Longer post here. Sorry haha. Strap in, if interested.
The 2024 Parks panel was one of the strongest showings they've ever done. Despite some hiccups as they gradually transition from a wrote sequence of press releases into a full entertainment production, the announcements shown off that night were shocking to me. There were impossible things in that lineup that had been rumored or requested by fans for over two decades. It was clearly - at least partially - a response to the upcoming Epic Universe, and it was an incredibly bold slate. Maybe a little scant on details, but I thought it was a
very solid 5-year plan.
I had no expectation that the '26 panel would top it. We'd get details on the stuff that we got announced last time, and that'll take up most of the show. But no exciting bombshells like last time. The very highest dream we could possibly expect is Figment, and frankly, I didn't believe in that.
So, when they started the panel with "Fixing the Yeti", I was genuinely in shock. It's something I basically wrote off as impossible anytime in the next few decades. A ridiculous fan dream that would cost so much more money than the effect and ride are really worth. ... And yet, they did it. They were making frequent jokes about it before the announcement, and had an entire Disco musical number after it -
(the song was "I Will Survive" at that.) They've never even referenced the Yeti in the past outside of Joe or vague press releases, and here we are making a huge production out of it.
And that's how you
start the program?
I loved the show, even despite the strange pacing and lame comedy bits. All of the details for the existing '24 projects look great, and are going in exactly the direction I want them to.
- TropAm looks great, especially the shockingly frightening-looking Indy ride. As the resident Dinosaur defender here, this looks to be a really stellar update to one of my all-time favorite attractions. And the land overall seems like the exact thing DAK is begging for right now, especially with the "No height restrictions" Encanto ride. I really couldn't ask for much more here. (Maybe a butterfly enclosure though?)
- Villainsland is similarly grim, in the best ways. It looks to deliver on the promises of that awesome and scary 2024 concept art. Villainsland being on the scale of Galaxy's Edge is tremendously exciting.
- Piston Peak looks visually beautiful and high budget, and like it has a lot of fun tasteful humor throughout. I really believe that this and VL will really drastically impact the walkability of MK's west side, and only for the better.
- Monstropolis looks wonderful. I am so happy we're getting a new (3D?) show, meaning actual growth for DHS! and it just looks like a fun time as well. The Door Coaster is still insane as an actual expansion and not a forever rumor, and that lift mechanism is so scary and cool and I desperately hope it works out operationally. The last thing DHS needs is a Mine Cart Madness - but if it runs like it needs to, that will be such an incredible effect. Really great work being done here all-around.
- The return of the Storylight SSE was cool to see, especially given all of the SSE references throughout the show. Hopefully they tune it up a little nicer than how they planned it in the late 2010s.
- Avengers has taken so, so, so far beyond too long to make it to DCA, but if there is any solace in that, it's that it looks really cool and that I'm real excited to ride it once it eventually opens.
And then we get those unexpected bombshells.
Details were light on these, absolutely. But frankly, they've delivered on just about everything I could want them to for a long while now, and the upcoming stuff they're working on looks wonderful. Shocked to say, but I'm inclined to take them at their word when they say they are planning to do these things. I have to trust that they know what it means for them if they don't deliver on those potentially huge wins.
And, for now, let's say they
do deliver - Oh my god. Are you kidding? What an
unfathomably incredible lineup Disney has going into the early 2030s.
- Villainsland
- Monsters Inc Door Coaster (+land!)
- New Figment w Dreamfinder
- Fixing the Yeti
- SSE redo
- WDW Indy and Carsland
- Avengers, Avatar, Coco coming to DCA
- Fixing DLP's Space Mountain
- DL's New Tomorrowland
... like, what else even is there to ask for after all of that?
Disney asks "You know everything you wanted? Here is
everything."
This all feels bullish in a very focused way. I could excuse a few thrown bones like Villains and Door last panel because of Epic, which was very much a wild card going into 2025 - but Epic is here now, and they
have to know they don't need to be afraid of it.
This feels different. This feels to me like a pointed goodwill tour, hitting all of the big longtime unrequited fan demands at once, because they decided that they can. It feels like the
Smash Bros Ultimate roster for Disney Park fans. It's like Josh got up on the big chair and said "Screw it, I don't care how much it costs or what needs to happen, let's just do it. We need to do it.", and ... well, I can't explain how unbelievably exciting that is as a fan.
If Disney delivers on everything they say here, they will be the undisputed king of the industry for decades and decades to come, with no one else even nipping their heels. Not to get back on this, but like, compare that above list to what the competitions got going on.
Twisters? A Power-Up Band game-focused Pokemon land? I'm sorry, but what are we doing here? This feels to me like it could be where that gap between the two really starts to widen. Disney isn't the sleeping giant it was 10-20 years ago. UDX has to bring a lot more Velocicoaster's and Unchained's going forward, and a lot less Villaincon's and Supercharged's.
Maybe I'm wrong or letting my biases skew my judgement, but I just don't see much room for UDX to compete with Disney in the ways they were being positioned to by some in the late 2010's and early '20s. It feels instead like we're settling into a redefined hierarchy, with UDX certainly ranking higher than they had before, but with Disney firmly cemented at the top of it.
I can't believe it, but for me, they've managed to top their last panel
and perfectly tee'd themselves up to hit a homerun in 2028 as well. I'll wait for more details on those latter heavy-hitter fan requests, but I gotta say, it really helps the wait to have a wide-ranging slate of great projects to look forward to year-after-year going forward. This is looking to be a wildly exciting time to be a Disney fan.