Theme Park Scope

When we covered the Play Disney Parks app shutting down, we specifically called out DuckTales World Showcase Adventure as the one genuine open question — an experience that had already gone dark for refurbishment, with no confirmed future once the app it depended on disappeared.

We finally have an answer.

DuckTales World Showcase Adventure remains under refurbishment at EPCOT, but Disney has now confirmed it will return in a modified format. More details about exactly what that new version looks like are still to come. What we do know for certain: the current version of the experience effectively ended the moment the Play Disney Parks app was retired, since the game was built entirely around that app.

Previously, Disney had told us there was no information to share about the experience’s future. Confirming a return, even without specifics, is a real step forward for anyone who’s been holding out hope this wasn’t quietly going away for good.

If you’re not familiar with DuckTales World Showcase Adventure, it’s actually the third version of a long-running World Showcase tradition. The concept started with Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure, which ran from 2009 to 2012, before being replaced by Agent P’s World Showcase Adventure, a Phineas and Ferb-themed version that ran for roughly seven years until 2020.

DuckTales was first announced back in December 2019 as Agent P’s successor, and despite some uncertainty following the cancellation of the DuckTales animated reboot, Disney confirmed the attraction was still moving forward. It finally opened on December 16, 2022, using the Play Disney Parks app (Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Japan, France, and the United Kingdom) helping Scrooge McDuck, Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby track down the “Seven Plunders of the World.”

Each pavilion included three missions and a finale, and the game notably interacted with its physical surroundings; completing certain missions could trigger a fireworks display projected inside the Mexico pyramid, or cause a jade monkey to rise from the pond outside the China pavilion’s temple. Guests who completed the quest in all seven countries unlocked a special final mission tying everything together.

Disney hasn’t specified what changes are coming, but given that the entire experience was built around an app that no longer exists, some kind of new technology platform seems like the most likely starting point. Whether that means a return to physical devices like the earliest versions of this game used, integration into a different Disney app, or something else entirely is genuinely unknown right now.

For a franchise of experiences that’s kept younger guests engaged while touring World Showcase for over 15 years now, confirming a return, modified or not, is good news for anyone who’s used this as a way to keep kids interested in walking the whole loop of pavilions. We’ll share the specifics the moment Disney reveals them, so check back with Theme Park Scope for updates on what the new version actually looks like.