Anaheim, California
CNN
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Fresh off the release of an earnings report that suggested attendance at its domestic parks was declining, Disney announced a slew of theme park and cruise projects for the coming years, including a villain-themed land, an “Encanto” ride, the ability to fly like Iron Man and a new level of audio-animatronic technology that brings Walt Disney to life before guests’ eyes.

Fans at Disney’s biennial D23 convention had been eagerly awaiting details of these new projects for years, complaining that previous announcements had hinted at only vague concepts. But at the high-profile presentation Saturday night at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, 12,000 fans learned how the company’s promised $60 billion investment in parks and cruises over the next decade will take shape.

In an interview with CNN, Josh D’Amaro, CEO of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, said: “I think we’re leveraging technology more aggressively than ever before, not for the sake of technology, but to create magical – almost mind-blowing – experiences.”

Here are the newly announced projects.

The largest expansion ever for Magic Kingdom will be built behind the existing Big Thunder Mountain Railroad attraction and will include a villain-themed land and a Pixar-themed land called Cars.

Concept art for the villain-themed land shown Saturday shows an ominous setting where Disney promises two major rides. The “Cars” announcement, which kicked off Saturday night with a live rendition of “Life is a Highway” by Shaboozey, described a land that will not be a replica of Cars Land in California, but an “off-road” adventure with a thrill ride and a family-friendly attraction. Groundbreaking for the Cars land will take place in 2025.

In the summer of 2025, the Magic Kingdom will also feature its first nighttime parade called “Disney Starlight.”

Also at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, Disney’s Hollywood Studios Park will feature a new “Monstropolis” land based on the “Monsters Inc.” franchise. Billy Crystal, who voiced the character Mike Wazowski, took the stage on Saturday night to announce the development. It will be the first suspended roller coaster at a Disney park, allowing guests to whizz through the door vault in the Monsters Inc. factory.

In both Florida and California, the Millennium Falcon Smuggler’s Run in Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge will feature a new story featuring the Mandalorian and Grogu.

At Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park, the previously announced Tropical Americas area is now confirmed to open in 2027. It will feature the first attraction based on the film “Encanto” and will take place in the magical “Casita” where the Madrigal family from the film lives. Guests can experience the day the character Antonio receives his magical gift and follow him as he opens his door to reveal a lush landscape full of animals he can talk to.

In the same area of ​​the park, there will be an Indiana Jones ride in the former Dinosaur ride building, but it will not replicate the current Indiana Jones rides at Disneyland California or Tokyo Disney Sea. Instead, visitors will experience an adventure where Indiana Jones discovers a Mayan temple.

Oscar-winning actor Ke Huy Quan, who appeared as a child in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” was on hand to introduce the new attraction.

“That sounds great,” he said of the trip. “But will there be queues?”

Disney will build a central “city” in tropical America called Pueblo Esperanza, with lush vegetation, Spanish-style architecture and a carousel with wood-carved figures.

Animal Kingdom will also host a previously announced “Zootopia” show in its theater under the Tree of Life starting in late 2025 or early 2026.

At EPCOT, the redesigned Test Track will open in 2025. The park will also get a new Spaceship Earth lounge overlooking Dreamer’s Point, where a statue of Walt Disney stands.

When asked if the Florida resort would get a fifth theme park in the coming years to compete with Universal’s Epic Universe park, which opens in 2025, D’Amaro told CNN: “We’re always thinking about the next thing. Right now, we have so much to celebrate and talk about that we’re going to share with our D23 fans that I think it’s going to be so overwhelming for them that they’re not going to think about anything else.”

What’s coming to Disneyland Resort in California?

The original park, Disneyland, will celebrate its 70th anniversary in 2025. To mark the occasion, the company will create the first-ever audio-animatronic version of Walt Disney, using technology never seen before in a Disney park.

He is presented on a stage while guests in the theater can see him sitting in his office telling stories about what it was like during his time at the helm of the company. This show is performed alternately with the current “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln” at the Main Street Opera House.

“For me, it’s an emotional thing,” D’Amaro said. “It’s important for our guests because it shows our heritage, but it also shows the incredible technology and innovation we have in the halls of Imagineering.”

D’Amaro said the project is being developed with the support of the Disney family.

Disneyland’s former Splash Mountain has now become Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, a similarly remodeled attraction that opened earlier this summer at Disney World in Florida and will open on November 15.

On the other side of the Esplanade at Disney California Adventure Park, Avenger’s Campus will more than double in size when it is built in 2025.

The first major attraction in this area is a roller coaster ride called Avengers Infinity Defense, where guests discover that a portal technology has been lost, causing King Thanos to wreak havoc across multiple worlds. Guests fight alongside the Avengers in the defense of New York City and experience battles in Thor’s Asgard and Black Panther’s Wakanda.

The second major attraction in this expanded area is called “Stark Flight Lab.” Here, guests can take a test flight like Iron Man in a two-person capsule that is lifted up by a robotic arm that makes the capsule fly. There will be various test flights and the attraction will not include any virtual reality effects. The robotic arm will do the work of physically carrying the ride.

Disney California Adventure is also getting a new attraction themed after Pixar’s “Coco,” a family-friendly adventure set to open in 2026. Guests will be able to follow Miguel’s journey through the Land of the Dead, traveling through colorful scenes and seeing animatronics of the skeleton characters from the film.

Additionally, California Adventure will feature a brand new Avatar Land based on Avatar: The Way of Water and future Avatar films. It will include a new attraction that is different from the one currently found at Pandora in Florida.

As previously reported, Disneyland Resort will significantly expand its ability to build theme park attractions on its existing property, investing at least $1.9 billion over ten years.

Disney Cruise Line currently has five ships with four more in production. The company announced Saturday that it will add four more ships by 2031, nearly tripling the size of the fleet currently in operation.

“Demand is so high for our current relatively small fleet that we have great confidence in our ability to invest and deliver incredible experiences – and that last part is important – around the world,” said D’Amaro. Specific destinations for the ship’s voyages have not yet been announced.

The new Disney ship Destiny will have a Hercules stage musical on board.

Disney parks in Shanghai and Hong Kong will get new Marvel rides. Shanghai Disneyland will get a thrilling ride featuring Spider-Man. Marvel will make its first appearance there. In Hong Kong, another major Marvel attraction featuring Spider-Man and one of his enemies will be added to Tomorrowland’s Stark Expo area.

In Paris, Disney’s first-ever theme park attraction based on The Lion King is being built at the renamed Disney Adventure World park. Visitors can experience this new log flume-style attraction that takes Simba from cub to king in a land inspired by the Pride Lands.

There will be a nightly show at the lake called “Adventure Bay” being created in the same park.

The original Disneyland park in Paris and Tokyo Disneyland will also get new nighttime shows. In Paris, the show will begin in January, with projections on the castle and (for the first time there) on Main Street. The Tokyo show, titled “Reach for the Stars,” begins on September 20.

Disney had previously announced that it would invest $1.5 billion in Epic Games. At the D23 event on Saturday, the company announced new players in Fortnite, part of the presentation was livestreamed on this platform.

New characters include those from Disney, Star Wars, and Pixar’s The Incredibles. The next Marvel season for Fortnite will launch on August 16 and includes Dr. Doom.

CNN’s Megan Thomas contributed to this report.