How Did We Do? Checking Our D23 Predictions

New Update August 16, 2026: We’ve updated the post below to reflect what was announced during the final night of D23, Horizons: Disney Experiences Showcase on August 15, 2026. You’ll find these updates throughout the article under “Actual” headers. 

Disney’s D23 Ultimate Fan Event runs from this coming Friday, August 14, through Sunday, August 16 in Anaheim, California. The event has historically included major new announcements on upcoming Disney films, TV shows, and theme park attractions.

Here’s a quick rundown on what we might hear at this year’s event. Some of these are educated guesses based on publicly available information such as patent filings, construction permits, and aerial photos. Some of it is speculation. We’ll know soon how much of it is correct.

Villains Land – Magic Kingdom

Change of plans. Here is what we think will be announced for Villains Land at D23:

• The roller coaster is themed to Maleficent. It’s rumored to have an inversion, which, if true, would be the first inversion coaster in the Magic Kingdom.
  • Actual: The Maleficent coaster was announced, but no details about the inversion.
• The indoor dark ride uses the “scoop ride vehicles” from Peter Pan at Tokyo DisneySea, and follows a similar story to the Villains: Unfairly Ever After Show in Hollywood Studios where the Magic Mirror introduces the story and walks you through scenes with different villains along the ride.
  • Actual: The ride vehicle wasn’t detailed, but the storyline was correct. The Magic Mirror will guide us through the catacomsbs of the underworld.
• The plan for the sit down restaurant has changed to a quick service location (for reasons that we’ll go into later), but the theme is still Hades and we’re hoping for jokes about the food being flame broiled.
  • Actual: Not mentioned
• Dr. Facilier gets a lounge similar to the Beak and Barrel.
  • Actual: Not mentioned
• The Emperor’s New Groove gets some sort of drink stand, bar, or lounge because it’s too hard to pass up the poison joke. Oh, right. The poison. The Poison for Kuzco, the poison chosen especially to kill Kuzco, Kuzco’s poison. If you order a cocktail and the bar tenders don’t turn around and yell “pull the level, Stephanie!” it will be a huge missed opportunity.
  • Actual: Not mentioned. They didn’t mention any dining in Villain’s Land during the showcase. 
• Merchandise location themes include: Cruella de Vil (this will be the largest store), Captain Hook, and Madam Mim (I had to look this one up) from The Sword in the Stone.
  • Actual: Glenn Close is still that Queen. Beyond that, are we getting a furrier in Villains Land? Dalmation-themed dinner jackets? It’s still a mystery. 
• The spot that we thought was a train station isn’t a train station. It’s a maintenance bay for the coaster.

This could all be wrong. These are just predictions. I want to say that everything I’ve seen and heard about these changes is fantastic. The things that are already taking shape look great, and we should all start planning annual trips to Walt Disney World in 2027-2030 when everything is open.

Other Villains Land Details Learned During D23:

• The land is officially named Villains Land and the size will be close to that of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge
• We’ll enter the land through the dark forest and will see a wishing well. The premise is that we find out what happens when someone makes an evil wish.

Piston Peak – Magic Kingdom

Disney’s filed two patent applications that are likely related to the two rides at Piston Peak.

The first patent application (US-20260072453-A1) indicates that Piston Peak’s headliner ride may allow guests to steer their cars around the track, giving guests some level of true interactivity on the ride.  If this is indeed the ride system, it would be a huge leap forward for Disney theme park attractions:

 

This ride layout and ride system fit into the concept art that Disney’s provided for Piston Peak, so it’s a reasonable guess.

Disney’s said nothing about Piston Peak’s second attraction, but another Disney patent application (20260027482) indicates it might be a new twist on a classic spinner ride:

It looks like guests will be able to raise and lower the ride vehicles as well as turn them left and right.

The other interesting thing about this patent is that it shows three different types of ride vehicles: cars, boats, and planes:

Having ride vehicles spin over water would (I think) be novel for this kind of ride in a Disney theme park.

Here’s the cars, which look like off-road buggies in the patent:

 

And the planes, possible from the Planes spin-off:

I expect we’ll get more details on both rides at D23. And I expect we’ll get at least the year that Disney plans to open Piston Peak.

Actual: Neither of the patents above seem like the rides described at D23. Cars Ridge Run Rally is the official name of the “bouncy” headliner attraction. This Frontierland path will take guests near the “Old Tankful” geyser, over a sparkling, snowy mountain range, and a sun-scorched and rocky road. The word “bouncy” was used multiple times to describe the ride vehicle and path. 

The second atttaction is called Miss Fritter’s Daredevil Spin-Along and will follow a demolition derby theme. 

Space Mountain Major Refurbishment – Magic Kingdom

Our friends at WDWMagic.com broke the news last month about a major refurbishment scheduled for Space Mountain in Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom. Disney hasn’t announced that yet, and I expect them to do so at D23, along with a timeline for closing and re-opening. I suspect closing is likely to happen very quickly – either late 2026 or early 2027 – because of the timeline for Piston Peak and Villains Land.

