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.