2023 was the year of Disney World announcements and a few new openings. What will 2024 hold for Disney guests?
2023 saw the opening of Tron: Lightcycle Run in April and later this year Moana's Journey of Water opened at EPCOT. We saw the end of Splash Mountain which closed in May and immediately started seeing the construction on Tiana's Bayou Adventure.
2024 will be interesting as the new opening date predictions for Tiana's new attraction will be in the fall of 2024. Rumors of a completel Frontierland makeover are just that. There is no current plans to overhaul the area and retheme it to a New Orleans type area. In fact, Disney announced that the County Bear Jamboree is going to get a new show that will replace the outdated one.
At EPCOT, Walt the Dreamer statue was revealed and more walls came down around Showcase Gardens. With all the announcements made during the D23 event a couple of months ago, there is a lot to look forward to.
You won't have to wait long for 2024 to bring back the old. Starting in January, the Festival of the Arts will return for a month long celebration at EPCOT and that will be followed a short time later by the Flower and Garden Festival. The F&G will run for several months through the early part of summer before giving way to the Food and Wine Festival.
EPCOT will also seem the remaining construction walls come down around World Celebration. This will feature all new entertainment venues and food options. There is no specific dates yet.
At Animal Kingdom we will say good-bye in 2024. Good-bye to Dinosaur the ride. It will be refurbished and reconditioned into an Indiana Jones themed ride. Next door Dinoland will close for good as well. Dinoland will be turned into an ENCANTO themed land. Both will shutter sometime in early 2024.
For Disney World guests, the changes are not just with the attractions or the food options. While new restaurants and food kiosks will pop up, there will no longer be a need for park reservations and park-hopping will return to its pre-Covid days where you could enter a park at any time and jump to another immediately. No more waiting until 2:00.
Disney dining plans will also make its long awaited returns. There are some changes to the plans usage rules but the value hasn't changed.