Things are changing in a big way at Walt Disney World Resort, and closures are affecting some areas of the theme parks.
If you’ve visited Walt Disney World Resort lately, you’ve probably taken notice of some changes happening around the theme parks. Tiana’s Bayou Adventure has officially replaced the space where Splash Mountain once resided, but there is still a lot of construction left to happen before the attraction is open to the public. Disney shared that the attraction is set to open in “late 2024,” but not many other updates have been shared.
Once the attraction opens, it will be home to many “whimsical and magical” characters, all inspired by the Princess and the Frog movie. Speaking at Destination D23, Disney Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro shared that Walt Disney Imagineers were hard at work designing and building the attraction.
“These folks are doing amazing work,” D’Amaro said. “They’re hard at work on all the figures that we’re just packing into this attraction. It’s going to be such a great experience experience, bringing you a new story from Tiana’s world that picks off right where that classic film left off.”
While there’s been a lot of emphasis and focus placed on the new Magic Kingdom attraction– which could potentially even mean a brand new land along with it– that isn’t the only development we’ve seen at Disney World, which includes construction and closures.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park is preparing for major things to happen at DinoLand, U.S.A. The land is rumored to have some major new attractions, including a potential Zootopia or even Indiana Jones-themed attractions, but nothing has been confirmed by Disney. As a matter of fact, the company has remained quiet on the overall direction they’ll be heading with the Disney World theme park once it’s all said and done, but clear indicators tell us that DinoLand, U.S.A. will not be around forever, and is living on borrowed time.
The Disney park with the most construction happening currently is none other than EPCOT. Disney is getting ready to officially unveil Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana. The new water-themed attraction went through Cast Member previews recently and is now undergoing Annual Passholder previews. Once the previews have been completed, Disney has announced that the attraction will officially open to the public on October 16, 2023.
However, one land inside of the Disney World park remains completely closed off to the public with no updates on its timeline or potential opening. The World Celebration Neighborhood is causing major construction walls to remain up around the entirety of EPCOT. The Disney park has been under construction for several years, and we’ve gotten little-to-no updates on the status of World Celebration or when the land might open.
Right now, Disney World guests have had to walk around the construction walls, which essentially have become the new norm in EPCOT. The latest updates on the land, however, show that Disney is making major progress and that the company is inching closer to an opening, even if it won’t be in the near future.
Twitter (now X) account @bioreconstruct recently shared updated aerial photos where we can see the progress being made in World Celebration.
Aerial overview of World Celebration.
Aerial overview of World Celebration. pic.twitter.com/bAkrfuBFcG
— bioreconstruct (@bioreconstruct) September 23, 2023
As you can see in the photo, Disney is still constructing the new land, which will be at the center of EPCOT just behind Spaceship Earth. If you’ve been following the construction project, though, you can see that major developments have taken place. The land is developed, and we’re starting to see more and more structures erected. This is a big change from the dirt piles we saw just a few months ago.
Though Disney still remains months away from an opening– an actual opening timeline has not been announced– it is encouraging to see that steps are being made to see the Disney World land opened and available for guests to enjoy. For now, though, we’ll have to wait for more details.
What do you want to see added to EPCOT in the future? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments!