The best (and worst) of the big Disney park news of 2024

2024 was a big year for Disney. There were the additions of some great new attractions, and fans loved some additions. Some announcements didn't make folks happy, like various ride closures or some deals that rubbed folks the wrong way. Disney did offer a lot for fans in 2024, both in the U.S. and the international parks and 2025 will likely have more.

These are the best and worst of the big Disney park changes and announcements in 2024 that made it one of the more vital years in company history!

BEST:

Tiana's Bayou Opens

This was the big opening for WDW and Disneyland. After a controversial decision to transform Splash Mountain into Tiana's Bayou Adventure, the attraction outdid expectations. Guests and critics went wild for the new take on the ride integrating characters from The Princess and the Frog and how it worked.

Even those who'd doubted in the changeover were delighted by the ride. It was a lovely new take that became an instant smash for park attendance in Florida and California. It's also proof that sometimes, a fresh look for a ride can end up being a good thing. 

Fixing Disney Studios Paris 

For years, Disney Studios Paris has been cited as the worst Disney park in the world. That's not just fans but Disney themselves admitting they dropped the ball with it. Thankfully, that's changing as the park is getting a major makeover. It starts with a new name of World of Adventure and a refreshed look.

It appears the park will be getting even more attention with an area based on The Lion King, including a Splash Mountain-style log flume ride. It's great to see Disney finally give this place serious attention for something special rather than let it continue to be among the worst parks around. 

Star Tours Update

This may be minor to some but the fun of Star Tours is how it can keep integrating new parts of Star Wars media into the ride. This year brought another shift as new scenes were added for The Mandalorian, Ashoka, and other recent TV fare. It is fun seeing Grogu or Ashoka welcome guests on missions with new worlds. 

Star Tours just feels so much more special thanks to how you can see brand new planets with each visit, and no two rides are the same. It's why this ride remains one of the most innovative around and with more Star Wars stuff coming, it's likely to continue changing over the years. 

The Country Bears Return

Making over a beloved Disney show can be a risk. Thankfully, Disney's newest version of the Country Bears Musical Jamboree in Disney World met the challenge. With brand-new songs and more advanced audio-animatronics, the show won over guests, both old and new. 

The performance captured the original vibe of the long-running show and smartly didn't try to "modernize" it too much. It proved Disney doesn't need to use some fancy IP to get people entertained but good old-fashioned music and magic to work well. 

Pixar Place Opens

After nearly two years of reconstruction, the former Paradise Pier Resort in Disneyland opened with a new makeover based on the animated studio. The Pixar decorations are lovely, from the famous lamp and ball to rooms based on the studio's biggest hits. There are also touches like the Finding Nemo-inspired rooftop pool and the nice eateries.

Its closeness to the parks helps its popularity and the Pixar theme brings in the kids. That combined for a nice vibrant new resort that takes its place among Disney's best. 

Disneyland Forward gets the green light

A limitation for Disneyland has always been the space. It's been surrounded for decades by other hotels, and the Imagineers lack the area to expand, like in Florida. That looks to change as Disney and the city of Anaheim agreed to the Disneyland Forward proposal that can allow Disney to build across the area.

That means Disney can add in some big areas through their resorts, which include new attractions based on Avatar, Frozen, and more. It'll be a few years before they can really do anything, but the fact that Anaheim is okay with Disneyland expanding means the parks there will finally be able to grow.

Fantasy Springs made Tokyo Disney better

Tokyo Disneyland was already a top-notch park. But tossing in Fantasy Springs made it even better. This immersive land enthralled guests with a brand new Frozen boat ride, a wilder take on a Peter Pan ride and a Tangled boat ride, all boasting the best AA and 3-D animation ever seen in a Disney park.

There's also the park's setting, recreating each movie's world in lush detail and making you feel you're walking through Arendelle, Neverland, or Rapunzel's land. It's further proof of how Japan gets some of the best stuff, and Disney Imagineers can still produce pure theme park magic. 

The new push for the parks 

D23 had a lot of big announcements, the most notable being the new plans for all Disney parks around the world. Better, these are not "blue sky" early concepts but all stuff well into the planning stages, and Disney is promising they will be built over the next decade. 

