WDI Video Shows Construction on All Four New Disney Lands

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Concept art is easy. Steel in the ground is the part that tells you where things actually stand.

Walt Disney Imagineering released a special D23 Edition of Pardon Our Pixie Dust right after the fan event wrapped, giving a behind-the-scenes look at construction progress on Avengers Campus, Monstropolis, Tropical Americas, Piston Peak National Park, and Villains Land.

Here’s what Imagineers actually showed.

Quick Summary

• Avengers Infinity Defense ride show sets arrive soon
• Stark Flight Lab excavation underway for a first-of-its-kind ride system
• Harryhausen’s facade is well underway, eyeball and chopsticks included
• The Harryhausen’s sushi chef animatronic is in final programming
• Tropical Americas carousel and casita foundations are in
• Maya temple steel is being set for facade pieces
• Piston Peak is still at utilities, grading, and retaining walls
• A Maleficent coaster scale model was shown in detail

Avengers Campus

Imagineers gave an update from the site of Avengers Infinity Defense, the attraction where recruits assemble with the Avengers to take on Thanos.

Construction is underway, and the first ride show sets are expected to arrive soon.

The attraction will use large-scale scenery combined with large-format media. Guests travel with the Avengers on ride vehicles that move between Asgard, Wakanda, and New York City.

Imagineers also confirmed the canopy connecting Infinity Defense to Stark Flight Lab is complete.

Stark Flight Lab puts recruits through flight training using Stark technology. Excavation is underway for the ride system, which Imagineering says will be the first of its kind.

Reading the Stage of Work

“Ride show sets arriving soon” and “excavation underway” are two very different phases sitting next to each other.

Sets arriving means the building exists and is enclosed. You don’t install scenery into an open frame. Infinity Defense is meaningfully further along than the announcement made it sound.

Excavation for a ride system means Stark Flight Lab is at foundation stage. Both attractions are targeting 2028, and that gap is normal for a two-ride expansion, but it’s worth knowing which one is closer.

Monstropolis

At Disney’s Hollywood Studios, the video showed construction progress on the Glob Theater, Archie’s Scare Pig Pizza, the Scareporium, and Harryhausen’s.

Harryhausen’s facade is well underway, including the giant eyeball and chopsticks design fans of the film will recognize.

Imagineers noted upcoming work on a central fountain and storefronts throughout the land.

The episode also introduced one of the land’s animatronics: the sushi chef for Harryhausen’s. Imagineers are in the final stages of programming the figure, using both audio and visual effects.

Why the Sushi Chef Update Matters

An animatronic in final programming is a long way down the pipeline.

The sequence runs: design, sculpt, mechanical build, skin, install, then program. Programming is where the figure’s movements are choreographed frame by frame against audio. It’s the last major step before installation testing.

A figure in final programming while the restaurant facade is still going up means the show elements are ahead of the buildings. That’s a good sign for Monstropolis hitting its 2027 window for the non-coaster portion — the parts opening first have their headline show element nearly ready.

Tropical Americas

Imagineers shared an update from the roof of the Encanto ride building. Work is underway both inside the building and throughout the surrounding land.

Early rock work is in progress, along with construction on a carousel and a casita building.

The carousel will feature hand-carved animals inspired by Disney films — this is El Carrusel de los Animalitos, confirmed at D23 as the land’s third attraction with 22 hand-carved animals.

The casita’s foundation is in, and the structure will eventually rise above the ride building.

The video also showed progress on the Maya temple for the Indiana Jones attraction. Steel is being set for facade pieces, which will be installed in the coming weeks. Rock work materials are being delivered for the attraction’s theming.

Tropical Americas Is the Furthest Along

Add it up: the Encanto ride building has a roof you can stand on, the casita foundation is poured, the carousel is under construction, and the Indiana Jones temple facade steel is being set with installation weeks away.

That is a land in vertical construction across all three attractions simultaneously. Compare it to Piston Peak below and the difference is stark.

The 2027 date for Tropical Americas looks credible on this evidence in a way that undated projects obviously can’t be assessed.

Piston Peak National Park

The episode included an early look at Piston Peak, the Magic Kingdom addition near Liberty Square and Frontierland.

Work so far includes:

• Underground utilities
• Grading
• Surfacing
• A large concrete retaining wall being built to frame the future waterways surrounding the park

Imagineers said guests can expect more structures and attraction framing in the coming months, along with construction near Casey’s Corner and eventually steel work for Piston Peak itself.

This Confirms the Missing Date

Piston Peak got two fully detailed attraction announcements at D23 — Cars Ridge Run Rally with its custom off-road vehicle, and Miss Fritter’s Daredevil Spin-Along — and no opening year for either.

The construction footage explains why. Utilities, grading, surfacing, and a retaining wall is site preparation. It’s the phase before you build anything.

“Eventually steel work for Piston Peak itself” is Imagineering saying the mountain hasn’t started. For a land whose headliner requires a mountain with a snow-capped summit and a working geyser field, that’s a long way out.

Nothing here is bad news — the site work is real progress and the retaining wall for waterways is substantial. But anyone hoping Piston Peak lands alongside Monstropolis and Tropical Americas in 2027 should adjust.

The Casey’s Corner note is worth flagging for planning purposes, since it implies construction impact reaching into the existing hub area of Magic Kingdom.

Villains Land

The video featured a detailed look at the Maleficent coaster scale model, inspired by the 1959 film Sleeping Beauty and the artwork of Eyvind Earle.

The model retains the silhouette of Maleficent’s fortress and Forbidden Mountain while adding detail meant to bring a more realistic, three-dimensional feel.

Imagineers said the model helped them work through questions about scale, forced perspective, and rock work design.

Note what’s absent: any construction footage. Villains Land appears in this video as a model on a table, not a site with equipment on it. Of the five projects covered, it’s the only one represented entirely by a physical model.

The Real Takeaway

Ranking the five projects by how far along they actually are, based on what was shown:

1. Tropical Americas — vertical construction on all three attractions
2. Monstropolis — facades going up, animatronics in final programming
3. Avengers Infinity Defense — building enclosed, sets arriving
4. Stark Flight Lab — excavation
5. Piston Peak — site prep only
6. Villains Land — a model

The two projects with confirmed 2027 dates are the two furthest along. That’s not a coincidence, and it’s the most useful thing this video tells you about the announcements from the weekend.

The Bottom Line

WDI’s D23 edition of Pardon Our Pixie Dust showed real construction across Avengers Campus, Monstropolis, and Tropical Americas — including the Harryhausen’s sushi chef animatronic in final programming and Maya temple facade steel weeks from installation.

Piston Peak is still at grading and utilities. Villains Land appeared only as a scale model.

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