Let’s Take a Closer Look at What’s Coming to Disney Parks in 2023
We’re down to the last three months of 2022. Meanwhile, Disney recently posted a timeline for what guests can expect at the parks next year.
So, let’s take a closer look at everything coming to Disney parks and Disney Cruise Line in 2023. It’s…a lot.
Photo: Disney
100 Years of Wonder
Let’s start with the most significant Disney milestone of our lifetimes. Yes, I know that Walt Disney World is still celebrating its 50th anniversary.
However, something is coming in a few months that will top that. On October 16th, 2023, The Walt Disney Company turns 100 years old.
Photo: Walt Disney Company
Disney won’t wait until mid-October to commemorate the date, though. Instead, the party starts on January 1st, 2023!
Disneyland Resort will function as the epicenter of this event. Park officials will add platinum coloring throughout the parks to highlight this rare feat.
Disney is 99 years old and still a Fortune 30 company. It’s demonstrated remarkable staying power and will enter its second century as the world’s foremost storytelling company.
Photo: Disney
So, 2023 will feature an endless slew of highlights based on Disney’s history and a few that also hint at its future.
Suffice to say that 2023 is gonna be a massive year for Disney and its fans.
The Villas at Disneyland Hotel
Image Credit: D23
Disneyland Resort will introduce a new hotel as part of its centennial celebration.
Don’t let the name fool you here. This isn’t any sort of change happening at Disneyland Hotel.
Instead, Disney is constructing an entirely new tower resort that will open next year.
Image Credit: D23
Disney operates three hotels currently, but Imagineers only built one of them, Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa.
Disney bought the others from other companies…and yes, that includes the Disneyland Hotel! Walt Disney couldn’t afford to build it and Disneyland simultaneously.
So, a second Disney-made resort in Anaheim is long overdue. We’ve only had one in the 67-year history of the park!
Photo: Disneyland
Disney has indicated that The Villas at Disneyland Hotel will include 350 rooms.
Like another recent addition, Disney’s Riviera Resort, it’ll technically be a Disney Vacation Club property, but we can all book rooms here!
Mickey’s Toontown Returns
Photo: Disneyland
Disneyland fans have no need to be jealous of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, which opened at Walt Disney World in 2020.
The Anaheim crowd knows that they’ll get their own version next year. Disney announced this addition a while ago.
Then, park officials did something unexpected. They chose to close Mickey’s Toontown for the body of a year to renovate the place.
Photo: D23
During the 2022 D23 Expo, Disney displayed scale models of the updated themed land.
Honestly, most of it looked like the Mickey’s Toontown we’ve always known. However, several new fountains and play areas will open here in 2023 as well.
Most importantly, Disneyland’s version of Runaway Railway will be unique.
Photo: D23
The ride building here has different dimensions. So, Disney has chosen to reconfigure the scene order and add some new stuff.
The line queue will also feature many callbacks to Disney’s iconic moments in theme park history. Waiting in line will be a surprising amount of fun here.
Journey of Water Inspired by Moana
Photo: Disney
In Moana, Te Fiti comes across as the villainess of the story. However, toward the end, the audience learns that she was wronged.
Rather than fighting her, Moana assists the woman, thereby justifying her place as the favorite child of the ocean itself.
Photo: Disney
At EPCOT, Disney will open a water feature that embraces the story of Moana. The water here will act like a living, thinking being.
Disney just revealed that a 16-foot statue of Te Fiti will be a permanent part of this water installation, which makes me giddy.
Photo: Disney
The people involved with this project clearly understand the purpose within the story of Moana. And the tech sounds impressive, too!
Tron Lightcycle Power Run
You know the deal here.
Photo: Disney
A few years ago, Magic Kingdom officials decided to redesign the skyline at Tomorrowland.
Nobody would describe the place as falling into disrepair. However, the newest attraction in this themed land is Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, which opened in 1998.
The visual look of Tomorrowland has stayed the same for at least a quarter-century. So, Disney greenlighted a new project, a roller coaster.
Tron Lightcycle Power Run is a motorcycle-style ride where you board a Lightcycle and try to avoid derezzing.
Magic Kingdom could also use another roller coaster, even though it’s sneakily one of the coaster capitals of the United States.
Still, the highlight of this attraction is that it fundamentally changes Magic Kingdom’s skyline.
The unique concentric wave effect of the building’s exterior is attention-grabbing. Even better, this structure glows in the dark.
Magic Kingdom will look so much different from a distance in 2023!
By the way, the park will also add one other enhancement. The Hatbox Ghost will finally arrive at Magic Kingdom’s Haunted Mansion in 2023. I cannot wait for that!
Photo Credit: Disney
World of Frozen
Disney has gone all-in on Arendelle, the fictional town from Frozen. Park officials are building three different versions of Frozen Land around the world.
Photo: Hong Kong Disneyland
The first of them will open at Hong Kong Disneyland. There, guests will get the initial look at an entire themed land set in the world of Frozen.
As you’re about to read, anything one will follow soon afterward, and I suspect that a Walt Disney World version will come along in a few years.
Photo: Hong Kong Disneyland
Still, you’ll need to travel to Hong Kong to visit Arendelle first.
Fantasy Springs at Tokyo DisneySea
Tokyo DisneySea is adding a new themed port, Fantasy Springs. You can think of it as a modernized Fantasyland with more of a nautical theme.
Photo: Disney
That’s because of the Tokyo DisneySea setting more than anything else. This themed land represents the largest Tokyo DisneySea expansion ever.
Disney will introduce elements from three beloved fairy tales…and yes, Frozen is one!
Photo: DIsney
However, this park will go two steps beyond Arendelle. In addition to that themed area, Tokyo DisneySea will also open sections for Tangled and Peter Pan!
The Oriental Land Company has committed $2.5 billion toward this project. It’ll include four new attractions and something unique.
Tokyo DisneySea will open an entirely new hotel that overlooks the park and provides an epic view.
Photo: Disney
We expect to learn more about the Tokyo DisneySea expansion during the first quarter of 2023.
Disneyland Paris Updates
Disney also showed two upcoming Disneyland Paris Resort projects on the road map.
Photo: Disneyland-Paris
Honestly, we don’t know much about either one, though. There’s a new Pixar show coming in 2023 called Pixar: We Belong Together. It’ll play at Walt Disney Studios Park.
Also, the giant entertainment complex at Disneyland Paris, Disney Village, is undergoing a “transformation” in 2023.
Photo: Sortir a paris
The updated look will include a new lakeside park (regular, not theme) and a boardwalk. It’ll also feature brand-new facades and roomier walking paths.
Again, these are projects that Disney has previously announced. We’re still waiting on more specifics, though.
Disneyland Paris and Tokyo DisneySea aren’t the only places with an air of mystery, either.
Photo: D23
We’re still wondering about some of the changes coming to Downtown Disney, Pixar Place Hotel, and several other projects.
So, stay tuned to MickeyBlog to learn everything you can about all the exciting projects we have in store for Disney’s centennial celebration!
Photo: MickeyBlog
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