Every single park around the world will have new rides, attractions, makeovers, and more. We're getting Indiana Jones and Encanto at Animal Kingdom, Disneyland getting Avatar and Coco rides, Avengers Campus, and the much-anticipated Villains Land in WDW. Disney is truly committing to changing over the parks and that leads to plenty of excitement over the next few years. 

WORST

Rivers of America Closing

As great as all the D23 park announcements were, one in particular got fans angered. That's the idea of remaking Walt Disney World's Fronteirland into a Cars-themed area with two new rides. That may sound good, but to do it, Disney plans to close down Tom Sawyer's Island and pave over the Rivers of America. 

Much has been written on what a bad idea this is, from how it takes away needed waterways and cooling to how Cars doesn't fit this at all. It's currently in limbo as Disney and Florida hash out the details and maybe the rides will be good. But for many a Disney fan, ruining one of the best parts of the park for more IP is one of the dumber decisions Disney has made in a while. 

MuppetVision Closure

Maybe Muppet*Vision 3D was getting long in the tooth and needed a refresh. Yet for millions of Muppet fans, the announcement the 3-D movie was closing down after three decades was sad. The last project by Jim  Henson, MuppetVision has been a delight for so many years and fans still love checking it out.

At least the Muppets aren't leaving the park, as the Electric Mayhem takes over the Rock n Roller Coaster, and Disney promises MuppetVision will have a presence in some way. It won't be the same, though, so it has to rank among the sadder WDW closures.

The Lightning Lane Overhaul

This is yet another "update" to the Lightning Lane that just makes it more complex than it has to be. Disney's latest tries to merge it with Genie+ but then throws in different times, making it harder to get to the right rides when you want and just over complications abounding. Many Disney guests hate having to plan things out so exactly, and yet every time LL gets an overhaul, it somehow gets even worse. 

CommuniCore Hall Debacle

For all the billions of dollars Disney is pouring into Epcot, you'd expect something fancy. When Disney rid the park of the old Innoventions and brought back the classic CommuniCore, they promised an area "limited only by boundaries of imagination." Turns out those boundaries were pretty tight. 

Instead of something festive, something innovative or something just fun, guests saw what looked like a dead mall display or cafeteria. A holiday "decoration" only made it look sadder. Maybe that can improve with an upcoming gallery celebrating Disney's past, like Broadway shows, but to see what was once the heart and soul of Epcot looking worse than an Orlando outlet mall is downright pathetic. 

Shooting Arcade Into DVC

This is a smaller gripe but still a bad sign in many ways. The Fronteirland Shooting Arcade was a cult spot in WDW, where guests enjoyed firing air rifles at the Old West targets. So getting rid of it was bad enough, but worse was that it was so Disney could create a DVC lounge.

Do we really need another one of those smack in the middle of a big land? Especially one already set for a huge transformation? It strikes as tone-deaf by Disney to get rid of a fun small part of the park that's been around so long for a lounge for the more wealthy guests and another reason folks get upset with the company's moves. 

The Price Hikes

Yes, Disney has always been expensive. Yet, in a time when people are already feeling economic anxiety, hiking up the prices for 2025 isn't going over well. At least in the past, the prices have kept pace with the guest's expectations. But Disney hiking up a one-day ticket by ten dollars is something else. 

That combines with higher prices for food and accommodations, but it's the passes that get attention. That Disney made it less "bang for the buck" means this looked like just pure corporate greed to turn fans on Disney more. 

Epic Universe stole the thunder

Disney is looking at the long view of Orlando and that may pay off. But there's no denying how Universal stole the attention from Disney thanks to the announcement of Epic Universe coming in 2025. It's everything Disney fans would want, an entire park boasting new rides and immersing visitors in great experiences.

There's no doubt Epic Universe is going to be the big hit in 2025, drawing in scores of guests and that'll hit Disney's own attendance numbers. Maybe the long-term additions can swing things back but it's going to stick in Disney's craw for a bit how their rivals are going to take a lead in the theme park wars.