EPCOT:

A brand new nighttime spectacular was announced (and Harmonious is out!) 

Set to replace Harmonious on EPCOT’s World Showcase Lagoon, this new show will serve as a celebration of both EPCOT’s 40th anniversary and Disney’s 100 Years of Wonder. This announcement certainly came as somewhat of a surprise to us, as well as to many others, as Harmonious only debuted at EPCOT just shy of a year ago, though it’s not yet known whether the not-so-positive reactions from guests may have inspired the need for a new night time display. 

Figment will RETURN to meet and greet guests in EPCOT

Everyone’s favorite purple dragon will officially return to greet guests at EPCOT and the nostalgia that comes with this announcement has left many fans delighted! Very few details were confirmed, but it was teased that Figment would be coming back to his home park “in a whole new way” in 2023. Figment’s return to EPCOT has been a long-time coming, as Disney have been gauging guests feelings towards him for years now, but we are certainly happy to see what Disney have planned for the little guy going forward (and just what they mean by “a whole new way.”)

We got some more details on Journey of Water: Inspired by Moana (and an opening window!) 

Disney showcased their stunning scale model of Te Fiti, which serves as a preview of the 16-foot model that will be on display in the Journey of Water attraction when it opens in EPCOT, which was certainly a fantastic way to kick off this year’s expo. Later, during the parks panel, guests were given an opening window of late 2023 for this upcoming walk-through attraction, which has seen some major progress in construction in recent weeks. This opening window makes sense given the upcoming 40th anniversary of EPCOT, so we are interested to see more details emerge as we get closer and what other stunning details this attraction will boast. 

EPCOT’s new Walt Disney statue was unveiled 

On display at the event for guests to get up close with, the new Walt Disney statue named “Walt the Dreamer” made its debut at D23 Expo. The detailed statue will later move to EPCOT, nearby Spaceship Earth in the area known as “Dreamer’s Point.” The statue has sparked some mixed reactions from guests, with some fans unsure about Walt’s pose for the statue, though we are certainly excited to see another Walt statue within the parks and this one is likely to become a popular photo-op! 

Animal Kingdom:

Dinoland U.S.A’s replacement was teased

Similarly to D23’s Magic Kingdom announcement, this announcement was presented as more of a proposal, rather than a 100% confirmed concept. Dinoland U.S.A could potentially be rethemed into a whole new land, as we certainly expected, with the concept art suggesting Zootopia as the replacement property. The most surprising aspect of this “announcement” however, was that Zootopia would share the space with another of Disney’s beloved properties, Moana. While this was repeatedly reiterated to be just an early development idea, we think these two properties would make fantastic additions to Animal Kingdom and compliment each other perfectly if implemented in the right way. 

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