Reliance on intellectual properties has become a major talking point within the Disney fandom. For much of the 2000s, Disney has steered away from “original” ideas for attractions and shows and instead relied on their illustrious library of characters to fill the parks.
Given the company’s vast animation properties and acquired media such as Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars, it is understandable why Disney attempts to elevate these characters and stories in the parks. Promoting a specific franchise encourages guests to stream the film on Disney+, buy more merchandise, and further interact with the property when they return home.
However, throughout the history of the parks, many original characters have become nearly as popular as the characters from the movies. Some of these examples include Figment from Journey Into Imagination at EPCOT and the Hitchhiking Ghosts from The Haunted Mansion.
Despite the high popularity of these characters, Disney rarely looks to create original characters when designing attractions and lands. For example, nearly every major expansion coming to the Walt Disney World and Disneyland resorts is designed nearly directly after a feature film.
Guests will soon enter the world of Monsters, Inc., visit the casita from Encanto, and join the Avengers in a multiversal battle against King Thanos. However, some IP-inspired locations are “original,” such as Piston Peak and Villains Land, which draw inspiration from their central property but take creative liberties along the way.
A prime example is Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, found at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disneyland Park. While the Star Wars films and media directly inspire the land, guests never visit the planet of Batuu in the films. Instead, it takes inspiration from the architecture and design of many planets in the Star Wars universe that feel unique but familiar.
Even though there were some projects recently announced at the 2026 D23 Expo, including the return of the Dreamfinder and Disneyland Paris’ Space Mountain reverting to its original Jules Verne storyline (De la Terre à la Lune), guests should expect the vast majority of upcoming projects that have yet to be announced to lean into the company’s IP for better or for worse.
With that being said, there are still many coveted intellectual properties that are still greatly underutilized throughout the parks around the world. In this piece, we’ll not only spotlight films and characters that deserve more recognition in the parks, but also do a little “armchair Imagineering” to find a realistic location for them.
Hercules
Released toward the back end of the Disney Decade, Hercules wasn’t as well received as recent Disney films at the time (in relation to its performance at the box office), but it has since seen a major revival among the fandom. However, despite drawing heavily on Greek mythology and featuring memorable characters, the film has never been a major attraction across the Disney parks.
So far, the only major recognition has come in the form of the villain, Hades. Hades recently made his debut at Oogie Boogie Bash at Disney California Adventure and was featured in the theater show Disney Villains Unfairly Ever After at Hollywood Studios, albeit in a prerecorded sequence, not by a “live” actor. His minions Pain and Panic have often made appearances in the Boo to You Parade (at Magic Kingdom) and the previously noted Oogie Boogie Bash.
More recently, the Disney Destiny, the most recent state-side Disney Cruise Line ship (until the Disney Believe sets sail), uses the film as the inspiration for the “main” live theater production. Like the previous Tale of Moana (on the Disney Treasure), it uses larger-than-life puppets and state-of-the-art tech to bring the story to life.
However, those visiting the parks on a non-holiday may not even see a character from this franchise during their visit.
Fortunately, Disney has the perfect location to bring this rejuvenated property to the parks: the World Showcase. The last “expansion” to the World Showcase came in 2021 with the opening of Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. Still, the last traditional pavilion opened in 1988, bringing the spirit of Norway to central Florida.
Today, Disney has many expansion plots in the World Showcase that are begging for an attraction. Much of the attention at EPCOT will focus on the front end, with the upcoming reimagining of Spaceship Earth and the noted “4.0” version of Journey Into Imagination.
A Greece pavilion would add more dining, cultural experiences, and life to the World Showcase, plus another e-ticket at the back of the park. Disney could take many routes with this IP, either with a standard book-report-style boat ride or by adding more thrill rides to EPCOT, such as a Mount-Olympus-themed roller coaster.
Moana
The next intellectual property we will spotlight may cause some controversy. While it may appear on the surface that Moana is already heavily utilized in the parks, it is still begging for a true attraction. Currently, Moana has been utilized as a light-theming device over several recent projects but has yet to be treated as the major property it deserves to be.
At EPCOT, the Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana is a themed walk-through experience that teaches guests the water cycle and how it affects the natural world. While this is one of my favorite sleeper attractions at the park, given that it is a subtle love letter to the original EPCOT and the idea of “edutainment,” it only lightly references the inspired IP.
Throughout the experience, guests can spot their favorite character within the rockwork before seeing Te Fiti towards the end of the experience.
Moana was also used as a major inspiration for one of the latest Disney Vacation Club properties, the Island Tower at Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows. Throughout the Island Tower, guests can spot subtle hints of the movie’s characters throughout the lobby and room art.
Also, like Hercules, Moana inspired the theater spectacular on one of Disney Cruise Line’s newest ships, the Disney Treasure (The Tale of Moana).
