By George & Josh Bate

On Saturday evening at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, Neil Patrick Harris posted a sprawling panel presentation at this year’s D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event highlighting upcoming additions and changes to Disney experiences.

Some of the reveals included Tropical Americas, Monstropolis, the Cars-themed area, and Villains Land at Walt Disney World Resort; the Coco attraction and Avengers Campus expansion at Disneyland Resort; a Lion King-themed area in Paris; new Marvel experiences in Hong Kong and Shanghai; and a reimagined Space Mountain in Tokyo.

Keep reading for a full breakdown of all the reveals and announcements from the Horizons: Disney Experiences Showcase at D23 2026.

Walt Disney World

Walt Disney World arguably received the biggest collection of announcements at D23 2026, with all four parks represented.

Magic Kingdom is preparing for multiple major expansions, EPCOT is getting significant updates to two of its iconic attractions, Hollywood Studios is building an entirely new Monstropolis, and Animal Kingdom is finally beginning to see the fruits of its massive transformation.

Tropical Americas Comes to Animal Kingdom

One of the most ambitious projects underway at Walt Disney World is Tropical Americas, the new 11-acre land replacing DinoLand U.S.A. at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Opening in 2027, the area will be known as Pueblo Esperanza, a fictional town surrounded by the lush environments of Central and South America. Disney has deliberately designed the area to feel like a lived-in community, similar to Harambe and Anandapur, rather than simply a collection of attractions.

Pueblo Esperanza will feature a large hacienda, a central fountain, a children’s play area and a working animal carousel. Imagineers have also conducted research trips to Honduras and Colombia to help inform the architecture, materials, environments and cultural details throughout the land.

But the real stars will be two major attractions.

Indiana Jones and the Myth of the Jade Serpent

Indiana Jones is heading into an ancient Maya temple for a brand-new adventure.

Indiana Jones and the Myth of the Jade Serpent will follow Indy as he explores a perfectly preserved Maya temple and ventures into the Maya Underworld in search of a legendary creature.

And yes, there are snakes.

The attraction will feature a massive serpent known as Tsukán, along with giant bats, scorpions, fire and other supernatural dangers. Even more notably, Disney confirmed that Harrison Ford’s likeness will be used as the basis for an Audio-Animatronic Indiana Jones. This will be the first Disney Parks attraction to feature Ford’s likeness in this way.

Disney says Imagineers are working with archaeologists, anthropologists and Maya experts as they develop the attraction.

It’s a particularly fitting addition to Animal Kingdom, where the themes of exploration, ancient civilizations and the relationship between humans and the natural world are already deeply embedded in the park.

Antonio’s Fiesta de Encanto

The other major Tropical Americas attraction will bring the Madrigal family to Animal Kingdom.

Antonio’s Fiesta de Encanto takes place on Antonio’s special gift day, with guests entering Casita and traveling through areas created specifically for the attraction before arriving in Antonio’s rainforest-themed bedroom.

The attraction will feature more than 50 species of animals, including a capybara, toucan and donkey, while the ride vehicles themselves will resemble pieces of furniture brought to life by Casita. Several Encanto actors are also returning to voice their characters.

Disney has also revealed El Carrusel de los Animalitos, a working carousel featuring 22 hand-carved Disney and Pixar animal figures.

For Animal Kingdom, Tropical Americas represents much more than a replacement for DinoLand. It’s a complete reinvention of an entire section of the park.

Villains Land

If there’s one new Magic Kingdom land that immediately captured the imagination of Disney fans, it’s Villains Land.

Disney confirmed that the land will feature two major attractions, along with dining and shopping.

The story revolves around a corrupted wishing well whose dark magic has attracted some of Disney’s most infamous villains. Those villains have subsequently claimed pieces of the area for themselves, creating their own lairs within a cursed landscape.

The first attraction is the newly confirmed Maleficent Coaster.

Guests will race through the enchanted briar surrounding Maleficent’s mountaintop fortress. Disney says Imagineers are incorporating elements into the coaster that they haven’t previously attempted on similar attractions.

The second attraction is the Mirror Realm Dark Ride, hosted by the Magic Mirror.

Guests will venture through a mysterious realm beyond the mirror, encountering Disney villains brought to life through physical sets and special effects.

The combination is fascinating because Disney isn’t simply building a “Disney Villains ride.” It’s creating an original world where the villains themselves have essentially taken over.

And if Disney delivers on the scale of the concept art, Villains Land could become one of the most visually distinctive areas ever built at Magic Kingdom.

Piston Peak National Park at Frontierland

Disney is also taking the characters from Pixar’s Cars somewhere they have never been before: Frontierland.

The new Piston Peak National Park will be inspired by the American West, the Rocky Mountains and America’s national parks. Rather than recreating Radiator Springs, Disney is essentially dropping Lightning McQueen, Mater and their friends into a massive wilderness setting.

