Disney’s Experiences Chief Talks Figment, the Tomorrowland Refresh and All That D23 News

Saturday evening in Anaheim's Honda Center, The Walt Disney Co. turned to Neil Patrick Harris to serve as a master of ceremonies for what is surely one of its most scrutinized events: The Disney Experiences showcase presentation at D23 .

D23 of course is Disney's in-house fan convention, and the showcase panels are used to reveal new projects and make news.

Disney turned to a late night theme for the event, with Harris hosting, joined by a live band, opening the event with a monologue full of Disney-related quips, like noting that the last host of the Experiences was Josh D'Amaro. Related Stories Business Disney and Epic Games Launch Game That Connects Star Wars Theme Park Ride to New Fortnite Adventure Movies 'Frozen 3' "Royal Wedding" Between Anna and Kristoff Is Crashed by New Villain in First-Look

"Wait a minute. If my math is correct, I am 24 months away from being CEO, and 48 months away from owning the Lakers," Harris quipped, before launching into an animatronic-themed, cameo-filled musical number.

Of course, it is D23, so it was the announcements that the fans wer eager to see.

Saturday's showcase ended with a pair of showstoppers for Disney theme park fans, a refresh of Figment, one of Epcot's original rides, including the return of the Dreamfinder character, and a revitalization of Disneyland 's Tomorrowland, one of Walt Disney's original visions. The concept: "New attractions, new open spaces, new places to dream about the future."

"This particular Tomorrowland here at Disneyland was the one that was originally thought of and designed by Walt himself," says Thomas Mazloum, the chairman of Disney Experiences, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter . "If you think about it, so much of that at the time was based on optimism: Optimism about the future, and this is going to be our North Star as we approach this particular work. It doesn't mean we're not going to change things. It just means we respect where we came from, but we use that optimism to carry us in the future, and in the case of this particular project, I think it proves we are listening carefully to what our guests are telling us while investing also in new generations.

"We've done a lot, as you know, on Disney California Adventure, and we're going to continue to do more. But we also know we need to listen equally as carefully and harmonize what this icon, especially Disneyland, did to the world when it first opened," Mazloum continued. "And so the way I approach this is really not to be beholden by the past, to respect it, but to take Walt's original positiveness, this optimism, and use that as our inspiration for the creative that we're going to introduce."

Of course that wasn't the only news Disney had to share. There were updates on new lands and projects announced two years ago like the Cars -themed area and Villains Land at Magic Kingdom, cruise ship updates, and plenty more. Mazloum spoke to THR ahead of the event to lay the groundwork for what the company is teeing up over the coming months and years, and his first few months leading the division succeeding D'Amaro, who is now Disney's CEO.

"It's been very simple and very smooth, Alex. Truth be told, even in my prior roles, I've reported to Josh D'Amaro, and in this role I continue to report to him. I'm very familiar with our businesses, and it was very exciting for me, frankly speaking, to travel," Mazloum says, noting that he went to every Disney resort around the world, and many of its cruise ships, after taking the top job. "Recently, I shared a note with our team around the world, and I said to them in my final sentence, and I meant this: 'This is the privilege of my lifetime.'

"The reason why I feel that way is traveling around the world made me once again realize we truly are having more projects currently happening than at any single point in our history, and it isn't just the volume — and we're going to share this obviously with our fans this week — it's the creativity. And what I always think about is our founder Walt's quote when he said, 'Disneyland will never be completed if there is enough imagination left in the world,' and imagine me traveling all around the world, looking at each side, seeing everything starting to come to life."

While D23 in 2024 served as an unveiling for a barrage of projects that will bring new Disney IP to its theme parks and resorts around the world, this year's event put more focus on the parks' own IP. That includes Tomorrowland, of course, but also fan favorites like Figment, the dragon at who has become something of a mascot for Epcot in Orlando, and the yeti animatronic on the Expedition Everest ride at Animal Kingdom, which has been broken since shortly after the ride opened.

"What that really means to me is that we're listening to all of our fans and our guests, and specifically that means harmonizing the various demands," Mazloum says. "You might be familiar with what we do here at Disneyland, with Avengers Campus, Coco , the first-time attractions and IPs that not only satisfy our existing audience, but I believe will also appeal to new audiences, while harmonizing the need to pay attention also to what our existing fans that have been loyal for many years and often decades demand of us, and to do that is to make sure that we revitalize fan favorites and keep them nice and fresh and new, while also working on new lands, and it's about really harmonizing these tools.

"What you will see is all the new lands and updates on everything that we have announced, and how we follow through, and how we put the creativity at work to create a world-class experience, but then you will also see as we talk about Figment, as we talk about Yeti, as we talk about Tomorrowland, you will see the focus on the existing guests that have been longing for this for a long time," he added.

Things like the yeti animatronic might seem like small potatoes in the grand scheme of things, but Mazloum frames them as a core p...

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