What’s Happening at Every Disney Theme Park?

We all remember the splashy headline. Disney promised to spend $60 billion on theme park expansion.

As usual, the headline proved a bit misleading, as all $60 billion won’t go toward the parks but rather the entire Disney Experiences division.

Also, Disney will direct “only” 70 percent of this money toward actual expansion. The other 30 percent goes toward infrastructural investments.

Disney knows that it must improve the less heralded aspects of its theme park empire to maintain dominance.

Still, a company can do a LOT with $42 billion, $30 billion of which Disney has indicated will go toward its domestic theme parks.

So, what’s happening at every Disney theme park?

Disneyland Resort

We’ll evaluate every theme park that Disney owns. So, that rules out Tokyo Disney Resort, which the Oriental Land Company owns and operates.

Disney fully controls Disneyland Resort, Disneyland Paris, and Walt Disney World, while it owns stakes in Shanghai Disney Resort and Hong Kong Disneyland.

Right now, the biggest thing happening at Disneyland Resort is the impending 70^th anniversary party, Disneyland 70.

On July 17^th, The Happiest Place on Earth officially turns 70, and Disney will throw a big party.

As part of this event, Disney will unveil its new show, Walt Disney – A Magical Life.

Even if you haven’t heard of the show, you’re familiar with its chief selling point: an Audio-Animatronic of Walt Disney himself.

This attraction has grabbed global headlines for its daring attempt to recreate the company’s founder as an Audio-Animatronic.

While the show matters greatly to Disney fans and historians, it represents only a small part of what’s happening at the park.

Currently, Imagineers are working on a Coco boat ride that will draw inspiration from Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean.

This attraction will join an Avatar themed land and boat ride as the most essential part of Disneyland Resort’s near-term expansion.

Disney will also double the number of attractions at Avengers Campus by adding a King Thanos multiversal adventure and Stark Flight Lab.

At least three of these attractions would qualify as E-ticket attractions by any standard.

So, Disneyland Resort will focus on quality in the short term, although the DisneylandForward plans also promised a quantity of rides, too.

Those negotiations included plans for up to 16 rides, meaning that the four rides Disney has confirmed represent only 25 percent of what’s coming.

Walt Disney World

You’ll notice construction at two of Walt Disney World’s four theme parks right now, and another will begin soon.

Amusingly, Disney had just completed its seven-year overhaul of EPCOT when Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro announced much more.

Now, we’re witnessing the first steps of widespread expansion across the Orlando campus.

That’s remarkable in that Disney didn’t need to do anything here.

Walt Disney World would have remained the top paid tourist destination in the world no matter what.

Disney has recognized that it could enhance the appeal of this place even more by adding new attractions and experiences.

We’re witnessing that right now in four locations. One of them is Disney’s Animal Kingdom, where DinoLand USA will close soon.

Imagineers have already broken ground on what comes next, a replacement themed land called the Tropical Americas.

This expanded area will feature a dark ride based on Encanto, which will invite guests inside Casa Madrigral.

Obviously, that attraction will instantly become one of the most popular experiences in the entire world.

So, fans are counting down the days until this ride opens, but it’s not the only thing coming to the Tropical Americas.

Disney will also re-theme DINOSAUR into an Indiana Jones attraction that’s apparently different from the current one at Disneyland Park.

Imagineers will throw in a charming carousel in this area as well, and the illustrations of it look charming.

At Magic Kingdom, Disney has broken ground on the promised Villains themed land behind Big Thunder Mountain.

Also, Imagineers will landlock the Rivers of America soon as part of the construction on the new Cars area at Frontierland.

Finally, Disney is building a new hotel, the previously promised Disney Lakeshore Lodge.

Disneyland Paris

While Magic Kingdom will add much more in the coming years, I’d argue Disneyland Paris will gain the most.

Walt Disney Studios Park will soon transition into Disney Adventure World.

To emphasize the change, Disney will overhaul the park more than the company has done anywhere other than possibly Disney California Adventure.

Remember that park before Radiator Springs? Well, that’s a fair assessment of Walt Disney Studios Park right now.

This place hosts Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, and…that’s about it. I’m being a bit facetious, of course, but that’s the perception.

So, Disney will add many new experiences at this park to address the currently massive imbalance in attendance.

In calendar 2023, Disneyland Park in Paris hosted 10.4 million guests. Its less popular sibling managed only 5.7 million. So, yeah.

Disney Adventure World will need lots of help to work. Thankfully, park planners are giving it that help very soon.

Disney has promised World of Frozen, featuring a new version of Frozen Ever After. Also, the park will add a Lion King themed area and boat ride.

Finally, the new and expansive Adventure Way will feature two rides: an Up flying carousel and Rapunzel Tangled Spin.

To summarize, the park will add new attractions based on Frozen, The Lion King, Tangled, and Up. So, yeah, that’s gonna be impressive.

One day soon, Walt Disney Studios Park will be no more than a historical footnote, while fans will speak glowingly of Disney Adventure World.

Hong Kong Disneyland

Historically, I would have described Hong Kong Disneyland as a park in desperate need of enhancements.

Lately, that hasn’t been the case as much, although you wouldn’t know it based on the park’s attendance.

Perhaps no Disney theme park suffered more during the pandemic than Hong Kong Disneyland, which closed and reopened countless times.

Disney has added plenty of rides like Iron Man Experience and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Nano Battle!.

Previously, park planners had promised an Avengers Quinjet ride here. However, Disney canceled those places in August 2024.

Now, the same area will add a Spider-Man ride instead. So, the Stark Expo themed land just keeps getting better.

Earlier in 2025, management confirmed yet another expansion, the Pixar Entertainment Experience.

That’s an entire themed land between Toy Story Land and World of Frozen, the latter of which only opened in November 2023.

So, you can tell just how much effort Disney has expended to improve its least-attended theme park.

As for Pixar Entertainment Experience, Disney hasn’t revealed any ride/attraction details yet.

You’ll have to stay tuned to find out what’s coming next.

Shanghai Disneyland

Finally, we have Disney’s newest theme park, which won’t turn ten until next year.

Coincidentally, CEO Robert Iger’s final year at Disney coincides with the park’s tenth anniversary.

So, you can expect Iger to take one final victory lap at the Chinese theme park that wouldn’t exist without him before he rides off into the sunset.

As for expansion, that’s already happened at the park, with Shanghai Disneyland recently adding City of Zootopia.

American Disney fans are currently hoping for our version of this themed land, especially its E-ticket attraction, Zootopia: Hot Pursuit.

Shanghai Disneyland does have one more confirmed project, though. It, too, will add a Spider-Man attraction soon.

Since details are scarce, I don’t know whether it will mimic the one at Hong Kong Disneyland or prove decidedly different.

Since the two parks are quite competitive, I’d presume they’ll be different, although they do share one recent duplicate ride, Slinky Dog Spin.

Overall, Disney has confirmed a slew of high-quality, heavily branded attractions around the world.

Even better, Destination D23 is right around the corner in August. So, we’ll probably hear about more new attractions then.

$42 billion buys a lot of rides, my friends. This is another golden age for Disney theme park expansion.

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