D23 has officially ended, and I am starting to process it all. It was a long weekend filled with announcements from new shows, movies, games, and attractions. I am beginning to feel like this was kinda underwhelming on the Walt Disney World side of things. No hate to the other parks. I am so happy other parks are getting new amazing attractions, lands, and characters. I just thought we’d get more information regarding WDW.
My first issue is with Fantasmic! over at Hollywood Studios. Disney recently told us that rehearsals had begun for this revamped version of the show. After getting that announcement, I was 100% sure that at D23, Disney would give us an opening date. Well, that didn’t happen. Now I’m thinking it will be a last-minute announcement. They might give us a months notice or a weeks notice. At least, that’s the only thing that makes sense to me. I am still betting on an October opening date.
My second issue is with nighttime entertainment, specifically nighttime parades. I was hoping we’d hear that Walt Disney World would be getting the Main Street Electrical Parade back. That did not happen. We got other great news regarding nighttime entertainment like Happily Ever After and the new firework show coming to EPCOT. I guess I will have to live without a nighttime parade. Hopefully, at the next D23, they will announce a nighttime parade for Magic Kingdom.
My third issue is with EPCOT. I was hoping for a more firm timeline for the completion of EPCOT. All we got was that Moana Journey of Water and Communicore Hall will be opening in late 2023. We all know Disney will push the ‘late’ as much as possible, so hopefully, we will see this area open near Thanksgiving of 2023. I was hoping for soooo much more. Trust me, I am happy with the Figment meet and greet, so happy I could cry, but I was hoping for more. I was hoping they would revisit the Mary Poppins attraction that would be in the UK Pavilion and the Spaceship Earth refurbishment.
Those were the biggest issues I had with D23 this time around. I am very grateful and happy with what was announced; these are just the things I wanted to see happen. The coolest part of the weekend was hearing about the blue sky projects and seeing all the concept art.
Did any of your D23 predictions come true? Let us know!