• D23! The most unexpected news was that the Yeti Audio-Animatronic Coming Back to Life Inside Expedition Everest...

When the ride debuted, the yeti took a swipe at you when you went by. It was kinda terrifying. But then it turned out the animatronic was so heavy that it was cracking the support structure. So they turned it off and added a strobe light... leaving us with "disco yeti" that was more annoying than scary. And it sounded like it was going to stay that way forever because genius imagineer (and notorious earring abuser) Joe Rhode said they'd have to rip open the mountain to fix the structure. So I guess they found a way to fix the structure and lighten the animatronic with servos or something so they don't have to dismantle the mountain to fix it. Very cool indeed, because the ride wasn't the same once they turned him off.

   
• A Vision in White! The first trailer from the new Visionquest series was released...

I'm in the minority that I didn't much care for Vision & Scarlet Witch and Agatha All Along, but I'm hopeful that the final entry into the trilogy goes back to being a comic book movie. I will say that I am thrilled that James Spader is returning as Ultron. He's one of my favorite actors, and I like what they're doing here.

   
• DON'T PULL THE LEVER, KRONK! There was a very strong rumor that the new Villains Land in Walt Disney World had been completely retooled after the artwork that was released. Primary of which was that the Maleficent coaster had been toned down to become a Yzma and Kronk coaster. Which, to be honest, is genius. It's such an epic scene from The Emperor's New Groove that was more funny than scary. It made sense because Magic Kingdom is more of a family-friendly affair than the other lands. But then it was confirmed at D23 that this wasn't the case at all. Still very much a Maleficent coaster that's looking scary indeed...

I really hope that it's a more intense coaster for adult guests. There's loads of rides for kids at Magic Kingdom, so it would be nice to have something more grown up. Like the very popular Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind coaster from Epcot. Here's hoping. And, oh yeah, they also showed this from the Magic Mirror dark ride they're building...

Looks like Pirates of the Caribbean but with villains instead of pirates. I hope that they at least pack it with plenty of animatronics instead of skimping like they did in the Splash Mountain re-theme.

   
• Branding! Branding! Branding! I was so impressed with the gorgeous logo they made for Villains Land that it deserves it's own bullet. Because look at this!

Love it. Somebody at Disney really knew what they were doing when they designed that!

   
• Tomorrow! Another big piece of news to come out of D23 was that they are reimagining Tomorrowland at Disneyland. Apparently they are bringing it back to be something closer to what Walt Disney intended for it. The problem with Tomorrowland has always been that no matter what you do to update it, the area is always outdated. Tomorrow is just a day away, after all. Which is why I far, far prefer how they approached Tomorrowland in Disneyland Paris. Instead of trying to imagine what the future will be like, they ran with what people from yesteryear thought the future would be like. For example, their Space Mountain was a Jules Verne From Earth to the Moon kind of affair where you get shot out of a cannon and get blasted to the moon. It was a genius idea...

And now they've announced that they're going back to this idea and restoring the Paris Space Mountain to what it originally was. Which makes me very, very happy. I wish they'd use that aesthetic for Disneyland California as well.

   
• Monstrous! The new Monsters Land at Disney World will be opening next year in 2027. Except the brilliant "Door Coaster" won't open with it. That comes later. Apparently the only attraction set for opening day is the re-theme of MuppetVision 3D. Which, fine... but the coaster is what everybody is actually wanting to experience. Though the 3D movie does look interesting...

And would probably be even more interesting if they didn't already re-theme the 3D theater in Animal Kingdom from It's Tough to Be a Bug to Zootopia.

   
• New Splash! As a massive, massive fan of The Princess and the Frog, I was cautiously optimistic about the re-theming of Splash Mountain in Disneyland and Walt Disney World to become Tiana's Bayou Adventure. But it ended up being a massive disappointment. The ride is sparse and breaks down all the time. But now they're building a new "splash mountain" ride from scratch in Paris, this time based on The Lion King...

And I am once again cautiously optimistic. I hope that they learned their lesson from the Tiana fiasco. I hope they pack it with animatronics and make them more reliable. I hope they come up with a ride story that actually makes sense. I hope they put some actual thought into how it should work. But who knows? We have two very good examples of Disney dropping the ball on this.

   
And that's a wrap for your Disney-based bullets.