As much as we might not want to, Disney currently has an announcement problem. The recent 2024 Shareholder Meeting was a reminder of the issue that we have seen time and time again to varying levels of disappointment. While recently it has been hitting a fever pitch, it has existed since the company’s inception.
Many look back on announced World Showcase entries for EPCOT or the infamous David Copperfield’s Magic Underground as key examples of the announcement being as close as we’ll ever get to the project. However, back in 2009, the initial D23 Expo brought a heavy dose of premature announcements. Dick Cook, then Walt Disney Studios chairman, announced collaborations with Guillermo Del Toro (Disney Double Dare You, a family horror series) and a new Muppet movie (The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made was announced, but we instead received The Muppets). Jay Rasulo, then the Disney Parks & Resorts chairman, announced New Fantasyland for Walt Disney World, which included three attractions we never saw (Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty character experiences and a Pixie Hollow area).
Those seemed like flukes and, to varying levels, remain bummers to most Disney fans. To this day, I yearn for Del Toro and Disney to rekindle their relationship. Yet, as time has gone on, these “flukes” have become more prevalent.
EPCOT has become the biggest recipient of these rebuttals, with a majority of EPCOT’s Preview Center never coming to fruition. Of course, a pandemic occurred within the transformation, but what we were promised and what was delivered remains an overwhelming disappointment. Mary Poppins never flew into the United Kingdom, Spaceship Earth never received an update. Future World didn’t add a two-story festival center. At this point, the pavilion-formerly-known-as Wonders of Life would be better utilized as a mall food court.
It’s a shame, especially when the Disney California Adventure Blue Sky Cellar led to a majority coming to life, while EPCOT’s preview center ended up all being, for a lack of a better word, lies. Add in the announced Main Street U.S.A. Broadway-style theater and there are hundreds of millions of dollars of additions announced…and quickly forgotten.
Disney seems to know their current trajectory with announcements, so instead of confirmations, we get possibilities. In the past 2 years, Dinoland U.S.A. at Disney’s Animal Kingdom has had two possible overhaul announcements with large scale concept art released. Yet, no one gives a clear answer. “This would be cool, wouldn’t it? It could happen, it couldn’t, who knows. But isn’t it super neat?!” At the recent Shareholders Meeting, we received another mention of an Avatar-experience possibly coming to Disneyland Resort. This time, we received concept art, but still just this constant idea of it all being possibilities.
As a fan and lover of big announcements, I’d rather wait a longer time for confidence then announcements that aren’t really that at all. Going into this year’s much anticipated D23, we have a lot of possible announcements on the table: the already-hinted-at Magic Kingdom expansion, concrete news on the Disneyland Forward Avatar Expansion, Disney’s Animal Kingdom future, any more EPCOT additions, etc. A lot is possible. However, I would love for it to be concrete. If they haven’t broken ground or begun principal photography, I’m scared to put my trust in the new.