D23 2026 Disney World Announcements: How They’ll Affect Your Next Trip

The D23 2026 Disney World announcements just wrapped in Anaheim (August 14–16, 2026), and Disney used its “Horizons: A Carousel of Progress” showcase, recapped in full on the official Disney Parks Blog, to lay out what it’s calling its biggest-ever expansion slate for Walt Disney World. Here’s what’s coming, park by park, and what it actually means for a trip you’re planning now.

Magic Kingdom

Frontierland already looks different than it did a year ago, one of the more visible changes tied to this year’s D23 2026 Disney World news. Rivers of America, Tom Sawyer Island, and the Liberty Square Riverboat permanently closed back in July 2025 to make way for construction, and that whole stretch of the park has been behind walls ever since. The Walt Disney World Railroad has also been running a shortened route (Main Street to Fantasyland only) rather than its full loop, and it won’t return to the complete circuit until Villains Land opens. If you’re heading to Magic Kingdom soon, expect scrims, boardwalk closures, and a smaller train loop in that part of the park.

Carousel of Progress and the D23 2026 Disney World reopening date

This is the one closure with a real end date attached. Carousel of Progress is closed right now, and it’s staying that way until it reopens in late spring 2027 with a full reimagining. If you’re planning a Magic Kingdom visit before then, it simply won’t be an option, so plan your Tomorrowland time around Space Mountain, TRON Lightcycle Run, and Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor instead.

When it comes back, the cast and content are changing significantly:

• Bryan Cranston voices Father (John)
• Jamie Lee Curtis voices Mother (Sarah)
• A new opening features an Audio-Animatronic Walt Disney, similar to the one at Disneyland
• The four scenes are being completely refreshed to: the 1960s (opening around the 1969 moon landing), the 1980s (Sarah showing off new kitchen gadgets, with a Halloween-themed look revealed in concept art), 1999 (a turn-of-the-millennium New Year’s Eve scene), and a possible future

This is the first full rework of the attraction’s content since the 1990s, so longtime fans should expect a genuinely different ride, not just a repaint. If your family has a Carousel of Progress tradition, late spring 2027 is the trip to build around.

Villains Land finally has a name

The long-teased villains-themed expansion behind Big Thunder Mountain Railroad now has an official name: Villains Land. Two attractions were detailed:

• A roller coaster built around Maleficent, sending riders racing through a briar forest up to her mountaintop fortress
• A dark ride centered on the Evil Queen’s Magic Mirror from Snow White, featuring a rotating cast of Disney villains including Cruella de Vil and Dr. Facilier

No opening date yet. Industry watchers are penciling this in for 2030 or later, so this is a “start dreaming, not booking” announcement.

The Cars land gets a name and a second ride

The Cars-themed expansion replacing the old Rivers of America area is now called Piston Peak National Park, and it’s built around two attractions:

• Ridge Run Rally, the marquee E-ticket, an off-road rally race through rugged, parkitecture-style wilderness
• Miss Fritter’s Daredevil Spin-Along, the family-friendly second ride, shown in concept art at the showcase

A realistic opening window is 2029, so this remains a future-trip project rather than something affecting your visit today.

EPCOT

EPCOT itself isn’t dealing with major walk-up construction right now, but two of its most talked-about rides just got long-awaited news, and one of them comes with a real sense of urgency.

Spaceship Earth is finally getting an update, and this time it might actually happen

Spaceship Earth is getting its first refresh in nearly 20 years, shifting the ride’s story from human communication to human connection. No timeline or scene details were shared, so this one stays firmly in “someday” territory for now.

Here’s why we’re flagging it anyway: Disney already tried this once. Back in 2019, the company announced an extensive reimagining called “Spaceship Earth: Our Shared Story,” complete with a planned May 2020 closure date. Then COVID hit, the project was shelved indefinitely, and Spaceship Earth has quietly carried on unchanged ever since. This new announcement is effectively a second attempt at that same overdue overhaul.

That history cuts two ways for trip planning. On one hand, “no date announced” has meant “years away” before, so don’t panic-book a trip around this. On the other hand, it’s been sitting on the to-do list for a long time now, other big-ticket refurbishments have been moving forward across the resort this year, and Imagineering clearly has the appetite to finally check this one off. A closure announcement could land with less notice than you’d expect.

Our advice: if you’re an EPCOT fan with a trip coming up in the next year or so, ride Spaceship Earth like it might be your last chance to see the current version. Worst case, you rode a classic one more time. Best case, you’ll have a great “before” story once the new version debuts.

