D23 2026 Predictions

D23 is almost here, which means it's time for some predictions!

This week, Lane is sharing his biggest predictions for what Disney will announce at D23 2026. Will EPCOT finally get some long-awaited love? Is it finally time for a Space Mountain overhaul? When will we get opening dates for Monstropolis, Piston Peak, and Villains Land? Plus, he throws out a few bold predictions that could surprise everyone! 

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Transcript

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What's up, Wayfinders, and welcome into Disney My Way, episode number two hundred and twenty. My name is Lightning Lane Cut Chow. And on today's episode, I'm sharing with you my 2026 D23 predictions. It's gonna be a great time, so let's go ahead and dive on in. I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing that was all started by a mouse. So by the time this episode drops, we will officially be one week away from D23 2026 kicking off in Anaheim, California. And of course, D23 is known as the ultimate Disney fan event. And for very good reason. D23 has so much going on from movies and music and TV to panels with Disney legends and showcases for all these different things. Like, there is so much that is going on at D23 every time that it is hosted. And of course, for me and a lot of other people, probably the thing that we look forward to the most at D23 every time it is held, is the Parks and Experiences panel. And this year, that is going to be held on Saturday, August 15th, and it's going to be referred to as Horizons Disney Experiences Showcase. And this will be the time where we will get to see updates on things that have already been announced for the cruise line and for the parks, but also potentially still hear some things on what might be coming down the pipeline for the parks. And two years ago at the 2024 D23 parks panel, you obviously had major, major announcements happen. I mean, let's just rewind and think about it. You had the cruise line introducing a whole lot of new ships to the fleet. You had California Adventure announcing some major updates for its park. You had Monstropolis announced for Hollywood Studios, Tropical Americas announced for Animal Kingdom. And then, of course, at Magic Kingdom, you got Piston Peak for cars coming and Villains Land coming. Like, I mean, a lot of big-time announcements were had at the last parks panel just two years ago. And of course, if you've gone to Disney World anytime within the past year, you've seen a lot of construction crews at three of the four parks, you know, starting to break ground on some of these things that were talked about just a few years back. And so, because of how big the 2024 parks panel was, there's a lot of people that are saying that maybe this year's parks panel won't be as big of a deal. You know, like maybe it'll be a little bit of a smaller scale thing. But honestly, I still think maybe even if we don't get as many major announcements like Villains Land or Monstropolis, we're still going to get, I think, some really big announcements at the Parks panel this year. And so I want to share with you today my D23 predictions for the Parks panel this year. Things that I think that they are definitely going to talk about, that I'm very confident they will update us on, but also some ideas that maybe I'm a little bit less confident that will actually be brought up, but things that could still be talked about. And of course, a lot of these I'm working off of rumors and hearsay, but I think there could be some traction with some of these ideas. But let's start with the things that I am a little bit more confident in that Disney will talk about at the parks panel this year. And we're gonna start with Lakeshore Lodge. So Lakeshore Lodge is the DVC resort that took place, I think it replaced the river country area that used to exist in the Fort Wilderness resort complex. So River Country was an old water park that eventually just got shut down because I mean they were having people swim in the lake water, and that's obviously gross. And so that that eventually took place and just sat abandoned for a long time. And now they're turning it into a DVC resort that's undergone a lot of different changes, a lot of different ideas, but they finally settled on Lakeshore Lodge. And while I don't think this is going to be a huge part of the parks and experiences panel, I do believe that this is going to be something where they will still show some updates for so that way DVC members can see that they're still investing in DVC and adding resorts and things like that. I think we will just get a little bit of a something something for Lakeshore Lodge, considering how long this project has been underway for at D23. Again, it's not going to be, I think, a major part of it, but I think it will be a small slice of it. And then, of course, I think another obvious thing that we will talk about at the D23 Parks panel is the international parks updates. So Disneyland Paris is going to be getting a Lion King land with a Lion King