It may sound as though its content would be as cold and boring as a freshman economics class, but the Walt Disney Company’s 1990 employee annual report contained within it an idea that changed the face of entertainment forever.
“We’ve been doing a lot of dreaming lately,” CEO Michael Eisner proclaimed in the document, with a Nick Fury-ian bravado. “And we’ve given the dream a name. It’s called ‘The Disney Decade.’”
Those three words — The Disney Decade — have come to be viewed as a kind of Pax Disneyana among Mouse House loyalists. That fabled 10-ish year span saw the construction of dozens of hotels, countless attractions, multiple entertainment areas, and, oh yeah, an entire fourth gate — and that’s just in Orlando.
18 years and a couple of economic crises later, Disney hasn’t quite experienced the same height that it did when Eisner boldly announced his forthcoming Decade. But, in recent years, it’s become hard to ignore the seismic activity that seems to have its eyes set on the Walt Disney Company once again.
As its film studios churn out billion-dollar hit after billion-dollar hit, and as Walt Disney World’s noisy neighbors continue raising a racket down the street, the signs of a second Disney Decade are becoming impossible to ignore.
So are we really doing this again? Is The New Disney Decade upon us? It certainly seems so. Here’s why:
What We Know is Coming
Image: Disney
You don’t have to look too far into the past to find a time when we were totally in the dark about what Walt Disney World had planned for the coming years. There was a time when Seven Dwarves Mine Train was the most hyped project in Disney’s arsenal and when New Fantasyland seemed like it might be the sum total of Disney’s response to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
In hindsight, it’s easy to see how foolish we all were.
2017’s edition of the D23 Expo was a kind of coming out party for The New Disney Decade. That event either announced or confirmed roughly a dozen new projects that Disney planned on bringing to its parks. And in the time since, we’ve learned of other official plans Disney has to remake its entertainment offerings.
We found out that Toy Story Land would open in the Summer of 2018. And, as part of Disney Hollywood Studios’ complete overhaul, The Great Movie Ride would be replaced with Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway.
Image: Disney
We learned that Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge would make a bicoastal debut in 2019, complete with multiple attractions and even a fully-themed and immersive hotel set in the Star Wars universe.
Disney showcases other major E-Ticket attractions that would come to the Florida resort, including an import of the beloved Ratatouille attraction from Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris and, from Shanghai Disneyland, Tron Lightcycle Power Run. And, replacing the Universe of Energy, Disney would create a new Guardians of the Galaxy attraction.
Image: Disney
But even that is not all. Disney further confirmed new ancillary developments, like a Space-themed restaurant in Epcot’s Future World, a new DVC resort on the Caribbean Beach Resort grounds, and the highly anticipated Disney Skyliner gondola system.
And then, just this year, Disney finally announced that Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland would all receive a new land based on the Marvel Universe.
That’s a lot of stuff, and to be honest, it’s not even every single project Disney has announced (Japan is getting a new restaurant!). But, here’s the craziest part of all: They’ve got more stuff coming that they haven’t announced yet.
What We Think is Coming
The Disney rumor mill can be frustrating to follow. Often times, fans’ wishes mix with employee speculation and turn into something that can be hard to confirm or deny. But, that speculation is really half the fun of being a Disney fan. And, in many cases, it comes from versions of plans that Disney really, truly is considering.
We’ve heard a lot of rumors in the last few months about what might be coming the parks — specifically to Walt Disney World. Rumors abound about new hotels being considered both by Epcot and on the Magic Kingdom monorail loop.
Speaking of monorails, we’ve heard that the desperately-needed rebuilt monorails could finally be coming our way.
And, if guests want another way to move around the property, Disney is reportedly hoping to eventually make the newly-expanded Minnie Van fleet fully-autonomous.
Image: Disney
But then, there’s perhaps the most ambitious and least reported on change that we think is coming: The Future World revamp at Epcot.
At 2017’s D23 Expo, we got a glimpse of concept art for a redesigned Future World — one with more new urbanist architectural touches like ample green space and minimal artifice.
Image: Disney
We still don’t know much about it, but considering most of Future World is going under the knife in the coming years, it’s not a stretch to think a more robust rethink could be in the works. And, as a Disney fan, nothing can be more exciting than a futuristic and well-designed Future World coming in the next decade.
What We Can’t Even Imagine is Coming
Image: Disney
As much as we love to speculate, Disney has ideas tucked away in its offices that none of us could think of in our wildest dreams. And, believe it or not, some of those ideas will become real, honest to god attractions and entertainment locations at Disney Parks around the globe.
Let’s go back to the Space-themed restaurant for a second. When Disney announced it at D23 Expo, alongside a Mission: Space revamp, it was received nearly as warmly as the specifics for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Why? Because, unlike most of the other announcements, it was a complete and total surprise.
And that, ultimately, is what can give us the most hope that what we’re about to experience is The New Disney Decade. There was a time when we could keep track of all the changes coming to the Disney Parks. We knew everything that was coming, and we knew when to expect it to arrive. We got one new thing a year, if we were lucky, and even then, it might only be a new restaurant or some new bathrooms.
But those days are over. And now, Disney has its foot so firmly on the accelerator, the company can afford to throw us surprises just to keep us guessing.
Everything we’ve talked about in here — from Star Wars to gondolas — is planned to open before 2021. That’s three years away.
But a decade lasts 10 years. We’re just getting started.
