The D23 Expo included plenty of announcements about what’s coming to the Disney Parks over the next 2, 5 and 10 years! There were updates, reimagined rides and brand new projects brought up. But there were also a few things that the showcase and presentations were noticeably quiet about. In this post, we’ll share some of the biggest projects and rumors that went without news at the D23 Expo, adding our commentary on each one.

If you’ve been following the site for the past few weeks, you know that we’ve gone hard on the D23 Expo coverage. You might be thinking that there’s no more juice to squeeze out of that particular orange, and you might be right! But what if we found a different orange that we thought would have been plucked but wasn’t and we squeeze that one? Okay, it’s not a perfect metaphor but there’s plenty to talk about when it comes to the things that didn’t get talked about.

As I’ve said in previous posts, I was quite happy with the content of the Disney Parks Showcase and even more happy with what I heard and saw in the Imagineering Pavilion on the Expo’s show floor. We always want more but there was plenty to appease me, both from a fandom perspective and as someone who covers the park news. This post is in no way ridiculing the different presentations for not announcing enough things. In fact, I would have preferred more details about what they did announce over announcing more stuff. More details on attractions or a few more opening dates (Tokyo Disneyland’s Space Mountain Earthrise and Animal Kingdom’s Tropical Americas being noticeable omissions) would have been great!

With that out of the way, there were some projects left out that were a surprise. There’s unanswered questions when it comes to a few of them, including whether or not they’ll even happen. I’ll quit being vague and get into the specifics. Here are the Disney Parks projects we didn’t hear about at the D23 Expo and what I think it means for each of them going forward.

Magic Kingdom’s Space Mountain Refurbishment

The biggest surprise of the park’s showcase was that there was absolutely no news on Magic Kingdom’s Space Mountain. WDWMagic reported earlier this summer that plans were in the works for a “massive rebuild” of the iconic coaster and it made so much sense. Walt Disney World has done an excellent job with refreshing or reimagining rides and Space Mountain desperately needs it. Early in the Parks Showcase, there was a mini Space Mountains around the globe segment and I thought for sure news was coming but instead it was lost in a black hole somewhere.

So, what gives? I still think a refurbishment is on the way and it will probably be done at a large scale. Maybe plans haven’t been finalized yet and this wasn’t the type of project to show without all of the details? With so much else going on at Walt Disney World, maybe they’ve decided to kick this particular can down the road and then announce plans at Destination D23 next year in Florida. Either way, I think Magic Kingdom’s Space Mountain gets some work done relatively soon.

Fantasmic at Disneyland

Another surprise, albeit a smaller one, is that there were no announcements about Disneyland’s Fantasmic. There were other entertainment announcements, including two beloved nighttime spectaculars returning in 2027, but news on the Rivers of America show was quiet. Disney knows the show is in bad shape and you have to think that a fix is coming sooner or later. I wonder if a long refurbishment is announced once Remember… Dreams Come True is back in February and means a new edition of Fantasmic debuts in 2028. Here’s hoping!

New Nighttime Spectaculars in Walt Disney World

Along those Fantasmic lines, I thought there were two strong possibilities of new nighttime spectaculars in Walt Disney World. The most obvious of these was a rumored drone show coming to Animal Kingdom. I still believe this is going to happen and it will be paired with the opening of Tropical Americas. With that expansion’s timeline becoming murkier, my conjecture is that Disney World wanted to hold the nighttime show announcement for a later date. There’s also the possibility that some higher up has a bet about how long they can leave that massive amphitheater, once used for Rivers of Light, sitting empty. I doubt that’s the case but we can’t rule it out!

Animal Kingdom wasn’t alone, there was no Walt Disney World entertainment news. The Parks Showcase was WDW heavy so maybe they didn’t want to pile on in front of the west coast fans? I had personally wish casted a return of Illuminations to Epcot in place of Luminous. The current fireworks show doesn’t seem overly popular and I think a new, or returning, show could be a shot in the arm. We’ll have to wait for that one though!

New Hotel Mentions

Similar to the Magic Kingdom Space Mountain announcement that didn’t happen, mentioning the hotels currently being built across the globe would be an easy win. The most prominent of these is Lakeshore Lodge coming next year to Walt Disney World. There are also two hotels being worked on in Shanghai. Short of an announcement of a new hotel, I thought there’d at least be an update. I think that slot was filled by Gloria Gaynor though which is a strange but solid tradeoff.

No News on New Theme Parks

This was less of a surprise but deserved a mention because of the grander scale of a new park. Disney has announced a new park in Abu Dhabi. That came a little over a year ago. Under normal circumstances, I would have expected at least a little more concept art in the parks showcase. Given the heightened political climate, specifically in that area of the world, getting more than a sentence in the showcase and a retread video in the pavilion would have been a surprise. No surprises happened.

Whether or not Disneyland Abu Dhabi actually gets built is up for debate. There is a clear contractual agreement, so it made sense for it to be mentioned at the D23 Expo. But the further we get away from the announcement, which came May 7th, 2025, the more skeptical I’ll get. I’m guessing, and purely guessing with no inside info, that Disney and Miral are currently in a holding pattern.

