Which Disney Attractions Need a Refresh?

By now, you’ve probably heard that Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin will temporarily close in August.

Imagineers will modernize the attraction to make it feel fresh and new. And this isn’t the first time recently Disney has done so.

Other recently reimagined attractions include Country Bear Musical Jamboree, The Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure, Splash Mountain, and Test Track.

As we speak, Disney is laying down entirely new track for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Magic Kingdom, and Imagineers fully redesigned Mickey’s Toontown.

DinoLand U.S.A. and the Rivers of America will soon close forever in favor of new attractions and experiences.

That’s the current Disney park management philosophy. If an attraction isn’t bringing in a crowd, Disney will change it.

Up next is Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run, which will add an entirely new mission in May 2026.

Meanwhile, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith will close as Disney repurposes the thrill ride with a Muppets theme.

You probably hadn’t thought about the totality of Disney’s theme park overhaul, but it’s a stunning commitment to perfecting the parks.

And the whole topic raises one simple question. Which Walt Disney World attractions need a refresh? I have thoughts…

Avatar Flight of Passage

To Disney’s credit, this has become a much more challenging exercise in recent years.

I haven’t even mentioned small fixes like segments of Star Tours – The Adventures Continue! and the Coco part of Mickey’s PhilharMagic.

Disney is even currently putting Astro Orbiter back together after giving it a good cleaning and who knows what else. We’ll find out once it reopens.

With DinoLand U.S.A. closing and plans finalized for the reinvigoration of Frontierland, the weak spots at the parks are few and far between these days.

Also, let’s acknowledge that Disney doesn’t need to do anything to make Avatar Flight of Passage better.

Guests love the attraction as is, and it’ll remain the most popular attraction at Disney’s Animal Kingdom until the Encanto attraction debuts.

Disney could make a change here, though, and it’s a necessary one. At some point, the Avatar attractions should include stories from the sequels.

We’ve already watched Avatar: The War of Water, and Avatar: Fire and Ash debuts in a matter of months.

Avatar Flight of Passage has fallen behind a bit, which means Imagineers should be updating the experience.

Before you argue otherwise, I’ll point you in the direction of Soarin’, politely reminding you the attraction now has World, not California, in the title.

Disney updated that ride and made it better, which is what the company does better than anybody else in the industry.

Similarly, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run will add a new story in May 2026, one coinciding with the theatrical release of The Mandalorian & Grogu.

This seems like a good time to mention that Smugglers Run is two years younger than Avatar Flight of Passage.

Journey into Imagination with Figment

Disney executives recently sounded surprised to learn that fans loved Stitch. That wounded me to my core but didn’t surprise me.

For whatever reason, the top of the food chain at Disney aren’t always attuned to what fans love.

I mention this because anyone on the ground level knows that EPCOT fans are passionate about Figment.

Disney only noticed when stories went viral about people standing in line eight hours for a Figment popcorn bucket.

Since then, we’ve gotten more Figment gear, but there’s been little public talk about the obvious change.

Disney should reboot the Imagination! pavilion’s Figment attraction into something, well, good. We haven’t really had that this century.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Unlike Journey into Imagination with Figment, I’ve got nothing against The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. It’s a charming ride.

What bothers me is the knowledge that Americans have the lesser version of the attraction.

Pooh’s Hunny Hunt at Tokyo Disneyland employs trackless technology, the kind Disney uses on Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.

I shouldn’t need to say anything more than that to emphasize how much better Pooh’s Hunny Hunt is.

Disney could easily repurpose the current Magic Kingdom space and convert The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh into an E-ticket attraction.

Thus far, the company hasn’t demonstrated any urgency with this endeavor, but the Buzz Lightyear re-theme has me wondering about the possibility.

Mission: SPACE

Technically, Disney re-themed this one in 2017. It just didn’t take.

That was the year when Disney split the Green and Orange missions into distinct stories.

Before then, guests had watched the same story, but the two versions had different ride mechanics.

While the new story is pretty good, the reality is that this attraction simply isn’t that interesting.

In a world where Katy Perry can call herself a space traveler, the excitement of Mission: SPACE has lost its luster.

Personally, I vote for Disney to shake things up with something daring like an Alien franchise connection.

The odds of this happening fall somewhere between zero and one percent, but I’m wish-casting it into existence right now.

Soarin’ Around the World

Remember a minute ago when I mentioned the change at this ride?

Disney switched the beloved Soarin’ Around California by filming global sequences instead.

Now, we have Soarin’ Around the World, and it’s spectacular…mostly.

Did you hear that Disney slightly modified the ride last year? They did this because it had known issues.

Guests on the right and left sides of the attraction noticed on day one of the new version that it wasn’t filmed correctly.

Those two sides witnessed tilted sequences like the Eiffel Tower, which took them out of the ride experience.

Disney’s fix was a half-measure for a re-theme that’s already nine years old. This seems like a good time to mention Test Track 2.0 lasted for 12 years.

So, another ride update wouldn’t be unprecedented. More importantly, it’d make for a more engaging ride experience for everyone in the theater, not just those in the middle.

Spaceship Earth

Disney officials know this step is necessary since they’re the ones who stated it.

Before the pandemic, Disney had grand plans to reboot Spaceship Earth with a “storytelling light” motif.

The standalone scenes on the attraction, the ones that currently chronicle the history of civilization, would have been tied together by this light.

EPCOT purists like me were aghast at the idea, but Disney had fully committed to it. All that stopped it from happening was the pandemic.

When Disney cut its capital expenditures budget, this re-theme fell by the wayside.

While I’m still morally opposed to that idea, I know that Spaceship Earth needs at least a modest change.

The second half of the attraction, the “Choose Your Own Adventure” portion, where you pick your future, is woefully outdated.

Also, the Dame Judi Dench dialogue could use some refreshing, and the ride probably needs an update to reflect how far we’ve come with computers since Apple.

In short, there’s plenty of fertile ground here for changes, ones that leave the integrity of Spaceship Earth intact.

Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress

I discussed Tomorrowland Speedway in June’s batch of Disney Rumors. So, I’d be cheating to go into detail about it here.

That’s why I’m taking a more controversial approach. You can put down your torches and pitchforks, though.

We all know that Disney will never close Carousel of Progress, an attraction Walt Disney himself created.

Uncle Walt wanted people to understand just how far in-home technology had come in his lifetime. This ride doubled as his life story…well, kinda.

Cast Members lovingly touch up Carousel of Progress in small ways such as changing the clothes of the characters, something that last happened in 2022.

Do you know the last time Disney updated the last scene, though? I’ll give you a hint.

The official name of that scene is “Christmas in the House of 2000.” And Disney envisioned that future in…1993.

Yes, the modern living room scene is older than the television series ER and Friends. I’m not even joking.

Nirvana’s Heart-Shaped Box debuted as a single about two months before this scene debuted. Folks, this scene is older than Harry Styles and Justin Bieber.

The whole point of Carousel of Progress is that it encapsulates all the changes in the modern living room, yet its “future” scene is older than the DVD player!

At some point, Disney needs to make the hard choice here. It needs to cut one of the first three scenes to provide more spacing for the generations.

Carousel of Progress currently starts in 1904 and ends in a fictional year 2000. That was 25 years ago. Something’s gotta give.

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Feature Photo: Disney