The land will feature mountains, waterfalls, rivers, geysers, trails and a visitor lodge designed using a National Park Service-inspired architectural style known as “Parkitecture.”

Two attractions will anchor the land.

Cars Ridge Run Rally

Cars Ridge Run Rally is an off-road racing attraction in which guests will travel through the wilderness of Piston Peak.

The course includes a climb toward a snow-covered mountain, a camelback descent, geysers and a final sprint past Lightning McQueen and Mater.

Perhaps most interestingly, the ride vehicles are designed with tires and suspension systems that physically react to the terrain.

Miss Fritter’s Daredevil Spin-Along

Then there’s Miss Fritter’s Daredevil Spin-Along, which puts the enormous school bus from Cars 3 at the center of a chaotic demolition derby.

Miss Fritter herself will be represented by a massive Audio-Animatronic as she hosts the competition.

The decision to place Piston Peak in Frontierland is one of the more interesting pieces of Imagineering work coming out of D23. Instead of simply building another Cars land, Disney is trying to make the franchise fit the existing story of the Magic Kingdom.

Carousel of Progress

Disney is also giving one of Magic Kingdom’s oldest attractions a substantial refresh.

Carousel of Progress will reopen in late spring 2027 with updated scenes and new voices for the family at its center.

Disney Legend Jamie Lee Curtis will play Mom, while Bryan Cranston will portray Dad. Disney has also confirmed a new opening featuring an Audio-Animatronic Walt Disney and updates throughout the attraction’s four scenes.

Importantly, Disney isn’t throwing away the basic premise of the attraction.

The Carousel of Progress will continue following one family as technology changes their everyday lives, preserving the optimism and technological progress that have defined the attraction since its debut.

For longtime Disney fans, this is one of the more welcome announcements of the showcase.

Dreamfinder and Figment Are Back Together at EPCOT

And then came the announcement that arguably generated the biggest emotional reaction of the entire Disney Parks presentation.

Dreamfinder is returning to EPCOT.

Disney confirmed that Dreamfinder and Figment will embark on a new journey into imagination, bringing the two characters back together for the first time since Dreamfinder’s departure from the attraction.

The announcement came during the showcase’s discussion of Carousel of Progress, with host Neil Patrick Harris specifically asking for the return of Dreamfinder.

Disney has not yet revealed the full storyline or timeline for the new attraction, but the significance is obvious: Disney is acknowledging the enduring popularity of the original EPCOT imagination concept and bringing one of the park’s most beloved characters back into the spotlight.

For fans who have spent decades asking for Dreamfinder’s return, this was the moment.

Spaceship Earth Is Evolving

Another EPCOT icon is also getting an update.

Spaceship Earth will receive its first major story update in nearly two decades.

Rather than abandoning the attraction’s existing themes, Disney says the new version will expand its focus from human communication to human connection.

That means the attraction’s fundamental message of human progress and shared achievement will remain intact, but Disney will broaden the story to reflect how humanity connects in the modern world.

It is, in many ways, exactly the kind of update EPCOT’s signature attraction needs: an evolution rather than a complete replacement.

Monstropolis Is Coming to Hollywood Studios

Over at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Monstropolis is finally beginning to take shape.

The new land will open portions of the experience in 2027, introducing guests to the world of Monsters, Inc. during H.U.M.A.N. Day: Humans Understanding Monsters Are Nice.

The centerpiece remains the previously announced suspended door coaster, but Disney used D23 to reveal more of what guests will encounter around it.

That includes:

• Glob Theater
• Welcome to Monstropolis
• Harryhausen’s Restaurant
• Archie’s Scare Pig Pizza
• Monsters University Alumni Club
• Scareporium

Harryhausen’s will even feature an Audio-Animatronic version of its sushi chef.

The new Glob Theater show, meanwhile, will have Mike and Sulley welcoming humans into their world.

Disney also revealed that a new original song from Disney Legend Randy Newman will help bring Monstropolis to life.

The result sounds less like a traditional movie-based land and more like Disney has created an entire monster city that happens to have opened its doors to humans.

The Yeti Is Coming Back to Life

Disney finally confirmed what Expedition Everest fans have been waiting nearly two decades to hear:

The original Yeti Audio-Animatronic is returning to life.

The legendary creature at the heart of Animal Kingdom’s Expedition Everest will once again be brought back to its original form.

Disney hasn’t yet announced exactly when the Yeti will return to full operation or detailed the technical work involved.

But after years of the Yeti operating in a dramatically reduced mode, the announcement is undeniably one of the biggest pieces of fan service in the entire showcase.

Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run | Fortnite

One of the strangest — and potentially most significant — announcements involved Star Wars and Fortnite.

Disney revealed Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run | Fortnite, a new experience connecting the physical attraction at Disneyland and Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios with a new Fortnite adventure called Smugglers Gambit.

