Walt Disney World has a flurry of construction going on at the moment. Coming up, we take a look at projects happening across three of the four parks including, Tropical Americas, Cars/Villains, and Monstropolis.
Starting off at Animal Kingdom where the all new Zootopia Better Zoogether show debuted a couple of months ago. This show is around ten minutes long and showcases the unity of all animals in Zootopia. This show is located in the Tree of Life where It’s Tough To Be A Bug was formally located.
The big project happening right now at Animal Kingdom is Dinoland’s transformation to Tropical Americas. This new land will bring Disney’s first ever Encanto attraction to a theme park and will transform Dinosaur into an Indiana Jones themed attraction. A new Carousel will be built in the place of Triceratop Spin with characters from many different Disney IP. Disney says the Indiana Jones ride will be an all new story from the one at Disneyland and involve a Mayan temple.
Footers are currently being installed for the queue of the Carousel and the main pit for the ride system is being dug up now. The Encanto showbuilding is rising quickly and almost all of the steel framework is up. Rumors have this ride being an omnimover or small tracked book report style dark ride, which is honestly what Disney and Animal Kingdom need more of these days. The story is rumored to revolve heavily around Antonio and his room full of animals. Other accompanying small buildings are starting their foundation work in the central area of the land. Existing buildings like Restaurtantosaurus will be rethemed to new names and this land will open in phases starting in Fall 2027.
Moving over to Hollywood Studios, this park continues its major transformation that started with the opening of Toy Story land in 2018. Last year the Muppets Courtyard area and Muppetvision 3D closed to make way for Monstropolis. This new area has no opening date but will likely open in 2027 or 2028 and include a new show to replace Muppetivison and an all new roller coaster in the back of the land. This Door Coaster will be Disney’s first ever suspended roller coaster and it will be manufactured by Vekoma. Concrete has been poured for the coaster’s show building which will be completely indoors. This building is massive and takes up a decent chunk of the Hollywood Studios parking lot providing an actual park footprint expansion which is rare for Walt Disney World projects. According to the latest concept art, there will be a small playground for children in the foreground of the Door Coaster showbuilding which is good as that somewhat makes up for the loss of the former Splash Mountain playground in Magic Kingdom and The Boneyard playground in Dinoland at Animal Kingdom.
The rest of Monstropolis will consist of mostly rethemed structures from Muppetvision Courtyard. Mama Melrose will be transformed into Harry Hussain’s sushi restaurant from the movies and the former Muppets gift shop was demolished to make some walking space and breathing room for the new land. The former Muppervision 3D theater will be renamed The Glob theater which I believe is a play on the words for The Globe theater in Los Angeles which would keep with the park’s overall theme. While no details have been announced on the show itself, rumors have it being some sort of late night comedy style show hosted by Mike Wasakeski. The muppets are not entirely going away though as they will be moving across the park and into the Rockin’ Rollercoaster attraction. Rockin’ Rollerocaster will close in March 2026 to get rid of all Aerosmith references and bring in Muppets and Electric Mayhem theming and an all new storyline when it reopens this Summer. The queue and preshow will be getting massive upgrades as well with a few animatronics including Scooter himself! The giant guitar will remain and will be repainted in bright colorful Electric Mayhem style coloring.
Finally over at Hollywood Studios, the Animation Courtyard will be getting some love after all these years. Star Wars Launch Bay will finally be leaving and getting replaced with something that again fits the overall theme of the park. The Magic of Disney Animation which is set to debut this year will bring a variety of new experiences celebrating animation to Animation Courtyard. The Launch Bay building will be transformed into a place celebrating animation with several interactive experiences and even a chance to dare your own 2D animation. The iconic Mickey Sorcerer Hat will make its long awaited return to Hollywood Studios and be adorned on top of the former Launch Bay building. The iconic Hollywood Studios arch was demolished last year to make way for this new experience which will include a big open courtyard for relaxing and several character meet and greets. There will also be a new playground inside the building themed of course to different styles of animation. This concept seems like a revived version of the Play Pavilion that was supposed to come to EPCOT’s transformation back in the early 2020’s.
