Whatever Happened to These Disney Projects?
Disney’s theme park history is littered with examples of promised projects that never got built.
As an example, Disney planned a patriotic theme park in Haymarket, Virginia, that the locals universally rejected.
Disney Archives
Then, we have the infamous Mineral King ski resort in California, which environmental groups and bureaucracy stopped.
At the parks, Disney has announced some projects that never came to fruition.
Photo: Calisphere.com
Also, former Imagineers and park insiders have revealed projects that Disney fully intended to bring to life.
Today, we’re looking at several of them to determine whether they’re still a possibility or fully dead.
Photo: Playbuzz.com
So, whatever happened to these Disney projects?
The Lion King Boat Ride
During the 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting, Disney CEO Bob Iger and his team revealed new images of this attraction.
Disney is building a Lion King boat ride that will become a vital part of future Disneyland Paris visits.
Imagineers have correctly chosen Pride Rock as the starting point for this attraction, and it looks breathtaking.
The official Disneyland Paris site occasionally posts updates about this ride, stating that it will:
Photo: Bob Iger via Instagram
“…bring guests on a journey through the African savanna and immerse them into the unforgettable adventures of Simba, Timon, Pumbaa and many other iconic characters from the beloved Disney film.”
Who wouldn’t want to experience a story like that? I’ve been saying for many years that Disney’s lack of a Lion King ride was indefensible.
Photo: Disney
Now, here we are with one in the offing…but in the wrong place.
When I first reported on this story, the setting was in a much different location.
Insiders expected the Lion King ride to go to Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
When Disney confirmed the ride at the 2024 D23 Expo, those were the next words I expected out of Josh D’Amaro’s mouth.
Image: Disneyland Paris
Instead, he indicated the Disneyland Paris location. As of now, Disney has held off on the Animal Kingdom version.
The prevailing belief is that it would require too big a sacrifice of the current land reserved for animals at the park.
Photo: Disney
Still, I hold out hope that Disney is merely waiting until a later date to announce this one.
After the Disneyland Paris version opens, it should be easy to duplicate at Disneyland and/or Walt Disney World.
Mary Poppins Ride
D23 Expo
Speaking of D23, a few years ago, back when Bob Chapek was still Chairman of Disney’s parks division, this ride was a go project.
At D23, Disney officials excitedly relayed details of a charming Mary Poppins flat ride coming to the United Kingdom pavilion.
Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure’s Single Rider Line
At the time, EPCOT’s World Showcase only offered two rides, as Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure was still a few years away.
And the biggest proponent of a Mary Poppins ride was Chapek, a diehard fan of the movie and character.
Photo: Disney
The Mary Poppins theming at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa was also a Chapek initiative.
So, when the Chairman earned his dream job as CEO of Disney, the Mary Poppins ride should have become a priority.
Photo: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg
But the opposite occurred. You can probably guess why. Chapek partially got the job because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
That health crisis caused Iger to reconsider whether he was up for the job, and he decided no.
Photo: Variety
Meanwhile, at the parks, Disney shut down almost all capital expenditures to offset the sudden financial losses.
The Mary Poppins ride went on hiatus, never to be seen again.
D23
By the time Disney was spending money on the rides again, Chapek, the chief evangelist for the ride, was gone.
For this reason, I can confidently state that while other projects on this list aren’t happening, this is THE deadest one.
The Chapek connection makes it untenable.
PLAY! Pavilion
Of course, the Mary Poppins ride was far from the only victim of the pandemic.
Seemingly overnight, Disney paused over 90 percent of its ongoing projects, some of which were active construction sites.
Disney
I mention that because we should never say never about some of these ideas.
The hotel formerly known as Reflections: A Disney Lakeside Lodge has recently returned from the dead.
We’re getting Disney Lakeshore Lodge in a couple of years, which is something I would have never believed in 2021.
Disney shut down construction here and filed the paperwork to destroy the progress it made. That’s hardcore.
These actions reflect the unexpected chaos of the pandemic as well as its unpredictable ramifications.
Another example is the PLAY! pavilion we were promised at EPCOT.
Concept art for the Play! pavilion
This immersive interactive gaming arena would have been something akin to a 2020s version of DisneyQuest.
Well, it would have been that, but, you know, better. That was the plan, and I have complete confidence Disney could have done it.
Concept art for the Play! pavilion’s water balloon exhibit.
Unfortunately, building an entirely new pavilion from scratch is quite an ordeal, and you probably see where I’m going with this.
Disney shuttered the project, even though many sites still suggest that it’s simply delayed.
Photo: Disney
I consider it a (currently) canceled project because Disney officials recently described the EPCOT overhaul as complete.
Simultaneously, a third-party company, LEVEL99, has announced it will open something similar at Disney Springs.
Image Credit: Disney
So, the necessity of the PLAY! pavilion is currently in question anyway.
Wreck-It Ralph Ride
Here’s the one that shares the most similarity to the Mary Poppins ride…but not for the reason you think.
There’s another reason why Disney never moved forward with that attraction.
Photo: Disney
When Mary Poppins Returns was in production, Disney was confident the film would become a blockbuster.
Then, when it finally came out in theaters, it did…fine. But it was far from a blockbuster.
Disney
Similarly, when Disney closed Stitch’s Great Escape, the pervasive belief was that the replacement would arrive soon.
At one point, Disney intended to repurpose the space into a Wreck-It Ralph augmented reality driving attraction.
Photo: Disney+
In the most general terms, you can think of it as a spiritual sibling to Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge at Universal Epic Universe.
Disney never got that ride because Ralph Breaks the Internet came out in theaters.
Photo: Disney
While this title earned $180 million more than Mary Poppins Returns, it still didn’t perform overly well.
Park officials took both films’ performances as strong indicators that the rides wouldn’t prove popular enough.
To this day, the Stitch’s Great Escape build remains empty, and we’ve almost circled back to the possibility of it returning.
Lilo & Stitch comes out in theaters in less than two months, and it appears poised to best the box office of Ralph Breaks the Internet.
Hey, I can dream, right? At some point, something has to happen with one of these previously planned projects.
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Feature Photo: Walt Disney Family Museum
