The day we’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived – Destination D23 Day! This exciting fan event is taking place at Disney’s Contemporary Resort in Walt Disney World, and it’s set to deliver some thrilling announcements and unexpected surprises, all carefully teased by Disney!
Leading the way is Disney Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro, who will take the stage in front of thousands of Disney’s biggest fans to provide an informative update on the state of the theme parks and what’s next. The presentation is aptly titled ‘A Celebration of Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow,’ and here’s the official description:
Join Disney Parks, Experiences and Products Chairman Josh D’Amaro and special guests for an entertaining presentation looking to the future of Disney parks, featuring updates from around the world and some fun surprises along the way.
Livestream – Starting at 8:15 AM CST
Everything Disney Announced at Destination D23!
Destination D23 is officially in the books! Check out all of the CONFIRMED announcements here.
What We’re Expecting/Hoping to See – UPDATED
Keep in mind these are strictly guesses and we have no idea what will be announced
Let’s first start off with the fact that Destination D23 if usually heavy around Walt Disney World the most so that’s the main focus on these predictions.
Hatbox Ghost Arrival Date – CONFIRMED
Announced at the D23 Expo last September, the Hatbox Ghost should be debuting any day now as we think it should have made its debut at the first Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure – CONFIRMED
We fully anticipate an update on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. Disney has been making significant progress with the Splash Mountain reimagining, with previous updates primarily centered around the attraction’s cultural aspects and backstory development. We’re eager to get an insider’s view of the ongoing construction and wouldn’t be surprised if they reveal a fresh piece of concept art.
New Orleans Style Restaraunt Near Tiana’s Bayou Adventure – NOT CONFRIMED
With the opening of Tiana’s Palace at Disneyland Resort this week, it wouldn’t be too far-fetched to believe that we could possibly see a refresh to a “Peco’s Bill” for example to match the overall theming going on with the new Princess and the Frog attraction. There have even been reports that the whole area from Splash Mountain down to Peco’s Bill and Country Bear might see a retheming to a “New Orleans Square” type atmosphere.
Beyond Big Thunder Mountain – CONFIRMED
At the previous year’s D23 Expo, D’Amaro introduced two exciting “blue sky” concepts. However, considering the likely distant timeframe for these projects, we don’t expect a substantial update at this event. At most, we might receive a subtle hint that Imagineers are continuing to explore creative ideas for this space.
Journey of Water – Inspired by Moana – CONFIRMED
Not much to say about this. There are countless videos on YouTube at this point to see the walkthrough of this area. We’ll get an official opening date. Cast Member previews are underway and have been since late July.
Figment Meet & Greet – CONFIRMED
We should get more info on the promised meet & greet, possibly even more news for the Imagination Pavillion as a whole.
Dreamer’s Point & CommuniCore – CONFIRMED
Yes, the area that has been under construction for what seems like a lifetime is still in fact, under construction. However, we should be getting a clearer picture as to when this will officially open. We expect an update on Dreamer’s Point where guests will find a statue of Walt Disney, and hopefully some more details about CommuniCore Hall & CommuniCore Plaza.
New EPCOT Nighttime Spectacular – CONFIRMED
We should hear about new details regarding this new show that is ultimately replacing Harmonious (the show with the barges). Ironically, from the air, Bioreconstruct has been able to get pictures of new barges for this new show. These, however, seem to be smaller and hopefully can and will be brought behind the scenes each night.
Aerial look at staging for the new EPCOT fireworks show.
— bioreconstruct (@bioreconstruct) August 26, 2023
1 Staging area for floating squares
2 Staging area for barge #5
3 At center of this barge is one of the squares assembled earlier at 1 pic.twitter.com/SZziaFqQRc
DinoLand Retheme – CONFIRMED
Just like Beyond Thunder Mountain, we MIGHT get some information on this!
Honorable Mentions
Parade additions or modifications might be an option. – NOT CONFIRMED
We also might get some news about the projects that were scrapped after Covid-19 such as the Marry Poppins ride or the ride pavilion originally set to open at Epcot. – NOT CONFIRMED
It’s possible we might get some future plans for the Galactic Starcruiser with the last “sailing” happening this year. – NOT CONFIRMED
As for Disneyland we might get some information about the Avatar experience hinted by the Disney CEO Bob Iger. – NOT CONFIRMED
And of course it’s obvious not all of this will be talked about and they might even have some surprises that we just don’t know about. We’ll know very soon!
