Some new Disney Parks characters will be making their big screen debut next year.
Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro and Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Alan Bergman shared the news during a presentation this morning at the SXSW Conference in Austin, Texas. In a presentation titled "The Future of World-Building at Disney," the two welcomed several Disney creative leaders on stage to announce new details about projects between Disney's theme parks and studios, including Jon Favreau, director and producer of "The Mandalorian and Grogu."
Among the announcements, Favreau said that Walt Disney Imagineering's BDX droids will appear in his new Star Wars movie, which hits theaters May 22, 2026.
On that date, a new Mandalorian and Grogu overlay also will debut on the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run rides at Disneyland and Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios. Favreau also shared concept images of the original trilogy locations that fans may visit during this new mission on the ride, including Tatooine, Endor, and Bespin.
"Jon and Dave have shared their story with us, and now we’ve all worked together to come up with a new mission for Smugglers Run that plays into this narrative," WDI's Asa Kalama said.
In the parks, the BDX droids, which premiered at Disneyland, also will be appearing at Walt Disney World, Disneyland Paris, and Tokyo Disneyland later this year.
Pixar Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter and Walt Disney Imagineering's Michael Hundgen shared some details about two new Pixar-themed attractions coming to the Walt Disney World Resort.
For the new Monsters Inc. roller coaster, the two shared an animatic for the ride's load station, which will feature suspended seats that will rise vertically out of the station to join the ride track.
For the new Cars road rally ride at Magic Kingdom, the two shared a first look at some of the character concepts for the off-road-inspired ride vehicles that will transverse a new environment to be built on the current site of the Rivers of America.
Imagineers have been testing off-road vehicles on dirt tracks as they work to design the ride track for the attraction, as well as the suspension system for those ride vehicles. You can see a demo video on Disney's TikTok.
Bruce Vaughn, president and chief creative officer of Walt Disney Imagineering, and Kevin Feige, producer and president of Marvel Studios, came out to announce that fans at Disneyland will be able to meet the Fantastic Four at Disneyland's Tomorrowland when "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" opens July 25. Imagineers also are working with Marvel to create a H.E.R.B.I.E. robot, as well.
Finally, Robert Downey Jr. came on to talk about the new Stark Flight Lab ride that will be coming to Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure. The ride will involve vehicles on a track that will be picked up by robot arms and maneuvered in a demonstration of Stark Industries technology.
Downey recalled his first visit to WDI's headquarters in Glendale to work on the attraction. "Talk about a closed set," he said. "It's the Area 51 of fun."
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There was a video out at d23 Brazil that wowed me. You should see it. It's incredible.
Sorry, I wasn't impressed at all by any of these announcements. I was particularly underwhelmed by the Cars presentation where they're touting some "new" ride vehicle that looks conspicuously like the Indy/Dinosaur vehicles that would obviously need to have the capability to operate outdoor and have bulked up suspensions to handle designed bumps and ruts. And WDI had to go on an ATV "research trip" to learn about off roading - whoopie! Some bumps and drifting doesn't excite me, especially since the vehicles are unlikely to move particularly fast around the track, certainly not as fast as RSR.
The Monsters Inc coaster looks interesting, but appears to be similar to the Vekoma thrill/sky glider concept reportedly coming to SFMM. The lift track in the station will obviously put guests right into the movie, but I worry that the actual coaster portion of the attraction will be nerfed in order increase accessibility (F.L.Y. is 51", though if this doesn't go into the prone position, they can probably get the heigh restriction down to 42" - Dragonflier at Dollywood is 38", which is a standard family invert). Having the coaster completely enclosed will reduce the need to create high speeds and forces, but I worry that this ends up being nothing more than a kiddie coaster with a gimmick like 7DMT.
The Stark Labs attraction is pretty much what was expected - a bunch of stationary Kuka arms synchronized to music and effects. The preview video seems to indicate there might be some special way to load the system (guests board seats that roll down a track and then lock into the arm before the program starts), but aside from that, it's no different than Ice Pilots School at Legoland Billund. As a supporting attraction in Avengers CAMPUS, this probably works fine (though the capacity for this is going to be extremely low), but until this land has a true e-ticket (GotG:MB is close, but the Avengers e-ticket teased frequently by WDI would be the real e-ticket for the area), all of these low capacity additions will do nothing but frustrate guests.
I'm extremely disappointed that Disney and Epic are going to take so long to deliver the already promised Mandalorian overlay to MFSR. WDI promised this back at D23 in August, yet this won't be ready until May 2026?? I get that Disney wants to have some corporate synergy with the upcoming movie, but it's crazy to me that they teased this last summer and then teased it again this weekend only for it to still be another 15 months away.
I think a lot of Marvels fans got geeked when they announced that the new Fantastic Four took styling cues from Tomorrowland, but while I don't necessarily mind those characters appearing occasionally in that section of the park, I would be absolutely appalled if Tomorrowland in either Disneyland or MK were rethemed/reskinned around the Marvel movie. Disney has had trouble keeping Tomorrowland looking like the utopian future that Walt envisioned, but plastering IP all over it is not the answer. Hopefully this announcement is just a mutual admiration between the parks and Marvel.
In the end, this really fell flat for me, and doesn't answer the biggest questions that people have about the future of Disney parks, which are Villains Land and Disneyland Forward. The only real announcement of substance that I felt moved the needle was Epic integrating Disney parks into Fortnite.
I guess you ask and then receive, as Disney just today posted a video tease of the Avengers Infinity Defense attraction, which is the long-promised e-ticket for Avengers CAMPUS. And low and behold, it looks EXACTLY like the Amazing Adventures of Spiderman, which opened over 25 years ago and is the e-ticket for IOA's Marvel land. Transformers, the theoretical next generation of the Spiderman ride system, which opened in 2012 at USH (word is that Battle for the Ministry is the next evolutionary step of the motion base dark ride), is located less than an hour from where Disney is building what is supposed to be the cornerstone attraction of their US Marvel land.
I appreciate WDI pulling back the curtain of late to reveal all the stuff they've been working on, but in a way it's so disappointing to see that they're really not pushing the envelope very much or bringing anything revolutionary to the table despite all the flowery language they use in describing their upcoming projects.
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Interesting words about the cars attraction coming to Magic Kingdom. It sounds as though WDI is going for the sensation of drifting on an open gravel track with the possible appearance of it being a trackless vehicle.