Villains Land at Magic Kingdom

[belloq87]

My armchair-Imagineer pitch for the big dark ride (and the backstory of the land, overall, to justify why all the characters have gathered there) would be for the Horned King (from THE BLACK CAULDRON) to have summoned the villains in hopes that their combined evil energy can revitalize the now-supernaturally-dormant Black Cauldron, allowing him to raise an army of the dead to conquer the world (and then dispense with the villains). The villains learn they're being used, some revolt against the Horned King, some turn on each other, etc. And we're but poor peasants caught in the crossfire! Oh, and the Horned King is a disciple of Chernabog (because he has to be in the ride).

It's a little over-convoluted, but I think it accomplishes a few useful things:
1. Provides a story reason for why all these Disney villains are in one place (we've never seen them cross over into other stories/universes before).
2. The Horned King is technically a Disney character, but he's obscure enough that he could almost seem like an original character to the land.
3. It allows for dynamic storytelling where the villains have their own various alliances/allegiances/animosities.

I'm expecting something much more simplistic for the actual land ("Why are the villains here? Just because!"), but that's the general direction I'd go.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

Echoing a similar element to adjacent Villain characters; I am hoping they find a way to have Oogie Boogie as part of the main E-Ticket.

Doesn't have to be the main villain; but think he'd be a great call.

 

[Jake S]

it would be genuinely hilarious for Dr. Facilier to show up in this attraction and I’m now rooting for it to happen.

 

[Freak]

Absolutely the biggest announcement here.

Man this will be a game-changer for Magic Kingdom. Finally something fresh Something NEW. Something "risky". This will be a breath of fresh air for a Disney theme park and having a "juxtaposed land" from Fantasyland is fantastic.

My prediction of the two rides? A roller coaster themed to Night on Bald Mountain (Look at the far-left concept art) and a Shanghai Pirates-style ride with all of the villains, or at least the more popular ones. This would make sense when you think about DLR getting one with Avatar and WDW not apparently getting one when Epic Universe is coming to compete against. Villains is the kind of theme that would call for massive sets like Shanghai Pirates or Avatar.

it would be genuinely hilarious for Dr. Facilier to show up in this attraction and I’m now rooting for it to happen.

I would actually be pretty mad. That would mean they wasted that potential on what could've been for naught.

 

[jarmor]

Aside from Fantasmic and Philharmagic, is there any other disney ride/attraction that features a collection of the disney characters/villians in one setting? I don't know how well a ride featuring multiple villians from different properties will work. What could the premises be? Are we the target and running from them?

 

[BatCom]

Aside from Fantasmic and Philharmagic, is there any other disney ride/attraction that features a collection of the disney characters/villians in one setting? I don't know how well a ride featuring multiple villians from different properties will work. What could the premises be? Are we the target and running from them?

There was Cinderella Castle Mystery Tour at TDL. No longer there.

 

[MikePat]

So Disney said they are planning to have two major attractions in the land… maybe we can get a Mack Rides Family Launch Spinning Coaster and a Kuka Arm Dark Ride…

 

[Nick]

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.

Things cancelled since 2017: Main Street Theater, Play Pavilion, New China 360 show, Disneyfied SSE redo, and the over-engineered Mary Poppins Carousel. What do all of those things have in common? Not many cared that they were cancelled, in fact, I think we dodged a few bullets with Play Pavilion, SSE, and even Poppins. Not that it wouldn't have been nice for a ride in the UK, but my point is that the plot of land is still open to be developed on a better idea (like perhaps a Brave dark ride, which was proposed). The Main Street Theater is the only thing in that bunch I wish happened.

People 100% will care if Villains or Monsters for example get the axe. These are long rumored projects that finally got announced officially and now that they're announced, if Disney goes back on that they're going to have an insanely pissed off fanbase. I will grant you this is still obviously in early development and anything can happen, but I just think the reception to it has been so good that they'd be very, very stupid to not build it. The amount of money they will make from this land is insane just thinking about the possibilities.

Also, Iger's successor as of this moment is more likely than not Josh D'amaro so i'm not quite sure he'd change course.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Epic Universe right now: "The god-king has betrayed a fatal flaw: Hubris. Easy to taunt, easy to trick. Before wounds and weariness have taken their toll, the mad king throws the best he has at us."

Epic Universe is the best thing to happen in Orlando. If it weren't for Comcast's willingness to support the theme park business, who know where we'll be right now.

I'll believe it when it opens. Too many Disney projects get announced and never built.

The lack of anything beside very vague concept art and no timeline says to me that they still haven't committed to a design yet.

As for "construction has started", construction also started for the Main Street Theater, the Pleasure Island 2.0, and the Play Pavilion to name a few projects announced and then quietly cancelled.

While there is concern, Disney has stated multiple times (and proven to a degree) that these projects are far more in development/likely to be greenlit than some of the previous D23s and are willing to invest. While there is definite concern on projects getting pulled last minute, this all seems very real.

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

They certainly should have, but unfortunately we were stuck with a chairman that believed he could get away with cost cutting, raising prices and not have to invest in capacity improvements.

5 Years Ago, we did have an Epcot overhaul (Remy/GOTG/Moana), MK Tron, MK Night Parade (I believe this has been in development for years before Chapek cost cutting/Covid/etc.), and DHS just got SWGE/Runaway... so there was no need to rush.

