Among all the international Disney Parks, Disneyland Paris got the lion’s share (pun intended) of announcements at this year’s D23. From updates on current projects to surprise announcements, there’s a lot to look forward to at Disneyland Paris in the years to come. I’ve rounded up all the information and concept art released by Disney so I can give you a rundown of all the Disneyland Paris D23 2026 News and also give my opinions on them as well.
This article will break down everything that was announced at D23 for Disneyland Paris. We’ll dive into the announcements, their timelines, and any concept art or visuals that were shared as part of D23.
Let’s dive in!
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Space Mountain: De La Terre A La Lune Returns
This was one of my wildcard predictions for D23 that actually came true. Of all of my wildcard predictions that came true, this is the one I was most surprised by. I was so sure that Disneyland Paris was content with having Hyperspace Mountain in perpetuity. I’m glad that wasn’t the case.
For those of you who don’t know, Space Mountain: De La Terre A La Lune was the original concept for Space Mountain in Disneyland Paris. It opened in 1995 to rave reviews before being converted into Space Mountain: Mission 2 in 2005. Mission 2 was converted into Hyperspace Mountain in 2017, which is the current version running today.
D23 didn’t reveal too much about the upcoming project, except that Hyperspace Mountain would close late next year to make way for the original, and they did confirm that the experience would use the original on-board audio made for the attraction. In a separate, smaller panel at the Imagineering pavilion, it was confirmed that Imagineers will restore every original effect, including the famous cannon that blasts riders into space.
This was my favorite announcement of the night. It was technically the only confirmed “new ride” announcement that we got, if you don’t count the Villains Land ride announcements as we knew there would be two rides coming there. Never did I think that Disney would remove a popular IP from a ride and replace it with an original, albeit old, idea.
I like that they’re keeping the original on-board audio for this ride! Space Mountain attractions, because they take place in complete darkness, have music as a defining characteristic of their identity. This just means that if the music were different, it wouldn’t be the same. I’m glad Disney recognizes that and is actively trying to make it so that the original experience is recreated as accurately as possible.
It’s fine that we didn’t get concept art and other visuals for this ride since it’s an already pre-existing ride, but the little visuals they did drop got me very excited. If it were up to me, I’d close Hyperspace Mountain in 2026 so that it can be converted back to Space Mountain sooner.
This announcement also sets a precedent in my eyes. This just basically confirms that it’s possible for Disney to bring back old attractions if they wanted to. This gives me hope that maybe one day we’ll see a revitalized MuppetVision 3D or a return of the Peoplemover at Disneyland. One can dream, but if this ride announcement is any indication, it may not be such a farfetched idea.
Lion King Land and Ride New Concept Art
In addition to the Space Mountain news, a couple of new concept images of the new land coming to Disneyland Paris revolving around the Lion King were released. One piece of concept art showed the land from above and seemed to show what the placement of everything in the land is going to look like in relation to Adventure Way. It gave us a nice idea of how big the land is going to be.
But the piece of concept art that really caught my eye was the one of Simba and Scar in the final confrontation scene of the movie. It wasn’t confirmed by Disney if it takes place before or after the big drop, but it shows Simba and Scar about to fight during the climax of the movie. Nothing was confirmed regarding how they will depict this in the ride, but the concept art made it seem like animatronics will be used in this scene. And their animatronics looked pretty big as well.
I absolutely loved the new pieces of concept art that they dropped, especially the art of the Scar confrontation scene. It looks absolutely breathtaking and I can’t wait to see how they pull this off in the ride itself. If they can have these two animatronics lunge at each other that would be so amazing.
This ride is really shaping up to be something special. It’s only right that Disney Adventure World is the home of this ride. I hope this ride stays exclusive to Disney Adventure World, as Disneyland Paris fans deserve to have their original rides stay exclusive to them, especially after Ratatouille was cloned at Epcot.
New Parade Coming 2028
This announcement was not included in the panel itself and actually happened after the panel. It was announced that Disneyland Paris will be getting a new daytime parade to replace Disney Stars on Parade. They revealed two floats for the parade: A Coco float and an Aladdin float, and said that the float will be led by Mickey and friends. It will also feature Tiana from Princess and the Frog as well as Rapunzel from Tangled. This parade will debut in 2028 and will be exclusive to Disneyland Paris.
I don’t know why this was left off the panel, as D23 announced returning entertainment for Disneyland during the broadcast, but in any case this announcement couldn’t come at a better time as a new parade is very much needed at Disneyland Paris. As good as Disney Stars on Parade is, Disneyland Paris needs a new parade badly. I wish that this parade was opening next year, as it would perfectly coincide with DLP’s 35th anniversary. But a new parade is a new parade and I’m excited for this to come to the park.
I think DLP was one of the winners of the night in terms of announcements. Sure there were only three, but all three got me more excited to return to the park one day. Also, while I got some predictions correct, there were two things that I predicted would happen that ended up not happening. Let’s talk about them below.
My Other Predictions (That Didn’t Come True)
I first predicted that a Star Wars Land would be announced for Disneyland Paris. I said that it would go where the current Autopia attraction is and would be a mini-version of the land. I actually only predicted Space Mountain coming back only because I thought they didn’t want a Star Wars ride to be located outside Star Wars Land. This was the one disappointment of the night as Disneyland Paris still hasn’t added a new ride in over 20 years. I wish something new was announced for the park, but maybe this will only happen after Lion King opens.
I also predicted that a Moana-themed land would be announced for Disney Adventure World. While I still think a third land around Adventure Bay is coming, this D23 made me realize more and more that the resort doesn’t want anything to overshadow Lion King until it’s done. I’m not sure if the next expansion will necessarily be Moana now, but I expect them to announce it closer to when Lion King Land is complete.
Disneyland Paris D23 2026 News Conclusion
All the announcements got me very excited for the future of Disneyland Paris. I hope to be able to see all these new offerings for myself soon. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me on my socials.
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