7 Major Promises Disney Has Already Broken

Disney World is changing all the time — we know that much is true.

Between new restaurants, rides, hotels, and more — something new is almost always on the horizon. But with so many exciting projects in the works, it’s the harsh reality that sometimes Disney just can’t keep up with the promises it has made — and we’re here to talk about seven major promises Disney has already broken.

Hey, Disney!

The Amazon Alexa “Hey Disney!” device is a voice assistant that is powered through Amazon’s Alexa and is available on select Echo devices — including in your Disney World hotel room. Disney announced the service back in 2021, and shared that it would be rolled out in all the hotels over the next year.

Except, that didn’t happen. Disney seems to slowly be rolling the devices out in select hotels beginning with the Polynesian in late 2022, and we later saw it pop up at Art of Animation, Port Orleans French Quarter, and Saratoga Springs. So, while the device is out in certain hotels, Disney seems to have broken the promise that you’ll find it in all the resorts — at least for now.

See Hey Disney in Action Here

Parking Trams

When Disney World first reopened after the pandemic, certain services were suspended for various reasons including guest safety — including the parking lot trams that transport folks from their car to the front of each park. Slowly but surely, we saw trams start reappearing, with Disney sharing that all trams would be back by the end of 2022.

But, guess what? That hasn’t happened yet either. As of August 2023, parking trams have returned to Magic Kingdom (the Transportation and Ticket Center) and Animal Kingdom. They’re still missing at EPCOT and Hollywood Studios, with no word on when they might return.

Play! Pavilion

The PLAY! Pavilion was announced to be built within the old Wonders of Life pavilion in EPCOT. It would house interactive, technology-enhanced/based experiences that would let you interact with Disney characters in unique ways. It was announced a while ago, but since then, Disney has gone quiet.

Even the EPCOT map has been updated to remove all mention of this project — part of the map used to say “Future Home of PLAY!” near the pavilion that was set to house the PLAY! Pavilion, but that has since been removed.

Reflections

Disney announced that a new DVC hotel was coming, and it would be built on the land that once housed the former River Country Water Park, over by Fort Wilderness. It would be called Reflections — A Disney Lakeside Lodge, and they even released a few different versions of the concept art.

Although Disney hasn’t made any official statements acknowledging the project’s cancelation, construction equipment has been pulled from the area and no more permits have been filed. Since then, we learned that over 350 new DVC cabins will be added to Fort Wilderness sometime before the end of 2024, so we’ve got that to look forward to!

Wondrous China

Wondrous China — a new film — was set to replace Reflections of China in EPCOT and was announced way back at the D23 Expo in 2019. Since then, we’ve seen Awesome Planet and Canada: Far and Wide open, but mum’s the word on the new addition to the China pavilion.

And still, Disney has yet to mention whether or not this project has been put on hold, canceled, or potentially just delayed — but we’ll let you know if we hear any updates.

Mary Poppins Ride

In the same vein, Disney also announced that a Mary Poppins attraction would be coming to EPCOT’s United Kingdom pavilion at the 2019 D23 Expo! It was even featured at the now-closed EPCOT Experience show inside the Odyssey building.

But, at the 2022 D23 Expo, we didn’t hear any updates on the status of this ride. We were hoping Disney would share some sort of news about whether we’d get to visit Cherry Tree Lane, however, we didn’t hear a thing. It’s possible that this project was scrapped when Disney overhauled things during the pandemic, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Spaceship Earth Refurb

Another huge project we’ve been waiting for updates on is the previously announced refurbishment of Spaceship Earth. EPCOT’s flagship attraction was due for updated narration and a little extra sprucing up, but it seems this project was postponed after the pandemic-related closures. We were hoping to get an update at the 2022 D23 Expo, but Disney stayed silent.

Luckily, Disney World is still changing all the time and bringing more new things our way, and we’ll be here to check them all out. Be sure to stay tuned to AllEars for the latest Disney news, updates, and more!

5 Disney World Ride Transformations You Completely Forgot About

Which of these promises are you most upset about? Tell us in the comments.

Comments (2)