Recapping Major Walt Disney World News from the SXSW Showcase
- Bobby Spina
- Mar 15
- 9 min read
Updated: Mar 17
We have quite the news article in store for you today! Today, March 15th, 2025, officially marks the end of a week-long event happening in Austin Texas called the SXSW ("South by Southwest") Showcase. The conference is held annually and features musical performances, film screenings, interactive media presentations, and industry conferences. Think of it as a more artistic version of the IAAPA Expo held here in Orlando every year.
So, what's so significant about this week-long event? Well, on Sunday, March 9th, Disney hosted one of the many panels that played into the "interactive media" side of the showcase. The panel, called "The Future of World-Building at Disney," featured Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products Chairman Josh D'Amaro giving us a few updates on some of the ongoing projects currently in development at the Disney Parks, including both Disneyland in California and Walt Disney World in Florida.
With the help of some head Imagineers by his side, the panel resulted in us receiving a good amount of park updates happening on both coasts, but especially Walt Disney World (which is what this article will strictly cover). As such, I thought it would be fitting to recap all of the major news updates we heard from the showcase, so let's dive right in!
Major Updates on WDW Projects
Now, even though Disney's panel featured quite a few newsworthy updates, those updates only correlate to two of the four Walt Disney World theme parks, with that being both Disney's Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom. Unfortunately, nothing that will be covered in this article has to do with EPCOT or Animal Kingdom, only the other two.
Just wanted to share that quick disclaimer. But with that being said, let's begin with the Magic Kingdom!
New Concept Art Revealed for Disney Starlight
This Summer, the streets of the Magic Kingdom will sparkle and shine once again with the return of a brand new nighttime parade! Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away will continue the legacy that the Main Street Electrical Parade started all those years ago as it winds its way from Frontierland down to Main Street U.S.A. Led by the powerful magic of the Blue Fairy, the parade will bring to life classic and contemporary Disney stories in a dazzling constellation of light and color.
The parade was first announced back at the 2024 D23 Expo in August to much fanfare, and so far, details regarding this brand new parade have been nothing short of fantastic. Disney has released tons of concept art depicting some of the many floats we'll be able to spot during the parade, including floats inspired by Peter Pan, Frozen, Encanto, Moana, and more. Now, we can add yet another piece of conceptual art to the mix!
As seen above, a new float inspired by Disney and Pixar's Coco will also be part of the parade. The float features Miguel strumming on his guitar as a vibrant bridge of marigolds trails behind him, leading to a replication of the Land of the Dead. Miguel is also accompanied by Dante and Pepita in their spirit guide form. Disney describes this float in particular as "an explosion of light and color you won't want to miss."
The Coco float represents the fifth piece of conceptual artwork released for just some of the many floats that will make up Disney Starlight. That's the most concept art we've ever received for a project like this, and that's just for the floats! If you'd like to see all of the concept art Disney has released so far, feel free to check out the Disney Starlight section of The Timeline here on the site.
But that's not all. Disney also released the official poster for the parade, depicting all of the Disney characters we've seen in concept art form as well.
The new poster will soon find a spot right underneath the Main Street U.S.A Train Station as guests enter the Magic Kingdom, teasing the experiences they can look forward to throughout their day. Disney says that the poster helps capture their creative vision for the parade by "showcasing both modern stories and familiar nostalgia" which has been one of the primary guiding points for the Disney Live Entertainment team working on bringing the parade to life.
That's everything new we've gotten for Magic Kingdom's new nighttime parade, and I am very excited to view it this upcoming Summer! Everything that Disney has shared with us so far has been nothing but positive, and I think this is going to be a huge winner in terms of new offerings at Walt Disney World, especially at Magic Kingdom. Even though we aren't getting a ton of new offerings this year at the parks, I think I can say with confidence that this parade is something everyone will be looking forward to.
Once again, Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away will debut this Summer in 2025 at the Magic Kingdom!
New Details for "Cars" Attractions in Frontierland
For our second and final news update for Magic Kingdom, we actually have some new info regarding the two new Cars attractions that will be coming to Frontierland sometime in the future. As a reminder, Disney is planning on demolishing both the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island to make way for this massive overhaul to the center of Frontierland. To get a grip of just how ambitious these plans are, refer to the concept art below.
Despite the fact that there have been numerous construction delays regarding this project, we still have yet to even receive a closing date for this portion of Frontierland. In fact, for the past couple of months, it was unclear if Disney was even going to move forward with this project at all, especially after hearing the public outcry of so many people in the Disney community. But according to the panel at the SXSW Showcase, it looks like work is still chugging right along, even if it's still in the conceptual phase.
While details were vague, we did receive one new piece of concept art that depicts some potential designs for the ride vehicles that will be present for the E-Ticket Cars attraction (not the smaller C-Ticket). Here's what head Imagineer, Michael Hundgen, had to say regarding the project:
“Our primary goal is creating an emotional experience for our guests. For this Cars attraction, we need to invent a new type of ride vehicle. No one builds these in a factory because it has to do so much more than just carrying you from one place to another. We have to create a car that conveys a feeling when you ride in it.”
To achieve this feeling that Michael Hundgen was talking about, the project team took a trip out to the Arizona desert to jump in a real off-road vehicle to see what it felt like driving over rocky terrain. The real challenge lies in taking real-world elements - like ascending mountain peaks and dodging around geysers - and putting a Cars spin on it. Keeping this in mind, the Imagineers worked with an outside company to build a real dirt track to race around on and took that data back to begin working on how the ride vehicles will eventually move and race in the attraction.
