Disney World Confirms DuckTales World Showcase Adventure Will Return, Despite Demise of Play App

Somehow, DuckTales World Showcase Adventure will return. The interactive experience in EPCOT is currently under refurbishment, and ‘game over’ for the Play Disney Parks app earlier this week had fans wondering whether the in-park game would likewise be retired. Here’s the latest on its comeback, followed by our commentary about how we hope Walt Disney World’s solution is simply bringing back the Kimmunicators. Seriously!

For those who are unfamiliar with it, DuckTales World Showcase Adventure invites guests to join Scrooge McDuck and friends in search of priceless treasure during an interactive adventure in EPCOT. Although suitable for all ages, the scavenger hunt is aimed at kids who might otherwise find World Showcase to be boring. It’s a great option to keep them interested, engaged, and (unintentionally) learn a thing or two about other countries!

Walt Disney World has confirmed with journalist Scott Gustin that DuckTales World Showcase Adventure at EPCOT remains under refurbishment, but will return in a modified format. Disney has indicated that more details about the updated DuckTales game will be shared at a later date. As noted above, the current incarnation of the experience ended with the retirement of the Play Disney Parks app, and given that it relied on that app to work, some modifications will be necessary.

To play DuckTales World Showcase Adventure, guests use the Play Disney Parks app and take a trip around the countries to discover exotic destinations, exciting mysteries, and maybe even a few thieves, villains and supernatural guardians of ancient artifacts.

DuckTales World Showcase Adventure allows guests to join Scrooge McDuck, Donald, Huey, Dewey and Louie, Launchpad and Webby as they travel around World Showcase on a quacky quest to find the 7 Plunders of the World, and return them to their rightful owners.

Several missions were previously available to complete as part of DuckTales World Showcase Adventure in the following countries:

• China
• Mexico
• Norway
• Germany
• Japan
• France
• United Kingdom

Previously, each country in EPCOT’s World Showcase had three assignments and one finale. Each mission took approximately 25 to 30 minutes to complete. Upon completion of each country’s mission, you received an achievement. When all countries were completed, it unlocked a playable finale mission.

Although the DuckTales game was a newer addition to the Play Disney Parks lineup, it was almost certainly developed and mostly finished pre-COVID and just happened to launch in 2022 as opposed to 2020. If Walt Disney World really does bring it back after refurbishment in 2026 or 2027, this would be its second against-all-odds appearance in the parks.

Here’s hoping the return of DuckTales World Showcase Adventure doesn’t take as long as it took for the game to launch in the first place. It shouldn’t, as the previous turnaround time between the first and second version of the World Showcase Adventure games was a matter of weeks.

It all depends on how big of a priority this is (or isn’t) for Walt Disney World. It’s possible that this matters a lot and it’ll return before Christmas; it’s also possible this announcement is being made to placate fan complaints and Disney hasn’t even determined how they’ll modify and restore the game.

How Can Disney Bring Back the DuckTales Game Without the App?

Our best guess is that DuckTales World Showcase Adventure will continue to work either by rolling the game into the My Disney Experience app (less likely) or simplifying it so that it’s less of a lengthy minigame and more interactive features to unlock around World Showcase (more likely).

Walt Disney World already confirmed that Batuu Bounty Hunters will remain available after the Play Disney Parks app is retired, continuing to use MagicBand+ and the existing screens throughout the land; that minigame can function without the app. The experience’s Play Disney Parks app component are what no longer work as of September 16, 2026.

It seems possible to likewise simplify and streamline DuckTales World Showcase Adventure. Maybe the haptics and colors of the MagicBand+ can be integrated into the game, similar to Batuu Bounty Hunters. Supplement that with an old fashioned paper guidebook (or perhaps flip phones!), and three-quarters or more of the previous experience is restored.

Even that might be an unrealistic expectation, as it would probably require additional programming. Given that it was announced in 2020, it’s unclear how much longer DuckTales World Showcase Adventure has left in its lifecycle, anyway. This is now the third incarnation of the World Showcase Adventure games; the Kim Possible version only lasted 4 years, whereas Agent P was around for nearly 8 years.

A simpler modification possibility is more akin to the Fab 50 Quest. This is the scavenger hunt where people furiously flap their arms around in front of statues, as if they might just take flight if they wave a little more aggressively. Maybe that’s what DuckTales World Showcase Adventure becomes, dropping everything but the in-park statues that can be activated by guests at random.

While I think the full game being rolled into the already-bloated My Disney Experience app is unlikely, I also think it’s unlikely that the DuckTales minigame is reduced to random activations. The various ‘adventure’ games have all been well done and fun, giving families something substantive to do while exploring World Showcase.

What We’d Like to See from the Modified DuckTales Game

The DuckTales game is excellent, as this is a good example of the marriage of the physical and digital worlds. However, here I’d argue that previous ‘dumber’ versions of the game were actually better as escapist entertainment, and even though the phone-based play was a natural evolution, it is not better.

It would be cool to see Walt Disney World revive the old infrastructure from Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure, the Kimmunicator, which was really a Samsung/Verizon Wireless flip phone. I keep reading articles in the news about how more teens are “opting out” of smartphone life, and instead embracing the simplicity and stress-free life of dumbphones.

Perhaps instead of the Kimmunicator being “dated,” it would be another instance of what’s old is new again. Maybe Imagineering could dress up the device so it doesn’t look like a flip phone, but instead something in-universe to DuckTales. I’m not really sure, but I know that a lot of guests would welcome the removal of screentime.

Having DuckTales World Showcase Adventure continue to be a meaty minigame while also becoming a dumb one would be the best case scenario from our perspective. That’s because, as we’ve pointed out previously, one of the Top 10 Guest Complaints at Walt Disney World is “too much screen time.” That has been the case for years, and really exploded in the post-COVID era.

The park experience at Walt Disney World has changed so much since 2019. There’s a lot more screen time than there was “back in the day,” and DuckTales World Showcase Adventure previously added to that. There’s booking Lightning Lanes throughout the day, Mobile Order, Mobile Check-Out, Walk-Up Waitlist, virtual queues (sometimes), restaurant menus, and more. I’m not complaining about all of these features, as some of them are great guest experience improvements.

However, they amount to a lot more screen time in aggregate, and I don’t think anyone is taking trips to Walt Disney World to spend even more time on their phones. That made DuckTales World Showcase Adventure a tough sell for us, and is precisely why we’d be more excited about a version of the game that did not involve our phones. The World Showcase Adventure feeling more like a continuation of the theme park world without bleeding out into the real one also would make it feel more like an actual adventure.

All of this is to say that the ‘modified’ DuckTales World Showcase Adventure has the potential to be even better than the previous iteration of the game, if Walt Disney World chooses to go all-in on the concept. That’s our hope, and even if some degree of simplification occurs, this could end up being something we play more if it’s sans-screentime.

We’re cautiously optimistic, and hopeful it turns out to be more than just flailing our arms around in front of in-park activation points. We’ll keep you posted and share more whenever Walt Disney World makes an announcement! (Although it wouldn’t surprise us if even they don’t yet know the specifics–just that there’s an internal appetite to keep DuckTales World Showcase Adventure around because it gets high guest satisfaction scores or something.)

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Your Thoughts

What do you think about Play Disney Parks app being retired on September 16, 2026? Surprised that it’s coming to an end? Upset or indifferent towards its demise? 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!