The Fortnite experience takes place around Mersa Veta Station on Ord Ryla, where players can team up with friends, complete missions, battle pirates and Imperial remnants, encounter wildlife and collect rewards.

The idea is to allow the story to move between the physical Disney Parks attraction and the digital Fortnite world.

The initiative represents a significant experiment for Disney: instead of a theme park attraction ending when guests leave the park, the experience can continue at home.

It’s an especially notable development considering the Disney-Epic Games relationship that Disney first highlighted at D23 2024.

Disneyland Resort

Disneyland may not have received quite as many individual attraction reveals as Walt Disney World, but the announcements coming to Anaheim could ultimately have enormous consequences for the resort.

Tomorrowland Will Be Reimagined

Disney has officially confirmed that Disneyland’s Tomorrowland will be reimagined.

The goal is to preserve the legacy of the original land while introducing new attractions, more open spaces and new places for guests to imagine the future.

Specific attractions and a timeline have not yet been announced.

That makes this one of the biggest “watch this space” announcements of D23 2026.

Disneyland’s Tomorrowland has undergone numerous changes throughout its history, but Disney now appears ready to rethink the land on a much larger scale.

Avengers Campus Expansion

Disney California Adventure’s Avengers Campus is getting considerably bigger.

Two new attractions will open in 2028:

Avengers Infinity Defense

Guests will join the Avengers on a massive adventure spanning multiple locations, including Asgard, Wakanda and New York City.

The attraction will combine enormous physical sets with large-scale media environments, creating a multi-world Marvel adventure.

Stark Flight Lab

Stark Flight Lab puts guests inside a Stark Industries flight-testing experience.

The attraction will use two-person gyro-kinetic pods attached to robotic arms, simulating the sensation of being launched and thrown through the air by advanced Avengers technology.

Disney also confirmed appearances from Robert Downey Jr., Anthony Mackie and Brie Larson.

Together, the two attractions will double the size of Avengers Campus.

Coco Gets a Boat Ride

Disney California Adventure is also getting its first attraction based on Pixar’s Coco.

The attraction will begin one year after the events of the original film.

Guests will enter a casa museo dedicated to Héctor Rivera’s music before boarding boats and traveling with Miguel through his memories of the Land of the Dead.

Miguel, Dante, Héctor and other characters from Coco will appear throughout the attraction, which will emphasize the movie’s themes of music, family and Mexican culture.

Disney is also developing the attraction with Pixar Animation Studios while incorporating inspiration from attractions such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion.

And notably, there will be no height requirement, making this a true family attraction.

Disneyland Paris

The Lion King Comes to Disney Adventure World

Disney Adventure World at Disneyland Paris is preparing to welcome its first major attraction based on The Lion King.

The new land and attraction will take guests into the Pride Lands and follow Simba’s journey from cub to king.

Disney is calling it the first-ever Lion King attraction at a Disney park, and the attraction will be the centerpiece of an entire themed environment complete with dining, shopping and character experiences.

The Lion King Flume Ride

The centerpiece will be a major water attraction.

The ride will feature three slopes and a 52-foot drop, with Audio-Animatronics and special effects taking guests through Simba’s story.

The attraction will sit beneath an enormous 120-foot-tall Pride Rock.

It is a huge investment in Disney Adventure World and one that could give the newly reimagined park a genuine headline attraction.

Tokyo Disneyland

Space Mountain: Earthrise

Tokyo Disneyland is also getting a brand-new Space Mountain.

Called Space Mountain: Earthrise, the attraction will send guests into space while presenting Earth from a completely new perspective.

Disney says the attraction is designed around the beauty of our planet while encouraging guests to look toward humanity’s future. It will be part of a reimagined Tomorrowland.

This is not simply a refurbishment of the existing attraction. Earthrise is a new Space Mountain experience.

Shanghai Disney Resort

Spider-Man Gets His Own Land

Shanghai Disney Resort will become home to the first Disney Parks land dedicated entirely to Spider-Man.

The new area will center around the Worldwide Engineering Brigade (W.E.B.), with science experiments, Spider-Bots and other technology-based experiences surrounding a new Spider-Man coaster.

And there’s already visible progress: Disney confirmed that the coaster track is complete.

That makes Shanghai’s upcoming Marvel expansion one of the most interesting new lands in Disney’s global portfolio.

Hong Kong Disneyland

Avengers Research Testing Labs

Hong Kong Disneyland is expanding its Marvel presence with a new Avengers Pavilion featuring Avengers Research Testing Labs.

Guests will enter a high-tech Avengers environment alongside Peter Parker and other Marvel heroes, with the experience incorporating more than 120 feet of storytelling technology and journeys through locations including Wakanda and Asgard.

A new Quinjet landing platform will also allow guests to encounter Avengers characters.

It’s another example of Disney increasingly using Marvel not simply for traditional rides, but for interactive environments where guests feel like they’re participating in the story.