It's that time of year ago. Another year gone and a new one just on the horizon. At a time when we usually take a look back at all of the exciting and news-worthy items that happened throughout the Disney company, I thought it would be a nice change of pace to take a look forward at all of the things that we can look forward to in the parks, theaters, and beyond that Disney has in store for us in 2019.

This is the big item that everyone is looking forward to in 2019. I even know people who haven't been to a Disney theme park in years and aren't really "fans" of Disney who have told me that they plan to make a special trip to the Disney theme parks once this new land opens.

The news of this brand new land dedicated to Star Wars that is coming to Disneyland and Walt Disney World was announced several years ago. Construction has been slow but steady and we've been teased with minor details almost weekly since that time, but we can finally start REALLY getting excited, because Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge will open, first at Disneyland, in the summer of 2019 and then at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World during the fall of 2019.

Galacy's Edge will be an entire land set on the planet Batuu, "a thriving port of rogue traders, droids, and strange creatures" and will initially include 2 new attractions "Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run" and "Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance".

This appears to be just the beginning of the Star Wars experiences in the parks, as plans have been announced for a Star Wars-theme hotel, which will be a fully-immersive multi-day experience, to be built adjacent to Disney's Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World. However, you'll have to wait a little long for that experience, because it will not be ready in time to open along with Galaxy's Edge in 2019.

Disney is right in the middle of a steady release of live-action remakes of classic Disney animated features. This is not the only one of these such remakes on this list of things to look forward to in 2019, but for me, "Dumbo" is the one I am looking forward to the most.

While Jon Favreau did a respectable job with the live-action remake of "The Jungle Book" and has a highly-anticipated live-action release of "The Lion King" slated for 2019, Disney chose Tim Burton to head up the film about the flying elephant we all know and love from the 1941 animated classic.

The film, set to be released on March 29, 2019, has a very promising trailer, which features an old-timey circus that looks to be straight out of the imagination of Tim Burton. A nice surprise featured in the trailer is Danny DeVito, who appears to play the ringleader of this circus. The look and feel of the movie seems to be fantastical and heart-wrenching at the same time. The movie, while centered around the titular character, appears to have some additional key characters including Holt Farrier (Colin Farrel), who is hired to care for Dumbo and his son and daughter Joe (Finley Hobbins) and Milly (Nico Parker). The film also features Alan Arkin and Michael Keaton.

About a year or so ago, it was announced that Disney would be competing with Netflix's online streaming video service by starting their own service called Disney+ in 2019. My initial reaction was not one of excitement. As announcements have been made of Disney properties and titles that will be leaving Netflix in preparation for the launch of Disney+, it can be assumed that, conversely, there will be many titles that will be exclusive to Netflix as well. As someone who uses Netflix on a daily basis, I'm not enthusiastic about paying for two separate streaming video services.

On the other hand, however, I am excited to see what kind of exclusive Disney content will be included with this service that, so far, has not been made available on Netflix. For instance, will we see every Disney/Marvel/Pixar/Star Wars feature film be made available? Will we see decades of Disney animated shorts featured on this service? What about classic 80's Disney Channel shows like Mousercise and Welcome to Pooh Corner? It might even be worth the price alone, for me, if they made available The Disney Afternoon complete catalog of Tailspin, DuckTales, Chip n' Dale: Rescue Rangers, Adventures of the Gummi Bears, Goof Troop, and Darkwing Duck. At the very least, I'm anxiously awaiting to find out more details about what will be made available and what the pricing will be.

When The Great Movie Ride closed at The Chinese Theater in Disney's Hollywood Studios to make way for a brand new attraction, it was met with  a mixture of consternation and bridled anticipation. When this new attraction opens in 2019 at the park's iconic theater, it will be a new ride/theater experience being billed as "2 1/2-D" that puts you right in the middle of a Mickey Mouse animated short.

The experience begins with the audience premiering an all-new Mickey Mouse short featuring Mickey and Minnie getting ready for a picnic. As they head out, the pull up alongside a train being driven by Goofy. Then, the audience gets to step inside the film and on board Goofy's train for a wild and zany adventure.

This attraction has some big shoes to fill, being that it will be housed in a signature pavilion in the park and that it replaced The Great Movie Ride, which was beloved by many Disney and movie films alike. However, I think this attraction, which features Mickey and the gang in the new animated short style that can be seen currently on The Disney Channel, adds a fresh contemporary feel compared to the admittedly dated Great Movie Ride. If this ride/movie experience truly is unique, I think this will be a big hit in this park that is, after all, dedicated to the movies.

Right on the heels of his live-action remake of "The Jungle Book", Jon Favreau began work on his live-action remake of Disney's 1994 animated classic "The Lion King". Perhaps, "The Jungle Book" was a beta test for how the public would react to a live-action Disney remake of a classic film with singing and talking animals before embarking on the daunting task of remaking such a beloved contemporary classic like "The Lion King". Ultimately, "The Jungle Book" was successful, and here we are.

