I’d love to one day go to the D23 Expo. It would be fantastic to be one of the first people to see exclusive Disney content before it becomes public, while also hearing about it directly from the creative team.
I also want to visit the expo to stock up on the merchandise. Did you see that EPCOT Center 35th anniversary poster?!
(If not I’ll show you. It’s pretty cool if you ask me. Although it was $90 …)
But alas, I wasn’t at the D23 Expo this year. I was at home, like many of you I’m sure. A minor perk of not going to the expo is that I was able to read about everything that was going on at the convention as it happened. It didn’t matter if two events were going on at the same time! I was able to get live updates for BOTH.
And I got live updates indeed. Many, many, live updates. So many in fact that I won’t be able to cover my thoughts on them all.
However I will cover every single Disney Parks and Resorts announcement made during the 2017 D23 Expo. From Disneyland in California, to Walt Disney World in Florida, I will go through my thoughts on them all.
So here they are. My thoughts. Enjoy.
Let’s start with one of the arguably biggest announcements. Star Wars Land’s official name was revealed. Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge!
Ok, to be honest I don’t really care what the name of the land is, but I’m so glad that it isn’t Star Wars Land. Giving the land an actual name (rather than Insert Movie Here Land *cough* Cars Land *cough*) makes it feel more grounded in our reality as we visit a fantasy reality. We already know that SW:GE is a new area that has never been explored in the Star Wars film canon, so to give the land it’s own unique title will help it stand on it’s own. Not that it will need any help because after looking at the model for the land, I just know it’s going to be awesome.
Next up is the announcement of the brand new ride Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway!
I’m really excited to see how this ride turns out. The Imagineers seem incredibly optimistic about it, and they’re saying it will be Disney’s most ambitious and innovative attraction yet. I totally believe that it can be. I wish we got some more information about the ride, but from what the concept art shows, and the small testing clip Disney has released, Runaway Railway seems to be a fun E-Ticket attraction.
The only problem I have with Runaway Railway is that it’s replacing The Great Movie Ride. Eek. The Great Movie Ride is Disney’s Hollywood Studios last opening day attraction (back when the park was Disney/MGM Studios). The Great Movie Ride has kind of been neglected in recent years, apart from a recent “refurbishment” thanks to a TCM sponsorship, but I still think TGMR is a solid attraction. It’s sad to see a classic ride about classic movies, in a theme park that used to be about making movies in the golden age of Hollywood, close after almost 30 years.
R.I.P. The Great Movie Ride. I’ll miss being hijacked by a gangster (or a bandit. Although I don’t think I’ve ever got the bandit version …).
Toy Story Land was announced to open in summer 2018. I’m very excited for Toy Story Land. Slinky Dog Dash looks like so much fun.
Moving over to EPCOT, an untitled Guardians of the Galaxy E-Ticket will be replacing Ellen’s Energy Adventure and the Universe of Energy.
Bring onnnnnnnnn the Guardians!! I don’t even know what’s going here but I’m ready for it. Ellen’s Energy Adventure is a charming ride and I love the dinosaur portion of it, but if we are being real, it’s way past it’s expiration date. I visited the Universe of Energy once back in 2015, and enjoyed my 40 minute lesson on energy. I’m sure the 7 other people in the building liked it too, but the problem wasn’t so much the ride, it was that there was barely anyone in the attraction! What good is a massive people eater such as EEA, when only a handful of people are riding it?
Disney had two options. Either update the pavilion to modern standards, or bring something new in. I think they’re doing a little mix of both and I’m all for it!
You know what else I’m all for? Ratatouille and the expansion of EPCOT’s France Pavillion!
This is so good for the park. It’s an expansion of an already existing pavilion, and it adds a ride that will be a slightly modified version of a beloved Disneyland Paris attraction. What’s not to love about that? I can’t find any faults with this announcement. 2021 can’t come soon enough!
Other minor EPCOT announcements such as an updated film for the China pavilion and an updated Orange Mission with a brand new Green Mission for Mission: SPACE are all positives in my book. I’ve never actually seen the current film in the China pavilion, but I’d think that an update would be a positive for most.
EPCOT’s final D23 announcement was that they are building a new table service outer space restaurant, right beside Mission: SPACE.
Wow, I think that looks super cool. Obviously the atmosphere is the main draw here, but I’m interested to know a couple things.
A) How the heck Disney is going to pull this off.
and B) What will the menu be like? Will astronaut ice cream be served???
Only time will tell. This is expected to open in or around 2021.
And that does it for part 1 of my thoughts on the 2017 D23 announcements. There is so much to discuss, so I figured I’d break my thoughts down into two parts. Hopefully it will be a little easier to read that way as well 🙂
See you in part 2!
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