What’s Next on Disney’s Chopping Block?
In 2024, we’ve lost the most recent version of Test Track and the original, iconic version of Country Bear Jamboree.
The stakes will grow even higher in 2025, when Walt Disney World shutters nine different attractions, many of them permanently.


Country Bear Jamboree
So, at some point, you have to ask yourself. What’s next on Disney’s chopping block?
I mean, if Muppet*Vision 3D, Jim Henson’s final project, isn’t safe, nothing is.


Muppet*Vision 3D
Here are a few attractions Disney could replace one day soon, whether fans want that or not.
The Barnstormer
I’ll preface this list by acknowledging that none of these attractions is guaranteed to change.
Ultimately, we’re all just guessing here, as nobody would have expected anything to happen at Country Bear Jamboree.


Country Bear Musical Jamboree
That attraction was a Disney original with roots tracing back to Walt Disney himself, who invented the concept.
So, if Disney officials are willing to change that one, almost anything currently unpopular is up for debate.


Barnstormer in Magic Kingdom
That’s why I’m starting with The Barnstormer, a junior roller coaster with a gentle theme.
Kids are taking a spin on The Great Goofini’s biplane. That’s it. That’s the concept.


Barnstormer
Alas, that’s a very basic idea with modest theming, especially by Disney standards.
In short, Disney can do better here. Should some new Disney film explode in popularity, park officials could reclaim this space for it.


Photo: Disney
At this point, Disney isn’t willing to put up with any unpopular attractions, which The Barnstormer is despite its lackluster throughput.
Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros
Here’s quite possibly the most obvious entry on this list.
For many years now, Gran Fiesta Tour has qualified as one of the least-appreciated attractions at EPCOT.


Gran Fiesta Tour
This gentle boat ride takes the premise of It’s a Small World and injects a bit of Disney animation magic…with some live-action storytelling thrown in for good measure!
Basically, you journey through the rivers of Mexico, encountering Donald Duck and the other members of the Three Caballeros along the way.


Gran Fiesta Tour
I genuinely love this experience, as I’m a Donald Duck superfan. Still, I’m acutely aware of how unpopular it is.
I recently encountered this attraction when it was crowded, and the guests at the Mexico pavilion genuinely didn’t know how to behave.


Photo: Disney
That’s how rare a scenario it is for Gran Fiesta Tour to attract a crowd. And that’s why Disney may re-theme it.
There’s an obvious answer here, too. Disney California Adventure is currently prepping a Coco boat ride.


Gran Fiesta Tour
Imagineers describe it as a combination of Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion, and that sounds amazing!
Once that attraction opens, a copy of it at EPCOT makes perfect sense, as Coco is set in Santa Cecilia, Mexico.


Photo: Disney
DCA officials may prefer having a ride exclusive for a while, though. If so, Disney could easily do something else here.
Journey into Imagination with Figment
Monty Python’s Eric Idle worked on this ride more than 20 years ago and has since absolved himself of it entirely.
I’m not joking. Idle recently started pretending that he has no memory of this ride. That’s a cautionary tale about drug abuse.


Imagination! Pavilion
Anyway, longtime EPCOT fans know the deal here. For 15 years, Journey into Imagination anchored the Imagination! pavilion.
Park officials inexplicably replaced the beloved Dreamfinder and Figment with an attraction that disappeared the former and barely acknowledged the latter.


Journey into Imagination with Figment
After fans openly rebelled, Disney replaced it after only a couple of years in favor of the current version, which debuted in 2002.
Since then, people have accepted Journey into Imagination with Figment as a well-intended but tepid attraction.


Photo: Disney
In recent years, Figment has exploded in popularity as one of the few distinctive theme park characters.
So, fans expect and sometimes even demand a better Figment attraction for such a beloved character.


Figment
If people will stand in line for eight hours for a Figment bucket, what would they do for an excellent Figment ride?
Thus, Disney should probably make a change here at some point…and hopefully soon.
Kali River Rapids
Quick, name the concept of Kali River Rapids!
I’ll even be generous here. If you said, “Conservationism,” I’ll accept it as the correct answer.