Dreamfinder is coming back

For EPCOT fans, this was the other big emotional win. Dreamfinder is returning as part of a refresh to Journey Into Imagination with Figment. Details on scope and timing are still thin, but it’s a clear signal Disney is investing in fixing a ride that’s been a punching bag for years.

Animal Kingdom

DinoLand USA is completely gone. The land closed in phases starting in early 2025 and shut down for good on February 2, 2026, taking DINOSAUR, Restaurantosaurus, and the rest of the area with it, one of the biggest physical changes to come out of the D23 2026 Disney World expansion slate. The whole footprint is now behind construction walls as it’s rebuilt into Tropical Americas, so if you visited Animal Kingdom in past years expecting a stop at DinoLand, that entire southeast corner of the park won’t be there.

Tropical Americas takes shape

The DinoLand USA replacement, Tropical Americas, got real details for the first time:

• Antonio’s Fiesta de Encanto, an Encanto-themed ride set inside the Madrigal family’s Casita, with the full film cast reprising their roles and guests riding through the house on elaborate furniture, interacting with dozens of animatronic animals
• Indiana Jones and the Myth of the Jade Serpent, an original storyline sending guests into an ancient Maya temple to face a mythical serpent, notably featuring Harrison Ford himself as the physical model for the audio-animatronic figure
• El Carrusel de los Animalitos, a 22-figure hand-carved carousel themed to Disney and Pixar animal characters, including Simba, Eeyore, Kaa, Nala, Pua, Scuttle, Squirt, Pascal, Kuzco, Heimlich, Kevin, Ray, Nigel, and Encanto’s Chispi the capybara

All three attractions are under active construction now, with no opening date announced yet, though Disney has said the land targets a 2027 debut.

The Expedition Everest Yeti is finally getting fixed

Disney also confirmed it’s bringing the long-broken Yeti animatronic inside Expedition Everest back to full motion, ending nearly 20 years of the strobe-lit “Disco Yeti” workaround. No closure has been announced and no timeline was given, so it’s unclear whether this can be done during normal overnight hours or will require Expedition Everest to close for an extended stretch. We’ll update this post as soon as Disney shares more.

Hollywood Studios

Muppets Courtyard is also gone for now. Muppet*Vision 3D closed for good in June 2025, and the neighboring PizzeRizzo and Mama Melrose’s closed along with it, all to make way for Monstropolis, which we covered in detail here. That means fewer dining options in this part of the park for now, so it’s worth checking our park-by-park dining guide before you go. The old theater building is still standing (it’s being converted rather than demolished, expected to reopen as a space nicknamed “The Glob”), but the Muppets signage and theming have already been stripped away. If you’re visiting Hollywood Studios soon, that whole courtyard is construction walls and scaffolding for the foreseeable future.

Monsters Inc. gets a signature show

A new theater show called “Welcome to Monstropolis” is coming to the Monsters Inc.-themed land at Hollywood Studios, hosted by Mike and Sully, with an original song written by Randy Newman, his first composed specifically for a Disney theme park attraction. Disney also confirmed testing is underway on an audio-animatronic sushi chef for the same land.

Disney also gave Monstropolis an opening window for the first time: parts of the land will open to guests in 2027, though the headline Monsters, Inc. door coaster will still be under construction and won’t be ready at launch. This lines it up as one of the sooner, more concrete arrivals on this whole list.

What the D23 2026 Disney World announcements mean for planning your trip

• Booking in the next few months? Carousel of Progress is closed now through late spring 2027, the one concrete, near-term change from this list. Everything else stays in “start dreaming, not booking” territory.
• Booking for 2027? That’s your window for two debuts: the reimagined Carousel of Progress in late spring, and the first phase of Monstropolis at Hollywood Studios sometime during the year (minus its headline coaster, which is still under construction).
• Ride it while you can. Spaceship Earth has no closure date yet, but this is a long-overdue project finally getting real momentum. If EPCOT is on your itinerary anytime soon, don’t skip it on the assumption you’ll catch it “next time.”
• Expect construction walls. Frontierland (Piston Peak) and the old DinoLand USA footprint (Tropical Americas) will have visible construction for the next several years, so factor that into photo spots and walking routes.
• Worth watching for 2028–2030 trips: Villains Land, Piston Peak, and Tropical Americas are all realistic mid-to-late-decade targets. If you’re the kind of family that plans a “grand reopening” trip around a new land, this is the window to watch.
• Smaller, sooner wins: The Figment/Dreamfinder refresh is the other addition that could land well before the bigger lands, since it’s a smaller-scope project.

We’ll keep tracking every D23 2026 Disney World update as Disney confirms new dates, and we’ll update our Walt Disney World planning guides accordingly.