like log flume ride. I definitely think we'll get an update on that. We'll get some more insight looks at what's going to be going on there. I will probably get more and more jealous that something like that is not in Africa over at Animal Kingdom, but I will get over it at some point. And then one of the other international parks, I can't remember if it was Hong Kong or Shanghai, or maybe both. I can't honestly remember. I need to go back and look at the announcements, but they are getting a Spider-Man roller coaster. One of the one of those parks is getting a Spider-Man roller coaster. I definitely think we will get an update on that. I think we will get updated on just how that is going to look, what that will be like. And then I also kind of have a sneaking suspicion that again, this might not be a major announcement, but I think some of these parks that could use maybe a second gate, because remember, some of these parks don't have more than just like their OG park. I think we might get some more gates, quote unquote, more parks added to some of these international parks. So I don't know that for sure, but that is something a lot of people have been talking about, is that there are some potential spots at some of the other international parks for Disney to add new parks to. So I'll be interested to see if that gets announced. But I definitely think we'll get some international parks updates. Again, it's not always the main focus of the presentation. I feel like Disneyland and Walt Disney World are always kind of the bigger focus of the panel, but I still think it will get talked about even just briefly. But speaking of Disneyland in California, there were some big things announced, like I mentioned, for California Adventure last time at D23. So two years ago, California Adventure, it was announced that they would be getting a Cocoa boat ride and an Avatar type experience, whether that was an Avatar land or just the ride or whatever, they were going to get something in the world of Avatar brought to California Adventure. And I definitely think we will be getting some timelines for Coco and probably a good look into what that ride is going to be like because I believe they've already broken ground and have already been working on it. I believe they actually, I think Josh DeMaro mentioned at D23 last time, two years ago, that they had already broken ground when he was announcing it. So that was something already underway. I definitely think we'll get a look at what the ride will be like, some of the animatronics, stuff like that. And then for Avatar, I think we'll just get more of a definitive plan. Because that was very, very much just like very broad strokes type of thing. They were just like, yeah, they're they're gonna get an avatar experience and it's gonna be great. But it wasn't very clear, like, is it a land? Is it just a ride? Like, I think we'll get a more definitive plan for Avatar coming to California Adventure and what that will actually be like. So I definitely think we will get some major DCA updates this year at the D23 Parks panel. But we'll also get a deep dive, I believe, into tropical Americas coming to Animal Kingdom. Because I think there's a pretty strong inclination that Tropical Americas could open by like summer of 2027. So obviously, that would this would be a great time to kind of give a timeline for both when it will open as well as a deep dive more into what will be packed into Tropical America. So a deeper look into the Encanto ride. I don't know if we ever got a clear explanation on what ride system Encanto will be using. But I think we will kind of learn all those definitive details this year at D23. I think we'll learn more about the ride system, what it's going to be like, maybe get a few glimpses at some show scenes here and there. I think that is all in store for a Tropical Americas discussion this year, as well as again a look into Indiana Jones, which is replacing Dinosaur, because we know that this is not just a carbon copy of the Indiana Jones ride from Disneyland. This is going to be an all-new story. This is going to be kind of its own unique, you know, attraction in a way. It's just going to feature that classic, you know, ride system that does exist at both the Disneyland version of Indiana Jones and what was Dinosaurs. So again, it's not like we're getting a major update to the ride system or anything, but we might get some good looks at what all is actually going to be a part of this Indiana Jones ride, maybe a show scene or two and a look at an animatronic or two. But I definitely believe we are going to dive deeper into tropical Americas and talk about everything that is coming to it, considering that it could be opening well within a year from like right now. So I am looking forward to obviously seeing that. And that rounds out the discussion of things that I'm very, very confident that they will be talking about at D23 this year. These next things that I'm going to talk about are things that I think they will talk about. I'm predicting they will talk about or bring up, but it's