At D23 Walt Disney Imagineering Dazzles

It was hard for even the most jaded Disney Parks skeptic to walk into the Walt Disney Imagineering booth at D23 and not come away impressed.

The booth – or pavilion, as it were – modeled after the 1964-65 World’s Fair, where Walt himself debuted such immortal classics as It’s a Small World and the Carousel of Progress, was the largest that Walt Disney Imagineering, the arm of the company responsible for the company’s theme parks and cruise ships, had ever attempted.

And it was stunning.

Bruce Vaughn, a longtime Imagineer and the current President and Chief Creative Officer, addressed a clustered group of media ahead of D23, which hits Anaheim, California, this weekend just a few steps away from Walt Disney’s original theme park Disneyland. Vaughn was perched on an elevated stage at the preview, flanked by Neil Patrick Harris (who will host Saturday’s live-streamed parks presentation) and Thomas Mazloum, chairman of Disney Experiences (which Walt Disney Imagineering falls under). From the stage, Vaughn encouraged attendees to wander around the pavilion, looking at many of the projects that WDI has in the works stateside and abroad.

By the time security started shooing media out of the pavilion, to preview the next booth, many of us hadn’t had time to properly process all that we had seen. The pavilion was packed, almost overwhelmingly so.

Perhaps the biggest showstopper was a room-sized model dedicated to the Piston Peak area of the Magic Kingdom park, which is coming to the sprawling Walt Disney World resort outside of Orlando, Florida, sometime soon. Piston Peak is one of the more controversial upcoming projects in the Disney theme park portfolio, because its construction necessitated the removal of the iconic Rivers of America. When the waterway was removed, it forever transformed both the physical topography and the emotional landscape of the most-visited theme park in the world. Countless guests have fond memories of looking out over the water or visiting the island that dotted it. All for a new area devoted to “Cars”?

But the model, which is huge and highly detailed, put those anxieties to rest. The land is filled with ornate rock work, new water features, including ambling streams and playful geysers, with a pair of attractions – a new centerpiece attraction that is focused on an off road adventure and a flat ride that appeared to be based on one of the more memorable scenes from “Cars 3,” when Lightning McQueen joins a demolition derby. Deeply immersive and so fun, the model helpfully oriented where the land will go – you could see where the Haunted Mansion sat and where Big Thunder Mountain loomed.

Just establishing the geographical location of Piston Peak did a lot; it showed that the land wouldn’t overwhelm but would rather settle into the existing environment. And the land itself looked dazzling, the kind of highly themed project that many Imagineering naysayers thought they could never create again. Even for guests who have no emotional connection to the “Cars” franchise, this looked like the kind of attraction that could broker lasting experiences for countless families and, with any luck, push ride technology and theming to an even greater place.

An Imagineer friend ambled up as I was staring at the model and said, “Pretty cool huh?” He knew I was skeptical and could tell that such skepticism had been washed away, like the last remaining drops of the Rivers of America.

Other areas of the pavilion were just as thrilling – there was a “Star Wars”-themed room that had a food cart operated by a character Martin Scorsese voices in “The Mandalorian and Grogu.” The Scorsese character, a four-armed alien, has fallen asleep and Grogu pops up, using his Force powers to bring drinks and food his way. Both of the animatronic characters were next-level; lifelike and utterly believable. But the way the whole tableau played out was classic Walt Disney Imagineering – it established a story and let that story unfold. It didn’t matter if you popped in for five seconds or three minutes, you understood what was happening and why it was important.

Unfortunately, we were told that the food cart was more of an R&D project than anything else, an unbelievably impressive prototype that served as a proof of concept but was unlikely to find its way into the parks.

There were animatronic figures set up from a forthcoming “Encanto”-themed attraction at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, also a part of Walt Disney World, and a model of an “Avengers” attraction under construction at Disney California Adventure. There was also a highly detailed model of what Disney keeps calling an “Avatar” experience, also at DCA, putting aside at least some of the fears that the project would be scrapped in favor of a “Zootopia” attraction.

Attractions from around the world were also displayed – a new Space Mountain coming to Tokyo Disneyland; a “Lion King”-themed flume ride set to be installed at Disneyland Paris’ second gate; a Marvel-embroidered drop tower at Hong Kong Disneyland (part of that park’s iteration of Avengers Campus).

Everything on display was not only cool and neat and looked very fun to ride, but they embodied principals of Walt Disney Imagineering that have been the bedrock of the division since Walt founded it as an off-the-books research facility (then called WED Enterprises). These attractions use cutting edge technology or bend existing technology into a miraculous new shape and in the process help establish the next generation of immersive storytelling.

Are there quibbles to be had? For sure. The reliance on IP and preexisting properties is a bummer. For some reason Disney (or more succinctly the Disney board) have yet to realize that before “Pirates of the Caribbean” was a billion-dollar film franchise, it was an original property in the Disney theme parks. There needs to be that kind of creative investment in the parks, not just to fuel other areas of the company but to create the kind of lasting emotional connections that can only exist within these parks. It used to be special when you could only see Figment if you visited EPCOT Center. You couldn’t rush home and watch six Figment movies on Disney+. There’s an elemental bond that is created there that Disney seems to have forgotten about and it continues to be a missed opportunity.

Then again, part of the pavilion showcased a new iteration of Carousel of Progress, one of those original World’s Fair attractions that has been in near-continuous operation, either at Disneyland or Walt Disney World. It’s currently undergoing a lengthy re-imagining that will restore it to its former glory.

It’s a good metaphor for Walt Disney Imagineering. Even before we see a more detailed look at the division’s upcoming slate on Saturday night at D23, they seem to be going back to their foundations in an effort to renovate and renew excitement around the parks and the overwhelming technology that brings their attractions to life.

In other words: For Imagineering, there’s a great big beautiful tomorrow, shining at the end of every day.