There’s a ton on the horizon in the next 5 years at Walt Disney World with new lands and attractions themed to Villains, Cars, Monsters, Indiana Jones, Encanto & more. There are also reimagined rides, new entertainment, dining, and more. This shares construction and opening timelines for all of the major projects coming to Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom. (Updated February 4, 2025.)
The good news is that Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro emphasized this in his opening remarks to the Parks Panel at the D23 Expo: “Everything we’re going to share with you is in active development. Plans are drawn. Dirt is moving. I just want to be clear about this: We are doing everything you’re going to hear tonight. This isn’t Blue Sky—we’re going to do all of this.” Phew.
Those were magic words that we all needed to hear. D’Amaro and head Imagineer Bruce Vaughn were very clear about this, and showed off nearer term projects that’ll come online in 2025. They also shared construction timelines for almost every single project, so we have fairly concrete ideas of when work will start for each of these new lands, attractions, etc. However, there’s still some confusion…
Josh D’Amaro said during D23 that the time horizon is not remote–everything discussed will “start to come to life over the next five years.” At first blush, this suggests opening dates no later than 2029. In addition, media was separately advised the announced projects would all open within the next 5 years, which would mean by 2029. Given that, it seems like an open and closed case, right?
There’s probably more wiggle room than that. For one, it’s not clear if the clock on that 5 years started ticking from the moment of announcement, or once construction commences in 2025. Moreover, projects that start to come to life in the next 5 years is not the same as construction that will finish by 2029. The lack of a definitive public-facing statement that these projects will all open by 2029 suggests that perhaps they won’t.
Note that this 5-year plan is part of a bigger picture development cycle that will invest $17 billion into Walt Disney World and $60 billion into Parks & Resorts (including Disney Cruise Line) as a whole. The company has already indicated that more of this investment will be backloaded, meaning that even bigger projects will debut in the first half of the 2030s!
From my perspective, there are also two distinct questions: whether all of these projects can open by 2029 and whether Walt Disney World wants to open everything by 2029? I’ve seen a lot of fans focus on the first while ignoring the second. Honestly, I think the second question is the far bigger one.
The reason there’s so much skepticism is because Walt Disney World’s recent track record isn’t exactly sterling. The Giant EPCOT Dirt Pit became a punchline on this blog, and it took the company longer to build CommuniCore Hall than the original EPCOT Center (the entire park). It’s a similar story with TRON Lightcycle Run, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Moana’s Journey of Water, or–insert any project from the last few years that isn’t Disney Vacation Club.
The good news is that when work begins in earnest on all of these projects at Walt Disney World, there will be a lot of non-factors that caused delays during the last development cycle. Epic Universe construction is wrapping up, pandemic-era delays and disruptions have largely been resolved, as have construction worker shortages.
This isn’t to say all work at Universal Orlando and other projects around Central Florida will end, but they won’t consume resources to nearly the same degree. It’s also entirely possible that labor issues will reemerge or the cost of supplies could skyrocket based on new real world factors…but that’s all beyond the scope of this post.
For now, it appears that the dynamic during this development cycle will be more like normal years pre-2019. Walt Disney World construction was arguably too slow then (at least for us impatient fans), but still nothing like the last few years. What exactly does that mean? Here are a few projects for mileposting:
Pandora – World of Avatar: Announced 2011, Construction 2013, Opened 2017
Toy Story Land: Announced 2015, Construction 2016, Opened 2018
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge: Announced 2015, Construction 2016, Opened 2019
Disney Skyliner: Announced 2017, Construction 2017, Opened 2019
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway: Announced 2017, Construction 2017, Opened 2020
How we long for those halcyon days when construction began a couple of months after D23 announcements and projects–even major ones–opened 2-3 years later. I remember grumbling about ‘work being purposefully spread out over multiple fiscal years’ at the time, but I would happily return to that era.
