Regardless of which Disney park you visit, they are all being updated, re-imagined, and added to constantly. Each time you go, you’ll probably find something new. Disney is always open to new ideas and concepts for attractions in the parks, so much so that they have an entire panel of Imagineers dedicated to what they call “Blue Sky” projects. Blue Sky projects are new concepts and ideas that could one day end up in a park. But even if we are excited for them, there may never be an end in sight for some of these projects.
Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney Experiences, often expresses that Blue Sky projects will constantly be shared with fans. There may be many reasons why they do this such as gauging fan interest or showing that they are always creating new and improved ideas. Even Disney CEO Bob Iger has shared that he is “a huge believer in the need to constantly innovate.”
We continue to hear about big, brilliant ideas from Disney that get us very excited for what the future might hold. Unfortunately, these ideas are not guaranteed to make it to the parks, and if they are confirmed, we may still not know when we’ll get to enjoy them. Sometimes, it feels like we’ll never see some projects completed. So here are several projects that we’re still waiting to see come to fruition!
Recent Blue Sky Ideas
Have you ever wanted to meet an actual, fairy-sized Tinker Bell? Well, with one Blue Sky project, that would be possible!
If this project ever came to the parks, you could have real-time conversations with Tink, as you can with Crush at Turtle Talk in EPCOT. It’s truly incredible technology! Unfortunately, since it’s still a Blue Sky concept, we can’t hold our breath to see it in the park anytime soon.
We got a chance to chat with Tinker Bell herself at #SXSW2023! If you could ask Tink anything, what would you want to know? ✨🧚 pic.twitter.com/Vvy5i44Lpv
— AllEars.Net (@AllEarsNet) March 11, 2023
Another recent Blue Sky idea is a super cool, roller-skating robot! It has an uncanny resemblance to one, Judy Hopps.
Not only does the robot skate, but it also does dynamic maneuvers and portrays emotion! She’s totally rad and we wish we could see her in the parks.
Disney showed off a new rollerblading robot at #SXSW2023 🛼🐰 Are you team “wow!” or team “creepy…” when it comes to this new tech? pic.twitter.com/yDLDUmuqSC
— AllEars.Net (@AllEarsNet) March 11, 2023
Most recently, a cool piece of flooring was debuted that could make playing virtual reality games a lot easier! You can see the inventor of the project on his masterpiece.
The HoloTile floor is “the world’s first, and only, multi-person, omnidirectional, modular, expandable, treadmill floor, where any number of people can have a shared virtual reality experience, walk an unlimited distance in any direction, but never collide or walk off its surface.” This floor is impressive, you can read more about it here! As of now, there are no plans shared for how Disney will incorporate the floor into the experience.
As we said, Disney is always showcasing their latest tech and Blue Sky ideas! We’ll have to keep watching for more.
Magic Kingdom Expansion
Onto another Blue Sky project that has no end date in sight — the Magic Kingdom expansion. While the expansion has been mentioned several times, it’s still considered a Blue Sky concept. No timeline or concrete plans have been announced.
Disney has commented a few times that the area behind Big Thunder Mountain Railroad has a lot of potential that has yet to be explored. Josh D’Amaro has even stated, “We are about to go into overdrive at the Magic Kingdom.”
When the announcement came that the Country Bear Jamboree would be temporarily closed, Disney added, “We have a lot of growth and investment planned for our theme parks in the coming years and look forward to sharing more announcements about Frontierland.” But we don’t have an end in sight for these big plans!
Animal Kingdom Expansion
In the same boat as Magic Kingdom, is Animal Kingdom where another expansion is said to be occurring. Disney has said that DinoLand U.S.A will be removed to make way for a new land or lands, but that’s all that’s really been confirmed.
The new theme idea for this expansion has changed; the current considerations are Indiana Jones and Encanto. But neither of those or a timeline for the project has been confirmed.
A hint came from singer/songwriter Lin Manuel-Miranda in a Hulu documentary that makes us think Encanto will be making an appearance in Animal Kingdom, but we don’t know for sure. The theme idea is still in the Blue Sky phase, but we can’t wait to know what’s going to happen for sure!
$60 Billion Expansion
Both of those expansions sound amazing, but there is a bit of a problem. Disney has shared that the majority of the $60 billion they have set aside for expansions in the next 10 years most likely won’t be getting used until the second half of the decade.
Kevin Lansberry, former Interim CFO of Disney, stated, regarding the $60 billion budget, “We expect those investments to ramp up towards the back half of that 10-year period with more gradual increases in the first few years.” So does that mean that we may not see either of these expansions, in Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom, become a reality for nearly 10 years?
Disney has a lot of really great ideas, and when we get to see them completed it’s an exciting day! But these few ideas we shared are looking like there’s no end in sight. Hopefully, Disney will have some big news for us soon.
Until then, keep following AllEars for all your Disney news!
All the Confirmed Land Expansions for Disney World and Disneyland
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Which Blue Sky idea do you hope becomes a reality? Let us know in the comments!
This is where Disney has fumbled the ball the past few years. The most major project underway right now is the Tiana retheming of Splash Mountain (and that isn’t really something that is going to increase attendance greatly). After that…no other construction projects are going on.
Meanwhile, their competitor’s, Universal, is building an entirely new theme park in little more time than it took Disney to build one rollercoaster that was a clone of another coaster at another one of its parks.