Imagineering is seemingly in the home stretch on one eagerly-awaited project in Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom, with another slated for a future date to be determined. However, two new Walt Disney World construction permits suggest the former, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, could last a lot longer than expected and the latter, Carousel of Progress, could begin soon, stealthily. Here’s the latest.
For starters, it seems like both of these projects are occurring as part of a quiet, phased Tomorrowland reimagining. We’ve been discussing the need for a stylistic and substantive overhaul for a while, and the Tomorrowland problem is well-documented. There’s a reason why our list of the Top 10 Ride Reimaginings Needed at Walt Disney World is dominated by Tomorrowland attractions.
When we first discussed this possibility of an overhaul, it appeared that Imagineering was teeing up a transformation of Tomorrowland as part of the 10-year plan in the early 2030s once the current 5-year plan involving Cars and Villains Land is finished. It seemed probable that those and other projects would facilitate a Tomorrowland overhaul, freeing up the parcels currently occupied by Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor and Tomorrowland Speedway.
Now it’s looking increasingly likely that Imagineering takes a piecemeal approach, and will start to reimagine Tomorrowland before then, with smaller-scale off-year projects undertaken to give guests a reason to visit between now and the 2030s when the Magic Kingdom expansion is finally finished.
It’s a bit premature to say this is already happening, but with the aesthetic refresh done pre-COVID coupled with the debut of TRON Lightcycle Run and the reimaginings and enhancements to Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin and Carousel of Progress, it sure seems like it is. Anyway, here’s a rundown of the new permits filed for each…
Let’s start with the changes to Carousel of Progress. In case you missed it, Walt Disney World announced the following back at last year’s Destination D23:
Before you follow an American family (and Rover!) over four generations of progress as technology transforms their lives and paves the way for once-unimaginable innovations, you’ll be able to catch a brand-new introductory scene and hear from the legendary man who never stood in the way of progress — Walt Disney.
There are still plenty of additional details to be revealed, including what John, Sarah, and the rest of the family are up to. Disney Imagineers love this attraction and the heart of it will stay the same while introducing the Carousel of Progress to an entirely new generation of fans, showing them that a great big, beautiful tomorrow is just a dream away.
It’s been radio silence since then. The Carousel of Progress project was a conspicuous omission from Walt Disney World’s 2026 calendar, which listed almost everything else happening in the year to come.
This led some to speculate that the Carousel of Progress reimagining was further into the future than thought. That Imagineering needed more time to fine tune the look of the Walt Disney Audio Animatronics likeness, details hadn’t been sorted out about the other enhancements, etc.
Basically, that the reveal had been made early in order to announce the project in front of the hometown Florida crowd instead of at D23 Expo, but it was actually a 2027 project. This wouldn’t have been shocking, as the same thing happened with the multiple projects from the last Destination D23 slate. The difference was that Imagineering was just starting to ramp up back then, whereas they’ve kicked into high gear now.
For the record, all of the above have crossed my mind. The “some” fans who are speculating includes me. But it also included me when there was no update on the Cinderella Castle repainting in that same calendar, and then that project started in the first month of 2026. It’s also entirely possible that Disney simply wasn’t ready to share updates on certain projects because of the questions they’d raise (that Disney can’t or couldn’t answer at the time).
Anyway, on with the permit…
Walt Disney Imagineering filed a Notice of Commencement in early February 2026, tapping Grunau Fire Protection to install FA/FP systems. For the most part, it’s a fairly mundane and routine permit.
For those who are unfamiliar with “FA/FP” systems, I’ve done the hard work of Googling it for you/me. This refers to Fire Alarm (FA) and Fire Protection (FP) systems; these detect, notify, and suppress fires. The systems include components like smoke detection, control panels, audible notifications to ensure rapid response to threatening conditions, and suppression methods like sprinkler or foam systems. More or less exactly what you’d expect.
There’s nothing particularly nothing about the permit beyond it being filed by Walt Disney Imagineering. That suggests this is a package permit as part of a creative project, as opposed to a routine refurbishment, which would be handled by WDW’s in-house Facility Asset Management (FAM).