However, given that this has been a multi-billion-dollar franchise for the Walt Disney Company, it surprisingly still does not have a true “e-ticket.” Among the company’s recent blockbusters of the 2010s, films like Frozen received an attraction nearly immediately after they hit theaters, and Zooptia, which has a fully immersive land overseas at Shanghai Disneyland.
In fact, Disney previously tested the idea of a Moana attraction coming to Walt Disney World, but those plans eventually fell through. At the 2022 D23 Expo, Disney leaned heavily into the “blue sky” side of Imagineering as they teased the possibility of Moana and Zootopia taking over the former Dinoland U.S.A. section of Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
While these plans would eventually shift to the Tropical Americas, which is set to open later in 2027, these plans suggest that Moana was heavily discussed as the anchor for a major e-ticket.
In the teased “blue sky” concept art, guests would board a boat similar to Moana’s from the film and embark on a ride featuring a drop, similar to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. However, this idea would never make it off the drawing board, as Disney would instead pivot to Encanto and Indiana Jones as the next IPs for Animal Kingdom.
While her “major” theme park debut was put on hold, an attraction similar to this would be an immediate crowd-pleaser, given the massive success of the original film and the sequel that hit theaters in November 2024.
Fortunately, Disney has two locations at Walt Disney World that would fit Moana in quite seamlessly.
The first option would be a “cheaper fix.” Currently, Disney has put a major emphasis on plussing previously established spaces and bringing them up to standard. Examples include the recent reimagining of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin at the Magic Kingdom and the upcoming Carousel of Progress, which will open in spring 2027.
Moana has a major presence at EPCOT, and to continue the trend, Disney could reimagine The Living Seas Pavilion with Moana, creating a fluid, connected space near the nearby Journey of Water attraction.
The omnimover attraction can be quickly retrofitted to Moana, and the pavilion’s exhibits can include many hints to the film and its characters.
However, those looking to see those previously teased plans come to life should turn their attention to the Magic Kingdom. Disney has an expansion pad between Pirates of the Caribbean and the left corner of Adventureland that was once teased as the home of Fire Mountain, themed to Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
While those plans eventually fell through, the major expansion plot still exists and remains empty today. Disney could create a small Motunui section of Adventureland as the home of a new e-ticket in the park’s left corner, something they may desperately need once Piston Peak and Villains draw crowds toward the back of the park.
With this franchise having grossed over two billion dollars at the box office, Disney is sitting on a gold mine by not letting these characters anchor an e-ticket.
Mary Poppins
Let’s round this list out with a film from the Walt Disney era. While I considered spotlighting The Jungle Book for this final spot, since that film is also underutilized in the parks outside of sporadic character meet-and-greets, this next film has a much greater presence in the company’s history and is well-deserving of a major ride.
The 1964 film starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke became a massive success immediately and features some of the most iconic musical numbers in the company’s history. The legendary Sherman Brothers composed the score and would later become major contributors on the park side of the company, writing the theme for “it’s a small world,” the theme to Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room, and later, many themes for EPCOT, including One Little Spark.
Although it wasn’t the first to do so, this film combined live action with hand-drawn animation to create iconic scenes such as Jolly Holiday and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
Like Moana, Mary Poppins was mentioned on a D23 stage and was set to receive its first true attraction. At the time of this announcement at the 2019 D23 Expo, Mary Poppins’s only major presence at the park would be a scene in the Great Movie Ride at the then-Disney MGM Studios.
Mary Poppins later inspired The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, as shown in the room renovations at Big Pine Key and the butler penguin fountain in the villas’ lobby, but was never the focal point of an attraction.
This dream seemed to come true when then-Chairman of Disney Parks and Experiences, Bob Chapek, took the stage with Van Dyke to announce that Cherry Tree Lane was coming to the United Kingdom Pavilion at EPCOT. Alongside this expansion, guests would be able to ride a tea-cup-style attraction indoors.
While this attraction was eventually canceled, Disney fans likely dodged a potentially major mistake, as a film of this quality and importance to the company deserved far more than a “2.0” version of the Mad Tea Party.
In fact, legendary Imagineer Tony Baxter once proposed a major e-ticket to this iconic film. In a previous article I wrote for the DIS, I outlined the backstory of the attraction. In short, Baxter drew this concept art as a college student for a traditional Fantasyland-style dark ride that let guests travel through the film’s major musical scenes. However, the attraction’s unique feature would be that guests ride on a carousel horse instead of a standard dark-ride vehicle (like those seen in The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh).
Although there is no “clear” opening space for this attraction in the current state of Disney World, Disney should take the best of both approaches and build a try-dark ride in the back of the United Kingdom pavilion. The World Showcase needs another “people-eater,” as Frozen Ever After and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure draw crowds from both ends of the showcase.
This dark ride would not only add another much-needed family experience at EPCOT but also blend in quite well with the surrounding United Kingdom Pavilion.
Even though all three films are represented in the parks and resorts, Disney is greatly underutilizing these properties. All three IPs speak to different generations of the fandom but can be relatable to all park-goers.
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