New Disney theme park land set for spring opening

Pack it in US Disney parks, Tokyo DisneySea’s Fantasy Springs will be the best new Disney park thing in 2024.

I’m very interested to learn more about the Peter Pan ride. As amazing as this whole expansion looks, the description of Peter Pan as a 3D ride does little to excite me. But given Tokyo Disneysea’s legendary reputation of quality I’ve no doubt it should be something next-level.

I wonder why there aren’t any updates for Epic Universe ? I saw one on YouTube and it looks amazing !

@Tiptop: I’m sure Universal probably wants to hold their cards close and then break the theme park internet when they announce the full land and initial attraction lineup together as part of the opening date announcement. And given Universal’s well-publicized checkered past with its original Studios park opening, I’d wager that nothing will be announced until hard construction deadlines are met, firm infrastructural milestones are achieved, and multiple attraction tests and retests have been running and satisfied before even so much as teasing an opening date.

I agree fattyackin. The lack of detail for the attractions is a curious omission. Disney/OLC could clearly offer something more than names for attractions that are due to open in less than 9 months from now. Given their track record, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt here, but they really should be providing some additional attraction details and at least some on-ride concept drawings by the end of the year.

On the other hand, Universal has absolutely no reason to offer specific details for Epic Universe right now for a project that is still almost 2 full years away. Obviously, the development is well known to the theme park community and locals, but for the GP, Universal doesn't want to suggest that those folks hold off a potential 2024 visit for the pending debut of EU. I think doing any sort of major publicity for the new park more than a year ahead of its debut would be self-defeating. After all, those who want to know what's coming to the park can get most of the details from reputable sources. It's no secret what's going be in EU, and while an official announcement of everything that will be in the park (and whether or not Universal will actually employ a unique admission system that's been rumored) will undoubtedly be big news and generate massive excitement within the theme park community and beyond, it's not going to drive any revenue/spending on trips this far out from the park's debut.

Man, I so want to go to this park one day.

I'm thinking the Peter Pan ride would be TDR's version Flight of Passage

From what I've heard, the ride system for Peter Pan is actually much more similar to Spider-Man at Islands of Adventure or the new Jurassic World Adventure at Universal Beijing.

Honestly, out of all of these, the Tangled ride interests me the most. Peter Pan is my favorite IP here, but a scenic, slow-moving boat ride through the world of Tangled sounds really nice, and there could be some cool set pieces here.

Holding out hope that the Frozen ride uses the Pirates Shanghai ride system. It sounds like this is a completely original attraction not based on Frozen Ever After, since it takes place during the film and not after, and previous releases have included "surprising thrills" in the description, though that could just be a small drop. Plus, the model of the boat released at D23 features the same number of rows and, most notably, identical lap bars to the Pirates Shanghai boats (though only 4 seats across rather than 5). Frozen Ever After does not feature any restraints. The show building is also much, much larger than Frozen Ever After's.

Peter Pan is clearly a new ride system entirely, with a boat ride somehow turning into a 3D experience along the way. This is going to be a pretty big game-changer and the ultimate draw of Fantasy Springs. If the Frozen ride is also an E-ticket on the level of Pirates Shanghai, you're looking at maybe 2 of the 3 or 4 best Disney attractions on the planet opening simultaneously in the same land! And that's in addition to two other rides, a hotel, and more. Amazing.

I just find it funny that Universal has been keeping quiet on Epic Universe when the How to Train Your Dragon land is clearly visible with the dragons already around the land.

@AgustinMacias - Universal has to fill their 2 current theme parks (and Volcano Bay) for all of 2024 and part of 2025 before EU debuts, so it should be no surprise that they don't want to spill the beans on details that might in any way discourage guests from planning a trip to UO over then next 18-20 months. They haven't even provided details on the Dreamworks land at USF beyond the IPs being used, and that's slated to open next year, so why would they want to make any announcement for a park opening another year after that?

Just because rumors are on target and construction activity is clearly visible doesn't mean they need to make an official announcement. Sure, they'll probably lose some of their thunder when all of the rumored IPs and attractions are exactly as they have been predicted by the theme park media, but when it comes to the GP, keeping those folks in the dark right now is best for business.

I honestly don't know how to feel about this. On one hand, it's got a pretty impressive line up for a new land, with four attractions and four dining locations. On the other, there seems to be fairly little differentiating the features aside from IP, and we still know pretty much nothing about what they will actually contain. Visually, it certainly looks impressive, but given how many of Disney's more recent projects have turned out, I can't get too excited until I see beyond the exterior.

Yeah, but does it have a Moana themed splash pad?

@AJ Hummel

It’s the Tokyo Disneyland Resort, they always bring their A-Game.

Agustin, despite their reputation I don't give Tokyo Disney a free pass by default, but if any Disney park is going to uphold the quality standards Disney used to stand for I'd bet on them. Looking forward to actually visiting the resort myself at the end of this year and seeing what all the hype is about (unfortunately, couldn't wait for Fantasy Springs before my first visit, but there will be a next time at some point).

AJ, thankfully the Tokyo Resort is NOT owned by Disney, but the Oriental Land Company. They have a license with Disney, but they always invest big :)