MK Villains Land Announced for Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom

[Brer Oswald]

Why wouldn’t they just build the ambition Bald mountain boat ride ? Thats what the original Villains Land concept was based around.

 

[Coaster Lover]

As much as I love ENG, the ONLY reason to include this for a coaster is for the "pull the lever" scene (either a tilt coaster or a drop track). Im not opposed to either, but I feel this is just asking for comparisons to Hagrids. As for the Maleficent boat ride, I could see this being pretty fun, but I could also see this having been codeveloped with the Avatar project for DCA. I could imagine a final scene with a large animatronic dragon and lots of fire around you. Could be fun. As for a spinner? I hope not unless it's 100% indoor. I just see nonother way to incorporate it to feel like it belongs in the land otherwise.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Also makes zero sense that according to this report, the request to change the plans happened post holidays, so im assuming January, and it hasn't even been 2 months and they already have ALL these details about the new plans?

The basics of Disney’s California Adventure, an entire park, were developed over a weekend. It doesn’t actually take that long to come up with a framework to develop.

 

[Casper Gutman]

If they stick a highly-themed bar that only serves overpriced alcohol into the land, will that make it “mature” enough?

 

[Jedi14]

I’m kind of surprised by the reaction here to a potential Yzma coaster. That always seems to be ride pitched when people are giving their concept of a Villain Land/Park.

 

[FigmentFan82]

I’m going to guess that we’ll get actual legit answers to what they are exactly building at D23.

 

[doctornick]

Especially when a more intense rollercoaster would pull focus from Tron resulting in less wait times. Every single piece of feedback for Tron is that "it's fun, but too short and never worth the wait time." Adding something on the same intensity, if not more, would lower Tron's average wait time, and directly chip away at one of the biggest critiques of the ride. It feels like a no brainer. Adding a new attraction, while supporting existing attractions seems win/win to me.

Would it? I mean people aren’t going to say “I rode the Maleficent coaster, so I won’t do Tron”. No, they’ll do both in the same day. I mean there might be an impact on the margins if people feel less compelled for re-rides but largely the only benefit in wait times would just be overall having more attractions available not necessary the type. Just IMHO.

 

[James Alucobond]

I find it weird that people want a scary, ramshackle environment like Darkmoor when most of the Disney villains wouldn’t be caught dead in one. They’re most frequently nobles, dandies, divas, or court magicians, with some obvious exceptions.

 

[Jack Torrence]

The ride itself is super fun; effects, track layout, vehicles, etc....but the Guardians storyline adds nothing to it.

Agreed. I think it would actually have been better served as the "Big Bang Coaster" it was originally conceived as.

 

[doctornick]

people think Cosmic rewind is meh? that's crazy

I absolutely love CR. I get complaints about the location but the ride is awesome.

My elderly mom who has never seen a GotG movie just waited two hours to ride it on a recent trip because she loves it so much.

 

[JD80]

Let me preface this by saying I haven't been to EPIC yet.

The Island of Berk land at EPIC is nearly a perfect land when it comes to the components:

• Live show
• Coaster
• Spinny Ride (Dragon's racers)
• Boat Ride/Play Area
• Dining Options
• M&G Options/Animatronics

Compare that to SWGE and it's a massive difference. If they want to use Berk a target - then I don't think you can pick a better one.

I have no issue with a family coaster. I love Slinky - I just hope it's more than just a naked steel coaster. And longer. MK does not need a VelociCoaster or anything like that in MK.

The land doesn't also need to be scary. It needs to be menacing and spooky if that makes sense. Horror Night vs. Not-So-Scary.

 

[FigmentFan82]

If they stick a highly-themed bar that only serves overpriced alcohol into the land, will that make it “mature” enough?

Yeah I don’t know why so may here genuinely thought TDO would go Dark Universe level. We knew it would need to be fairly family friendly in an all ages type of way. And like you’ve said, that’s probably the correct choice.