"We’re using a customized production vehicle," Hundgen explained. "It has sensors all over it, and we’re taking it for test drives on our dirt track to gather data on how the vehicle responds to different terrain. This is where we turn that feeling we want into real-world engineering."
Walt Disney Imagineering is working alongside the creative team at Pixar Animation Studios in bringing this attraction to life. While WDI is working on the logistics of the attraction, Pixar is helping with the custom designs of the ride vehicles. According to Pixar Chief Creative Officer, Pete Doctor, the team is creating "new race car personalities for this attraction. Each vehicle in the ride will have its own name and number, just like a real race."
Oh, and one final thing. There have been rumors for a few months now that this new Cars
E-Ticket could be utilizing a first-of-its-kind outdoor trackless ride system to give guests an increased sense of thrill. However, this is not the case. It was confirmed at the showcase that the attraction will in fact be utilizing a track-based ride system, similarly to Radiator Springs Racers at Disney's California Adventure.
Considering how quiet Disney has been on this project lately, this is a good amount of new details to work with. At this time, construction still has yet to begin in Frontierland, but its safe to say that the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island are on their final lifeline. I believe a permanent closure of both attractions is in order in the next month or two, but we still have yet to hear of an exact closing date. Only time will tell.
But that's all for the Magic Kingdom. As such, let's shift our focus over to Disney's Hollywood Studios next!
New Missions Coming to Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run
We have a ton of new details for an arguably much smaller-scale project coming to both Walt Disney World and Disneyland, with that being some brand new missions on Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run over at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge!
Yes, you heard me correct. New missions (plural).
Back at the 2024 D23 Expo, it was revealed that a new mission was coming to the Millennium Falcon, featuring the Mandalorian! At the time, it was believed to only be one new singular mission, but now we know there's more to the story. According to official concept art, it looks like a whopping three new missions will be added to the attraction!
The concept art above is the original piece we received when the announcement was made, but now we have more to work off of. See the new concept art below, led by a statement made from Disney legend Jon Favreau:
"This isn’t going to retell what happens in the movie – it’s more like participating in something that’s happening just off-camera from what you see in the film, and we’ve all worked together to come up with new missions for Smugglers Run that plays into this narrative."
Working alongside The Mandalorian team, the Imagineers have captured scenes for the attraction on the movie set, as guests might see some familiar and beloved Star Wars locations aboard the Millennium Falcon. (Care for a trip to Cloud City, anyone?)
What's even more exciting is that we even got an opening date for when these new missions will debut! The new adventures will be taking flight aboard the Millennium Falcon the same day that the film The Mandalorian and Grogu hits theaters on May 22nd, 2026. The new missions will debut at both Disneyland Park in California and Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida.
This is great news for both Disney parks fans and Star Wars fans alike. Not only will this be Mando's first major appearance in an attraction (excluding his brief appearance in the recently updated Star Tours), but this is also the first confirmed new offering coming to the domestic Disney parks next year in 2026. The timing with the film makes a lot of sense, too. Not only will Disney be able to create plenty of marketing IP synergy around the popular Star Wars franchise, but the missions will also debut just before the Summer season kicks off at the parks.
It's unclear if the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy will need to temporarily close for a refurbishment to make way for these new missions, but its certainly a possibility. Either way, this is exciting news to look forward to as some new life is breathed into this popular family-fun attraction!
Big Updates for Monsters Inc. Door Coaster
For our final update, we have some smaller, but exciting news to discuss regarding the Monsters Inc. rollercoaster that will soon be coming to what is currently Grand Avenue at Disney's Hollywood Studios.
I won't go into too much detail here (especially since it seems like common knowledge at this point), but Grand Avenue will soon be closing later this year in June to make way for a new land based off of Disney and Pixar's Monsters Inc. The Muppets will be getting booted out of their current home and making a move over to Sunset Boulevard (more specifically, Rock 'n' Rollercoaster) at a later date in order to make way for the new land.
The highlight of this new Monsters Inc. land will be the addition of a major E-Ticket attraction that will boast to be Disney's first-ever suspended rollercoaster. That's what we're focusing on today.
At the showcase, Disney released a new 3D-rendered video of what the loading bay will look like as guests wait to board the coaster. Just like in the film, the coaster train (and track) will be mechanically hoisted up into the air as guests are whisked away into the legendary door vault. From there, the adventure begins.
The short video was released on Disney's social media accounts, so while I can't show a video of it directly here, I'll leave a link to the Disney Parks Blog where you can watch it for yourself! The video is still very early in development, but it's incredibly cool to see. The hype is absolutely real for this new, first-of-its-kind vertical lift coaster!
In the meantime, here's some conceptual art Disney recently shared with us as well.
Again, I can't quite stress enough just how incredibly cool this coaster is turning out to be. Please check out the video I linked up above and see it for yourself!
But that officially wraps up this article! Plenty of news to go around for both the Magic Kingdom and Disney's Hollywood Studios, and its all very exciting. Hopefully next time, we'll hear some news regarding EPCOT and Disney's Animal Kingdom, so be sure to check back soon on the site for all the latest breaking news!
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