Adventureland Expansion? | Inside Universal Forums

Adventureland Expansion?

  • Signing up for a Premium Membership is a donation to help Inside Universal maintain costs and offers an ad-free experience on the forum. Learn more about it here.
Dec 21, 2016
1,342
2,373
This all sounds like a bunch of balogna to me, so feel free to lock/delete if this has absolutely no merit, but can any insiders weigh in on if this is something possibly in the works?

Move over, Volcano Bay — rumors point to a new volcano coming to Magic Kingdom | Blogs

With the 50th anniversary coming up in just a few years and Disney World in an all-out theme park battle like never before, Disney appears to be looking at all options.

At this point, nothing is off the table. Rumors have been bubbling about new concepts, including perhaps a Tron ride in Tomorrowland or many former proposals. A few of these older proposals include the Western River Expedition – a boat ride similar to Pirates that went through the old-timey West – and Fire Mountain, a South Pacific-themed coaster ride that would be built inside a volcano-like show building.

Well, it now looks like Disney might be reconsidering the old Fire Mountain concept.

On a recent episode of The Disney Dish podcast, industry insider and media juggernaut Jim Hill shared details of a project currently being tossed around at Disney that would involve dusting off the "shovel-ready" volcano coaster.

To add to this, there has been
chatter on various Disney World message boards in recent months regarding the project. Most of this chatter began when height balloons were spotted behind the Jungle Cruise area in Adventureland in mid-March.

According to Hill, Disney is now looking to bring the dormant volcano-themed attraction to life along the shore of Seven Seas Lagoon with guest access from inside Adventureland and a possible Moana tie-in.

The ride system for the volcano-based Fire Mountain attraction has changed over the years. At one point, the coaster was designed to be a flying coaster similar to Manta. With a height limit well over a foot higher than that of Big Thunder Mountain, using the flying coaster would limit the family appeal of the attraction. It’s likely that in the current pitches Disney is keeping the volcano show building, while updating the majority of the ride inside. The demonic volcano from Moana would be featured prominently, according to those sharing details on the new attraction.

With a volcano being the central focus of Universal’s new water park, Disney may also be looking to reclaim some of that spotlight, which they formerly held with their mountain weenie at Typhoon Lagoon. A volcano that sits near the castle with views from the Polynesian would trump nearly any theme park skyline in the region.

The village concept does line up with other recent Adventureland rumors, including Disney looking to add another signature dining option in the tropical-themed land. This new village would be visible from the train, which may be the new views that have been rumored as part of the 50th Anniversary updates. This may also help explain the rumors of some updates happening to the Jungle Cruise.

To access the shoreline where the volcano show building is rumored to be, guest would have to cross the backstage road used for the parades. There’s no word on how Disney may address this intersection, but it may include a new Main Street bypass, similar to the one opened in recent years between Main Street and Tomorrowland. The original plan had two different variations, with one including a small South Pacific-themed village expansion of Adventureland.

Moana will likely be moving to Magic Kingdom much earlier than the 2021 rumored opening of the new ride. It’s all but confirmed that a new Moana meet-and-greet will be opening in Adventureland before the summer crowds hit this year. This new meet-and-greet might even take over the cult favorite The Enchanted Tiki Room audio-animatronic show. The tiki bird animatronic is rumored to be heading to a new signature dining restaurant coming to Adventureland, possibly within the Moana-based South Pacific village expansion. Until that restaurant opens, the birds may be moved to the Skipper Canteen.

There’s no word on if this e-ticket would replace the Tron Tomorrowland attraction proposal or be in addition to it. Ironically, the first time Fire Mountain was proposed it was part of a two E-ticket expansion to Magic Kingdom. With crowds ever increasing at Magic Kingdom, already the most visited theme park in the world, the idea of two new additions isn’t unlikely.

But with billion-dollar expansions already happening at Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom, and with a rumored one heading to Epcot, it’s really a question of how much money Disney wants to spend.


I don't quite understand how this will steal the thunder from Volcano Bay considering if this were to happen it would be a good 6-8 years from now presumably
 
  • Like
Reactions: JoeCamel
You mean theyre building an inverted coaster around the Disney animated movie Moana? Yeah sure. Also didn't need to click the link to know who wrote that...
 
  • Like
Reactions: JoeCamel
This all sounds like a bunch of balogna to me, so feel free to lock/delete if this has absolutely no merit, but can any insiders weigh in on if this is something possibly in the works?

Move over, Volcano Bay — rumors point to a new volcano coming to Magic Kingdom | Blogs

With the 50th anniversary coming up in just a few years and Disney World in an all-out theme park battle like never before, Disney appears to be looking at all options.

At this point, nothing is off the table. Rumors have been bubbling about new concepts, including perhaps a Tron ride in Tomorrowland or many former proposals. A few of these older proposals include the Western River Expedition – a boat ride similar to Pirates that went through the old-timey West – and Fire Mountain, a South Pacific-themed coaster ride that would be built inside a volcano-like show building.

Well, it now looks like Disney might be reconsidering the old Fire Mountain concept.

On a recent episode of The Disney Dish podcast, industry insider and media juggernaut Jim Hill shared details of a project currently being tossed around at Disney that would involve dusting off the "shovel-ready" volcano coaster.

To add to this, there has been
chatter on various Disney World message boards in recent months regarding the project. Most of this chatter began when height balloons were spotted behind the Jungle Cruise area in Adventureland in mid-March.

According to Hill, Disney is now looking to bring the dormant volcano-themed attraction to life along the shore of Seven Seas Lagoon with guest access from inside Adventureland and a possible Moana tie-in.

