expo focuses heavily on Star Wars Land, and saves every other big announcement for another day.
Your Thoughts
Care to make it interesting by placing your own “bets” about what will be announced at the 2017 D23 Expo? Do you think it will be a time for big attraction announcements, or will mostly focus on details about Star Wars Land? Any surprise announcements you think might be possible? Obviously, none of us know what the future holds for the D23 Expo (unless you’re a Disney executive or Imagineer…in which case, please let us know what’s going to happen! 😉 ), but I think it’s fun to take some guesses and see who ‘wins’ just the same. We’ll revisit this post in a month and whoever got the most right will win…bragging rights
Any chance a post is in the works on tips for the D23 expo? Going for the first time this year since I just moved to SoCal and would love to hear some of your tips! Madu
Sorry for the typo at the end of the comment!
I think you have answered all your own questions. The Star Wars theming of the Anaheim Convention Center should be a brutally obvious indication of where the “Big” news is coming from. Obviously there will be non SWL announcements, Epcot and Marvel theming at DCA chief among them, but I think it’s going to be primarily Star Wars teasers. Honestly, why wouldn’t it be? Disney has its own agenda as you illustrated in this article. Right now, that agenda is hyping Star Wars and nothing is going to overshadow that.
5TH GATE!
We should also expect Hong Kong Disneyland to announce the starting date of the construction of the huge expansion as well as some details of the new features…
The days get longer, and the Bricker hot takes get MORE SCORCHING. On FIRE!
Unpopular/butthurt Opinion (not real, not official) rumors:
Cars Land at Hollywood Studios(replacing Indy Stunt Show)
Black Widow, Hawkeye, Thor, Iron Man, and Ant-Man meetable characters come to Disney World, after Universal officially giving up the rights(coming in promotion for Avengers Infinity War)(most likely DHS)
Great Mickey Ride to be in Sunset Showcase area, instead of Chinese Theater
Great Movie Ride to be updated to add Titanic, La La Land, Beauty and the Beast(2017), Jungle Book(2016), etc., and replacing outdated scenes like Alien and Footlight Parade
New Disney XD character breakfast at Hollywood and Vine replacing Disney Jr. Play & Dine, as Star, Marco, Milo Murphy, Melissa, Scrooge, and Launchpad join in the fun, as LEVEL-5 and Dentsu USA make a deal with Disney(thanks to the cable network Disney XD)to bring Nate, Inaho(official English name to be unveiled soon), and USApyon from the network’s acquired anime series, Yo-Kai Watch
Some DuckTales characters make a come back to Walt Disney World(at both Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios)
New name for DHS
Tinker Bell moves to Adventureland, as well as the return of her fairy friend, Fawn
Moana to have a long-term meet in Adventureland near the Skipper Canteen
Rapunzel moves to Main Street Theater, and Cassandra joins her at the new meet from Tangled The Series.
Princess Isabel joins Elena at Princess Fairytale Hall
Cinderella takes Rapunzel’s spot and joins Tiana at PFTH
Peter Pan moves to Epcot and joins with Wendy at the United Kingdom pavilion inside the gift shop where Pooh used to meet
Remy and Emile start meeting in France pavilion at Epcot
C3-PO, R2-D2, Rey, Captain Phasma(with two Troopers), and Darth Vader join BB-8, Chewbacca, and Kylo Ren at Star Wars Launch Bay, all SW characters(except droids) are now allowed to sign autographs, Jawas are leaving
Jessie, Sulley, Mike, Mr & Mrs. Incredible, Frozone, Lightning McQueen, and Tow Mater(latter two joining Cruz Ramirez) return doing regular meets at DHS, once Toy Story Land opens, doesn’t close off Pixar Place completely
Coco(Pixar)park plans
Nick Wilde/Judy Hopps meet spot
and the other eight “real” rumored presentations for Disney Parks
KINGDOM HEARTS 3 RELEASE DATE!!!!
The only announcement I know about for sure is “I am not going to D23 this year!” Just getting into the building the last two times has been a nightmare! Pass!
I think your gut feeling is right and star wars will be the theme in this d23. It seems like every other d23 is a lot less exciting and the last one they announced the star wars and toy story lands. I do hope we can get some good news about Epcot but I don’t expect it.
Hi,
I have my fingers crossed for Epcot to get some love but go back to it’s roots of entertaining, educating and inspiring. I’d like more (better) Figment but am not fussed about IP being involved. I realise this is super unlikely but I loved when Epcot was about ingenuity, invention and the future.
If you hear anything exciting about Disneyland Paris, particularly the Studios par, please share. I’m really curious as to what can be done to revive my ‘local’ park. Ok, it’s at least 3 hours away, but it’s the nearest I have! 😀
Thanks for blogging, Tom!
My biggest fear is that they’ll start changing parts of future world into marvel land. I would hate to see Epcot, which is supposed to be about hope and dreaming big for the future, turned into just more fantasy stuff. I would love to see major updates at EPCOT, but the fact that they even considered guardians of the galaxy makes me think the current team doesn’t really get what EPCOT is.
I’m also thinking Disney will announce a name change to the Disney Hollywood Studios park. Even Bob Iger has hinted to a name change and it seems like the time is right for an announcement at D23 with Star Wars Land and Toy Story Land around the corner.
I agree.
This is very likely.
I’d like to believe that Epcot will get some play, but my money is on a lot of star wars updates…a scaled model would do wonders to help paint a better picture of the new land and reignite excitement for it (not that it needs it that badly). I would really like to hear about the energy pavilion plans, but that’s a long shot at best.
great article as usual!
I’m with you on the fear of Disney going “Star Wars only” at the Expo. Star Wars carries so much hype on its own, that they could satisfy most fans by simply sharing more detailed plans for Star Wars lands at the parks. I must admit, as an unabashed Star Wars Disney idealist, I wouldn’t consider this a huge let-down.