Ever walked through Magic Kingdom and wished a Coco space could be added there? Or maybe you wished you could walk up to the Casita from Encanto? Well, those things MIGHT (keyword: MIGHT) be in your future!
Cinderella Castle
During the D23 Expo, we got to attend the panel all about the future of the Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products. During that panel, we got to hear about the return of the Happily Ever After theme song, a new fireworks show for EPCOT, and so much more. And among those announcements were some teasers for projects Disney is dreaming up!
During the panel, Imagineering Portfolio Creative Executive Chris Beatty shared, “Magic Kingdom holds a special place in my heart. I think there are so many amazing stories yet to be told – lands to be explored.”
So if you thought New Fantasyland was the end of “expansions” to Magic Kingdom, you might be wrong! Now, keep in mind that all of the things we’re about to discuss are just ideas being dreamed up at Disney Imagineering, often in partnership with Disney Animation. That means that all of the ideas are very much subject to change. They are just some things Disney presented as possibilities for the future.
Beatty and Jennifer Lee (Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios) discussed some ideas that have been in the works for Magic Kingdom. Disney has called these “potential expansion opportunities” for Magic Kingdom and “what if” ideas.
Main Street U.S.A.
When discussing these potential expansions, Beatty asked, have you ever wondered if you could travel to the other side of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, what would be there? The idea here is basically an exploration of what could be on the other side of Thunder Mountain if you made it past all the rocks.
One possibility the team appears to be exploring is Coco! What if past Thunder Mountain is the little town of Santa Cecilia and they’re celebrating Dia de Los Muertos? What if you could climb onto an alebrije, and fly into the land of the dead? Beatty said that’s what “could be out there.”
Could COCO be coming to Magic Kingdom?! #D23Expo pic.twitter.com/3h8FF0OCbk
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) September 11, 2022
©Disney
In discussing this possibility, Jennifer Lee shared, “What if you could walk into the Madrigals’ casita…What if Mirabel is your guide…What if you could step up to a door and discover your own magical gift?” That’s another possibility!
#Encanto was also teased to possibly come to Magic Kingdom! ✨ #D23Expo pic.twitter.com/ObiOJXxXVH
— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) September 11, 2022
The Characters We Love to Hate!
These are currently Blue Sky projects so they are VERY early in the stages of development. But, Josh D’Amaro, the Chairman of the Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products did say, “We are not up here daydreaming. It’s important to me that you know that these things…they are very real.” Again, Disney is referring to these as “potential expansion opportunities” and creative “what if” ideas.
WOW
We cannot wait to see what becomes of these Blue Sky concepts in the future. Stay tuned for more news!
Click here for more coverage from D23 Expo!
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What do you think about these ideas? Tell us in the comments!
Disclosure: In nearly all circumstances, Disney Food Blog writers and photographers pay full price for their own travel, hotel, food, beverage, and event tickets. We do this because it’s important to us as journalists to ensure not only that we give you unbiased opinions, but also that you can trust us to do so since we’re paying our own way. On rare occasions, when we are invited by a company to attend a preview as media, and when we choose to accept that invitation, we will always make you, our readers, aware of that situation. We were invited by Disney to attend D23 Expo as media. Note that when we attend events as media we are 1) Not required to review that event/food on any of our channels, and 2) Not required to review that event/food favorably. You can always count on DFB to give you a 100% unbiased and honest review of any event that we attend, food that we eat, or beverage that we drink. You can see more in our Disclosure Policy. Thank you for reading. — AJ
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I eagerly await these areas being teased, speculated on by fans, announced and ultimately letting us down when they drop half the cool stuff!!
I’m in for a new Villains land but only if in both coasts….
I’m afraid I have to be a bit more cynical. There are so many things they’ve ‘announced’ in the past that there wasn’t a whisper about yesterday. I was about to say I would believe it when they broke ground, but after Reflections that’s not a good standard anymore.
Maybe its time to build a new park? I know that costs more, but that would alleviate the congestion at current parks. The crowds at the entrances are already huge and bottle necked.
I think Disney is just throwing up smoke signals to test guest appeal. I agree, Disney does a lot of talking some time, and too many times it fades away and we never hear about the latest and greatest again. Reflections came and went, then poof, the Poly gets a tower. Was reflections a smoke screen to get ready to move on the Poly. Disney does this all the time and a new park is not in the cards.
Why don’t they build a new park?! This will just add more crowding to an already overcrowded venue. Why not build a new villains park behind MK if they want. People will still be packing the same areas for the fireworks. People will still want to go to Cinderella’s castle for dinner. There will still be one entrance to get a lot more people thru. There will still be the exact same transportation carrying more people. This is NOT a Disney consumer win.