Hong Kong Disneyland Pixar and Marvel Expansions Details Revealed at D23

Hong Kong Disneyland Pixar and Marvel Expansions cover

As part of D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, Disney made some announcements about attractions coming to Hong Kong Disneyland. Specifically, more details and concept art were revealed by Disney on the Hong Kong Disneyland Pixar and Marvel expansions that were unveiled a couple of years ago. I stayed up to date with all the Hong Kong Disneyland news to come out of the event so I could give a rundown of everything that was announced and give my two cents on it as well.

This article will break down everything that was announced about these new projects, from the new concept art to specific details about each experience and what we can expect from these new expansions.

Let’s begin!

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Table of Contents

Pixar Theater Coming to Toy Story Land

Disney unveiled new concept art, music, and character designs for the new Pixar Entertainment Experience coming to the park. It was announced by Disney that the theater would be an expansion of Toy Story Land, taking place in the backyard of Andy’s next door neighbor Aria (or Arya. Disney hasn’t revealed the spelling of her name yet). This effectively means that there will be two “backyards” that make up Toy Story Land now.

Disney released concept art of the exterior of the theater. Aria was also revealed to be from Hong Kong, which is why the concept art of the theater contains references to Chinese games and toys. The project will also introduce a new character to the land named Poppy. Poppy looks to be either an armadillo or a pangolin based on the concept art that was shared.

Disney didn’t get into specifics about the story of the show, but revealed that it will be exclusive to Hong Kong Disneyland. Disney also said that they collaborated with Pixar and Industrial Light and Magic or ILM on the show, including having a 2-Day story session between the three teams to come up with the show. Five Pixar worlds will be featured in the show: Toy Story, Inside Out, Cars, Monsters Inc, and The Incredibles.

Disney also let D23 attendees here a sneak peak of the theme song of the show. Titled “Bloom”, the song is one of two original songs that were developed for the show. Finally, in a post about the Pixar experience, Tim Sypko, Managing Director of Hong Kong Disneyland, revealed that the Pixar Entertainment Experience will open in the first half of 2027.

I am very excited for this theater! The concept art looks gorgeous, showing a very colorful theater filled with so much detail. The expansion of Toy Story Land’s story to contain Aria’s backyard and Poppy is also a welcome addition to the land. Having Aria also be from Hong Kong and seeing her culture in the decor on the exterior of the building is a nice touch as well.

I also love that the show will be exclusive to the park. I was worried that the show would just be a clone of the Pixar show in Disneyland Paris, which I am glad is not the case. Also, the snippet of the theme song of the show sounded very good. It gave off a very playful, upbeat vibe and I’m excited to hear more of the song. It was also a welcome surprise that Imagineering collaborated with ILM on this show. This tells me that the digital environments of the show are going to be spectacular, which has me very excited.

The drawings of Poppy make her seem like a very cute, lovable character. I also like that she’s a character exclusive to the show, giving HKDL another park-exclusive character to add to its lineup. I also think that the five Pixar worlds that were chosen to be part of this show perfectly capture the themes of joy, imagination, and play that this show seems to be aiming for.

Overall, I’m very excited for this Pixar Entertainment Experience and I’m looking forward to learning more about it in the coming months before its big opening in the first half of next year. Shout out to Hong Kong Disneyland as well for moving fast on this attraction. I didn’t expect it to be done in the first half of next year, but I am so excited now that we’re getting something totally brand new to the park in just a couple of months.

Marvel Expansion Coming to Tomorrowland

Over in Tomorrowland, Disney announced some more details on the upcoming Marvel-themed expansion coming to Tomorrowland. A model of the area is part of the Imagineering pavilion at the D23 show floor, and it gave us a glimpse of how tall the tower is going to be relative to the rest of Stark Expo and nearby attractions. The model also included a look at the quinjet that will be at the front of the expansion, which was confirmed to be a stage where a new show will be performed, which we also got concept art for that shows the Avengers around the quinjet.

The parks panel also revealed new concept art for the tower itself, including a look inside the tower that seems to imply that action will be happening all around you, including on the floor and the ceiling of the ride vehicle. This, however, was not confirmed by Disney. What Disney did confirm was two of the locations that will be featured on the ride: Asgard and Wakanda. The tower will also be 128ft tall, which is just two feet shorter than the other Tower of Terrors around the world.

A snippet of the ride’s story was also shared at the park’s panel. We enter the Research Training Labs at Stark Expo for a look at new technology that will help the Avengers fight off threats of all kinds. Of course, this new technology attracts sinister beings who want the technology all for themselves. It’s this fight over this new technology that we will be caught in the middle of in this new attraction.

We did not get an opening timeframe for this attraction at D23, but given that it hasn’t gone vertical yet I would assume it will open in another 2-3 years time.

I really like the model and the concept art of this new attraction. Some people have said that the building looks ugly and grey, but I think it looks futuristic and should fit in well with the rest of Tomorrowland. I like the addition of the stage out front and what looks like dining, shopping, and more meet and greet locations behind it. The show looks exciting and is sure to appeal to Marvel fans.

I also love that the tower is going to be almost as tall as the other Tower of Terrors. I thought from the initial concept art that it looked to be a little smaller, which I’m now glad is not the case. I wish they could have given us a list of all the Avengers and, more importantly, the Marvel villains that will be part of the attraction, but given that it’s still in development I guess it makes sense that those finer details weren’t revealed yet.

I would’ve also liked to know an estimate of when this is going to open. I know it won’t open in 2027 but an opening year would have been nice to know. I also wish we got more info on what exactly is going to happen in the ride and what is going into the new buildings they’re building behind the quinjet. I guess I was just expecting the level of detail we got for the Pixar announcement to be the same for this Marvel expansion, and that was not the case.

But that aside, I really liked this look into Hong Kong Disneyland’s upcoming expansions. The future of the resort is bright and I’m glad Disney finally gave us more details about these experiences. However, I did predict that other things would be coming to HKDL which sadly weren’t announced. Let’s talk about them!

My Other Predictions (That Didn’t Come True)

The first thing I predicted was that a new castle stage show would be coming to the park. Ever since the 20th Anniversary ended, nothing has been happening on the castle stage. I thought they would announce a show at D23, but I guess HKDL is so focused on the current Pixar Entertainment Experience that they don’t have the resources right now to mount a castle stage show as well. That’s just my speculation into why they didn’t announce a new show. I still expect a permanent castle stage show to be announced soon, but maybe after the Pixar Entertainment Experience opens next year.

The other attraction I predicted was a new nighttime parade for Hong Kong Disneyland. This was more of a longshot and while parades were announced at D23, none of them were for HKDL. I guess the park still thinks that Momentous is enough to keep people in the park till sundown. I hope they add a nighttime parade soon, maybe for the park’s 25th anniversary. If it added a castle stage show and a night parade, HKDL would have the best entertainment of any Disney Park.

Hong Kong Disneyland Pixar and Marvel Expansions Conclusion

And that’s everything that was announced for Hong Kong Disneyland at this year’s D23! It’s an exciting time to be an HKDL fan, and I can’t wait to see these new experiences come to the park. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me on my socials.

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