It’s possible that the Carousel of Progress project is going to quietly get underway, with the team laying the groundwork after hours while the attraction is still operational. We saw precisely this happen with Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin last year, allowing that attraction to stay online for a few months longer.
I’m skeptical Walt Disney World would take the same approach with Carousel of Progress. While it has a healthy hourly capacity and is nice counterprogramming, it’s not needed to the same extent as Buzz. There’s also the practical reality that both that and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad will reopen soon, relieving a lot of the stress on park capacity. It’ll make sense to take Carousel of Progress offline.
It seems more likely that this project is going to follow the same trajectory as the Cinderella Castle repainting, with no details on the 2026 calendar because they weren’t ready yet, and then a more sudden update and closure in quicker succession. Carousel of Progress is a ‘lower stakes’ attraction, and since it’s being enhanced as opposed to replaced or reimagined, there’s no need to let fans say goodbye.
The other curious new permit filed for Tomorrowland concerns the aforementioned Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, a project that we’d otherwise expect to wrap up in the next two months, as Walt Disney World already announced a Spring 2026 reopening.
This new Notice of Commencement permit was also filed in early February, but this one was by Walt Disney World’s FAM department. Given that an Imagineering-helmed project suggests creative and substantive changes, FAM is the opposite: more routine maintenance to extend the life of an asset. Most of the time, FAM permits are fairly inconsequential.
The permit is assigned to the Jon Richards Company, with the vague scope of work as “general construction.” This contractor is a common collaborator with Walt Disney World, working on a laundry list of recent reimaginings. Nothing here is particularly noteworthy.
What is notable is the expiration date: April 2, 2027.
Normally, permits leave the expiration field blank and default to a 1-year expiration. Which would mean that this one would’ve expired on February 2, 2027. If that happened here, we wouldn’t have even reported on it–the default expiration wouldn’t mean the project had been delayed until February 2027; just that no one bothered to type in a different expiration. That’s the norm.
Accordingly, expiration dates are usually only added for projects that are of a longer duration. There’s been a lot we’ve surmised about the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad project, for example, by virtue of its expiration dates. Thus far, those haven’t steered us wrong–even the ones on permits from 16+ months ago.
The straightforward conclusion is that the project is going to continue for roughly a year after Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin reopens. That the project is being fast-tracked to get the capacity online (hopefully) in time for Spring Break, but lingering non-creative work will remain. Perhaps queue updates? Your guess is as good as mine. I haven’t the slightest idea.
Another possibility that’ll cross the mind of some fans is that the reopening has been delayed. This one did not cross my mind, and I’m only including it here to debunk it. There’s almost no way this has been delayed by a year. Nothing in the scope of work even suggests that’s a possibility. There would have to be a catastrophic problem discovered with the ride system or building. I highly, highly doubt this is the case.
A final possibility is that someone meant to type in an expiration of April 2, 2026 for whatever reason, indicating it’d only take a couple months. This ‘above and beyond’ step isn’t necessary given the default expiration, but it does happen sometimes. As do typos. This blog is evidence of that. I find myself still typing “2025” with regularity, to the point that it’s top of mind while proofreading. A typo of 2027 as opposed to 2026? The filer of that permit must be living in the future.
Ultimately, two Tomorrowland permits that would normally be fairly unremarkable are curious for their own different reasons. If Carousel of Progress is starting soon, we’d expect an announcement in the coming weeks with Walt Disney World pulling back the curtain and sharing more concept art and details. As for Buzz, we won’t know what’s up with that until work continues into 2027…or doesn’t.
Bigger picture, our hope and expectation remains that the piecemeal Tomorrowland project continues and is expanded upon in the next couple of years. There should be a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow for this land, and hopefully we won’t have to wait for Monstropolis and Piston Peak debut before Imagineering gets down to business on the more ambitious phases of the overhaul. We’ll keep you posted!
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Your Thoughts
What do you think about Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom? Think the land will be overhauled given the future redundancy of Tomorrowland Speedway and Monsters Laugh Floor? Think we could get a ‘Tomorrowland Trifecta’ in 2026 with Space Mountain and Stitch’s Great Escape joining the Carousel of Progress reimagining? Do you agree or disagree with my assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!