With the original film, we had some of the bigger stars of the day including Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Whoopi Goldberg, Rowan Atkinson, Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Jeremy Irons, and James Earl Jones. Likewise, we have another cast of some of today's biggest stars like Seth Rogen, Donald Glover, Beyonce Knowles-Carter, John Oliver, and yes, James Earl Jones (as if anyone else could supply that signature voice of Mufasa's).

I'm excited for this film release on July 19th, partially because the original is one of my all-time favorite Disney films, but also because, Jon Favreau proved, with "The Jungle Book", that he was a big Disney fan who believed in keeping the original spirit of the original film and not deviating from the story. The trailer seems to point to a film that will be a scene-by-scene re-telling of the film I fell in love with 25 years ago.

With the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge and Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway, 2019 is poised to be a year that is squarely focused around Disney's Hollywood Studios, especially once you add in the popularity of Toy Story Land, which opened earlier this year. We also got news this year of a new attraction slated to open in early 2019 called Lightening McQueen's Racing Academy. There are also rumblings of the park getting, yet, another name change. I tend to think that, the closer we get to May 1, 2019, the 30th anniversary since the opening of the park, the more we will hear about the rumored name change, Galaxy's Edge, Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway, and other special plans for this 30th anniversary milestone.

In addition to the films already mentioned in this article, Disney has an entire slate full of blockbuster films scheduled to release in 2019 that I am definitely looking forward to. 2019 may, in fact, be the year that I visit the movies more than I have in a long, long time.

For those of you Marvel fans out there, you have 3 huge films to look forward to. On March 8th "Captain Marvel" will be released and it will be Marvel's first female-led superhero movie.

Then, on April 26th, we get the follow-up to the super, mega, ultra hit "Avengers: Infinity War", which will be "Avengers: Endgame". In this film, we'll get to see just how things turn out for the Avengers superheroes (the ones that are still alive, at least) and how they will deal with the horror that Thanos has unleashed.

We also have a couple of sequels to look forward to. On June 21st, the highly-anticipated "Toy Story 4" is slated to be released. Not much is known, yet, about the plot to this new film, but a new character named "Forky" appears to be part of the story as the toys are now up to their usual adventures as Bonnie's toys, since they were handed off to her at the end of the last film when Andy went off to college.

"Frozen" was a Thanksgiving/Christmas-time mega hit back in 2013, and Disney is aiming to do it again on November 22nd with "Frozen 2". Again, not much is known about the plot of this film, but Jennifer Lee, the co-director of "Frozen", is co-directing "Frozen 2" as well as co-writing it along with Hidden Figures screenwriter Allison Schroeder. It also looks like "Frozen" songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez will be working on "Frozen 2" as well.

We also have a couple of sequels to look forward to. On June 21st, the highly-anticipated "Toy Story 4" is slated to be released. Not much is known, yet, about the plot to this new film, but a new character named "Forky" appears to be part of the story as the toys are now up to their usual adventures as Bonnie's toys, since they were handed off to her at the end of the last film when Andy went off to college.

"Frozen" was a Thanksgiving/Christmas-time mega hit back in 2013, and Disney is aiming to do it again on November 22nd with "Frozen 2". Again, not much is known about the plot of this film, but Jennifer Lee, the co-director of "Frozen", is co-directing "Frozen 2" as well as co-writing it along with Hidden Figures screenwriter Allison Schroeder. It also looks like "Frozen" songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez will be working on "Frozen 2" as well.

On May 24th, we get another Disney live-action remake with "Aladdin" featuring Will Smith as Genie. It's hard to imagine the comedic style of Will Smith in a role that was made iconic by the late and legendary Robin Williams, but he's terrific in pretty much every role he plays, and I'm looking forward to seeing him in this role.

Then, on December 20th we get more Star Wars as the latest installment in the saga is released. "Star Wars: Episode 9" is being directed by J. J. Abrams and will be the conclusion to the Skywalker saga. Also returning in this film is Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian and a posthumous performance by Carrie Fisher.

On May 24th, we get another Disney live-action remake with "Aladdin" featuring Will Smith as Genie. It's hard to imagine the comedic style of Will Smith in a role that was made iconic by the late and legendary Robin Williams, but he's terrific in pretty much every role he plays, and I'm looking forward to seeing him in this role.

Then, on December 20th we get more Star Wars as the latest installment in the saga is released. "Star Wars: Episode 9" is being directed by J. J. Abrams and will be the conclusion to the Skywalker saga. Also returning in this film is Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian and a posthumous performance by Carrie Fisher.

Every year is an exciting year with Disney theatrical releases and new attractions and additions coming to the parks, but 2019 is set to be an especially exceptional year. In addition to all of the things highlighted on this list, there are lots of things coming to Walt Disney World like Disney's Coronado Springs Gran Destino Tower. There's also a movie adaptation of Eoin Colfer's "Artemis Fowl" and much more on the way! 2019 will definitely be an exciting year for Disney fans, if nothing else!