NEW Patent Reveals What a Moana Boat Ride Could Look Like at Disney World

Disney has been keeping us on our toes by making tons of park expansion announcements — and then leaving us in the dust!

We’re pretty used to it by now, which is why we keep an eye out for any potential clues or hints about the Magic Kingdom or Animal Kingdom expansions at Disney World. A while back, we spotted a patent filing that piqued our interest, and now we have an update!

Back in November 2022, we caught wind of a patent Disney filed for a “Boat Motion Simulator” that looked an awful lot like a boat from Moana!

Essentially, the system is meant to cause the passengers to feel boat-type motions (rolling, swaying, heaving, etc.). But the system is also meant to use buoyancy to vertically support the boat, so the boat still floats naturally in a simulator or system.

The system could also feature a display and sound system to display images or a soundtrack that syncs up to the motions of the boat.

Concept Art for potential ‘Zootopia’ or ‘Moana’ Lands ©Disney

But now, it looks as though an updated patent has recently been published for this potential ride. Named, “Guided boat with external discrete yaw control,” this technology would allow boats to change points of view as they are propelled through the water. And, the images throughout the patent support the idea that this could be a Moana boat ride.

The new system would work similarly to Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at EPCOT, where each ride vehicle can be pointed in multiple different directions in order to view scenes they may have missed with just one point of view.

While this new patent shows the ride would still utilize a standard flume system as we saw in the original one, the direction each boat is facing would be controlled by an underwater track or guide. This means that riders might not always be facing the direction the boat is traveling.

Disney had previously teased that a Moana-themed area could replace Dinoland U.S.A. in Disney’s Animal Kingdom and the concept art for that area did appear to show 2 rides for the Moana-inspired land, but since we now know they’re focusing on the “Tropical Americas” for this area, it’s possible that this Moana ride could be planned for another park entirely!

Keep in mind that while the patent application shows that image of the boat simulator with Moana and Maui on the display that does NOT mean that Disney is actually building a Moana-themed boat motion simulator ride. We’ll let you know if we hear any updates, though!

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In the meantime, we’ll be keeping up with the latest updates from Disney World, so stay tuned to AllEars for more news!