On Saturday, March 8, 2025, Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro and Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Alan Bergman took to the stage at SXSW to talk about the future of world-building at Disney. A big part of this was about how Disney Experiences and Disney Entertainment collaborate to tell stories and with those stories, world-build. They also shared about things that are currently in development that guests will soon be experiencing. This was done by showcasing the stories and the technology that will help tell those stories.
“The stories we tell are powered by seamlessly integrating cutting-edge technology into everything we do,” Josh told the crowd. “It’s a blend of art and science we take directly from our founder, Walt Disney – our original visionary and innovator.”
During the panel, D’Amaro and Bergman shared how when Walt Disney started to develop Disneyland, he brought a group of animators from his studio to start dreaming about how their work on the big screen could be recreated at the new park. This practice continues today, 70 years later. This partnership between Imagineers and movie-makers creates some incredible magic.
“Our filmmakers and Imagineers connect throughout the process to bring these stories from the screen into the real world in innovative and surprising ways,” Alan explained. “One of my favorite parts of my job is joining Josh and his team in those early concept meetings, where we get to see our stories and characters take on a whole new life.”
Following this introduction, the panel turned to updates that will be coming to the parks and beyond from the realms of Star Wars, Pixar, and Marvel. Daps Magic has individual articles up that dig into each of the announcements that were made (they can be seen below). Below are the highlights of this panel.
Star Wars
From a galaxy far, far away there were some pretty exciting announcements to be had. Jon Favreau came to the stage to help make them. First off, the update to Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run will be arriving with the release of The Mandalorian and Grogu on Memorial Day Weekend in 2026. Along with revealing the arrival date, destinations were also shared for the attraction’s update. This includes Tatooine, the Cloud City above Bespin, and the remains of the 2nd Death Star.
BDX Droids Going on Global Tour of Disney Parks Followed by Galactic Adventure
BDX Droids will be going on a global tour of various Disney theme parks. This includes Tokyo Disney Resort, Disneyland Paris, and Walt Disney World Resort. They will also be appearing in The Mandalorian and Grogu.
Pixar
Pete Docter Shares Details About Monsters, Inc. Coaster at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
There were a couple of updates for future experiences coming to the Disney Parks from Pixar as well. The first updates were about the new Monsters, Inc. Coaster. This will be the first Disney suspension coaster. It was also revealed that this will be the first Disney coaster with a vertical lift. A video of how it will work was shared:
Pixar Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter and Imagineer Michael Hundgen Head to the Frontier at SXSW
The other updates revolved around the new Cars-themed attraction that will be coming to Frontierland at Magic Kingdom. The Pixar team and Walt Disney Imagineering have been hard at work to create an off-road racing experience. This includes a research trip to Arizona, creating an off-road track to test vehicles on, and now working on creating the ride-vehicles that will be utilized for this attraction. These vehicles will be both functional and also have a Pixar touch to them as well.
Marvel
There were also some updates from Marvel. This includes news about Avengers Campus and also new characters arriving at the Disneyland Resort.
The Fantastic Four Heading to Tomorrowland at Disneyland
During the panel, it was revealed that when The Fantastic Four: First Steps arrives in theaters, The Fantastic Four themselves will be arriving in Tomorrowland at Disneyland. President of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige shared that Tomorrowland was an inspiration in creating the look for The Fantastic Four: First Steps. It was also shared that a robot version of H.E.R.B.I.E. is being worked on.
The main focus for the Marvel portion of the panel was on Avengers Campus at the Disneyland Resort. A brief description of the new attraction Avengers Infinity Defences was shared. Guests will join other members of the Avengers and battle battle King Thanos across multiple worlds. Heroes that will be joining in the fray include Black Panther, Ant-Man, Hulk, and others.
The second attraction, Stark Flight Lab, received quite a bit of attention. This was amplified with the arrival of Robert Downey Jr. It was revealed that Downey is working with Walt Disney Imagineering to help with this project. It was also revealed that he hopes to continue working with Imagineering once this expansion to Avengers Campus is completed. He shared about the attraction and how it allows guests to experience Tony Stark’s inventions. They will board “gyro-kinetic pods” for this tour that will eventually include robotic arms lifting the pods off the track and then putting them through several high-speed maneuvers, inspired by Iron Man and some other Avengers.
The robotic arms have been programmed to mimic the movements of live dancers. This came after the robotic arms reminded Downey of Tony Stark’s robot DUM-E from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
A video demonstration of how the vehicles for Stark Flight Lab was shown during this portion of the panel as well:
The news that came out of the SXSW panel comes as Disney Experiences is going through a period of being turbocharged. This will lead to more attractions and experiences in the parks, virtually, and on screens big and small.
What do you think of the announcements from The Future of World-Building at Disney at SXSW? What are you most excited about? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!