not like I have a 100% confidence meter that these things will be brought up. But the first thing is I do believe we will be getting details on the Monsters Inc. area coming to Hollywood Studios. Now, my bold prediction is that we will get a timeline for when this will officially open, and we will get all of the details of like the restaurant and the theater and what's going into the theater show. That is what I'm predicting that they're going to talk about when they talk about Monstropolis at Hollywood Studios. We're going to get all of those details. Somebody pointed this out the other day, and I was like, oh, that's actually a very interesting catch. Remember, they announced kind of what the storyline for this new Monsters Inc. area is going to be: that it's the monsters welcoming in humans for human day, so that humans can understand that monsters are nice. But at the top of the newspaper, that this is kind of the storyline is displayed on, there are two things at the top talking about both the theater show and like the restaurant, and it features like column eight, page 15, and then like page eight, section 15. Well, obviously, if you look at that, that could be 815, which is August 15th, which would be a clue that we are going to get those details about the restaurant and the show at D23. So I think I'm going to just put my sleuthing cap on, and I'm going to predict that we are going to get the details for what show will be going inside the glob theater, which is what it will be called. I think it's going to be. Here's another bold prediction. I'm going to say it's put that thing back where it came from, or so help me. The show from Monsters Inc., the movie that they talked about. I think that would be hilarious and a great utilization of kind of bringing that all together. But I think we will also get the full menu and look at what they plan to do for Harry Housen's, the restaurant that that the this sorry, the sit-down restaurant that will be a part of the area. And I think we might get an idea too of what might be replacing Pizza Rizzo. So I definitely think we're going to get all of those details from Monstropolis this year at D23. Of course, they could just keep teasing us and say, oh yeah, here's an update. You know, we we got the door's coaster. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And move on. But I really do think we're going to get a timeline and all those things because they have been working fast over there in that area. So I think we're going to get a timeline for the opening of that. And then similarly, I think we're going to get finally a full list of what is actually going to be in Villains Land and in Piston Peak. So when it was announced two years ago that these areas would be coming to Magic Kingdom, it was very, very vague. It was like, okay, two attractions, you know, for Villains Land, an attraction for Piston Peak, and maybe a family-friendly attraction for those that can't ride, you know, the other one. So we're assuming that like one of the Piston Peak attractions will be like a version of Radiator Springs Racers, you know, and then for Villains Land, the concept art seems to show a like maleficent roller coaster. So they're thinking one of the rides is definitely a coaster, all this stuff, right? But we don't know for sure. Like we're just guessing when it comes to those areas what we're getting. But I think this year at D23, we will get the list of what they are going to put into both of those areas. So I think we will get a full list of villains' lands, attractions, and all those things. And I think we will get a full list of everything coming to Piston Peak. Now, I don't feel as confident in saying that we will get opening timelines for those areas, unlike Monsters Inc., I don't think we will get definitive timelines, but I do think we will get, again, those definitive lists of everything that will actually be put into those lands at Magic Kingdom. And then we can start getting excited and look forward to an opening date later down the road. But for now, that's what I'm predicting, is that we will get the full list for those areas. And then this is a little bit more broad, but I think Haunted Mansion, with all the construction that's been going on over towards that side of Magic Kingdom, is going to be getting the Haunted Mansion parlor put somewhere near it. Now, the Haunted Mansion Parlor is a bar-themed area on one of the Disney cruise line ships currently, but it has been very, very popular. There is a building that apparently Disney has had some construction on or with that is near the Haunted Mansion. And with the success of Beacon Barrel over at Magic Kingdom, next to Pirates of the Caribbean, I believe that they're not going to be as afraid to capitalize on, hey, Haunted Mansion Parlor is very popular with guests that go on that Disney Cruise line ship. Maybe we should add that into the park and give guests another area to go to to hang out in. I think that is definitely something that I could see happening. I'm not as confident that it will actually be announced, but I