The big questions for this Space Mountain refurbishment are:

• If the new ride will keep the existing two-track layout
• Whether the ride vehicles will change seating from three, one-person rows

I expect the new Space Mountain will have one unified track and will switch to ride vehicles that hold two guests per row. I’d also expect a major reconfiguration of the load area. Each of those things should improve the ride’s capacity and reliability. That’s going to be really important for the east side of the Magic Kingdom once Piston Peak and Villains Land opens on the west side.

Actual: A Space Mountain refurbishment was not announced at D23 but we still think this is coming soon. 

Tropical Americas – Animal Kingdom

Indiana Jones Ride

Back in March, 2025 I wrote about the possible storyline for the upcoming Indiana Jones ride in Tropical Americas. I still think the vast majority of that is the likely direction. (I know of one detail that’s wrong, but I was told it was wrong in the middle of a not-for-public conversation, so I’m not sure if I can say what the wrong thing is.)

Since that storyline has Indy visiting a cave linked to the Maya underworld, and the Maya underworld’s symbolism includes bats, crocodiles, and jaguars, we may see those animals throughout the ride as well. Construction walls in Tropical Americas already feature bats, so that’s also a strong clue.

I expect to hear more about this ride’s story at D23.

Actual: We got the serpent’s name wrong, but we’re pleased with this announcement. Indiana Jones and The Myth of the Jade Serpent is set in the 1950’s and we’ll get to see a real Harrison Ford model for the first time in an amusement park attraction. In summary, the “myth” becomes real and we go through a portal to the underworld where bats, fire, scorpions, and snakes are plentiful.

Encanto Ride

Back in November, 2024 I used a South Florida Water Management District filing from Disney to go over the likely layout of every building in Tropical Americas. That included a prediction of a Maya-themed playground area near the Indiana Jones ride, which Disney confirmed earlier in 2026 to replace the old Boneyard playground.

Disney’s already said that the ride’s story will highlight the day Antonio gets his powers to communicate with animals. Thanks to a video from our friend Bioreconstruct, who’s been doing helicopter flyovers of Tropical Americas since construction began, I’m confident that the size of this one show scene is going to be enormous – some back-of-the-napkin math with Google Maps indicates the ceilings in this one show scene could be up to 40 feet high:

This is going to be a showstopping ride scene, the kind of “wow” moment we got the first time we saw the AT-AT room in Rise of the Resistance:

I expect we’ll get more details on this at D23.

Actual: Disney announced more details about El Carrusel de los Animalitos, an animal-themed carousel with 22 hand-carved animals from Pixar and Disney stories. The headliner, Fiesta de Encanto, will celebrate Antonio’s gift day in Casita. There will be no height requirement for this attraction. No opening date was announced for Tropical Americas. 

Other Tropical Americas Announcements

We haven’t heard anything about a character greeting location in Tropical Americas, but the construction permits point to a building where the old Chester & Hester’s retail store used to be, in the middle of this drawing I did back in 2024:

We also haven’t heard anything about the re-themed Restaurantosaurs. Tamales are a staple of Maya cuisine, and I will be muy sorprendido if we don’t see them on this menu.

I’l also anticipating we’ll get an opening season, if not month, for Tropical Americas. I’m guessing Tropical Americas will open in September, October, or November of 2027. Disney’s fiscal year ends on September 30, 2027, and that might be enough reason to make the official opening October 1 or later.

• Actual: We got no details on dining or character greetings. One of the most surprising non-announcements from this D23 is that we didn’t even get a season for when Tropical Americas will open in 2027.

Monstropolis – Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Monsters, Inc. Door Coaster

We know that the main ride in Monstropolis is the “door coaster” ride and our friend and former Disney Imagineer Jim Shull has an excellent YouTube video on it. We may get more details on that.

Glob Theater Show

We also know that a theater show is going into the Glob Theater in Monstropolis, the former home of MuppetVision 3D. But we haven’t heard anything specific about the kind of show that’s going on.

The simplest solution would be to bring the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor from Tomorrowland in the Magic Kingdom over to Monstropolis. Laugh Floor has never really fit Tomorrowland’s theme, so it’d be an “addition by subtraction” moment there.

But that would leave Tomorrowland down one popular and very large-capacity attraction, just as the world’s most popular theme park is about to open two exciting new lands. Not to mention the fact that the old Stitch’s Great Escape theater, directly across the walkway, has been empty since that show closed in 2018. So Disney may want to keep Laugh Floor in Tomorrowland and develop a new show for Monstropolis.

I’m going to take this opportunity to point out that Disney has a long history of using Industrial Light & Magic’s special effects team on theme park attractions, from Star Tours to the award-winning Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. And ILM’s latest stage show is ABBA Voyage in London, which presents a virtual reality concert starring that 1970’s superstar group:

It would not be a surprise to see Disney partner with ILM on a version of this for the Glob Theater show in Monstropolis. I don’t know if it’d be a musical, but the technology seems very compelling.

• Actual: We know it’s a stage show, but nothing more at this time.

Harryhausen’s Restaurant

Disney’s already said this sushi restaurant from Monsters, Inc. is coming to Monstropolis. This sushi chef would make an excellent animatronic for guests to watch during their visit:

We may also get an opening season and year for Monstropolis – I’m guessing Summer 2028.