And maybe we will! In light of the above timelines, there’s no reason to believe all of the projects on this list can’t be finished by 2029 if Walt Disney World so desires. Most will begin in 2025, which leaves 4 years to finish them. That’s a lot of time, even in an era where delays are increasingly common.
This is why the better question is whether Walt Disney World will want to open all of these additions by 2029?
One of the other things we’ve seen in the post-reopening period is Walt Disney World purposefully staggering new attractions and experiences for maximum impact. Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure could’ve opened a full year before it did. Cosmic Rewind and TRON were likewise deliberately slow-rolled. (I have no clue what happened with CommuniCore, beyond the obvious.)
My big concern is that the earliest new land to open will be Tropical Americas in 2027. After that, I have a hard time believing that Walt Disney World will want to open more than one new land per year. In that case, it once again becomes a math problem: there are 3 other new lands and only 2 years before 2030.
Anyway, here are the construction and opening timelines for everything on the horizon at Walt Disney World…
Relax with friends and family at a new themed lounge coming to EPCOT inside Spaceship Earth.
Construction Began: Early 2025
Opening: Late Spring 2025
This elegant lounge, honoring the intertwined history of Spaceship Earth and EPCOT itself, is set to celebrate the legacy of the icon’s past while admiring its future. Walt Disney World announced it’ll open in late spring, but didn’t provide a specific date. Although work could’ve started prior to 2025, we didn’t spot any permits or construction walls until then. It’s worth noting that this was previously a corporate sponsor lounge and is getting a fair light reimagining, so the project taking only 4 or 5 months from start to finish isn’t an unrealistic timeline.
A new Pirates of the Caribbean-themed tavern is set to open in Adventureland at Magic Kingdom. This new family-friendly experience will extend the classic story and offer a welcoming haven for all pirate-kind. The tavern will invite bandits and buccaneers-to-be from every corner of the seven seas to raise a toast to the pirate life.
Construction Began: Summer 2024
Opening: Late 2025
Construction started on the Pirates of the Caribbean tavern outside the attraction in the exit area gift shop last summer. It’s consuming a portion of that space, as well as the shuttered Pirates League location, and should be fairly large. Our expectation is that this is similar to Oga’s Cantina in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, but with regular pirates instead of space pirates. It’s a lot more richly-themed and requires converting retail space into restaurant, hence this taking a lot longer than the Spaceship Earth lounge.
When the sun sets in the Magic Kingdom, a new parade will waltz down Main Street! Get ready to witness “Disney Starlight.” This all-new parade will continue the nighttime spectacular legacy started by the Main Street Electrical Parade, using the latest technology to tell new stories about the characters you love. All of this is brought to life by the magic of the Blue Fairy, in addition to beloved characters from Walt Disney Animation Studios films “Peter Pan,” “Encanto,” “Frozen,” and more.
Construction Began: Unknown
Opening: Summer 2025
“Construction” probably isn’t the right word for a parade, but we first heard about Disney Starlight (albeit not by that name) several months before it was officially announced. Even at that time, substantive work was already being done–suggesting that this wasn’t just a pitch or in early development.
It does not seem like this will be a race against the clock to complete, meaning that it’s much more likely to open around Memorial Day than mid-summer. If Walt Disney World were smart, they’d debut Disney Starlight–and whatever the summer celebration is going to be–during shoulder season after Easter to help spread out crowds. Although a splashy kickoff Memorial Day weekend would be fun!
Explore the past, present, and future of automation with a newly-rethemed Test Track, which Disney confirmed will open next year (as widely expected). Additionally, new details were shared about the pre-show, queue exhibits, and show scenes.
Construction Began: Summer 2024
Opening: Late Summer 2025
This is an ambitious project with an aggressive timeline and ample resources, but it still could take around a full year to finish. It’s likely that Imagineering started with a desired finish date for Test Track 3.0 in Summer 2025 and worked backwards from there to determine when the current incarnation of the attraction needed to close. To that point, I would hazard a guess that the target opening date for Test Track 3.0 is around mid-July 2025 given the “late summer” timeframe.
