Villains Land at Magic Kingdom

[kingcooger]

I think in terms of branding and recognizability, the main villain has to be Maleficent. It's the path they took for Kingdom Hearts, Fantasmic, Decendants, Kingdom Keepers. They love throwing her at the top of the pile.

Maleficent conjures up the fears and dark memories of the riders, taken form as Disney Villains, and sends them after us. That's a simple hook that has work a bunch of times before in other mediums.

It's interesting to create a lineup of Villains for the ride, because some already have some significant representation elsewhere at Magic Kingdom like Ursula, the Evil Queen, Captain Hook, Gaston. Facilier was chosen to explicitly not be included in Tiana's. There are picks like Scar, Cruella, Jafar Hades, Chernabog that definitely could be given a good spotlight.

Others feel a bit niche and I wonder whether they'll actually be included or not. Horned King, Mother Gothel, Lady Tremaine, Yzma, Oogie Boogie, Queen of Hearts, Frollo, Tamatoa; All of these feel either limited in spectacle, too out there and niche to include, or like Disney has leaned away from the characters for a while now. The only reason why I think Frollo might have a better shot is that Hellfire was played during the announcement. I'd love Oogie Boogie, but he and TNBC as a whole feels pretty separate as a brand from the Disney Animated Villains brand. Yzma Lever coaster is a really cute idea, but feels very locked in with a specific demographic of millenials and Gen Z that wouldn't age great for a key E-Ticket. Probably the same reason why we won't get RNRC Starring Powerline anytime soon.

I just figured Maleficent was the coaster, honestly…

 

[TheUniC6]

One thing that just crossed my mind. If you look at the concept art, you can see what appear to be dragons or some other mythical creatures flying in the sky. Perhaps they might borrow that same technique for the flying dragons Universal is doing for Isle of Berk at EU?

 

[GA-MBIT]

One thing that just crossed my mind. If you look at the concept art, you can see what appear to be dragons or some other mythical creatures flying in the sky. Perhaps they might borrow that same technique for the flying dragons Universal is doing for Isle of Berk at EU?

Yeah... With Disney World, I'll have to wait until I see them still flying a year after opening until I call that a win. TIE Fighters and Fantasyland Dragons are cool but only when they run for more than 1 day ever.

I honestly wonder about how long-term the HTTYD Dragons last, but that's a different thread.

But hey, maybe if the HTTYD Land goes over well, maybe it is an actual possibility? Jenny joked in her Starcruiser video about how "if we actually want Droids in Galaxy's Edge, we need to get Universal to build them first, and wait for Disney to get embarrassed." Maybe this is the path!

 

[Michael S]

One thing that just crossed my mind. If you look at the concept art, you can see what appear to be dragons or some other mythical creatures flying in the sky. Perhaps they might borrow that same technique for the flying dragons Universal is doing for Isle of Berk at EU?

That’s just an old art director trick for filling dead space and adding kinetics into concept art. I wouldn’t read too much into it. It’s just to set a vibe for want they want to do. Nothing from concept art, at this stage, should be taken literally

 

[FrankSinatra]

I forget who posted that there’s no timeline for this awesome project. But at D23 they said it’s coming to life in the next 5 years. So 2029/30 is my bet.

 

[MrRoamer]

I would be so excited to have a Night on Bald Mountain coaster where Chernabog is right there dead in the center of it. Seriously could be amazing.

 

[jarmor]

Perhaps another idea for a ride for the Villains land in addition to the obvious coaster would be a dark ride that uses the PAN/Avengers Infinity Defense ride system.

You mean the Spiderman/Transformers system lol.

I wonder if the Descendant villains can be featured in some type of play area for the kids!

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I forget who posted that there’s no timeline for this awesome project. But at D23 they said it’s coming to life in the next 5 years. So 2029/30 is my bet.

I'd have to imagine this happens by the end of 2030. I know some are skeptical regarding the lack of "substantial" details (like attractions details, etc.) but there's still 1-2 D23s in between now and opening where they can provide additional detail.

The goal of this year's D23 was to push back against the negativity surrounding the future of Disney parks, so it was difficult for them to get into the granular details. Thankfully, we're a month out from construction at DHS/DAK and a few months from MK... so we should start to see the scope of the project quicker than many realize.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

there's still 1-2 D23s in between now and opening where they can provide additional detail.

