Which Disney Park Needs a New Attraction the Most?
Each of The Walt Disney Company’s American theme parks has added at least one new E-ticket attraction since 2017.
For Disney fans like you and me, it’s never enough, though. We share a voracious, insatiable appetite for theme park attractions.
Photo: Walt Disney Company
More Disney is better, right?
So, which American Disney theme park needs a new attraction the most?
6) Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Don’t get me wrong. I will definitely take more new Hollywood Studios attractions if Imagineers want to build them.
We’ve probably reached a point of diminishing returns in the short term, though.
A few years ago, during Bob Iger’s previous run as Disney CEO, he honestly evaluated the state of various theme parks. It was a similar process to what we’re doing now.
In studying the board, Iger recognized that two American parks, plus others in Paris and Hong Kong, needed some updates.
Iger gave with both hands at Hollywood Studios. Disney constructed not one but two themed lands, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Toy Story Land.
Remarkably, Disney didn’t stop there, either. It built the first-ever Mickey Mouse ride in the world.
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
So, now, Hollywood Studios has reversed its fortune to a stunning degree. It’s arguably the second most popular theme park at Walt Disney World.
Also, this park has opened five new rides over the past five years, four of which are legitimately E-ticket attractions.
Hollywood Studios is good for a while.
5) Magic Kingdom
TRON Lightcycle Vehicles
With the opening of Tron Lightcycle / Run at Magic Kingdom, Magic Kingdom has finished modernizing Tomorrowland, which is an odd statement, I’ll admit.
Alas, some Disney fans sounded a bit snide in the way they pronounced Tomorrowland until recently.
Management understood this criticism and proactively moved to assure the success of its theme park.
Ride vehicles in action!
Disney looked abroad to one of its own creations as a source of inspiration.
In April 2023, the Tron roller coaster debuted at Magic Kingdom. As part of the opening, it immediately reinvigorated the seminal Tomorrowland skyline.
Tron’s unique exterior illuminated roofing represents the face of this side of Magic Kingdom for the next 20 years. It’s the new Space Mountain.
As if that weren’t enough, Disney is also retheming Splash Mountain into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, which will open in 2024.
Frankly, these two attractions would be plenty enough for a while. Disney apparently isn’t stopping there, though.
It was BUSY
Presuming that the Florida Feud deescalates, Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro has suggested $17 billion in expansion projects coming to Walt Disney World.
His recent comments suggest that we may yet discover what lies beyond Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Yes, that would be Encanto attractions!
4) Disneyland
Photo: Travel and Leisure
Here’s a challenging park to evaluate. Like Magic Kingdom, Disneyland is overflowing with attractions.
Seriously, you could experience ten attractions a day here and still discover new stuff on day five.
Imagineers have honored Walt Disney’s vision here as well. The founder famously stated that Disneyland would never be finished.
Photo: Disney Parks
So, park officials continue to add new attractions and experiences at the Happiest Place on Earth.
Most recently, Disney introduced Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and redesigned Mickey’s Toontown to make the latter more welcoming to all.
(Christian Thompson/Disneyland Resort)
Like Magic Kingdom, Disneyland will also open Tiana’s Bayou Adventure next year.
Bob Iger recently surprised Disneyland Resort President Ken Potrock with the announcement that an Avatar experience is coming soon as well.
Photo: diz-abled.com/
I think Disneyland is in great shape for the time being.
However, the Disneyland Forward initiative suggests that management wants to do even more with this space over the next decade.
3) EPCOT
EPCOT
Image Credit: Disney
Much of what I said about Hollywood Studios applies to EPCOT as well.
Iger planned a sweeping reinvention of the former Future World, splitting that themed land into three update locations: World Celebration, World Discovery, and World Nature.
Photo: Disney
EPCOT would eventually add glorious new attractions like Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure.
Plus, the park will open Journey of Water | Inspired by Moana later this year.
For some, this reimagining of EPCOT will always feel bittersweet.
Photo: Disney
We apparently aren’t getting the promised Spaceship Earth reboot or Mary Poppins ride. So, this job somehow feels a bit incomplete.
Still, none of us will complain about any park that adds two rides as good as Cosmic Rewind and Ratatouille in a calendar year.
Cosmic Rewind
I suspect we’re all hopeful that more is coming, but I’d understand if Disney moved EPCOT to the back of the line in terms of Walt Disney World expansion.
That’s obviously not how I would approach the matter, though. This park could use one more blockbuster attraction, in my opinion.
2) Disney California Adventure
Photo: Disney
This park bears little similarity to the one we knew in early 2012.
Remember that the first decade of Disney California Adventure (DCA) was as disastrous as anything this side of EuroDisney, the infamous “cultural Chernobyl.”
When Cars Land and Radiator Springs Racers opened, DCA took a strong step toward relevance.
Photo: D23
Still, park officials kept working on the sustained (lack of) attendance problem and eventually decided to go all-in on intellectual property.
Disney split former sections of DCA into two main brands: Pixar and Marvel. If you’re gonna pick two, those are the ones.
Photo: Disney
When San Fransokyo opens later this year, Disney will have completed the process.
Along the way, the park has introduced new/modified attractions like the Incredicoaster, Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT!, and WEBSLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure.
All these changes are exceptional, and I cannot wait for the full Baymax experience.
(Richard Harbaugh/Disneyland Resort)
Still, I think most of us would agree that Avengers Campus could use another ride.
Disney had initially announced a Quinjet attraction that was later delayed or possibly even canceled.
Right now, the Avengers rides at the park, while wonderful, are just reskins of Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters.
Photo: TripSavy
We need an original Avengers attraction…and that long-rumored Monsters, Inc. roller coaster would be great, too.
In short, Disney has performed admirably in redeeming DCA. I believe there’s work that remains to be done, though.
1) Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Photo:nbjobs.ca
The final answer to our discussion comes down to math.
While all the other parks here have introduced new rides since the start of 2020, Animal Kingdom hasn’t changed much since 2017.
That’s the year when the park revealed its spectacular expansion, Pandora – The World of Avatar.
At the time, Imagineers raised the bar for theme park immersion, architecture, and storytelling.
While some would argue in favor of Galaxy’s Edge, I consider Pandora the greatest themed land ever built. But that was six years ago.
Photo: Christy Weinberg
Pandora opened on May 27th, 2017. Since then, Animal Kingdom has closed more rides (one) than it has opened (zero). And that’s a problem.
Park planners are obviously aware of this, which is why rumors abound that a Zootopia themed land will be announced later this year.
Photo: Disney
Realistically, Disney must do something with this park, as its “newest” attraction would make the top five at Hollywood Studios.
Then again, we all go primarily for the animals anyway, right?
Photo: MickeyBlog
Thanks for visiting MickeyBlog.com! Want to go to Disney? For a FREE quote on your next Disney vacation, please fill out the form below, and one of the agents from MickeyTravels, a Diamond Level Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, will be in touch soon!