That doesn’t mean it will open then–it could occur earlier or even later. There’s always the possibility of work being completed ahead of schedule or delays occurring. But my educated guess is that we are not looking at a Memorial Day opening. July 4th is probably the earliest Test Track 3.0 will debut; it wouldn’t surprise me if the opening slips to October 1, 2025. If Imagineering can’t have it done by mid-to-late July, there’s little incentive to open the reimagined ride during the August or September off-season.
Zootopia: Better Zoogether has guests visiting the different biomes you only glimpse in the film, traveling along with Judy Hopps, Nick Wilde and other characters. This is a replacement for “It’s Tough to Be a Bug,” the 3D show inside the Tree of Life. That attraction will close in mid-March 2025.
Construction Begins: March 2025
Opening: Winter 2025
Typically, Disney means January through early March (pre-Spring Break) when referring to winter. December is almost always referred to as the “holidays” or “late” from a seasons perspective. However, the mid-March closure of It’s Tough to Be a Bug strongly suggests Zootopia: Better Zoogether will debut around Christmas 2025. The debut slipping into early 2026 is also a possibility, but November or December 2025 is much more likely.
Mando and Grogu have a new adventure on the horizon coming to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Join the Mandalorian and Baby Yoda on brand-new adventures coming to Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run in celebration of the new Star Wars film “The Mandalorian and Grogu” coming to theaters in 2026.
Work Begins: 2026
Opening: 2026
The Mandalorian & Grogu movie is (currently) set to be released on May 22, 2026. This new mission for Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run will likely debut around then, probably slightly before as a promotional push for the film. We do not expect any material changes to the queue or pre-show, meaning a lengthy closure should not be necessary. Hopefully, it’ll happen overnight like the new scenes in Star Tours.
Tropical Americas will come to Disney’s Animal Kingdom featuring Indiana Jones and the magical casita from Encanto. (We have separate posts for the Encanto Magical Madrigal Casita Dark Ride and Indiana Jones Adventure.)
Construction Began: January 17, 2025
Opening: 2027 (Probably?)
Walt Disney Imagineering held the groundbreaking for Tropical Americas on January 17, but the multi-phase project actually began earlier backstage where work has been happening since late last year.
If this land is opening all at once instead of in phases, there’s more work to be done on Encanto–a brand new build–than there is on Indiana Jones Adventure, which will reuse the existing ride system from Dinosaur. This is why Dino-Rama closed in early 2025, but Dinosaur won’t close until early 2026.
That makes for a really tight timeframe, and our expectation is now that Tropical Americas will open in late 2027 as opposed to earlier in the year. Walt Disney World hasn’t announced a season or anything else beyond that. (Honestly, this slipping into 2028 and flip-flopping with the next project also wouldn’t surprise us.)
It’s laughter they’re after when Sulley, Mike, and the rest of the crew from Pixar Animation Studios’ “Monsters, Inc.” move into Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and let humans inside the factory for the first time.
Construction Begins: Summer 2025
Opening: 2028 (Maybe?)
Since the original announcement, Walt Disney World has revealed that Monstropolis will replace Muppets Courtyard. Work was always intended to begin in 2025, and could begin backstage at any point with the construction of the gravity building and facade for the Monsters, Inc. Doors Coaster. On the guest facing side, Disney has announced Summer 2025 closing dates MuppetVision 3D and restaurants in this area.
This is much earlier than we expected for the closure of Muppets Courtyard, by roughly a full year. It’s possible that Disney is trying to cut costs by closing this area at a time when Disney’s Hollywood Studios isn’t expected to be that busy (and is opening two new stage shows). It’s also possible that Imagineering has realized Tropical Americas is going to be tough to have open by 2027, and Monstropolis would be easier.
Monstropolis is the simplest project of the major new lands. Having this area open in 2027 and Tropical Americas in 2028 maintains Disney’s annual opening cadence. Regardless of the order, these will almost assuredly be the first two lands to debut.