Yeah, unfortunately next D23 is probably going to largely be details on existing projects. Given the extent of the work at both DCA and Magic Kingdom, we'll probably see models for both DCA and the new MK areas.

 

[Michael S]

I think 2029/2030 is very possible. Don’t forget that at D23 in 2015 Star Wars was revealed, but we had about the same amount of info we had then about that, that we do now about Villains. 2017 D23 was where we got attraction info, and the name of the land, if I remember correctly. Then, 2 years after that, the land opened (well without ROTR) at Disneyland. I’d expect a similar timetable for this

 

[mainejeff]

They could really do some cool quick service food & drink stands. Examples: The Old Hag's Poison Apples, Ursula's Fried Shrimp, Hades Hot Whatevers, etc, etc.

 

[jarmor]

^ Now it's sounding like something that will tie in with what would have been the paradise pier villains overlay of california screaming. . .

 

[TheUniC6]

Yeah, unfortunately next D23 is probably going to largely be details on existing projects. Given the extent of the work at both DCA and Magic Kingdom, we'll probably see models for both DCA and the new MK areas.

Destination D 2025 will also be a great opportunity to drop follow up details on these projects in the pipeline.

 

[mainejeff]

^ Now it's sounding like something that will tie in with what would have been the paradise pier villains overlay of california screaming. . .

It will be interesting to see how they tie in all of (or many of) the villains together. I mean this isn't Chernabog Land or Malificent's Dragon Land....right?

 

[jarmor]

I would hope to see something like Dark Universe with names of attractions and restaurants that don't quite spell out the villain in the title but allude towards them.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

I would hope to see something like Dark Universe with names of attractions and restaurants that don't quite spell out the villain in the title but allude towards them.

I was thinking more like a reverse Fantasy Springs. The land is themed to all Villains but has areas that directly correspond to certain characters. And presumably the characters warranting a sub area would be Maleficent, Cruella, Ursula, Jafar, Scar, and Hades.

 

[Mad Dog]

Heh, does Chapek get an area? He's probably the primo Disney Villain.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

Heh, does Chapek get an area? He's probably the primo Disney Villain.

 

[IzzyB]

I live in the real world. I've seen all these big announcements before and learned not to expect too much.


The GP and fans can be as hyped or not hyped as they want. The reality is until they break ground, nothing is certain and even then can be cancelled. Just like Main Street Theater, just like Pay Pavilion, etc. where they spent a ton of money to prep for things and cancelled anyway. One bad quarter and they could pull the plug on half of it. Iger retires (again) and his successor sees other priorities and changes the plans.

With Epic coming down the road all of this made sense to begin five years ago.

I get nothing is certain, but those other projects were smaller and most mistakes anyways. Disney HAS built stuff in the last 8 years and we act like they have just announced a bunch of cool stuff and cancelled it all and that is just not accurate. I don't get the "with Epic coming" arguments. The last time I was at Disney was 2021 yet there are a bunch of rides that opened up since then. I also don't think Disney should compete the year Epic opens. They want to attract people to not drop them with small openings, but then after Epic spotlight is gone hit hard, seems smarter in my opinion.

This is the one I’m most excited for. Disney has absolutely underutilized their villains in the parks and there is such a clear demand for it.

The only thing I’m bummed about is this would make the perfect theme for a 5th park. I’m not advocating for building a 5th gate or meaning to debate whether it should be built but Disney has so many wonderful and iconic villains you could easily fill an entire park with them and not one small land.

Disney needs a 5th gate like Universal needs a 4th. Both of them need to spend the next 15 years strengthening their existing parks to increase capacity to meet demand.


I don't get the negativity of this project because of lack of detail on this post. Universal doesn't ever announce anything. Do you really think if Universal announced stuff 4 years before opening they would have more than basic concept art? They don't want to release details because they probably don't have bids or land usage stuff worked out to be able to release details. no park could. Doesn't mean this is doomed or not opening in the next 5 years.

 

[Michael S]

I get nothing is certain, but those other projects were smaller and most mistakes anyways.

It’s also fair to mention that those projects were canceled at a time when indoor theaters and high touch environments (play pavilion) weren’t guaranteed to ever make a comeback after the pandemic, and were subsequently shelved.