Animated characters often move in non-physical ways and have proportions that are far from a typical walking robot. This provides an ideal platform for innovation in both mechanical design and stylized motion control. In this video, we bring Olaf to life in the physical world, relying on reinforcement learning guided by animation references for control.

@DisneyResearchHub

The story came out in May, but I completely missed it.

The Walt Disney Company and Miral, Abu Dhabi’s leading creator of immersive destinations and experiences, announced an agreement to create a landmark Disney theme park resort in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The waterfront resort will be located on Yas Island, a world-class destination for entertainment and leisure, connecting travelers from the Middle East and Africa, India, Asia, Europe, and beyond. This seventh Disney theme park resort will combine Disney’s iconic stories, characters and attractions with Abu Dhabi’s vibrant culture, stunning shorelines, and breathtaking architecture.

D23 is a biannual event where Disney reveals their plans for parks, media, and other entertainment. D23 2024 took place this past weekend, and there were a lot of big announcements. In an effort to draw contrast with previous D23 events which included some highly speculative plans, Disney Experiences Chairmen Josh D'Amaro prefaced the Imagineering project announcements by saying:

“Everything we share here tonight is in active development. This isn’t Blue Sky. We’re doing all of it.”

I haven't found a singular, concise list of all the announcements in one place, so I'm trying to compile it all here. Please chime in if you see I missed anything, or if you're particularly hyped (or particularly not hyped) about any of these announcements!

Parks

• Magic Kingdom

  • Villians-themed land to be added, adjacent to Frontierland. There's some concept art and "two new attractions planned as well as dining, shopping and more."
  • Two Cars attractions to be added in Frontierland. There's some concept art for that as well. Not a mirror of the existing Cars Land or Radiator Springs Racers, but similar in concept to the latter. The concept art seems to indicate that this attraction will entirely replace the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island attractions.
  • Disney Starlight, a new night-time parade, premiers Summer of 2025.

• Animal Kingdom

  • Tropical Americas Land to replace Dinoland USA (concept art here), set to open in 2027, with at least two new attractions planned:
  • An Indiana Jones ride, which will replace the Dinosaur ride. Seems to re-use the existing ride vehicles and looks similar to Indiana Jones Adventure, but "will be an all-new adventure, unlike any of the existing Indy attractions around the world."
  • An Encanto dark-ride that "takes place inside Casita on the day after young Antonio receives his gift of communicating with animals."

• Hollywood Studios

  • Monsters, Inc Land to be added, which will feature "the first suspended coaster ever in a Disney Park."
  • Smuggler's Run to be updated, new mission featuring The Mandolorian and Grogu to be added in 2026. More info here.

• EPCOT

  • Test Track to be refreshed, new scenes added. More info here.

• Disneyland

  • Walt Disney – A Magical Life, complete with "audio-animatronic" Walt Disney, will debut inside the Main Street Opera House in 2025 (concept art, more info)
  • Tiana's Bayou Adventure opens November 15, 2024

• Disney California Adventure

  • Avengers Campus to be expanded, doubling its current size and adding two new attractions. Construction to begin in 2025 (concept art here, more info here). Those attractions are:
  • Avengers Infinity Defense, which resembles Star Tours: The Adventures Continue, but for Marvel Comics Universe locales.
  • Stark Flight Lab, which resembles the mechanics of Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey at Universal, but with two people per ride vehicle.
  • Avatar Land to be added, themed after the second film "as well as upcoming films."
  • A Coco ride, which "will draw inspiration for the attraction from beloved classics, like Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean."

• Disney Adventure World

  • Formerly Walt Disney Studios Park, the second Disney park in Paris, there's a big overhaul project here to re-theme 90% of the park. More info here.
  • Lion King ride (concept art, more info)

• Shanghai Disneyland

  • A Spider-Man themed roller coaster to be added (concept art, more info)

• Hong Kong Disneyland

  • A Spider-Man themed attraction to be added, looks mechanically similar to The Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror (concept art, more info)

Movies

• Sequels

  • Moana 2 (in theaters November 27, 2024 official trailer here)
  • Zootopia 2 (set for sometime around Thanksgiving 2025, trailer here)
  • Frozen 3 (set for 2027)
  • Incredibles 3
  • Avatar: Fire and Ash (in theaters December 19, 2025)
  • TRON: Ares (in theaters October 10, 2025)
  • Toy Story 5 (set for Summer 2026, teaser trailer here)

• Live Action Remakes

  • Mufasa: The Lion King (in theaters December 20, 2024)
  • Snow White (teaser trailer here)
  • Lilo & Stitch (set for Summer 2025, teaser trailer here)

• Star Wars

  • The Mandalorian & Grogu (set for 2026)

• Pixar

  • Elio (in theaters June 13, 2025)
  • Hoppers (set for 2026)

• Other

  • Monster Jam, a film about the monster truck event starring Dwayne Johnson, currently filming

Shows

• Marvel

  • Daredevil: Born Again (launches March 2025)
  • Agatha All Along (premiers September 18, 2024, trailer here)
  • Ironheart (set for 2025)

• Star Wars

  • Star Wars: Skeleton Crew (premiers December 3, 2024, trailer here)
  • Andor, Season 2 (set for 2025)

• Pixar

  • Win or Lose, Pixar's first series (premiers December 6, 2024, trailer here)
  • Dream Productions, also by Pixar, "an Inside Out spin-off about the dream factory inside Riley's head," set sometime in between the two movies (set for 2025)

• Other

  • Percy Jackson and The Olympians, Season 2 (set for 2025, trailer here)

Other

• Disney Cruise Line to add 4 new ships (bringing the total to 13). More info here.
• Disney to collaborate with Epic Games on Fortnite. More info here.

A very candid look at the development of the "BDX Droids" that were play-tested at Galaxy's Edge in Disneyland late last year. Thought it was really interesting and fun!

If you like this more-technical kind of Disney engineering stuff, check out the DisneyResearchHub channel on YouTube.