This year’s show floor for D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event is the largest in the event’s history — so you know Walt Disney Imagineering had to go big with a pavilion unlike anything before. “Imagineering: Behind the Dreams” is a one-of-a-kind pavilion where guests can get a closer look at how we collaborate to create immersive experiences guests enjoy every day around the world. It also continues our trend of pulling back the curtain, which we started with our YouTube series “We Call It Imagineering.”
Imagineers took a new approach to designing the space, making it Imagineering-centric to give guests the full Imagineering experience when they step inside. The pavilion showcases the creative process like never before with the venue divided into four quadrants: Invent, Build, Entertain and Design.
Additionally, guests visiting on Sunday can get an up-close look at future projects revealed during the Disney Experiences Showcase Saturday night hosted by Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro.
Let’s take a look at just a few of the models, interactive demos, and exciting surprises in the “Imagineering: Behind the Dreams” pavilion!
Experience Iconic Imagineering Technology
In the “Invent” section of the pavilion, guests will step into the world of technology, a cornerstone of Imagineering storytelling.
For the first time, guests will get to see the HoloTile floor in person — the world’s first multi-person, omni-directional, modular treadmill floor — demonstrated by Lanny Smoot, a recent inductee into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. With the HoloTile floor, any number of people can have a shared virtual reality experience, walk an unlimited distance in any direction, and never collide or walk off its surface. Besides VR and gaming applications, the HoloTile floor may be used as an insert in a theatrical stage, allowing performers to move and dance in new ways, or stage props and structures to move around or set themselves up.
Recently spotted at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland, our BDX Droids will be interacting with guests in our pavilion. Utilizing new technologies developed by Disney Research and Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development, these free-roaming robotic characters are capable of great balance and highly expressive motions. They are designed to be explorer companions, and they have impossibly cute personalities.
Creating Entertaining Costumes
Get a detailed look at how Disney Live Entertainment Costuming designs and develops custom garments created for Disney shows, parades, and more. In this space, guests can see the various steps that went into the creation of Minnie Mouse’s new Halloween outfit that she’ll be wearing at Disneyland this year.
Designing Future Disney Experiences
In the “Design” section, guests will get an inside look at models and maquettes for upcoming projects around the world.
On the high seas, Imagineers are hard at work on the Disney Treasure and Disney Destiny. Pavilion guests will get to see how our Interior Designers ideate and gather inspiration for Disney Cruise Line ships, including mood boards, sketches and more.
One of the displays focuses on how happy haunts will be materializing abord the Disney Treasure at the Haunted Mansion Parlor. The project team compiled concept art, fabrics and maquettes that have influenced the design of the space, including a sculpt of the Disney Legend Rolly Crump bust.
As revealed at Destination D23 in 2023, the new concept for the third attraction coming to Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure park will be an epic family adventure, where you’ll get to team up with more of the Avengers and their allies to battle against foes in a multi-world experience, including King Thanos, a variant of the villain who, in his reality…won.
Within the space, guests will see a maquette of the new ride vehicle, which is key to the attraction’s story. In the attraction, guests will join The Avengers on a new multi-world mission spanning destinations across the universe. Thanks to unique collaborations between inventors at Avengers Campus, the heroes have created a new vehicle capable of jumping between these worlds and even realities — on planet Earth and beyond.
When World of Frozen inspired by Disney Animation’s “Frozen” opens at Disneyland Paris, Walt Disney Studios Park will receive a brand-new name, Disney Adventure World. Guests will discover the exciting expansion and reimagining of Disneyland Paris’s second park with a detailed model of Disney Adventure World, bringing with it a new creative vision that will nearly double the park’s footprint and transform it into a world of adventure.
“Imagineering: Behind the Dreams” is a celebration of our storytelling and technology that will continue to shape Disney experiences for years to come. There’s so much happening in the pavilion that we couldn’t cover it all!
As always, Imagineers will be in the pavilion space to talk about their work and interact with guests, so stop by and say hi!
Disney Imagineers are always dreaming and doing. Stay up to date with behind-the-scenes magic by following Walt Disney Imagineering on Instagram and YouTube, and stay tuned for more Imagineering stories on the Disney Parks Blog. We can’t wait to share more with you!