The ride system for the volcano-based Fire Mountain attraction has changed over the years. At one point, the coaster was designed to be a flying coaster similar to Manta. With a height limit well over a foot higher than that of Big Thunder Mountain, using the flying coaster would limit the family appeal of the attraction. It’s likely that in the current pitches Disney is keeping the volcano show building, while updating the majority of the ride inside. The demonic volcano from Moana would be featured prominently, according to those sharing details on the new attraction.

With a volcano being the central focus of Universal’s new water park, Disney may also be looking to reclaim some of that spotlight, which they formerly held with their mountain weenie at Typhoon Lagoon. A volcano that sits near the castle with views from the Polynesian would trump nearly any theme park skyline in the region.

The village concept does line up with other recent Adventureland rumors, including Disney looking to add another signature dining option in the tropical-themed land. This new village would be visible from the train, which may be the new views that have been rumored as part of the 50th Anniversary updates. This may also help explain the rumors of some updates happening to the Jungle Cruise.

To access the shoreline where the volcano show building is rumored to be, guest would have to cross the backstage road used for the parades. There’s no word on how Disney may address this intersection, but it may include a new Main Street bypass, similar to the one opened in recent years between Main Street and Tomorrowland. The original plan had two different variations, with one including a small South Pacific-themed village expansion of Adventureland.

Moana will likely be moving to Magic Kingdom much earlier than the 2021 rumored opening of the new ride. It’s all but confirmed that a new Moana meet-and-greet will be opening in Adventureland before the summer crowds hit this year. This new meet-and-greet might even take over the cult favorite The Enchanted Tiki Room audio-animatronic show. The tiki bird animatronic is rumored to be heading to a new signature dining restaurant coming to Adventureland, possibly within the Moana-based South Pacific village expansion. Until that restaurant opens, the birds may be moved to the Skipper Canteen.

There’s no word on if this e-ticket would replace the Tron Tomorrowland attraction proposal or be in addition to it. Ironically, the first time Fire Mountain was proposed it was part of a two E-ticket expansion to Magic Kingdom. With crowds ever increasing at Magic Kingdom, already the most visited theme park in the world, the idea of two new additions isn’t unlikely.

But with billion-dollar expansions already happening at Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom, and with a rumored one heading to Epcot, it’s really a question of how much money Disney wants to spend.


I don't quite understand how this will steal the thunder from Volcano Bay considering if this were to happen it would be a good 6-8 years from now presumably
Agree
 
I don't think you need an IP to support an awesome-looking coaster inside a volcano anyways. They'd be better off including a Moana M&G/mini-show along with Fire Mountain. Then, you can keep the Tiki Room (but still remain stuck with the carpets...)

Adventureland could use a thrill ride, Frontierland could use a family dark ride and Tomorrowland could use one more of each plus an update of the existing land - story of present-day MK
 
I thought Moana would work terrifically as a rapids ride, but I'm not holding my breath as it wasn't the financial success that they probably had hoped for.
 
This has all been debunked by Martin and Spirit already.

There will be no new build in Adventureland... HOWEVER, those tiki birds are on the verge of going extinct with Moana taking over.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JoeCamel and Quint
I don't think you need an IP to support an awesome-looking coaster inside a volcano anyways. They'd be better off including a Moana M&G/mini-show along with Fire Mountain. Then, you can keep the Tiki Room (but still remain stuck with the carpets...)

Adventureland could use a thrill ride, Frontierland could use a family dark ride and Tomorrowland could use one more of each plus an update of the existing land - story of present-day MK

You don't need one but I don't see Disney building something now without an IP attached.

Was there ballon height tests recently?
 
I don't believe that either.
I don't necessarily either. At least yet.

Disney seems to want to replace attractions with low GSAT scores. I don't imagine Tiki Room has a great score, so it wouldn't surprise me.
 
For the love of all that's good, Disney needs to get away from Vekoma (although some their new stuff looks promising) Mack has ride system that's inverted and idea for that Fire Mountain pie in the sky that's very programmable. The Arthur ride at Europa.

 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Parkscope Joe
The Rock just made a post on Facebook indicating that he has been given the opportunity to work with the Imagineers to "re-engineer and re-design" the Jungle Cruise at all of the Disney parks worldwide. He mentioned this during a post talking about how he's starring in and producing the upcoming movie.
 
For the love of all that's good, Disney needs to get away from Vekoma (although some their new stuff looks promising) Mack has ride system that's inverted and idea for that Fire Mountain pie in the sky that's very programmable. The Arthur ride at Europa.



I will, in content, say this (If I'm not mistaken by this); Grizzly at Hong Kong seems to be the best example of Disney and Vekoma working together.

Mack, I really think will make a splash in the Theme Park front, and I am not going to be surprised if Universal Creative chimes in on the technology that Mack has been making, similar to how Disney has for Vekoma.

Meanwhile, The Rock will be collaborating with WDI to update Jungle Cruise's world-wide while he is working with WDPictures on the Jungle Cruise Film..
 
This has all been debunked by Martin and Spirit already.

There will be no new build in Adventureland... HOWEVER, those tiki birds are on the verge of going extinct with Moana taking over.

Yes, taking over... for what will likely be a cheap-o meet and greet. In essence, it's the loss of an attraction (if it happens).

I will always dream and hope for Fire Mountain in some shape or form...but I also always dream and hope for Western River Expedition too...

If only.

I'd love for Western River Expedition to happen, but it won't. Disney doesn't build rides like that anymore. Nobody does, unfortunately.