The Biggest Disney Changes in 2023
When Bob Iger returned to Disney in November 2022, fans understood that big changes were afoot.
In the aftermath of the trying pandemic era, Disney officials performed a rare level of self-evaluation, determining what former CEO Bob Chapek had done right and wrong.


Image rights: CNBC and Illustration by Elham Ataeiazar
Those of us who survived that era are painfully aware that there was more of the latter than the former.
So, 2023 became a year of healing at Disney, as it plotted a new, better course for its next 100 years.


Photo: Disney
Here are the seven biggest Disney changes in 2023.
Splash Mountain Closes at Disneyland and Disney World
We won’t relitigate this one because the lines have already been drawn in the sand.


Photo: Disney
A few years ago, park officials determined that Splash Mountain no longer made sense for Disney.
For many years now, the movie that partially inspired the ride, Song of the South, had remained buried in the Disney Vault. It’s not a project Disney even likes to acknowledge.


Photo: Disney
To wit, when Disney+ debuted, virtually the entire back catalog of Disney animated titles was available on day one…save for Song of the South.
The mere existence of an attraction that used characters and music from Song of the South seemed like a mixed message.


Photo: Disney Parks Blog
So, Disney executives made the hard choice and decided to re-theme the beloved Splash Mountain attraction into a new one, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
In a way, Disney has let go of the past. Alas, fans weren’t ready to do so yet.


Splash Mountain
When Magic Kingdom and, later, Disneyland Park operated Splash Mountain for the final days, exuberant fans cheered every splash.
People knew they were witnessing something they’d never see again, leading to a poignant two nights of fans saying goodbye to the beloved attraction.

Galactic Starcruiser Meets Resistance
One of the oddest Disney stories I’ve ever covered is the rise and fall of Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser.
Even now, I’m not wholly confident the book has closed. Instead, I view what has happened as the end of a chapter.


Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser
The moment that Disney purchased Lucasfilm in 2012, fans immediately started speculating about how the theme parks would implement Star Wars stories.
One of the most popular ideas was the so-called Star Wars Hotel, a concept that dates back to long before Disney got involved.


Photo: Disney
In 1998, Las Vegas opened a Star Trek bar and lounge experience that proved wildly popular for a time. However, it was challenging to maintain.
Also, once the core group of Star Wars/Vegas lovers visited, there wasn’t really a second wave of interest. The bar lasted for a decade.


Credit: Disney
History repeated itself at a much faster pace with Disney’s premise. After years of rumors and speculation, the Star Wars Hotel finally opened in March 2022.
By this point, the headlines exclusively centered on the high price of a hotel stay here.


Credit: Disney
A three-day, two-night itinerary on Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser started around $5,000 and could go even higher, depending on when your travel dates were.
Throughout the interactive hotel’s opening year, it sold out virtually every night. Then, the moment the calendar switched to 2023, everybody stopped caring.


Photo: (David Roark, photographer)
Demand dropped so suddenly that Disney switched from three weekly cruises to two.
Then, Disney officials accepted that they had met all the demand for the Star Wars Hotel, at least at that price. So, Disney took a tax write-off and closed the hotel for good in September.
In total, the Star Wars Hotel people had coveted for decades lasted just 19 months.
Will something replace it soon? Disney has hinted at yes, and whatever comes next will likely be among the biggest changes of 2024 or 2025.


(Kent Phillips photographer)
Disney Loses Reedy Creek…Probably


Photo: Reedy Creek
We will cover the oddities of the Reedy Creek saga in a full story later. That’s how significant a change it has been.
For now, let’s just stick with the highlights. Florida wrote a bill that has been derisively named Don’t Say Gay.
Bob Chapek refused to take a stance on the legislation that impacted his employees until such a time as they walked out and internally pressured Disney to say and do something.