Kali River Rapids
That’s because almost nobody knows the real message about logging vs. preserving forests.
This is the rare instance where Imagineers missed the mark a bit by being too subtle with the storytelling.


Kali River Rapids
So, I wouldn’t be surprised if Disney decided to add a new theme to Kali River Rapids to make it easily understandable.
Yes, that could mean the introduction of intellectual property. You may hate the idea, but it works.
Mission: SPACE
Let’s think about this one. You enter a small room generously described as a space capsule.
Once the doors shut, the walls start shaking, and someone on a small monitor informs you that you’re on your way to outer space.


Mission: SPACE
The original concept boldly called for the most realistic simulation of space travel ever at a theme park.
Disney employed countless NASA officials and former/current astronauts for this express purpose.


Mission: SPACE
The ride Imagineers crafted was somehow nowhere near as immersive and yet far too physically challenging for some.
Disney tried again in 2017, altering the ride to make the Green and Orange versions unique.


Mission: SPACE
Still, none of this is enough. This building desperately needs the Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind reboot.
Since Space 220, EPCOT’s most popular restaurant, is attached, I’m unsure Disney’s ready to take that step right now, though.


Space 220
So, this one may be safe for a while due to something else’s success rather than its own.
Space Mountain
This one’s blasphemous, and I don’t expect Disney to do it. Fans might riot in the streets of Tomorrowland if Disney did.
Still, I’m mentioning Space Mountain for the obvious reason that Tokyo Disneyland is modernizing its Space Mountain.


Space Mountain
Now, that situation is quite different in that Magic Kingdom’s Space Mountain is the original, the iconic ride that triggered the Coaster Wars.
Therefore, I don’t expect Disney to mess with the Magic Kingdom version.


Space Mountain line
However, I’ll hedge a little by stating that family members just returned from Disneyland.
They incurred my wrath by raving about that version of Space Mountain, which is a two-person experience.


Space Mountain
I feel strongly that this style of Space Mountain defeats the purpose of a story centered on the isolation of space travel.
Even so, when they said, “And Disneyland’s version is so smooth,” I couldn’t argue the point.


Space Mountain
Magic Kingdom’s Space Mountain has grown long in the tooth and probably does need an update.
That doesn’t mean Disney will overhaul the attraction as is happening at Tokyo Disneyland, though.
Spaceship Earth
I’m actually hearing that this change could come fairly soon, possibly within the next two years.
The belief is that Disney still wants to modernize the ride experience on Spaceship Earth.


Spaceship Earth in EPCOT
However, the storyteller light concept from a few years ago is apparently no longer the plan.
Instead, Disney will do something to tell the story of humanity a bit differently than now.


Spaceship Earth
Honestly, that’s probably for the best, as the current version of Spaceship Earth, especially the second half of it, could use fresh eyes.
Tomorrowland Speedway
When we look at all the other stuff at Magic Kingdom that’s currently changing or recently been changed, this sticks out like a sore thumb.
Disney has reinvigorated Country Bear Musical Jamboree and is eliminating Tom Sawyer Island and the Rivers of America.


Tomorrowland Speedway
We’re running out of unpopular spaces to reclaim. But this one remains.
That’s weird because Tomorrowland Speedway has been on a de facto death watch for nearly a decade now.


Photo: Disney
Insiders were skeptical it would remain when TRON Lightcycle / Run arrived, yet here we are. The speedway is still a thing.
Would anyone miss this attraction if it were gone? I’d argue no, and I doubt many would disagree with me.


Tomorrowland Speedway Holiday Overlay
So, this seems like an obvious attraction for Disney to change soon.
However, that change may be something as modest as a switch to electric cars.


Photo: Disney
After all, that’s what Disneyland is doing with Autopia. If that ride is staying with a more modern approach, maybe Tomorrowland Speedway will as well.
I don’t claim to understand it, but Disney officials seem more attached to this one than some of the other options on the list.
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