think if there is a building up in construction, somebody I was just watching a YouTube video on it. There is some kind of a building near Haunted Mansion with all this construction going on right now over there that's kind of being popped up there. I think Haunted Mansion Parlor could be something that realistically gets put into the Magic Kingdom. Which would obviously be cool because you would add in again another sit-down inside area to visit and cool off a little bit and just hang out with, maybe out a full time commitment of going to a sit-down restaurant. I think that's what's nice about the Beacon Barrel is you know, you don't even have to spend really a full hour in there. I think they gave you like a 45-minute time limit when you go in there. I don't even know if my party when we went necessarily even used that whole time, but it was nice just to at least for a little bit sit down, cool off, get something refreshing, and then go back out into the park. So another area like that, I think would be really, really cool. Now, the next thing that I have as a prediction for Magic Kingdom in particular is that I believe Space Mountain, it will be announced that it is getting a refresh. This is a rumor that has been circulating a lot recently. And I believe that if Space Mountain, you know, which has got still has its original track from, I mean, forever ago when it opened. Space Mountain still has its original track, it still has all the original, you know, parts to it. I think with the problems that it's had recently, you know, I know when we were there last September at one point, it broke down pretty bad during the Halloween party. I mean, I think this is just something where they're wait, they can take advantage of the fact that it's had some issues lately and give it a full refresh. And I'm gonna go out on a limb here, too, and say that they'll probably make it just like the Space Mountain over in California, where it's a two-seater, you get on, you fly through the track, it'll be a single track, it won't be the double-sided track anymore. I think you're gonna get an all-new track, you're gonna get all new, you know, basically ride system in there. And honestly, that would excite me a lot because it would make me actually want to go on that ride. Because that the current version is just so, so rough. But I can see Space Mountain getting a major refresh announcement. Somebody brought up on something that I was reading the other day that you know the Buzz Lightyear improvement over at you know, Magic Kingdom has just gone off really, really well. And so, why wouldn't they kind of keep going to some of these attractions and giving it a refresh? So now for Space Mountain, obviously that's not as much of a refresh as more of like a complete overhaul in a way, but I think it needs it. I really do. I I mean Space Mountain. Fountain went from being one of the premier attractions at Magic Kingdom to kind of quickly getting overlooked by a lot of things. And I don't feel like it's nearly as popular now as it once was. And so I think if you give it this kind of refresh where maybe people start going, hey, I'm not going to just absolutely get, you know, destroyed every time I ride this ride, maybe that will encourage more guests to get on and kind of even out the playing field, so to speak, with Space Mountain kind of resurging in popularity again. So I think a complete Space Mountain retooling, refresh, overhaul, whatever you want to call it, is definitely in the cards for D23 this year to be announced. Because that's something that's not as invasive to the park. Like you're not ripping out any kind of an area or anything like that. You're just replacing the things within that ride. And I think that can go over very, very well. A lot better, obviously, than some of the things from the past. But I think Space Mountain gets a complete, complete redoing. I really do. I feel that in my bones that that is that is coming. But these last two things that I'm going to talk about for my D23 predictions for this year are a little bit more of a broader concept. Because these things, I don't think there's as much inkling to them. There's not as much of a bread trail to go down. This is just in my heart of hearts what I think is going to happen. And the first one is over at Animal Kingdom, and that is that I believe Animal Kingdom, it will get announced that they will be getting a new nighttime show. So Animal Kingdom has that theater that sits right across from Everest and the bridge that you walk over to get to Finding Nemo, the musical, and all that stuff. That theater was originally built so that they could put in a nighttime show called Rivers of Light. They also added a jungle book show during the day to run. And it just didn't go over quite as well as they were hoping. And, you know, it's it seemed like ever since they took those things out, especially at once the pandemic hit, that there really wasn't a clear plan for what to do with that space next. Like there wasn't really a plan for what to do with that space moving forward. And so then