Over at the Magic Kingdom, there are once again several construction projects happening especially in the back of the park. Starting off with Thunder Mountain, that roller coaster has been closed since last year and is undergoing a total retrack. The coaster is expected to open this year potentially in the Spring and has been seen testing continuously recently. Track and computer systems being refurbed in this closure, Disney is taking the opportunity to add some new magic to the classic attraction with the freshening up of the cave scene in the first lift hill. When going up the first lift hill in the Rainbow Caverns, you will notice a rumbling from beneath and the caverns will be changing colors to a menacing red as a warning to get out quickly.
Also opening this year after being down since 2025 is Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin. That attraction closed last year for a top to bottom refurb and this one will have more notable guest facing changes than the Thunder Mountain refurb. When the attraction reopens this Spring it will have a new scene with an all new character. Buddy, who is an animatronic and was created by WDI will be a key player on Star Command Team. This new scene will be like a target practice for guests before they go and battle Emperor Zurg and his minions. The attraction will get brand new ride vehicles that will have new colors inspired by the colors of Buzz Lightyear and Star Command. The new vehicles will now have video monitors that track the score and provide real time updates as well as brand new blasters that are handheld for better aim. The blasters will now include a laser that is always on and each car will have two different colored blasters to make it easier to know where you’re aiming. That is fantastic and I wish the different colored lasers would come to the Disneyland version as it is very difficult to know where I am aiming whenever I go on that attraction.
Right now Cinderella Castle is being repainted to something that resembles its original colors. Gone is the pink and in are the gray and creamy undertones. Disney project teams will be using cherrypickers during the process to not obstruct the view of the castle during the refurb. This is different from the way Disneyland refurbed its castle by doing a printed scrim over it.
Over in the former Rivers of America area, construction is well underway for the upcoming Piston Peak and Villains Land additions. Starting off at Piston Peak, you can see that Tom Sawyer’s Island and the associated Rivers of America are gone and dirt is being dug for the upcoming new attractions. Piston Peak will have two attractions, one thrilling E ticket and one smaller family attraction. The E ticket attraction will be a rally race through the mountains of Piston Peak climbing mountain trails dodging geysers and even splashing through mudholes. The ride will even have a few animatronics similar to Radiator Springs Racers at Disney California Adventure. The smaller attraction will be geared toward families and located next to the E ticket. Walls are up around the Haunted Mansion queue as it’s rumored there are some changes coming to the queue itself and possibly the attraction as in the past week several notices of commencements have been filed for the ride.
Prep work for Villains Land is also well underway with laydown yards being graded for materials related to Cars and Villains. You can still see the outline of the former Rivers of America back here as well as grading and digging continues. Villains land will be one of the largest ever expansions at Walt Disney World and is something guests have been asking for years. Disney has confirmed at least two attractions for this upcoming land, but rumors swirl there could be potentially up to four new rides in Villains Land alone! The official concept art and Disney’s own description show a rollercoaster and a big E ticket dark ride. The concept art shows Mount Chernobyl as well as lots of water. Piston Peak also has lots of water which is something I am glad for, considering the amount of water lost at the Rivers of America. No opening dates for these new lands have been announced just yet, but if I were to guess Piston Peak would open in 2028 and Villains would open in 2029.
Finally checking in on the resort as a whole, Lakeshore Lodge is topped out and almost complete for its 2027 opening. This ten story DVC resort is located on the former site of River Country and will feature 900 rooms with a rustic elegance theme. Roofing and facade work are currently being installed on the massive building.
There is a TON of construction going on at Walt Disney World right now as Disney turbocharges their theme park resorts with over sixty billion dollars in investment over the next decade. What Disney World project are you most looking forward to? Sound off in the comments below and stay tuned to this channel for ongoing construction updates around Walt Disney World and even Universal Orlando Resort. Stay magical, stay curious and I’ll see you on the next update!
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