 

[Mike S]

100% agree. I hope this is just a rumor because it sounds like a worst of both worlds situation. Who is a land like this supposed to be for? If you're worried about scaring kids, create a land that isn't scary for kids!! Just go with a totally different theme. Don't create a land that's literally full of childhood nightmare fuel and then try to make it "nice" so that kids coming from Bippity Boppity Boutique don't freak out. Again, who is the target audience for that?

Here's my take. When it comes to kids, they are weird, weird little creatures. One never knows. They are blissfully talking about murderous animatronics a la Five Nights At Freddie's one minute and rolling around on the floor screaming because a tiny insect landed on them the next. They're gleefully discussing Poppy's Playtime and Baldi's Basics and then a flip switches and they're screaming that they can't use the potty alone because they're afraid of Skibidi Toilet (who seems far friendlier than Poppy and Baldi, quite frankly). They find murderous Grimace shakes fascinating but jack-o-lanterns terrifying. The takeaway - if you don't want to scare kids, just don't roll those dice. Don't have anything that could remotely be considered scary in there, because trying to "nice-ify" it isn't going to work.

When it comes to adults - the target vibe for spooky stuff would really seem to be Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Tower of Terror (my son, in kindergarten, is next level obsessed with Tower of Terror at the moment). These are the iconic vibes that launched 1,000 gothic style Etsy dresses. Not terrifying, not Fantasyland-in-greyscale. Intriguing, tantalizingly evocative of another world, mystical-not-magical. A Villain's land that is basically a big extension of Gaston's Tavern should really just be some kind of Fantasyland Part 2.

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Let me preface this by saying I haven't been to EPIC yet.

The Island of Berk land at EPIC is nearly a perfect land when it comes to the components:

• Live show
• Coaster
• Spinny Ride (Dragon's racers)
• Boat Ride/Play Area
• Dining Options
• M&G Options/Animatronics

Compare that to SWGE and it's a massive difference. If they want to use Berk a target - then I don't think you can pick a better one.

I have no issue with a family coaster. I love Slinky - I just hope it's more than just a naked steel coaster. And longer. MK does not need a VelociCoaster or anything like that in MK.

The land doesn't also need to be scary. It needs to be menacing and spooky if that makes sense. Horror Night vs. Not-So-Scary.

Berk is a well-themed land but it lacks a headliner attraction and that’s a major problem. The designers expected the show to serve that purpose but that’s not something a theme park show can do.

 

[DrStarlander]

I’m kind of surprised by the reaction here to a potential Yzma coaster. That always seems to be ride pitched when people are giving their concept of a Villain Land/Park.

It's a gag. It's a chuckle. It's not worth $300 million.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I understand fans having a problem with how Tron and Guardians turned out, but these “meh” thrill rides pull in some of the highest wait times in their respective parks, which signals that there is an appetite for these types of thrill rides.

By pretty much every metric, the on paper, in the moment, best thing any amusement park could do is add a roller coaster. Actually doing that too much becomes a problem.

 

[tissandtully]

I find it weird that people want a scary, ramshackle environment like Darkmoor when most of the Disney villains wouldn’t be caught dead in one. They’re most frequently nobles, dandies, divas, or court magicians, with some obvious exceptions.

I also think idolizing villains is not a great mood to set, like these folks are very bad, I mean one literally wants to murder puppies and that's the tamest, it needs to be playful and dark

 

[lazyboy97o]

I’m kind of surprised by the reaction here to a potential Yzma coaster. That always seems to be ride pitched when people are giving their concept of a Villain Land/Park.

That Disney is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on two lands that have been pitched by every two-bit Armchair Imagineer is itself a big red flag..

 

[tissandtully]

Berk is a well-themed land but it lacks a headliner attraction and that’s a major problem. The designers expected the show to serve that purpose but that’s not something a theme park show can do.

Actually was surprised how hidden that show is in the land, I'm sure lots don't even know about it, it's fantastic though

 

[FigmentFan82]

I also think idolizing villains is not a great mood to set, like these folks are very bad, I mean one literally wants to murder puppies and that's the tamest, it needs to be playful and dark

It’s not idolizing. It’s you love to hate them.