Disney Parks Hints at Major Announcements Coming For Disney California Adventure, Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom, Disneyland Paris

Disney is expected to deliver major theme park news at the upcoming D23 event this August. D23 (formerly called the “D23 Expo”) is the biggest Disney fan convention in the world that will take place in Anaheim, California, and among its event programming is the Disney Experiences Showcase on August 10. At this showcase, we will hear announcements about future projects for the Disney Parks and experiences. You can see our full guide to the D23 Expo for everything you need to know about the upcoming event.

We already made big predictions for what would be announced this year. We're likely going to hear more news about some major projects at Disney World and Disneyland like the Dinoland U.S.A. overhaul at Animal Kingdom, the Tiana's Bayou Adventure opening date at Disneyland, and more. We detail all of the big D23 announcements we could expect and how likely they are in this predictions article.

Now, Disney has released a graphic with a number of different clues about the news that is to come, and many of the icons seem to confirm our current predictions. Keep reading for our analysis of the graphic and what it could mean for the D23 announcements we're expecting!

D23 Graphic Clue Breakdown—What We Could Expect

Here is the description of the showcase according to D23: “Horizons: Disney Experiences Showcase, will take place on Saturday, August 10 at the Honda Center. Josh D’Amaro will welcome fans as he takes the stage with surprise stars and special guests for a live celebration of the music and creativity that power our stories and — of course — news and updates about projects in development around the world. The future is bright for Disney Experiences and this can’t-miss showcase will show fans what’s on the horizon and beyond.”

There are some clues on the graphic for what we may be able to expect from the D23 announcements, which we will break down. On the graphic, the silhouette of various different Disney iconography sits in front of a bright sun.

All six of the castles are shown on the graphic which means that as we predicted there will likely be some sort of announcement for all six of the resorts around the world. Beyond the castles it is more interesting to look and see what else is listed here.

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The Pixar Pal-a-Round, considered an icon of Disney California Adventure, appears to the far left of the graphic. This is likely meant to represent an announcement we will hear regarding the E-Ticket attraction coming to Avengers Campus. We have been waiting for quite some time for details on Phase 2 of Avengers Campus and finally received an indication that work on the E-Ticket attraction would be continuing with the release of the concept art for the ride vehicle at Destination D23. Other than that, we do not have much detail on the attraction except for the basic premise of the ride, in which guests team up with Avengers from the Multiverse to defeat King Thanos. It is very likely that we will hear an update on this addition to Disney California Adventure during D23.

There is also the possibility that there could be multiple announcements in store for Disney California Adventure. It was previously mentioned that the Avatar experience would be coming to Disney California Adventure, but Disney retracted this afterward. We are expecting to hear more news on Avatar in general, as after Disneyland received the final vote approving the DisneylandForward expansion, Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed that the Avatar experience would be the first addition to come to the resort. You can see everything we know so far about Avatar coming to Disneyland in our article here.

Next to the Pixar-Pal-a-Round on the graphic, we have the Tree of Life icon from Animal Kingdom. We have been waiting for more concrete details on the reimagining of DinoLand U.S.A. into a land inspired by the tropical Americas. It has been hinted that Encanto and Indiana Jones will be featured in the land, and the DINOSAUR ride could be turned into a version of Indiana Jones Adventure which is currently a ride at Disneyland Park and Tokyo DisneySea. We're hoping to get more detailed news on what the reimagining will entail and even potentially some concept art for attractions or a timeline for when the area will close for construction.

On the right hand side of the graphic we see representation for a couple of other parks specifically. First, the Earffel Tower represents the Walt Disney Studios Park at Disneyland Paris. This used to be an icon for Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World but it has not been used as a graphic for that park for a long time. We know that there is going to be further land expansions at that park. There was already big news that the park would have a big name change and other big news. Now, we know that park specifically will be discussed. In the announcement of the park's name change and expansion, Disney teased that they will soon be sharing more details about “a brand-new immersive world whose concept and design are currently being finalized by Disney Imagineers.”

The Chinese Theater that's in the middle of Hollywood Studios is also seen on the graphic. My earlier prediction could be correct that we are going to finally get some sort of Rock ‘n' Roller Coaster retheme. We discussed the possibilities for a retheming in our announcement of the Rock ‘n' Roller Coaster closing for refurbishment earlier this year.

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Finally, we see the rock formations of Big Thunder Mountain which points to the already-known Beyond Big Thunder Mountain announcements that we expect. We have been waiting for more details on this Magic Kingdom expansion, which will be the biggest ever for the park and was most recently compared in scale to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Pandora – World of Avatar, introducing new attractions, restaurants, shows, and more.

Ideas including Coco, Encanto, and a Villains Land were previously floated, but because it's now been teased that Encanto is coming to Animal Kingdom, we likely won't see that idea come to fruition as part of this expansion.

At the bottom of the graphic are the two cruise ships which are indistinguishable and likely just represent the idea that cruising will be a key part of the future of the Disney Parks business and that they will be discussed here. We expect that the focus of the announcements will center largely around the Disney Treasure that will embark on its first voyage later this year with the debut of its highly-anticipated Haunted Mansion Bar.

All of the icons look like they're in line with some of the major news we're expecting to hear at the showcase, so there is nothing particularly surprising to note. Make sure to subscribe to our newsletter (link below) to be the first to hear of the major announcements that we will share from the upcoming D23 event!

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