News 'Beyond Big Thunder Mountain' Blue Sky concept revealed for Magic Kingdom

[MrPromey]

I think, down the road, in the next ten to twenty years, if Universal gets to four, you'll see Disney feel the "need" for a fifth.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

I think, down the road, in the next ten to twenty years, if Universal gets to four, you'll see Disney feel the "need" for a fifth.

DeSantis will be a distant memory by that point.

They’ll already be at 4. They consider Volcano Bay a “theme park”. They technically have 3.

I personally disagree with this notion. But just for semantics, once Epic Universe opens, Universal will market having 4 Theme Parks.

 

[MrPromey]

They’ll already be at 4. They consider Volcano Bay a “theme park”. They technically have 3.

I personally disagree with this notion. But just for semantics, once Epic Universe opens, Universal will market having 4 Theme Parks.

I don't think anybody actually sees it that way - not even Universal beyond the purposes of marketing.

A tourist would have to be a complete idiot just looking at the brochures in the hotel loby of the hotel they're staying at to be confused by that.

By that logic, we'd be talking about the merit's of Disney's seventh gate and we're not.

... but fine, if you want to play this game, if/when Universal, in 10-20 years gets to the point of adding their fifth gate... We'll see Disney respond with a new water park... and maybe it'll be villains themed.

Better?

 

[MagicHappens1971]

I don't think anybody actually sees it that way - not even Universal beyond the purposes of marketing.

A tourist would have to be a complete idiot just looking at the brochures in the hotel loby of the hotel they're staying at to be confused by that.

By that logic, we'd be talking about the merit's of Disney's seventh gate and we're not.

... but fine, if you want to play this game, if/when Universal, in 10-20 years gets to the point of adding their fifth gate... We'll see Disney respond with a new water park... and maybe it'll be villains themed.

Better?

As I already mentioned, I don’t agree with the notion that they have three parks. But we shouldn’t say “no one agrees”.

 

[MrPromey]

As I already mentioned, I don’t agree with the notion that they have three parks. But we shouldn’t say “no one agrees”.


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What's your point, again?

You're the one who brought in the whole "I don't agree with this but I'm going to bring it into the discussion to argue" in the first place.

Why is this the hill you are ready to kill for, exactly?

Also, sourcing a search result pulled from Universal's own website and another that is apparently part of a UK based company that makes commercial equipment that is offering travel tips for some event they had back in 2021 for their business customers (their own marketing effort for an incentive with verbiage that appears to have been copy/pasted right off Universal's website) which doesn't even appear to be accessible by normal site navigation from their home page - something you stumbled across doing a Google search - as a method to back up your case that it is well established beyond just Universal's marketing is ridiculous.*

But fine, once again, since this thing you allegedly don't agree with and which really doesn't change anything about the original point I was making is apparently super-important to you, I will AGAIN concede, in 10-20 years if/when Universal gets around to opening their fifth gate, Disney will feel the need to respond with a new public restroom adjacent to Disney Springs and maybe it'll be Villains themed.

Do you really want to continue?

Are you going to waste another 5-10 minutes looking for search results you can screenshot that you, hopefully, take more than a second to glance at this time before posting so you can win a... I don't even know what it is you're trying to "win" - a point about semantics?

I hope you are so I can laugh at this thing you "don't agree with" but really want to stand behind for some reason and not bother responding.


*side note, doing a google search for "how many parks does Universal Orlando have" like the screenshot shows you did, should result in the answer being three - just like the question "how many parks does Walt Disney World have" should result in the answer being six because that would be factually accurate but you know as well as I do, that's really not what we are talking about - still, show me your ring so I can bend the knee and kiss it if that'll make you happy.

 

[J4546]

I kinda do agree with Universal on this one because Volcano Bay is such a full and great themed experience imo. Way better than the 2 disney waterparks

 

[MrPromey]

I kinda do agree with Universal on this one because Volcano Bay is such a full and great themed experience imo. Way better than the 2 disney waterparks

So Villains themed water park, complete with a Bald Mountain themed slide confirmed!

Glad we have this behind us now!

 

[bcoachable]

Why a land?

Why not a fifth gate?

Hollywood Studios used to sort of be Disney's answer to the teen/young adult demographic that other places have done a better job appealing to.

There are enough ideas IPs for them to more than fill a whole park and provide room to grow.

It could even have it's own castle - take your pick but Maleficent's would probably be my choice.

Instead of adding to the problem of too many people choosing MK over the other parks, I think it would easially become the second most popular park not just in WDW but in central Florida.

Height restrictions could run with abandon.

... and the hint would be a lot stronger, starting from the parking toll booths that this might not be the park to take the youngest ones to.

I feel like there would be a lot of business benefits to making this a complete park with future room to grow... but of course, that's not happening.

