As the entertainment giant has announced, a brand new “Lion King” attraction is coming to Disney’s resort in Paris.

Visitors will go “on a journey through the African savannah” together with iconic characters such as Mufasa and Simba through to Timon and Pumbaa, theme park boss Josh D’Amaro said on Saturday.

Models of the experience, presented to Disney fans at the D23 convention on Saturday, showed a log flume tumbling down Pride Rock as Rafiki the monkey looks on.

The news comes just three days after Disney reported weaker-than-expected results from its theme parks for the quarter ended in June.

Since 2022, there have been rumors that there will be a Lion King experience at Disneyland Paris Resort in Marne-la-Vallée.

Disney announced last year that it would invest $60 billion (£47 billion) over the next decade to expand its theme park and cruise business – double the amount spent in the previous decade – to great excitement among fans.

Bosses have now confirmed that the Lion King-themed land will follow World of Frozen, a themed area based on the Frozen series, set to open in Paris in 2026.

The new areas are located in Walt Disney Studios Park, which will be renamed Disney Adventure World to reflect its new offering.

For the Lion King attraction, Disney’s creative department – ​​called Imagineering – has promised to “bring the majestic King’s Rock to life.”

It will be “the gateway to an adventurous water attraction where guests can dive beneath the rocks and accompany Simba on his journey from cub to king,” the company said.

Meanwhile, at Walt Disney World in Florida, the flagship Magic Kingdom park will undergo the biggest expansion in its 53-year history, with a new area dedicated to classic Disney villains and another area focused on Pixar’s Cars films.

The opening of a long-awaited Monsters, Inc.-themed roller coaster has been confirmed at Disney’s Hollywood Studios Park, inspired by the famous “flying door” scene from the 2001 film.

And at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park, more details were announced about the Encanto and Indiana Jones-themed rides.

On the U.S. West Coast, the original Disneyland Resort in California will add two superhero-themed rides, an Avatar water attraction and the company’s first Coco ride.

A new Spiderman attraction will open at Hong Kong Disneyland as part of an immersive Marvel-themed area.

Disney also announced four new cruise ships – in addition to the four others it had previously announced – that would nearly triple the size of its current fleet by 2031.

“Everything we are sharing with you tonight is under active development,” Mr. D’Amaro said on Saturday.

“It means plans are being made. It means things are in motion. I just want to make one thing clear to all the fans out there: This is not a rosy sky.”

The weekend’s flood of announcements comes after a rollercoaster ride behind the scenes at Disney over the past few years.

Managing Director Bob Iger dramatically returned to lead the company less than a year after his resignation following a series of alleged missteps by his successor.

Shortly after his return, Mr. Iger announced a restructuring and the elimination of thousands of jobs in order to improve the company’s profits.

Beginning of the year Disney won a board battle against critics who accused the media giant of “losing its creative spark”.

Activist investors, including Nelson Peltz of Trian Management, had sought seats on the company’s board, which they said was too close to Disney’s leadership.

“All we want is for Disney to refocus on producing great content and delighting consumers, and for Disney to create sustainable long-term value for shareholders,” Peltz said at a shareholder meeting.

According to a source familiar with the results, only 31% of the votes cast were in favour of Mr Peltz’s seat.

But the fight raised questions about Disney’s problems.

Last year, the company announced that it was abandoning plans to build a new office campus in Central Florida after a years-long dispute with Governor Ron DeSantis.

Mr. DeSantis attacked the company after it opposed a state law banning classes on sexual orientation and gender identity in early childhood.

Disney has filed a First Amendment lawsuit against Mr. DeSantis and other officials.

The company had planned to build the campus about 30 kilometers from the huge Walt Disney World theme park and relocate 2,000 employees from Southern California.

In a memo to employees, D’Amaro explained that the company had abandoned those plans due to “new leadership and changing business conditions.”

The resounding success of Disney’s “Inside Out 2” has helped boost the entertainment giant’s profits.

However, operating profit fell three percent to $2.2 billion (£1.72 billion), which the company attributed to a “softening in consumer demand” that “exceeded previous expectations” and higher operating costs.

The 2024 Paris Olympics have been blamed in part for the decline in theme park revenue, which accounts for more than half of Disney’s profits.

Nevertheless, the company’s parks – which are among the most visited attractions in the world – remained a reliable profit driver and helped cushion the impact of declines in the traditional television business and losses in Disney’s video streaming business.

The experience division, which includes parks, cruise ships and consumer goods, contributed 60 percent of the company’s operating profit last quarter, up from just 30 percent just a decade ago.

On Friday details about new films including the title of the third part of Avataran expansion of the Star Wars franchise and a sequel to Freaky Friday, were announced at D23, which took place near Disneyland in Anaheim.