Photo: aclout.net
Eventually, Chapek did the right thing and denounced the bill. At this point, his former political ally, Ron DeSantis, demonstrated the real-life version of The Scorpion and the Frog.
DeSantis sabotaged Disney and Chapek by demanding that Florida’s government take control of the Reedy Creek Improvement District from Disney.
This is akin to a professional sports team trading their best player because he correctly spoke out against ownership. Call it the Dan Snyder Play.


Photo: CBS Miami
Anyway, in 2023, Disney theoretically lost control of Reedy Creek as Florida provided all power to the governor.
We later learned that Disney beat the incompetent Florida politicians at their own game, as they hadn’t read the fine print on Reedy Creek authority.


Ron DeSantis and Glen Gilzean. Photo: Central Florida Urban League
Ultimately, the matter will be settled in federal – or possibly local – court. For now, something called the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD) rules in the place of Reedy Creek.
Let’s just say that the CTFOD board has had its struggles, underscoring how much all the petty backbiting has hurt Florida politicians more than Disney, at least in the short term.


Photo: CFTOD
Disney Cancels Lake Nona
I’m listing a change here that never even happened, but it’s impactful in several ways.
As Bob Iger evaluated the new Disney landscape, he quickly deduced that Disney couldn’t trust the elected officials in charge of the Florida state government.


Photo: Raftermen 2018
That reality proved especially problematic when it came to one of Bob Chapek’s initiatives, the creation of a new Disney headquarters at Lake Nona.
DeSantis had promised Disney massive tax incentives for the Lake Nona project, which would have driven growth in the Central Florida town.


Photo: VisitOrlando.com
Once Disney and DeSantis had a very public divorce, Iger made the only realistic call and killed the project.
The ripple effects of this decision represent the fascinating part. Chapek’s Disney era had included a demand for Imagineers on the West Coast to move to Florida.


Photo: Roberto Gonzalez
Many of them quit or retired rather than switch coasts. Others promised to move at an undefined later date. In hindsight, those were the smartest members of the group.
Once Disney canceled the Lake Nona project, it confirmed that Imagineers no longer needed to move to Florida.


Photo: Disney
Frustratingly, some already had. So, among all the Disney employees who dislike Chapek, they have the most justified rage against him.
The other curiosity is how this announcement impacts Lake Nona, a city that was entering a boom phase, at least partially based on the promise of high-paying Disney jobs coming soon.
Disney Shuffles Executives
With all the chaos occurring with Disney on the East and West Coast, the last thing the company needed was turmoil behind the scenes.


Jewel Samad/Agence France-Presse, via Afp Via Getty Images
For this reason, Disney chose stability when it selected Susan Arnold’s replacement as Chairman of the Board.
For many years now, analysts have described Mark Parker of Nike and Bob Iger as two of the best CEOs of the modern area.


Photo: Disney
As of 2023, one works for the other, although it’s technically not the way you probably think.
Iger recommended Parker to join Disney’s Board of Directors in 2016. Then, earlier this year, Disney’s Board members voted Parker to succeed Arnold.
So, Mark Parker is technically more powerful than Iger, although that’s splitting hairs. The two individuals quite like each other and work in tandem to improve Disney.


Photo: Disney
Conversely, former Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy had become too buddy-buddy with Chapek back in the day.
Even though McCarthy technically received Wall Street credit for Chapek’s termination, the reality is that Disney’s current Board never quite trusted her afterward.
Not coincidentally, McCarthy took a permanent sabbatical from Disney. Former PepsiCo CFO Hugh Johnston has since replaced her, which matters greatly in the short term.


Photo: PepsiCo
Disney is currently battling an activist investor, Nelson Peltz. Johnston has experience in thwarting Peltz’s attempts.
Speaking of which, the person financing most of Peltz’s attempts is former Marvel owner Isaac Perlmutter, who is also the final executive involved in Disney’s 2023 shuffle.
As part of layoffs that Peltz demanded earlier this year, Iger twisted the knife by firing Pelz’s buddy, Perlmutter, from his job as the head of Marvel.
So, as you can see, many of Disney’s biggest changes this year happened behind the scenes.


MickeyBlog Logo
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!