The concept of vaporware comes from the computer software and hardware industry. It describes products that are announced to the general public but then fail to materialize in the marketplace. Typically the product is announced months to years ahead of the intended release date, with minimal details. It usually promises a product or features that would be considered to be remarkable.
Sometimes, the product does eventually get released, often many years later. But mostly, the product is quietly shut down by the developers, who hope the general public will forget.
So, why do I bring up the topic of vaporware here? Over the years the label of vaporware has evolved far beyond the world of electronic hardware and software. It has become a negative label attached to products from almost every industry.
Even the amusement industry has not been spared from this. A number of concepts announced over the years have never made it off the drawing board. This would include not only new rides and attractions but even promises to build entire theme parks. Especially if they seem to needlessly return to the drawing board time and time again to refine their concept.
Creating new parks
I’m sure those who have followed The London Resort project since its announcement in 2012 are aware of this concept. To be fair, the proposal to build an entire theme park in today’s world is a daunting one. It is not something that is easy to see through to completion. There are endless obstacles in the road and factions trying to get the project shut down at every turn.
In that light, many proposed theme parks could be viewed as vaporware. Even The Walt Disney Company has announced the intention to build several new parks in North America over the years and failed.
Disney’s scuppered plans
For example, long before Tokyo DisneySea was ever announced, the then Disney CEO, Michael Eisner, announced in 1990 the concept of a new “DisneySea” park. This was to be built in California’s Long Beach. The site chosen was a more industrial one due to Long Beach’s role as a harbor port. The project quickly grew a large number of opponents. This includes the most powerful one of all, the California Coastal Commission, which flat-out refused to bend the rules of the California Coastal Act building restrictions. Even for Disney.
Following this, Eisner tried again in 1991, announcing the intention to turn Disneyland’s parking lot into “WestCOT”. This was to be a second gate for the growing Disneyland Resort. It would be loosely based on the idea of Walt Disney World’s own second theme park, the EPCOT Center. For a variety of reasons, from complaints from the local residents to skyrocketing project costs, WestCOT never saw the light of day. Eventually, it was also canceled.
Eisner was determined to build a new Disney theme park somewhere in the country. He tried yet again with the announcement of the “Disney’s America” theme park concept. This would be built in Virginia and feature a theme about American history. Once again, opposition rose up from the local market and yet again, Disney was forced to cancel the project.
Things worked out in the end when the company returned its gaze back to Disneyland’s parking lot. It envisioned a much more budget-friendly concept that it could build there instead, Disney’s California Adventure. This opened in early 2001.
Disney vaporware
Now I bring together the concept of vaporware and Disney theme parks for a specific reason. For over a decade, virtually every major theme park-related project announcement from Disney has been announced in a similar fashion. There is a lot of excitement, usually promising something mind-blowing. Yet I can’t think of the last time any of Disney’s big project announcements came with an opening date.
The first time I can recall this happening was in September 2011. This is when Walt Disney Parks and Resorts announced it was joining forces with James Cameron and his Lightstorm Entertainment production company in order to bring the world of AVATAR to life in Disney theme parks, starting with Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park in Florida.
At the time, Disney had no set date as to when the attraction would be ready to open. It even admitted that it had just barely begun working on the actual concept designs. According to some insiders, the ink from James Cameron’s signature on the contract barely had time to dry before Disney leapt to make the big announcement. Apparently, Disney had grown tired of having the news about new projects scooped out from under it by theme park reporters and internet sleuths.
At that time, the earliest Disney expected to begin construction on the project was in 2013. However, it would be two long years until Disney was finally ready to release the first pieces of concept art. These were shown at the D23 Expo in Japan in October 2013. Construction in the theme park wouldn’t begin until 2014. And the land itself wouldn’t be ready to open to guests until May 2017.
Mysterious announcements
Disney decided to pull off this same vaporware-like mystery announcement tactic in August 2015, again at a D23 Expo, when the company confirmed to a live audience that Star Wars-themed lands would be built at Disneyland in California and in Disney’s Hollywood Studios park in Florida.
Thankfully at the time, Disney had a little more to share in terms of visuals. A few examples of concept art were released. It also confirmed the 14-acre lands would have two rides, one of which would let guests fly the Millennium Falcon. Construction would begin in Spring 2016 on the projects, with more details being released at a D23 Expo in 2017. The first of the two lands opened at Disneyland in May 2019, followed by the WDW counterpart in August 2019.