Actual: We learned that the intial lift for the Door Coaster is 40 feet straight up, but no opening date was mentioned. The Glob Theater, Archie’s Scare Pig Pizza, the Alumni Club, and Harryhausen’s Restaurant are set to open sometime in 2027. The opening date for the door coaster has not been announced.

Miscellaneous Other Things We Might Hear At D23

Star Wars 50th Anniversary

The original Star Wars film Episode IV: A New Hope was released in 1977, so 2027 is the 50th anniversary of that. Disney has said it’ll re-release the film in its 1977 form for that anniversary. But a more intriguing idea was floated last week by media analyst Rich Greenfield at Lightshed Partners, who pointed out that the Wizard of Oz Experience at The Sphere in Las Vegas has done tremendous business, and Disney may need its own strategy for Sphere-like movies.

I would not be surprised to hear Disney announce some sort of Star Wars show for either The Sphere or COSM, another vendor of dome-format entertainment that’s opened locations in Los Angeles, Dallas, and Atlanta, with more planned for Detroit and Cleveland.

• Actual: Nothing about Star Wars in a Sphere/COSM format was mentioned at this D23. We still think it’s happening.

Lakeshore Lodge New Studio Room Categories?

Disney’s been releasing details out ahead of the 2027 opening of Lakeshore Lodge in Walt Disney World. The most recent of these include concept art for the lobby; Moonglade, the sit-down restaurant; Bay Lake Provisions, the grab-and-go option; Paint-Out Bar & Grill; and Dandelion Terrace, the fireworks viewing area. Those look very promising. And that’s on top of The Wetlands, probably the most ambitious water-based recreation area Disney’s every attempted at a Walt Disney World resort.

We’ve heard less about the kinds of rooms that’ll be available at Lakeshore Lodge. We already know from our friends at BlogMickey that it’s a DVC resort that will make rooms available for cash to non-DVC members. But that wasn’t always true – the original plans for Lakeshore Lodge included standard hotel rooms with DVC rooms.

Disney’s switch from combined DVC and cash rooms to all-DVC happened after construction started. That means that the original building plans likely contained standard-size hotel rooms for a traditional deluxe resort, plus the usual set of 2- to 4-person DVC studios, like the Duo Studios and Deluxe Studios at the Island Tower at Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows. But standard-size deluxe hotel rooms are generally smaller than comparable DVC studios.

The big question, then, is whether Disney accepted the extra cost and time delay to move the walls, plumbing, and other infrastructure for those formerly cash rooms, to make them the same size as the other DVC studios. (It’s a lot easier to add a kitchenette and microwave to those rooms after they’ve been framed out, than to move everything else.)

I’m guessing they did not re-size the cash rooms, because that would’ve led to at least some delay in Lakeshore Lodge’s opening timeline. If that guess is correct, that means there’ll be a new category of DVC studios in Lakeshore Lodge that sits somewhere between the Duo Studio two-person rooms and the Deluxe Studios that sleep 4 or 5.  We may hear more about these rooms at D23.

• Actual: Nothing about Lakeshore Lodge was mentioned at this D23. We still think there’ll be new Studio categories.

Disneyland Autopia

We may also get more details on Disneyland’s conversion of the Autopia cars to electric, since the existing ride has a hard deadline of February 1, 2027 to stop using its current internal combustion engines.

• Actual: Nothing about Autopia was mentioned at this D23. It’s still moving forward.

Shanghai Disneyland Second Gate

There’s a chance we hear more about Shanghai Disneyland’s “second gate”, which is supposed to be a World Showcase-like park where different countries are represented by classic Disney theme park rides, such as Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure for France, Frozen Ever After for Norway, and so on.

I expected to hear more about this at Shanghai Disneyland’s 10th anniversary celebration in June, but I think chaotic world events outside of Disney’s control have made it a lot more difficult for Disney to pin down plans for its international parks. So it’s possible we don’t hear anything about this at D23 either.

• Actual: Nothing about Shanghai Disneyland’s second gate was mentioned at this D23. 

Magic Kingdom or EPCOT Hotel

We know that Disney had recent plans for a Magic Kingdom-adjacent hotel. Adding a hotel attached to Villains Land, which is already in the world’s most popular theme park, is as close to a “sure thing” as there is in the theme park business. I really do think Disney’s going to build one, too. I just don’t think they’re going to announce it at this year’s D23.

There’s a smaller chance Disney does the same at the front of EPCOT, where the ideas we’ve heard include having the EPCOT monorail go through the hotel. There’s a ton of space near EPCOT’s main entrance that could make this work. I’m just not sure if Disney would announce it in the middle of everything else going on. And this hotel idea was supposedly inspired by the Helios hotel over at Epic Universe.

• Actual: Nothing about a new hotel was mentioned at this D23. 

I’m Going to D23!

My co-host on the Disney Dish podcast, Jim Hill, got us tickets for this year’s D23 event. I’ll be walking around the convention spaces and the Disneyland Resort from Thursday through Sunday. If you see is, please stop to say hello and let us know what you think about everything Disney’s announced.