I like the thoughts- but from my understanding, when a fifth gate is pitched- the cost of infrastructure, the ability to staff it, combined with the fact that a fifth gate will steal “guests” from the other four gates, it becomes a non starter. My thoughts would be to create a third domestic park (say in Missouri, or Texas) so as to capture more people. Develop some of these new concepts along with the old traditional rides- to make it a “must visit” Third Park for us all to dump our money in.

 

[MrPromey]

I like the thoughts- but from my understanding, when a fifth gate is pitched- the cost of infrastructure, the ability to staff it, combined with the fact that a fifth gate will steal “guests” from the other four gates, it becomes a non starter. My thoughts would be to create a third domestic park (say in Missouri, or Texas) so as to capture more people. Develop some of these new concepts along with the old traditional rides- to make it a “must visit” Third Park for us all to dump our money in.

I think modern Disney would be more concerned about about cannibalizing their coastal resorts with a single-day location if they were really serous about building something else... and if they were going to build a theme park or big themed experience targeted primarily towards an older demographic, it seems more likely they'd try for something around Las Vegas (Like Universal is doing) than in either of those two places, to me.

Maybe with Bob C. gone things might be reversing but this is the company that within the last twelve months, was pursuing sports betting revenue so it's not as crazy as it sounds.

Again, I'm talking 10-20 years down the road - like when we might see a working Yeti in Everest (okay, that was a joke, he, he - we're never going to see a working yeti) and Universal has opened or is working on their fourth fifth gate and cupcakes aren't the killer marketing strategy they apparently still are, today. (aso a joke, if themed cronuts didn't dethrone them, nothing will)

I mean, Universal has already managed to morph their Mardi Grass celebration into their own international food and booze celebration.

They're ripping/mooching off Disney but it's working and Disney likes to pretend they're in a wide blue ocean and that they aren't concerned with competition but remember how quickly and semi-half-a$$ed Hollywood Studios opened after Universal announced they were coming to town and how we got AK which managed to open a little ahead of IOA and how the last expansion for the MK was the alleged "Potter Swatter"?

Also, it's important to keep in mind when talking about how realistic or feasible something is, that we are having this discussion 113 pages into a thread that is still hotly debating a non-announcement that Disney made about what to all of our knowledge, they haven't green-lit, haven't designed, and aren't building, almost a year ago.

Anyway, my personal take is trying to put that in a single land would be a real waste of future potential. Fantasyland content has already spilled out to two of the other three parks because there isn't enough room for it and they're trying to "poach" some of that MK traffic in the other three parks to better load balance, already.

This is a broader category than that unless we just consider the need for cohesiveness to be sort of out the window the way current management at Disney has and we'll have a villains land and then, if that's popular, they'll just start putting villains attractions wherever.

If so, I guess it doesn't matter but this is just my blue sky idea. I think having a whole Coco land and a whole Encanto land devoted to single IPs and then stuffing a land devoted to 100+ years of Disney villains behind them, knowing the space we are talking about for all three just seems... wonky unless villains land amounts to 1.5 attractions and a bunch of shops and a restaurant or two which is probably what each of the three "lands" would really end up being, anyway.

Personally, if they don't want to go with a fifth gate, I'd rather just have an e-ticket emphasizing the villain from one of their popular movies stuffed in there somewhere (maybe they could kill two birds with one stone and make it Ernesto!) than see basically the same thing with a bunch of space wasted to add yet another spinner to go along with the Instagram and retail opportunities tacked on that they decide to call a "land" but I know that's probably what we'll get.

I expect the rock work will be world-class. :/

... And I know they're not going to do what I want.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

What's your point, again?

You're the one who brought in the whole "I don't agree with this but I'm going to bring it into the discussion to argue" in the first place.

Why is this the hill you are ready to kill for, exactly?

Also, sourcing a search result pulled from Universal's own website and another that is apparently part of a UK based company that makes commercial equipment that is offering travel tips for some event they had back in 2021 for their business customers (their own marketing effort for an incentive with verbiage that appears to have been copy/pasted right off Universal's website) which doesn't even appear to be accessible by normal site navigation from their home page - something you stumbled across doing a Google search - as a method to back up your case that it is well established beyond just Universal's marketing is ridiculous.*

But fine, once again, since this thing you allegedly don't agree with and which really doesn't change anything about the original point I was making is apparently super-important to you, I will AGAIN concede, in 10-20 years if/when Universal gets around to opening their fifth gate, Disney will feel the need to respond with a new public restroom adjacent to Disney Springs and maybe it'll be Villains themed.

Do you really want to continue?

Are you going to waste another 5-10 minutes looking for search results you can screenshot that you, hopefully, take more than a second to glance at this time before posting so you can win a... I don't even know what it is you're trying to "win" - a point about semantics?

I hope you are so I can laugh at this thing you don't agree with and not bother responding.