The Muppet foolishness doesn’t end with the closure of MuppetVision 3D. Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy and more of their friends will be moving right along to Sunset Boulevard! The Muppets will be taking over Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, teaming up with some of music’s biggest stars for a rockin’ music festival!
Construction Begins: Unknown
Opening: 2026 (Maybe?)
Walt Disney World has not tipped its hand in any way whatsoever when it comes to the timeline for the Muppets Mayhem reimagining of Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. With that in mind, all we can really do is work backwards from other ongoing and future projects.
In our view, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith is unlikely to close before the end of Summer 2025. Following that, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring the Muppets could debut between Late 2025 and Late 2026. Sometime in Spring or Summer 2026 strikes us as most likely. Our expectation is that, like other reimaginings, this is viewed as a stop-gap project before the new lands start debuting–putting its opening before 2027.
Start your engines, fan favorite stories and characters from Pixar’s “Cars” race into Magic Kingdom with two new attractions and fun for the whole family.
Construction Begins: 2025
Opening: 2029 (Maybe?)
Walt Disney World has revealed that the Cars area will actually replace the Rivers of America, meaning that Tom Sawyer Island and the Liberty Square Riverboat will permanently close. Since then, the project has been in permit purgatory, with a back and forth between Disney and the South Florida Water Management District. As of February 2025, Disney does not have approval on its permits to proceed with the project.
While some fans are holding out hope that Florida will deny the approval, we view that as unlikely. More likely, this will be a short delay and backstage work on the Cars land will still start sometime in 2025. This does not mean that the Rivers of America will close then. Rather, that’s when work on the laydown yards behind the park will begin, and that prepwork itself is likely a fairly involved project that will take multiple months.
As far as closing timelines go for the Rivers of America, our guess is that closures won’t occur until after Easter 2025 (at the absolute earliest). A more realistic middle ground is that Magic Kingdom tries to get through Summer 2025 before closing Tom Sawyer Island and the Rivers of America in August 2025. Barring further permit delays, the latest we’d expect closures to occur is January 2026.
Regardless, filling in the Rivers of America and then building Cars land on top of that is a very ambitious project. Fans will bemoan the lengthy timeline, but this debuting in 2029 actually seems fairly aggressive given the scale and scope of work.
This is no happily ever after. Get ready to see a darker side of your favorite fairytales when the Villains cast a spell over Magic Kingdom. Villains Land will be home to two major attractions, dining, and shopping on an incredibly twisted grand scale.
Construction Begins: “Soon”
Opening: 2030 (Maybe?)
The safe bet is that Villains Land will debut in 2030 or 2031, and that this is actually not part of the 5-year plan, but rather, the bigger slice of the $17 billion investment over the next decade.
Not because it’ll necessarily take that long to build, but because it appears to be phase 2 of the Magic Kingdom expansion, coming online after Cars land. And that land could be delayed into 2030 given how things go with the staging sites, filling in the Rivers of America, and construction on the land itself.
Then there’s the issue of phase 2s, which infamously do not happen. Regardless of how you feel about the current economy, there are decent odds of a recession between now and 2030. And although the concept art looks great, I’m concerned that they haven’t settled on what this land will actually feature. If there’s one project that has me worried with a Pandora-like timeline, it’s Villains Land.
Personally, I think that Villains Land is a fantastic idea and one that will be huge for Magic Kingdom. If I were in charge, I’d absolutely be fast-tracking this addition and try to open it simultaneous with Cars land for a truly blockbuster expansion of Magic Kingdom and relaunch of the park on par with Disney California Adventure 2.0, which debuted with both Cars Land and Buena Vista Street. Apples to oranges comparison, but there’s nothing stopping Walt Disney World from opening both in 2029 except appetite to do so. Villains Land is a largely on new land, so it could commence construction before the Cars land.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Do you expect all of these upcoming Walt Disney World projects to open by 2029? Think any of them will slip into 2030-2031, or possibly be cancelled completely? What has you most and least excited? Anything you’re hoping does not end up coming to fruition? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