Disney lightly tried to fix this issue of not announcing dates when it revealed its plans for the Walt Disney World 50th Anniversary in October 2021, during the D23 Expo in 2017.
This was the same Expo where it officially named the Star Wars land Galaxy’s Edge. It also revealed plans to build Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway in Disney’s Hollywood Studios, open a Ratatouille dark ride and Guardians of the Galaxy coaster in Epcot in 2021, along with the Tron coaster in Tomorrowland and a Broadway-style theater just off Main Street in the Magic Kingdom, also in 2021.
The arrival of COVID-19 played a heavy role in how this story played out. The Epcot attractions would fail to open until 2022. Tron wouldn’t open until mid-2023. And that unnamed theater project off Main Street USA just completely vanished.
COVID delays
In 2019, at the D23 Expo, Disney pulled back the curtain on several planned improvements for the Epcot theme park.
In addition to the Ratatouille and Guardians-themed attractions, a new nighttime spectacular was announced. There were also plans to build a Mary Poppins ride, new Circle-Vision 360 style films for the Canada and China pavilions, Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana, a revised Spaceship Earth attraction experience, the PLAY! Pavilion, and a plan to remodel and rebuild the former CommuniCore central area of Future World.
As with the previous announcements, the arrival of COVID-19 in 2020 played havoc with these plans. Before too long the plans to revise Spaceship Earth, the PLAY! Pavilion, Mary Poppins ride, and the Wondrous China Circle-Vision film were quietly put on indefinite hold. Many of these plans were being targeted for completion by late 2022 to summer 2023 in order to celebrate Epcot’s 40th Anniversary.
The Journey of Water walk-through area finally opened on 16 October. The rest of Epcot’s CommuniCore construction will likely continue through 2024 before coming to a close. It isn’t known if any of the previous projects will come back into active development or not at this time.
Vague plans or vaporware?
Disney has continued this new tradition of being intentionally vague into the current era. It made the surprise announcement in the Summer of 2020 that it would close down the popular Splash Mountain flume rides in Disneyland and Magic Kingdom theme parks. This is in order to retheme them as new attractions themed to The Princess and the Frog animated film.
Little more was said with the news. It was released with a simple piece of concept art. This showed how the outward appearance of the revised attraction might look. No timeline was given as to when the new rides would be ready. Nor was one given as to when the existing Splash Mountain rides would be shut down.
This all took place in late June 2020. During this time, most of the country was in lockdown and both Disney resorts were closed due to the pandemic. So, the news caused a large number of people to react in very emotional ways.
Once again, it seems that Disney announced this project very early in the development cycle, years ahead of when it had finalized its own design work on the project. The Walt Disney World version of Splash Mountain did not actually shut down for construction until January 2023. The Disneyland version remained open until May 2023.
Thus far, Disney has only announced that it hopes to open the new Tiana’s Bayou Adventure attractions by the end of 2024 at the earliest.
The vaporware trend at Disney
Most of these initial vaporware-like announcements seem to stem from the bi-annual D23 Expo events. So, you may need a refresher of what was announced in 2023.
This year’s latest batch of announcements included plans to re-imagine the Country Bear Jamboree at the Magic Kingdom, re-imagine the Test Track attractions at Epcot, replace the It’s Tough to Be a Bug 4D attraction at Animal Kingdom with a new Zootopia-themed production, and the vague dream of replacing that park’s Dinoland USA with new experiences, themed to Indiana Jones or Encanto.
Oh, and the back end of the Magic Kingdom might be transformed into cool new lands and attractions… maybe. Over in Disneyland the previously canceled plan to build an Avengers-themed dark ride at Disney California Adventure was said to be in development again. But there was no promise as to when it might arrive. There was also no mention of it coming to the Avengers Campus areas in Hong Kong or Paris yet either.
Speaking of Paris, Disney has been showing off the construction of the new Frozen-themed land it is building there. But this was also part of another vague expansion project announcement that initially hinted at eventually building a copy of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Paris…maybe. Technically it was never promised, but it could be seen in the concept art.
After about 12 years of this, I have to say that all this intentional vagueness about projects with no set timetables is getting a little old. Especially when you consider that the rest of the theme parks and other attractions around the world are typically able to announce their expansion plans and have them completed within 6 to 24 months.
Top image: Splash Mountain’s Princess and the Frog makeover