Over in Shanghai, a second gate is thought to be on the way. That wasn’t announced but I’m not especially surprised by that. It makes more sense to announce a second park at that resort in a big media blitz or at D23 Asia, which happens next summer. I do believe this park will happen but sharing the announcement with an American audience who were hungry for projects in their own backyard didn’t pass the smell test, no matter how strong the rumors were.

What’s Next for Disney Adventure World

While Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World got little teases of what’s next with Tomorrowland and Figment, Disney Adventure World didn’t receive the same. The park did get an exciting update about the upcoming Lion King attraction. We’re eager to see that come to life in the next year or two.

I had hoped that they would keep the momentum going by announcing what else was coming to Adventure Way. This park has improved, and will continue to do so, but the work is far from over. There is space for another large expansion and we hope there’s not another two years before we find out what it is. I’m guessing talks are pretty far along (many years ago they included Galaxy’s Edge) but nothing is finalized yet. For now, we just hope Disney Adventure World keeps expanding and improving!

Haunted Mansion Parlor

What we know:

• There’s a building being built right next to Haunted Mansion alongside the ongoing Piston Peak construction.
• The building is not big enough for a ride but looks large enough to be onstage and more than a kiosk.
• The Disney Cruise Line boasts a popular and impressively themed Haunted Mansion Parlor.

What we don’t know:

• What this building actually is!

There’s a lot of reason to believe this spot will be a Haunted Mansion Parlor, or something of the sort. But D23 Expo did nothing to confirm those rumors. This seems like the perfect type of thing to announce at next year’s Destination D23.

Avatar in California Adventure

This entry isn’t exactly fair, the Avatar expansion was mentioned in the Parks Showcase and they had a large model in the Imagineering Pavilion. It was a nice looking model! As I said in our Winners and Losers of the D23 Expo post, things were really looking up for the Avatar to DCA stans on Friday of the convention.

Then Saturday night came around and it was reported that Avatar would now take place after the reimagining of Tomorrowland. The Pandora model was still in the Pavilion on Sunday but most of the discussion around it was whether it would actually be built. In all likelihood, that project wouldn’t start construction until 2030. That’s 6 years after it was announced! An Avatar expansion probably wouldn’t open until a decade after it was first brought up in early 2024. That’s a long time to wait and a long time for other ideas to creep into executives and Imagineers heads.

I’m not against Avatar in California Adventure. That park’s theme is done, not really existing anymore. At this point, I want pretty things inside of it and Pandora certainly fits the bill. But the lack of comment and plans on the actual project have me, and everyone else, doubting it ever opening.

Port Discovery at Tokyo DisneySea

My hopes were never high about anything at Tokyo Disney Resort getting announced. I’m glad I protected myself! There was a pretty cool model of Tokyo Disneyland’s Space Mountain Earthrise in the Pavilion and Oriental Land Company came out with quite a few project details on their updated Tomorrowland the day before the Expo. I would have loved an opening date but I think that probably comes in a month or two.

Beyond the Tomorrowland project, absolutely nothing else was announced at Tokyo Disney Resort. That includes the upcoming Port Discovery expansion. Aquatopia closes soon and there has been next to no information on what’s coming up for one of DisneySea’s ports. We’ve got the above concept art and that’s about it. Oriental Land Company announces things on their own timeline, and is usually quite open about them, so I think they’ll just drop the news when they’re ready instead of having done it on stage across the Pacific. In other words, there’s nothing really to see here about the non-announcement and I’m looking forward to the deets.

Bonus Non-Parks Addition: Where Were The Muppets?!?!?

The one thing I’m actually upset about when it comes to what wasn’t announced at the D23 Expo was The Muppets. After a Muppet Show special debuted earlier this year on Disney+, and did pretty good business I might add, I expected a reveal of more episodes in production. Heck, I thought we’d get a first season announced! Instead there was nothing.

To add insult to injury, there was a Muppets Musical History panel hosted by Seth McFarlane around the same time as the entertainment showcase on the Friday of D23. It came out that no Muppets would be participating in the panel, which led me to believe they’d get a little stage time at the Honda Center. What can I say, I’m a dreamer. Instead, they didn’t show up in either place.

Despite my screams for everyone to stay in their seats at the arena until they announce something Muppets related, no one did. Instead they filed for the exits and just shot me some side eye glares that were mixed with concern for a grown man yelling incoherently about Kermit and the gang. It ain’t easy being green. Thank you for letting me sound off in these three final paragraphs. Give us more Muppets!

What do you wish would have been announced at the D23 Expo? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below! Planning a Disney trip? Check out our Travel Guides to help get you there! Here’s a link to discount tickets at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. If you enjoy what you’re reading here on Wandering in Disney please subscribe to the blog via email or WordPress and like our social media pages. You can find all of those things on the right side of this page. Thank you very much for reading, we appreciate it!