Every year, there are new experiences that become available in Disney World.

Last year alone, TRON Lightcycle /Run opened, Disney celebrated their 100th Anniversary for the whole year, Splash Mountain permanently closed to make way for a new attraction, and those are just to name a few. And while there are tons of exciting things coming for 2024, we’re wondering if it will be enough.

What do we mean by “not being enough?” Well, another Orlando theme park currently has a massive expansion planned for early 2025. And by expansion, we mean an entire new park.

Yes, Universal Orlando is building a whole new park called Epic Universe to open in early to mid 2025, located not too far from the existing two parks. Additionally, they’ll be getting three new hotels — one inside the park and two located close by.

Yeah…that’s a little hard to compete with. Disney isn’t planning a new theme park by any means, but there are lots of exciting things on the way. One of the biggest is the introduction of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, which is taking the place of Splash Mountain (but will have the same ride system).

Additionally, we should see ALL the walls come down in EPCOT to complete the EPCOT Transformation. This will include the opening of Communicore Plaza and Communicore Hall, as well as open up the park to be fully walkable again without walls blocking your path. Now, this was technically supposed to be done in 2023…but we have hope it’ll finally happen this year!

We also know that Country Bear Jamboree is getting a facelift/revamp in Magic Kingdom (which has prompted some mixed feelings from guests to say the least) in 2024, and Test Track in EPCOT will also be undergoing a transformation. Country Bear Jamboree will close on Jan. 27th and reopen this summer. However, we don’t know when Test Track’s closure and revamp will begin OR end.

Animal Kingdom’s DinoLand U.S.A. will also officially be going away sometime soon (no timeline announced just yet) and be replaced with a new land themed after the Tropical Americas. This could include experiences inspired by Encanto and Indiana Jones, but we don’t have any concrete information just yet.

Not to mention that we’re getting new sections of hotels like the DVC tower at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort and new restaurants like the Cake Bake Shop by Gwendolyn Rogers coming to the BoardWalk.

But is this enough to compete with a WHOLE new park? It’s hard to say, and it’s up to each individual. Universal doesn’t have the Disney magic that Disney World does, but older kids and adults may really enjoy exploring a new park with IPs from many different Universal films and worlds.

Overall, we’re going to have to wait until we get closer to the end of 2024 to see what’s happened in Disney World, and how Epic Universe is coming along to really see how they’re comparing. As always, stay tuned to DFB for all the latest Disney news!

We compared Disney and Universal to see how they compete as they currently stand — check it out!

 

What do you think? Will Disney be able to keep up with Universal? Tell us in the comments!

The post Big Disney Park CHANGES Are Coming – But Will It Be Enough? first appeared on the disney food blog.