*side note, doing a google search for "how many parks does Universal Orlando have" like the screenshot shows you did, should result in the answer being three - just like the question "how many parks does Walt Disney World have" should result in the answer being five because that would be factually accurate but you know as well as I do, that's really not what we are talking about - still, show me your ring so I can bend the knee and kiss it if that'll make you happy.

Sorry. I wasn’t trying to argue. Was just making a point

 

[MrPromey]

Sorry. I wasn’t trying to argue. Was just making a point

Okay - I'm putting my stabby letter-opener down, now.

 

[Bocabear]

I liked the overall idea of the Villains Land proposal...things that made me wrinkle my nose a bit were the mentions of "Devil" "Hell" and "Evil"...there are other words that might be more clever and not have quite the serious sounding overtones.... "Beastly" "Grim" "Macabre"...words like that sound better with the Disney brand. Any attraction with "Hell" in the title would never work. "Escape from DeVil Manor" would work... see what I am saying... tone is right, ideas are right but the verbiage needs to be softened...a little more friendly...but not too much, and evil should always be tongue in cheek.... not serious... I like the VooDoo Lounge in particular...and the integration of restaurants and IP. the alternate riverboat in the Dismal Swamp is a great counterpoint to the normal Magic Kingdom...

 

[Stupido]

I recently had the opportunity to discuss the Villains Land with a friend familiar with the project, and my takeaway is that it’s more than likely going to happen than not.

It’s Disney, plans can change, but I’d be very optimistic right now.

Any teases as to which villains might be featured, or is it too early for that?

 

[WowFactor]

I liked the overall idea of the Villains Land proposal...things that made me wrinkle my nose a bit were the mentions of "Devil" "Hell" and "Evil"...there are other words that might be more clever and not have quite the serious sounding overtones.... "Beastly" "Grim" "Macabre"...words like that sound better with the Disney brand. Any attraction with "Hell" in the title would never work. "Escape from DeVil Manor" would work... see what I am saying... tone is right, ideas are right but the verbiage needs to be softened...a little more friendly...but not too much, and evil should always be tongue in cheek.... not serious... I like the VooDoo Lounge in particular...and the integration of restaurants and IP. the alternate riverboat in the Dismal Swamp is a great counterpoint to the normal Magic Kingdom...

I appreciate your comments and agree with most of them.
Honestly, expressing myself in another language turned out to be quite challenging , especially when I try to use sarcasm or tongue-in-the-cheek speech.

Voodoo Lounge it's my favorite by far but now that we have the overlay on Splash I believe there's no more room for that IP on MK.

Thank you for your consideration and thoughts.

Sincerely,
Wow

 

[Bocabear]

I appreciate your comments and agree with most of them.
Honestly, expressing myself in another language turned out to be quite challenging , especially when I try to use sarcasm or tongue-in-the-cheek speech.

Voodoo Louge it's my favorite by far but now that we have the overlay on Splash I believe there's no more room for that IP on MK.

Thank you for your consideration and thoughts.

Sincerely,
Wow

It really is a great idea, and you have a lot of really wonderful ideas.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

Any teases as to which villains might be featured, or is it too early for that?

I have no insider information, but my guess would be the land would be anchored by a Maleficent-esque castle, and then Ursula, Jafar, Hades, and Scar or Dr.Facilier would be the other big villains of the land. I think they would try and incorporate as many as possible, and there aren’t too many newer villains.

 

[Cousin Huet]

The ideas leaking on different channels are not looking good. Doing a villains thing back behind haunted mansion is good but the coco and encanto stuff over behind BTMR is unusual and a bad idea. Star Wars over there in California is out of place and shouldn’t be there and this will be worse than that. The removing of Frontierland essentially is tragic and pointless too so I am just hoping they get some people in there who have a clue soon. Between the Galaxtic Star Cruiser and the rumors of trying to maim the MK it looks like a house cleaning is in order as they are lost at Disney World.

 

[Stupido]

I have no insider information, but my guess would be the land would be anchored by a Maleficent-esque castle, and then Ursula, Jafar, Hades, and Scar or Dr.Facilier would be the other big villains of the land. I think they would try and incorporate as many as possible, and there aren’t too many newer villains.

Yeah, Maleficent seems like the perfect choice to anchor the land in. Florida is severely lacking a Sleeping Beauty experience. It would be really cool if the queue were through her castle, and she had an imprisoned Philip animatronic in it.

Ursula might be tricky cause she already has a beautiful animatronic that’s considered the best part of a ride already, but I have everything crossed that this is where we finally get some Facilier!

 

[uncle jimmy]

What if instead of Encanto... Cars land above/next to BTMR (the mountains of both would blend together) and then next to that CoCo area and then Villians area (connecting to HM and then NFL).
Put Encanto in DAK.

 

[Ghost93]

Any teases as to which villains might be featured, or is it too early for that?

DeSantis has to make an appearance somewhere in the land.