The D23 Expo is behind us, and Disney park fans were given a massive amount of information about the various projects underway, including a few surprises. On Saturday evening, Neil Patrick Harris took the stage at the Honda Center as the host of the Disney Experiences Showcase, leading viewers through updates on projects underway across the company’s portfolio.
Most of the time was spent giving guests new looks at some of the massive projects, including the confirmation of two attractions at Magic Kingdom‘s Villains Land, opening timelines for Monstropolis at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and more information about the two attractions coming to Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure, among much more.
However, as in past D23 Expos, there were many unexpected announcements along the way. Early in the show, Thomas Mazloum, the chairman of Disney Experiences, announced that the long-broken Yeti animatronic in Expedition Everest was being repaired and restored to its former glory, fulfilling a long-awaited wish among fans.
While this announcement was viewed as the potential highlight, Mazloum ended the evening with two more surprises, but on a far grander scale. After nearly decades of being at the top of fan wish lists, both Disneyland’s Tomorrowland and EPCOT‘s Journey Into Imagination with Figment will receive massive overhauls in the coming years.
Per Mazloum, Journey Into Imagination “4.0” will mark the return of the Dreamfinder, an original park-created character that was the focal point of the original attraction. He will, of course, be joined by his sidekick Figment.
However, while there is much to discuss regarding the future of EPCOT and the other projects set to open before the end of the decade, let’s take a deep dive into the future of Disneyland’s Tomorrowland and attempt to predict what fans might see.
What We Know
Given that this was the penultimate announcement of the Experiences Showcase, not much was revealed about the future of Disneyland’s Tomorrowland. However, a recent post on the Disney Parks Blog offers fans a closer look at what could be in the works.
Per Disney, the renovation of Tomorrowland will “honor the legacy of the original land while reimagining its future.” Additionally, the plans will “restore the spirit of optimism, innovation, and possibility” that previously inspired Walt to create this land.
Also in the blog, Disney noted that the Imagineers are already hard at work creating the next chapter for this land “with new attractions, more open spaces, and new places for Disneyland guests to dream about the future.”
While much of this remains vague, the land’s broad scope is already taking shape.
For context, the current version of Tomorrowland is quite outdated and is widely regarded as the “worst” area at Disneyland Park. The last “major” renovation to this land came in 1998, when Disney opened Rocket Rods alongside Innoventions, a refreshed Space Mountain (featuring a bronze finish), and Honey, I Shrunk the Audience.
While most of these attractions eventually closed down (excluding Space Mountain), the most infamous was Rocket Rods, which utilized the former PeopleMover track. This attraction was one of the shortest-lived in Disney Parks history and is quite infamous, as the former tracks to this attraction (and the previously noted PeopleMover) still stand today.
With Disney emphasizing the importance of restoring the spirit of optimization and innovation, let’s take a look at some recent changes to Tomorrowland around the globe and pinpoint potential options for Disneyland.
Recent Changes on the East Coast
Over on the East Coast, Magic Kingdom’s Tomorrowland has undergone (and is currently still going through) some massive updates. In 2023, TRON Lightcycle/Run debuted, and earlier this year, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin underwent significant upgrades, including new show scenes, a new game mechanic, and new ride vehicles.
However, the most prominent update to the land has still yet to open its doors. As announced at the previously mentioned Experiences Showcase, Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress will reopen in late spring 2027, featuring entirely new scenes, animatronics, and dialogue.
The previous version (opened alongside the Tomorrowland 1994 project) featured primarily the same opening three scenes as the original 1975 Walt Disney World version (albeit with alternate dialogue), but with the return of the Sherman Brothers’ song “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” and some updated dialogue.
The most notable change came in the final scene when the new “vision” of the future was shown. However, over time, this “vision” became outdated, ultimately necessitating a refurbishment.
Unlike the 1994 version, this new update will feature all-new sketches, highlighting entirely new decades (1960, 1980, 2000, and the “distant future). At the D23 convention, Disney revealed more information about this update, including the voices of the mother and father (Jamie Lee Curtis and Bryan Cranston) and additional details on the direction of each scene.
Disney emphasized that one of the main goals of this update was to keep this tradition “relatable” for guests of all ages.
Over at Tokyo Disneyland, their Space Mountain is set to become Space Mountain: Earthrise. As described at the expo, this reimagining will “launch guests into the cosmos and experience the wonder of Earth from a perspective unlike anything seen before in a Disney attraction. Tokyo will also be home to the first Wreck-It Ralph attraction, which will replace their version of Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters.
Similarly in Paris, Space Mountain took center stage. After being rebranded to Hyperspace Mountain after the Star Wars franchise, Disneyland Paris will look to the past for its next edition. Space Mountain will revert to its original name, “Space Mountain: De la Terre à la Lune,” and to its classic Jules Verne story, which was the focal point of the attraction’s original vision.
At Hong Kong Disneyland, Disney will leverage more of the Marvel property in their Tomorrowland. While they already have a Stark Expo-themed area with an Ant-Man-inspired attraction, Disney will soon open an expansion to this area. Guests will soon visit the Avengers Research Testing Labs for a “tower experience attraction” that is expected to be similar to The Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror and Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout.
After spotlighting the many confirmed projects underway at Tomorrowlands around the world, let’s take a trip back to Anaheim and attempt to predict what Disneyland’s Tomorrowland will look like ahead of its 75th anniversary using Imagineering’s current trajectory.