obviously you had the flotillas that would go through there. It's kind of just been a glorified seating area for a long time where people can just go and sit and kind of relax, get off your feet for a minute while you're at Animal Kingdom. But here's why I'm thinking that this year we're gonna get announced that they're gonna get some kind of a new nighttime show for that theater area. One, I think that Disney probably knows just as much as all of us do the labeling on Animal Kingdom as a half day park because there's nothing to do beyond you know, X, Y, and Z, whatever you want to say, whether that's Pandora or you know, the Safari, Everest, once you get past your kind of big things that you want to do, people leave. And if I know Disney as well as I do, they hate that. They hate that labeling of Animal Kingdom as a half day park. Why do you think they're investing so much in tropical Americas? And that's point number two. With tropical Americas coming to Animal Kingdom, you now add in an Encanto attraction, you're adding in a new Indiana Jones attraction, you're adding in a new restaurant and a carousel there. You are trying to add things into the park that are going to try to keep families there. Also, look at Bluey taking over what used to be the Rafiki's conservation station. Like, Bluey is going to attract families and hopefully keep you there a little bit longer. So, what is another way to get people to stay at a park, you know, all the way until closing? Add in a nighttime show. Add in something that keeps them there to the end of the day that makes them want to stay there and watch that show and then go home. Well, right now you don't have one. Animal Kingdom doesn't really ever stay open that late because they don't have stuff like that. I mean, imagine if you get a nighttime show at Animal Kingdom. I mean, then you can keep the park open a little bit later. Of course, this show would have to be something. I've brought up World of Color before, something similar to that, where it's very much more so based with water, where it's not as intrusive to, you know, the way that the animals need to live, you know, you know, because they have they have to take care of the animals. Obviously, the animals probably would not do well with anything too over the top, especially fireworks as a no-go. But something like World of Color that's like fountains and water, or even again, a revamped, more hyped-up version of Rivers of Light, you know, maybe in this newer day and age with newer technology and newer things that you can do could go over a lot better. But if you have that to keep people there and to keep the park open a little bit later, well, then you can utilize the things that are already existing. Pandora at night is a very incredible experience. The light projection shows on the tree of life are a lot of fun to watch. But the problem is most of the year you're not staying open late enough to really highlight those things. And not only that, I know for me, really, because the park doesn't stay open late a lot, the only time I've even really gotten to experience some of those things, you know, since I've been going to the parks, is when I go like in January or February or in December, when the sun goes down a lot earlier. And so by the time the sun goes down, you know, you still got like an hour left of the park time or whatever, and you see all the lights on. So it's just an experience that not a lot of people tend to have unless they go during a certain part of the year. But you know, I don't know what Disney's thinking. You know, I don't know what Disney's thinking, but I do think just somewhere in my heart of hearts that they want to make Animal Kingdom, you know, a full-day park experience. They don't want to make Animal Kingdom stay in this rotting world of being a half-day park. And so I do believe that we are going to get the announcement of a nighttime show of some kind coming back to Animal Kingdom. And so that's probably one of my bolder predictions for this, but that's what I'm gonna lay down. So there is that. And then we move on to my final prediction for D23 2026, which is this I believe that Epcot is going to be getting some kind of big announcement, and it's gonna either do with the or have something to do with the wonders of life pavilion or journey into imagination. And I know a lot of you are like Lane, whoa, pump the brakes, you love Figment. Of course you're gonna say that, but listen, Epcot finished up all of its construction, all of its major overhauling just a few years ago, and it didn't really get the same level of announcements that the other three Walt Disney World parks did during the last D23, because it again was finishing up its own major construction. However, I believe now that things have kind of settled and Epcot's kind of in a groove now, that now they're gonna take a look at not necessarily adding a new land or a new country or anything like that, but they're gonna focus on things again that they can refresh, rides that they can refresh, something like a buzz, what Buzz Lightyear just