Disney has some major announcements up their sleeve that they’re saving for D23: the Ultimate Disney Fan Event, a yearly expo where they release some major news about the Disney theme parks.

But there are two words that Disney fans are DREADING from this year’s batch of D23 announcements: Blue Sky!

“Blue Sky” is part of Disney’s creative development process. At this stage, their focus is to look at something and say, “What could it be?” Blue Sky ideas are concepts that Disney’s team is working on, but they’re not finalized or confirmed. They are simply ideas, not yet fully set in stone. The Blue Sky stage is important because Disney can explore all directions the story could go, and no idea gets thrown away. At this phase, they try to capture what they want to see in that land, attraction, or other space. Then they decide what resonates with the Imagineers as a whole.

If Blue Sky ideas are just early concepts, you might be wondering how often these actually come to be. What’s the likelihood that the “Blue Sky” ideas shared at the D23 Expo will become reality? Well, it all depends. Much of Imagineering remains a mystery, and there are likely hundreds of Blue Sky ideas hidden within the department that we will never know about. But there are quite a few that we have seen!

Most of the new additions to the Disney parks lately have gone through the Blue Sky stage of the Imagineering process. Some recent known examples include Pandora: The World of Avatar, Pueblo Esperanza, and World of Color and Cars Land in Disney California Adventure. Though they may not have been built exactly as depicted in the concept art, most did become reality.

Some Blue Sky projects are more up in the air. The Mary Poppins attraction previously announced for EPCOT has been indefinitely “on hold” since 2020, while the proposed Play! Pavilion in EPCOT has been outright canceled. And we can’t forget the Coco and Encanto land that would connect Frontierland with Villains Land, which turned into Cars‘ Piston Peak National Park. While most Blue Sky projects will successfully come to life in the parks, there’s always a small chance they won’t!

There’s nothing worse than Disney announcing your favorite movie will turn into a ride, or even a whole land, just for it to be axed! We’ll be sure to update you on all of the D23 announcements, including the dreaded Blue Sky projects. Stay tuned to Disney Food Blog for more Disney news!

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What Blue Sky idea were you super excited to see before it was scrapped? I’m still crying over Mary Poppins. Tell us in the comments!