BOOM BABY! Disneyland Park at Disneyland Paris has not received a brand new headline attraction in more than 20 years. For a park widely considered one of Disney's most beautiful, that raises an interesting question: when is it finally time to make a major change?

This week, Stephen heads overseas to tackle one of the biggest Imagineering challenges of the season. After weighing several controversial possibilities, he makes one bold decision and pitches an all new Adventureland experience inspired by The Emperor's New Groove, reimagining one corner of the park through a completely new lens.

Along the way, the team explores what makes a Disney IP truly belong in a land, why some attractions are worth sacrificing to move a park forward, and what Disneyland Paris should prioritize as it enters its next era.

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What happens when a corner of a theme park stops working as one idea and becomes a group of separate experiences that never fully connect?

This week, Stephen breaks down one of the most overlooked areas of Disney’s Hollywood Studios: Commissary Lane. While each part of the street still functions on its own, the overall space has slowly drifted into fragmentation, with two dining outlets and entertainment existing side by side without a shared purpose.

Instead of replacing it with a single attraction or layering on another IP overlay, we explore a different approach, rebuilding the entire street as one unified experience.

Introducing The Golden Mickey Awards District, a connected transformation where arrival, participation, and celebration all become part of a single Hollywood event.

This is about restoring cohesion, intent, and narrative clarity to a space that lost its shared story, and making Hollywood Studios feel a little more like Hollywood again.

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This quarter across Disney Parks brings major shifts into focus as long-running projects move from concept art to real-world construction, classic attractions enter major reinventions, and new lands begin to visibly take shape across Walt Disney World and beyond.

In this Q2 2026 edition of State of the Kingdom, we break down the biggest official announcements from Disney, including a landmark reimagining of Carousel of Progress and new details surrounding Monstropolis at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. We also look at Halloween season changes coming to Disneyland Resort and what they signal for the future of seasonal entertainment.

Then we move into the construction updates, where major projects like Tropical Americas, Piston Peak, and Monstropolis continue to rise at an accelerating pace, alongside ongoing work across Magic Kingdom and classic attractions like Cinderella Castle and Haunted Mansion.

Finally, we dive into the rumors making waves this quarter, from emerging technology patents and expansion speculation to ongoing questions about Disneyland and international resort growth, including renewed discussion around Shanghai Disneyland’s future.

A quarterly report on Disney Parks and Imagineering… where everything is always under construction.

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Animal Kingdom broke Stephen this week.

After scrapping multiple fully developed concepts (including a Tarzan attraction, a suspended canopy ride, and an Emperor’s New Groove idea that refused to fit the park’s philosophy), the team tackles one of the most challenging design questions in Disney Parks: what is missing on Discovery Island?

Inspired by Shanghai Disneyland’s Challenge Trails and grounded in the values that define Animal Kingdom, Stephen proposes the Wilderness Explorers Challenge Course: a multi-level treetop adventure through Discovery Island that transforms guests from observers into participants as they climb, cross, and explore their way toward Paradise Falls.

Plus, listener Nate Heasley (the reviewer formerly known as "Hedgehog") joins the show with an Imagineering pitch of his own, finally proving once and for all that he is, in fact, a real person, not a woodland creature.

Can a challenge course become Animal Kingdom’s next great adventure? And what makes designing for this park so different from every other Disney destination?

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A timeless EPCOT icon becomes the center of a modern debate about how communication continues to evolve in the age of AI. This week, Stephen reimagines the final act of Spaceship Earth, restoring its physical storytelling roots while introducing a new interactive layer that reflects how technology is reshaping human connection in real time.

The result is a grounded, thoughtful update that stays true to the attraction’s core thesis: bringing people closer together across distance, language, and time. From classic communication scenes to a carefully constrained AI-driven personalization system, the pitch explores what it means for Disney storytelling to remain human in an increasingly automated world.

Plus, Brett of Ride Creator joins the Idiots live to pitch Mission to Mars…Needs Moms!, a chaotic crossover that combines the infamous Disney film with the classic Tomorrowland attraction in a way that somehow makes perfect sense.

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A quiet corner of Adventureland sits directly across from Pirates of the Caribbean but rarely feels like part of the larger story unfolding around it. This week Stephen reimagines that space by repurposing Tortuga Tavern and its adjacent unused stage into Port Royal Provisions, a quick service port eatery paired with a live civic stage that turns everyday guest flow into part of a living breathing harbor town.

The result is a layered environment where the civilian side of the Caribbean world responds to constant pirate activity just offshore. From British Caribbean inspired quick service food to civic announcements and reactive storytelling moments, the entire area is designed to feel orderly on the surface with tension always just beyond the waterline. The goal is simple make this forgotten pocket of Adventureland feel intentional connected and alive.

Plus for the second week in a row we are featuring a listener submitted Imagineering pitch this time from Marshal Knight who brings a bold idea that relocates an existing Magic Kingdom attraction to EPCOT in a way that just makes sense.

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EPCOT’s Canada Pavilion often feels like a space guests walk through rather than stay in. This week, Stephen reimagines it as a living cultural district inspired by Toronto’s Kensington Market, where layered storytelling, music, and guest interaction turn the upper level of the pavilion into a constantly evolving environment.

At the center of it all is a touring 4★Town concert experience that weaves through the pavilion and encourages exploration, culminating in a reworked theater and character moment that feels like part of the world rather than a separate show. The goal is simple: make Canada feel alive, repeatable, and worth returning to throughout the day.

Plus, for the first time ever, we’re featuring a listener-submitted Imagineering pitch from our new friend Cam Sullivan as he shares his concept for a new Mandalorian addition to Galaxy’s Edge. And honestly… he’s coming for our jobs.

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What does it actually take to expand a theme park that is facing an identity crisis with little to no room to grow?

This week, Stephen leads a deeper, more strategic conversation on the current state of Disney’s Hollywood Studios and why the park feels like it is constantly in motion without ever fully expanding. Using the Imagineering concept of displacement, we break down how Disney quietly reshapes space behind the scenes to make growth possible in an active park environment.

From the return of animation as a process-driven experience to the rise of regional storytelling frameworks like Tropical Americas, this episode explores a broader shift in how Disney is approaching theme park design.

Then, we put that thinking into practice.

Introducing New York Backlot, a production-driven expansion that reimagines New York City not as a destination, but as a working film set inside Hollywood Studios. Featuring a reimagined MuppetVision 3D, the Jim Henson Creature Shop, and a park-wide shift toward storytelling as an active process, this concept reframes how IP, space, and story can coexist.

This is not just a land idea. It is a case study in how Disney parks evolve in real time.

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