I can understand the reasoning behind being negative towards the parks over these last few years, but I do think they have turned the corner. Obviously they need to prove it, but I'm leaning towards positivity here.

 

[saint.piss]

"And cruising just around the bend, guests will be able to venture Beyond Big Thunder Mountain into an all-new land dedicated to Disney Villains. Inspired by the wicked characters fans know and loathe, the multi-acre expansion will include two major attractions, plus dining and shopping. Walt Disney Imagineering is pushing creative boundaries to dark and mysterious levels to bring this new, first-of-its-kind land to life."

New Details Revealed for Magic Kingdom Expansion

It’s time to leave Radiator Springs and head west into exciting new locations. This marks the largest expansion in Magic Kingdom history!

disneyparksblog.com

 

[Mad Dog]

Epic Universe is the best thing to happen in Orlando. If it weren't for Comcast's willingness to support the theme park business, who know where we'll be right now.


While there is concern, Disney has stated multiple times (and proven to a degree) that these projects are far more in development/likely to be greenlit than some of the previous D23s and are willing to invest. While there is definite concern on projects getting pulled last minute, this all seems very real.


They certainly should have, but unfortunately we were stuck with a chairman that believed he could get away with cost cutting, raising prices and not have to invest in capacity improvements.

5 Years Ago, we did have an Epcot overhaul (Remy/GOTG/Moana), MK Tron, MK Night Parade (I believe this has been in development for years before Chapek cost cutting/Covid/etc.), and DHS just got SWGE/Runaway... so there was no need to rush.

I can understand the reasoning behind being negative towards the parks over these last few years, but I do think they have turned the corner. Obviously they need to prove it, but I'm leaning towards positivity here.

I agree. Just for perspective, imagine what the makeup of Universal Orlando and WDW parks would be today if Potter wasn't so damn successful. Disney thought Orlando was a mature market and Universal was struggling big time. Nearly every major WDW and Universal attraction that we've seen since 2010 probably would not exist, and no Epic for sure. That Boy Wizard sure upset the applecart. .....As fans, lets just sit back and enjoy this Disney news. It's great for WDW and will have the added effect of pressuring Universal to improve Studios and IOA sooner rather than later.

 

[SeventyOne]

Aside from Fantasmic and Philharmagic, is there any other disney ride/attraction that features a collection of the disney characters/villians in one setting? I don't know how well a ride featuring multiple villians from different properties will work. What could the premises be? Are we the target and running from them?

Any Halloween celebration/show tends to do this. And a 365-Halloween land (either specifically identifying as such or just implied) would likely be a win in this market. Decor already up 25% of the year.

 

[jarmor]

But I said ride/attraction. Not a seperate ticketed event or show. . .

 

[BigHouseFootball]

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.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

Echoing a similar element to adjacent Villain characters; I am hoping they find a way to have Oogie Boogie as part of the main E-Ticket.

Doesn't have to be the main villain; but think he'd be a great call.

He'd be a good preshow Emcee.

 

[Michael S]

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 would never dedicate a whole park to the Villains. Don’t be bummed; this is the best representation they can get in the parks.

 

[TheUniC6]

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.

 

[Nick]

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.

MK is actually the one major Universal or Disney park that actually desperately needs a ride like this. The park feels a tad dated/stale in part bc there isn't a single modern dark ride attraction that has made its way into the park yet. Not that I want MK flooded with them, but one or two of them would provide a very nice contrast to the old school rides and appeal more to the teenage demographic.

 

[kingcooger]

My armchair-Imagineer pitch for the big dark ride (and the backstory of the land, overall, to justify why all the characters have gathered there) would be for the Horned King (from THE BLACK CAULDRON) to have summoned the villains in hopes that their combined evil energy can revitalize the now-supernaturally-dormant Black Cauldron, allowing him to raise an army of the dead to conquer the world (and then dispense with the villains). The villains learn they're being used, some revolt against the Horned King, some turn on each other, etc. And we're but poor peasants caught in the crossfire! Oh, and the Horned King is a disciple of Chernabog (because he has to be in the ride).

It's a little over-convoluted, but I think it accomplishes a few useful things:
1. Provides a story reason for why all these Disney villains are in one place (we've never seen them cross over into other stories/universes before).
2. The Horned King is technically a Disney character, but he's obscure enough that he could almost seem like an original character to the land.
3. It allows for dynamic storytelling where the villains have their own various alliances/allegiances/animosities.

I'm expecting something much more simplistic for the actual land ("Why are the villains here? Just because!"), but that's the general direction I'd go.

Sort of similar, but for the big dark ride, I would pick Hades as our connective tissue.

I mean, most of the villains are dead, so why not just have him as the focus of the ride? We enter a temple to the god Hades, get told we're all dead, board 'boats' to cross the river styx, find out that he has united the villains in an effort to defeat their various heroes (a plot line used in the Young Hercules tv series where Hades and Jafar teamed up against Aladdin and Hercules) so that he can rule the world, the villains don't like being under Hade's thumb so they all join forces to rise up against them, during their fight, we inadvertently bump most of them into the river styx, Hades thanks us for our help and lets us go free while saying, "Hey, thanks and all that, but don't think this is it for us. Sure, I'm letting you go now for what you did for me, but eventually you'll be back."

 

[GA-MBIT]

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.