Disney Shocks Everyone at SXSW

A few years ago, Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro appeared at South by Southwest (SXSW) and promptly revealed the existence of a real-life Star Wars lightsaber. It was cool. 

In 2023, D’Amaro spoke at SXSW once again and showed off the new Judy Hopps gymnastic Audio-Animatronic. So, it’s not like Disney hasn’t shown great stuff at SXSW before now. Still, nobody could have expected a mini-D23 event this past Saturday, but that’s exactly what we got! 

Yes, Disney just shocked everyone at SXSW. Here’s everything you may have missed.

The Droids Are Coming 

Are you familiar with the BDX Droids from the Star Wars universe? We’ve seen them in a few Star Wars stories, including The Mandalorian. 

Someone at Walt Disney Imagineering drew inspiration from the special effects team at Industrial Light & Magic and thought, “Hey, we could do that!” Sure enough, Disney built its own real-life droids, ones we’ve previously seen at the parks. Here’s a clip:

Disney revealed the process for designing them, which sounded fascinating. Imagineers created a computer simulation of hundreds of BDX Droids piled together. They learned real-world physics during these simulations. Then, the smartest AIs became the logic boards for these BDX Droids. 

Now, they’re coming to Walt Disney World! D’Amaro’s team confirmed that the droids will appear at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. They’ll also show up at Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris. So, 2025 is the year of the BDX Droid! 

By the way, Jon Favreau, who was a guest at SXSW, also indicated that the droids are in 2026’s theatrical release, The Mandalorian & Grogu. So, BDX Droids are having a moment at Disney. 

The Monstropolis Update 

Disney provided details about three upcoming attractions, and all of them looked amazing. Park officials know it as well. Disney released a new episode of We Call It Imagineering this morning to highlight the “ride studio.” You can watch the 20-minute episode here:

This behind-the-scenes look at Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) intersperses clips from this past week’s SXSW. At the 16-minute mark of the above video, you can watch the Monstropolis update. As a reminder, that’s the replacement for Muppets Courtyard at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

During the SXSW presentation, Disney revealed the ride system for the company’s first-ever lift roller coaster. The best way I can describe it – and I know this sounds wild – is that the ride cart scoops you up, lifts you high in the air, and then sends you into a wall. There’s a hole in said wall, but still. It’s weird looking, and I mean that in the best possible way. Check it out here:

Pete Docter, the director of Monsters, Inc. and head of Pixar, walked on stage at SXSW. He described the creative process for this attraction, noting that he envisioned it as a Disney ride. Now, art is imitating art, as Imagineers are building a roller coaster based on this door chase scene from Monsters, Inc.!

The Cars Ride Cart Will Be Brand New 

Disney also showed footage of Imagineers loading up in a car and going on a vacation. Well, it was a working vacation. Disney sent a WDI team off-roading so that they could learn more about the experience.

Imagineers are using this newfound knowledge to design the Cars ride coming to the newly reimagined Frontierland at Magic Kingdom. During SXSW, park officials indicated that they explored the good and the bad about off-roading. Some of it is absolutely thrilling, while other parts are bumpy enough to induce headaches and nausea.

Disney plans to create an entirely new ride cart for Cars, one that looks like an SUV with adorable eyes. It’s not creepy but rather similar to the ones seen on the vehicles in the Cars franchise. While I’m confident this vehicle would look and feel much different, it somewhat reminds me of the Enhanced Motion Vehicles from Indiana Jones Adventure and DINOSAUR.

Disney intends this attraction to be the happiest off-roading experience ever. Importantly, the ride carts look much more like the Cars franchise and much less like dune buggies. They’ll be incredibly child-friendly. 

Robert Downey Jr. Shows His New Ride

Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr., made a shocking appearance at SXSW. He wanted to brag about his new ride at Disney California Adventure. RDJ personally has a hand in the creation of Stark Flight Lab at Avengers Campus. 

I’m dead serious that the legendary actor sounds incredibly proud of the process and excited about his participation. He even asked Josh D’Amaro to let him come back and work on more stuff at Disney. Here’s the video he showed during the presentation:

I’ll level with you that watching this made me grab for a barf bag, but I’m confident Disney is accounting for that. Stark Flight Lab involves a robotic arm lifting your ride cart into the air and moving you in a choreographed fashion. Disney hired dancers to come in and perform the various movements, helping Imagineers better conceptualize the motions during the ride. So, that’s how Disney will keep Stark Flight Lab from being nausea-inducing. I hope.

Other SXSW Announcements

Disney announced a few other park tidbits during the SXSW presentation. It really was a mini-D23 in terms of park news. As an example, we learned that the Fantastic Four are coming to Disneyland Resort this summer. 

The surprise is that the characters from The Fantastic Four: First Steps won’t appear at Avengers Campus. Since the film draws inspiration from Tomorrowland, Disney will fittingly position the character greetings at this themed land in Disneyland Park instead. Imagineers are also working to create a H.E.R.B.I.E. Audio-Animatronic to match the scene-stealer from the film trailer.

Finally, Disney revealed details about the new mission coming to Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. This second story for the attraction will debut on May 22nd, 2026, the same day that The Mandalorian & Grogu debuts in theaters. So, you can safely expect a heavy influence from the film during this mission. 

The second mission will be available at Disneyland Park and Hollywood Studios. Also, it’ll feature scenes set in the wreckage around a Death Star, an idea that has excited Star Wars fans counting down the days until next May.