‘Fantasmic,’ parade and stage show returning
Disney also revealed details about Guardians ride opening in summer
Walt Disney World has revealed new details about Epcot changes, revived attractions and the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy ride.
At Magic Kingdom, the Festival of Fantasy parade is coming back and Mickey’s Friendship Faire, a stage show outside Cinderella Castle, will be updated, Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, said Saturday. He did not announce timelines.
At Disney’s Hollywood Studios, “Fantasmic,” the nighttime spectacular, returns in 2022.
D’Amaro was updating the status of Disney projects worldwide during Destination D23, a gathering of the official Disney fan club at Disney’s Contemporary Resort.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, an indoor roller coaster, will open at Epcot in the summer of 2022, D’Amaro said. Previously, Disney had only said it would debut sometime next year. The date was announced in a segment taped by actress Glenn Close, who said she is reprising her role in the “Guardians of the Galaxy” film within the attraction.
In addition, a new statue of Walt Disney is planned for the World Celebration section of Epcot.
“In the future, as you pass Spaceship Earth, you’ll come to a location called Dreamers Point where a new statue of Walt, our original dreamer, will sit,” D’Amaro said. Imagineer Scott Goddard is the sculptor.
Elsewhere at Epcot, the restaurant going into the old Electric Umbrella space will be called Connection Cafe and Eatery.
D’Amaro mentioned the Tron ride under construction at Magic Kingdom, but as far as timing, he stuck to the “coming soon” stance.
Later in the D23 session, more details were given about “Fantasmic,” “Festival of Fantasy” parade and the castle show, none of which have been produced since Walt Disney World closed as a pandemic precaution in March 2020. Other attractions came back when the parks reopened that July, and others have since been added to the daily lineup.
In the “Fantasmic” production, Disney is “replacing a whole segment,” said Tom Vazzana, creative director with Disney Live Entertainment. “In this segment will be characters that have never been in the show before,” he said. Also coming to the end-of-night show: stunt performers, new animation and water effects.
The returning Magic Kingdom stage show is being renamed “Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire” and will feature a new opening and finale. An original song called “Where the Magic Feels Like Home” will be incorporated.
The park is keeping its character cavalcades, a sort of mini-parades developed to encourage social distancing after the park’s reopening. There will be a new version called Disney Adventure Friends and it will feature more characters than previous versions. Among them: King Louie from “Jungle Book,” the “Three Caballeros” birds, Mulan, Miguel (“Coco”), Nick and Judy from “Zootopia,” Merida, Moana, Elena, Jasmine, Woody, Jesse, the Incredibles, Max and Clarabelle Cow. It will debut in early 2022.
“I want to take a moment to acknowledge that in the last couple of years, we’ve all really missed some of our favorite experiences,” said D’Amaro, who held the position of president of Walt Disney World at the time of the shutdown. “Sometimes it’s the little things that make us feel connected. Maybe it’s your favorite snack, maybe it’s a song, it’s your favorite character.
“But when you put these things together, they’re the big things, the moments that memories are built around,” he said. “And those little things and those big things ... they are coming back.”
The D’Amaro session also included an in-person demonstration of a large full-body exoskeleton system nicknamed “Project EXO” that could be used for characters in multiple ways in the future.
D’Amaro also showed a video of himself in lightsaber training on Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, the vacation experience set to debut March 1. It all tied in with a video of him with a “real” lightsaber posted in April.
“After that, my son Alex, he calls me up from college. He says, ‘Hey, Pop, my friend said that you had a lightsaber. That thing wasn’t real, was it?’ By the way, he wasn’t alone. I got a lot of emails and calls and people saying ‘I don’t think that thing was real,’ ” D’Amaro recalled.
Then another cast member brought out a lightsaber and handed it to D’Amaro. The lights went down, and it activated with an extended beam of light.
“This one belongs to Rey. She let me borrow it. And we’re going to have to get it back to her,” he said before returning it to the cast member.
D23 sessions on Saturday also covered other topics, including Disney Cruise Line, Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser and “Drawn to Life,” the Cirque du Soleil production that debuted at Disney Springs on Thursday. Among the other announcements:
The revised version of the “Finding Nemo” show at Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be called “Finding Nemo: The Big Blue ... and Beyond.” It will take place in the time frame of “Finding Dory” but include songs and production numbers from the original show, said Jason Robinson, entertainment producer. Vazzana indicated the show would also keep “the seamlessness between the performer and the puppet.”
The Disney Wish ship, which begins sailing next summer will have two new stage shows. One will be called “Seas the Adventure” and feature Captain Minnie, and the other will be a re-imagined telling of “The Little Mermaid.”
Another character from Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser was identified: Gaya, the live entertainment/”galactic pop star” appearing during the first night’s dinner, and she fits into the layered structure of characters staffing the Halcyon like others recently revealed.
“You might hear her sing a song about power,” said Wendy Anderson, executive creative director of Walt Disney Imagineering. “She knows a thing or two about power, because she knows a thing or two about coaxium and that coaxial is going to help save her planet.”
Families visiting Central Florida through Give Kids the World, a nonprofit organization that provides vacations to ill children, would be among the first passengers aboard Galactic Starcruiser, D’Amaro said.