Disney’s Cancels Multiple Expansion Projects, Report Admits "Bigger Problems"

Disney is suffering some big problems, which are holding back the renovations and advancements of multiple attractions, according to higher-up sources within The Walt Disney Company.

If you are a fan of theme parks, you will likely look into what new projects each of the major theme park chains are working on. While Disney has been at the top of the leaderboard when it comes to theme park success, Universal has also proven that they are a real contender in the game. At the moment, Universal is making major moves in the theme park industry. Universal’s Epic Universe will soon be added to Universal Orlando Resort, adding a new theme park to Orlando for the first time since Islands of Adventure. Something Disney has not done since 1998 with Animal Kingdom.

Additionally, Universal is expanding globally with Universal Kids in Texas, Universal’s Las Vegas Horror Unleashed in Las Vegas, and the news of Universal purchasing land in the U.K. for Universal’s Great Britain. Even in their most popular parks, at Universal Orlando Resort, a new DreamWorks land is being built.

With so much news, many have been awaiting what Disney will do.

Right now, Disney is expanding EPCOT, a multi-year project that will be completed this year, in 2024. We saw Future World take turn, changing into World Celebration, World Nature, and World Discovery. Now, guests can eat at Connections Café, shop for merchandise at Creations, take a photo with Walt Disney’s statue, enjoy the World Celebration Gardens, walk through Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana, and soon, will be able to enter CommuniCore Hall and CommuniCore Plaza.

Outside of that expansion, Splash Mountain is undergoing a refurbishment, which will have the ride turned into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure by the end of 2024.

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However, the list stops there. Considering Orlando is Disney’s largest and most popular theme park, and competition is on the way, there is a chance that the lack of innovations will hurt the park.

In the past, Disney announced major refurbishments for multiple attractions, which could have served as the new reasons to visit all of the Disney parks again for guests, but now, those updates are reportedly not happening as the Mouse House has “bigger” problems at hand.

Brayden (@SirBrayden), owner of Mickey Views and Disney expert, has been in contact with staff at Disney. He wrote, “According to senior level source there is no active plan to update Journey into Imagination, Spaceship Earth, Mission: Space, or build out World Showcase. Said, “we have bigger problems.”

According to senior level source there is no active plan to update Journey into Imagination, Spaceship Earth, Mission: Space, or build out World Showcase. Said "we have bigger problems."

— Brayden (@SirBrayden) January 16, 2024

One of Brayden’s followers, and theme park fan Greg tymop (@flexcapacitor) replied with the question many of us are wondering, “Brayden, is WDI earnestly talking to executives about epic universe opening and the genuine threat that poses? Or it’s useless?”

To which Brayden replied, “Executives hold on to a long-time (flawed) rationale that any increased draw to Universal will only help Disney, as any new vacationers attracted by Universal will also plan days at Disney. Resting on their laurels.” According to this, Disney is seemingly not worried of the revenue that Epic Universe may steal, as they assume this will drive more guests to Orlando, and in theory, more to Disney during their vacation.

While the problem was not stated explicitly, Brayden wrote, “The issue with having corporate real estate outside-hires do projects like EPCOT is the loss of generational knowledge means old mistakes are repeated, such as trip hazards, power washing pathway lights, lack of kinetics, poor lighting for photo spot with Walt, etc. Costly fixes”

He continued, “The real situation at Imagineering is that it is being re-orged. Outside-hires from AirBnB and corporate real estate are in charge of creative on projects Vahle and D’Amaro aren’t green-lighting anyways. Generational knowledge leaving for greener pastures at non-Disney projects.”

We have shared in the past that there are reports of Las Vegas hotel hires that have come in to build a majority of the recent Disney resorts and lead the refurbishments, which has led to a more polished look. While new rooms like those at Disney’s BoardWalk Inn are clean and crisp, they lack the theme that Disney resorts are known for, and follow the look of a nicer Hilton or Marriott resort.

Brayden also expressed, “The focus at WDW for new projects is heavily focused on Animal Kingdom in an attempt to spike its lower attendance. Issue is, Hollywood Studios, which has better attendance, has little to do! Disney’s metric for which parks need attention is wonky. MK and DHS need more CAPACITY!”

As we heard, there are plans to change It’s Tough to be a Bug into a Zootopia attraction, with DinoLand U.S.A. bringing in either Encanto or Indiana Jones into the mix. Disney has hinted that Frontierland will see a change one day, but nothing more than a quick sentence at the end of a blog post.

Brayden predicts that Disney executives are foreseeing a recession, which will impact their theme parks’ bottom line, and in order to protect their finances, only small, cost-cutting updates are looking to be made in the near future. “Most projects with significant interest revolve around gutting existing attractions, which utilize lots of complex audio-animatronics. Replacing these with cheaper experiences is seen as worthwhile ROI and cost containment. Parks execs foresee a recession and aim to invest little,” said Brayden.

Brayden has not confirmed his initial source for this information, likely due to the anonymous nature of the information that must be used in order to protect their position at Disney. Knowing this, none of this information is confirmed at the moment, but we do know that all of the projects that Brayden mentioned have not seen an update shared for quite some time. In fact, in 2022, Bob Chapek stated that many of these projects were now in a “holding pattern”. Once Disney’s cash is more “robust” the company will “hopefully” be able to refund the projects in the future.

It appears that has yet to change, and with that lack of change, has arrived bigger problems for Disney.

Do you find visiting Disney World worth it at the current moment? Would you rather visit Universal once Epic Universe is built?