Lately, Disney has been trying to convince everyone that they have many new attractions coming soon. Disney CEO Bob Iger and Disney Parks and Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro have been out in the media trying to convince fans that Disney has many new and exciting things coming. While it is true that attractions are “new,” most were announced years ago. For some reason, Disney thinks meet and greets are an excellent way to go for “new” and “exciting” offerings.

Today, the Disney Parks Blog posted an extensive article outlining all the “New Thrills” coming to Walt Disney World. Except for the official opening of TRON Lightcycle Run, none of the announcements were thrilling.

Most of the “announcements” were projects Disney announced in 2017 and began constructing before the pandemic. The Journey of Water and CommuniCore Hall are both projects that guests have been waiting six years for. Let’s be honest, one is a walk-through with pretty scenery, and one is a festival building that feels like EPCOT’s version of Walt Disney Presents.

Other “thrilling” announcements were for new meet & greets.

Disney is just doing as much as they can as cheaply as possible. This is evident with their big push for meet and greets. EPCOT is getting a Figment Meet & Greet this summer.

Do you remember Josh D’Amaro’s big D23 presentation, where they announced little but teased a lot? What’s beyond Big Thunder Mountain? He said maybe lands based on Coco or Encanto. Grab your butts because Enancto is coming to the Magic Kingdom. It will be Mirabel in the Fantasy Garden that they will decorate to reflect the film.

Over at Disney’s Animal Kingdom D’Amaro announced that maybe Moana and Zootopia areas could come. So their big news is that Moana will be on Discovery Island for a meet and greet.

Yes, I understand they could simply be using these small “attractions” until they announce big ones. But given their non-announcements at D23, Disney’s insistence that these announcements are “thrilling” is a stretch.

How it is coming across is that Disney is desperately trying to spin whatever they can into a ‘thrilling” announcement. Even better if they can do these on the cheap and tell people that the “attractions” are worth the ticket prices.

I’m sure Disney Imagineering is already working on new attractions. I’m even more convinced that many will be rethemed existing locations. I know that they will need more than a new parade and meet and greets to compete with what’s coming from Universal Orlando. Although give people some actual announcements or even bring the Main Street Electrical Parade back or find a way to do something similar just for Walt Disney World, and that would hold people off better than a Mirabel meet and greet.

What do you think? Comment and let us know!