What Will Disneyland’s Tomorrowland Look Like?
Given that the target date for this update is 2030, to mark Disneyland’s 75th anniversary, fans should not be too bullish on predictions, as it may not be realistic to expect sweeping updates.
Currently, Disneyland’s neighbor, California Adventure, is undergoing massive updates and is the focal point of construction for this resort. As of writing, California Adventure will soon be home to two more attractions at Avengers Campus, including the massive Avengers Infinity Defense, the first-ever attraction inspired by Coco, and an Avatar experience.
However, per reports, the Avatar experience at California Adventure is being pushed back behind Tomorrowland to ensure it is complete ahead of the 75th, so Disney fans may have to wait much longer to visit Pandora on the West Coast.
As noted earlier, Disneyland’s Tomorrowland is the weak point of a near-perfect park. Tomorrowland is quite underwhelming in its current state despite calling home to many attractions, such as Space Mountain, Star Tours: The Adventure Continues, Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, Autopia, Astro Orbiter, Buzz Lightyear: Astro Blasters, and even a monorail station.
Much of the criticism of this land stems from the downright “abandoned” areas. The most notable is the former home of Star Wars Launch Bay. While the second floor has served as the home to a Disney Vacation Club lounge (which has occasionally moved to the Starcade), this massive building sits empty for much of the year.
This space originally hosted the Carousel of Progress before it moved to Walt Disney World. It later would host America Sings and Innoventions before transforming into Star Wars Launch Bay.
While it may not seem the most innovative, bringing back the Carousel of Progress to Walt’s park would do wonders for restoring the optimistic and inspirational nature of Tomorrowland. With a brand-new version of the show already under construction at the Magic Kingdom, this could be a relatively easy way to add not only life but Walt’s optimism back into this area of the park.
Another component of this land that could be updated in this overhaul is Star Tours. The original version of Star Tours debuted at Disneyland Park on January 9, 1987, and practically “saved” the park. During the 1980s, under the leadership of newly appointed CEO Michael Eisner, a major focus was to incorporate new IPs into the park. Star Tours not only brought modern relevance to Disneyland but also added a much-needed “thrill” attraction designed to attract a wider audience.
While Star Tours–The Adventure Continues remains a popular attraction, it is losing relevance now that Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is in the same park. A similar situation is happening at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. However, Disney has the perfect IP not only to inject life into this space but also to look to the past.
In summer 2025, the Marvel Cinematic Universe released one of its more unique films of the past half-decade. The Fantastic Four: First Steps not only took place in an alternate universe (far from the current MCU storyline), but it was also surprisingly inspired by Disneyland. The filmmakers directly referenced the mid-century retro-futuristic aesthetic of the 1960s Tomorrowland of Disneyland Park (which Walt Disney designed).
Throughout the film, Disney fans can spot many architectural designs that evoke a past Tomorrowland. Additionally, there are many Easter eggs that relate directly to Disney Parks lore, including the inclusion of the “Nation on Wheels” song that was played along the Disneyland PeopleMover.
Later that summer, guests would also be able to meet the Fantastic Four, and their robot H.E.R.B.I.E., further suggesting that Imagineering was hinting at a potential implementation of this IP at Tomorrowland.
In a Star Tours-inspired attraction, the Fantastic Four can take guests on a multidimensional adventure that can explore space travel of the atomic age and could even include a tie-in to Avengers Doomsday/Avengers Secret Wars with the inclusion of Doctor Doom, who is the Fantastic Four’s primary nemesis in Marvel comics. With King Thanos serving as the main antagonist of the Avengers Campus expansion, Doctor Doom could find a home on the other side of the Disneyland Resort.
Another interesting connection to the Marvel universe is the Stark Expo, which is heavily featured in Iron Man 2. The film’s director, Jon Favreau (who is now the president of Lucasfilm and has collaborated with Imagineering on many projects), has stated that he based Howard Stark’s vision for a futuristic city on Walt Disney’s messaging of the original experimental prototype community of tomorrow (EPCOT).
Creating a walk-through space inspired by the Stark Expo, with nods to the historic 1964 New York World’s Fair and the original designs for EPCOT, would add another layer of optimism to this land.
However, the perfect, and likely most sensible, addition to “new” Tomorrowland would be the return of the PeopleMover. Given that this legendary attraction has stood abandoned in the park for decades, this is the perfect opportunity for this new Disney leadership to not only win over fans but also to show that they are truly listening to us. Throughout the Experiences Showcase at D23, Mazloum continued to emphasize that leadership is “listening to the fans,” and the return of the PeopleMover would further demonstrate this.
At the heart of the retro-future community is a hyper-efficient urban mass transit service that is accessible to the entire city. The PeopleMover would mark the return of “Walt’s Tomorrowland.”
While the inclusion of Marvel IP may seem like a step backward to some fans, especially given how long it has been since Tomorrowland received some much-needed attention, The Fantastic Four: First Steps and the Stark Expo were directly inspired by Walt’s vision of the future and could serve as the perfect way to connect an “older” vision to the modern world. The return of the Carousel of Progress and the PeopleMover would serve as perfect complements to this new vision of Tomorrowland, bringing Walt’s optimism into the modern age.
Tomorrowland’s future has never looked brighter at the Disneyland Resort, and it will be inspired directly by the future that Walt dreamed of.