did, where it wasn't you're totally changing out everything about the ride, but you're giving it a refresh, a revamp. I think they're gonna look at Wonders of Life, which has sat dormant for forever. It was supposed to be the play pavilion, that never worked out. They're either gonna look at something there to finally bring that pavilion back to life, or they're gonna look at Journey into Imagination, something that has been just sitting there in its current version for a long time now, that they know well, people like Figment, but they don't really love his ride. How can we fix that? Again, I think Disney is not stupid. I think Disney knows that if they redid that Figment attraction, that that could go over gangbusters and it would draw a major hype factor to Epcot. And so I'm just thinking that I mean, heck, we could get both, honestly. I don't know why it would really hurt Epcot if both of those things ended up happening, but I just can't help but shake this feeling because of the fact that the other three parks got such major announcements the last time at D23, and Epcot essentially got nothing, that we're gonna get something with Epcot this year. And again, my main focus is the Wonders of Life Pavilion and Figment. Those are the two things that I'm really honing in on that I think those are gonna be the areas that get talked about and brought up and the things that we're gonna get the refresh, the revamp for. So Epcot is going to get an announcement this year, and it's gonna be for Figment or Wonders of Life. That is my final prediction for D23. But I want to know what you guys have to think because obviously D23, again, is a huge event for all Disney fans because there's something for everybody to look forward to. So you can let us know. There's a fan mail button in the description you can hit to let us know, you know, what your thoughts are, what your feelings are, or you can always hit us up at Disney MyWay Podcast on Instagram to let us know what you're thinking there. But for now, what we're gonna do is we are going to take a quick break, and then when I come back, we have got just a little bit of some Disney news to go over. Well, if you didn't know already, one thing that we love here at Disney My Way is the Magic Candle Company. They are incredible, they have taken some of your favorite Disney park and resort scents, and they've turned them into all types of products from candles to hand soaps to room sprays, whatever it is you're looking for, your favorite scent is available at magiccandlecompany.com. And the best part is if you use the code DMW at checkout, they are gonna give you 15% off your order. That's right, just by using the code DMW at checkout, you're gonna get 15% off your order. So why wait? Head on over to magiccandlecompany.com today or use the link in the show notes below and get your first magical order in today. So, not a whole lot of news here, but just a few quick things. First and foremost, Disney has revealed an updated time frame for its next few ships that are coming with the Disney Cruise Line fleet. Three ships are set to launch in 2029. I'm actually kind of surprised they dropped this news literally right before D23. That seems a little weird that they would do that, but we know that three ships are going to be launching out now in 2029. We got some Halloween party news first and foremost. The Halloween parties are starting to crank up now, which is insanity to me. But the first three weeks are completely sold out. So if you were trying to go anytime over the next couple of weeks to Mickey's Halloween party and you hadn't already bought your tickets, guess what? Unfortunately, it is booked solid. So you are not going to be able to get in for the first three weeks, which is crazy to me because, again, it's August and it's a billion degrees. I don't know why anybody would want to dress up and go trick-or-treating at the Halloween party and do all that in August, but to if that's what makes you happy, that's what makes you happy. So just go along with it, I guess. And then, of course, with the Halloween party, there's always something special, you know, that like a sipper and popcorn bucket that usually gets released for the parties. And the headless horseman and hat box ghost popcorn buckets are both going to be available at the Halloween party this year. So if you're looking for something cool, kind of a cool collectible item, Headless Horseman and Hat Box Ghost, popcorn buckets will be at the Halloween parties this year. But that is everything that we've got on this one. Hey, thank you guys so much for following along. If you would please make sure to like, share, subscribe, wherever you get your podcast from. That would help us out a ton. Also, again, you can follow us on the Instagram at Disney MyWayPodcast. We would love to interact with you guys there. And if you would like to support the show, our fourthwall.com as well as our magiccandlecompany.com links are in the show notes below. And until next time, I hope you guys have a magical rest of your day. And I'll talk to you again real soon.