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

[Brer Panther]

So if they're gonna build an Ursula flat ride, does that mean Disney World will have THREE Little Mermaid attractions?

With all the iconic villians they have to choose from I have hard time believing they are going to do a ride based on The Emperor's New Groove.

Honestly, this just feels like another case of them just deciding to greenlight an armchair imagineering idea that fans have asked for a lot (like the Door Coaster and the Electric Mayhem retheme of Rock 'n' Roller Coaster).

The "original" plans having a bayou themed Madame Medusa restaurant... of all the popular villains to choose from, this would make zero sense, not to mention another bayou experience after TBA but not adjacent to it?

I remember there was a claim in one of the Disney World unofficial guides from the 2010s that they were considering docking the riverboat and turning it into a Madame Medusa restaurant. So there's that.

I’d rather have, say, a Mad Madame Mim ride then one based on overused character.

If there was a way to make an attraction - I don't know what kind - out of the Wizard's Duel sequence, that would be pretty cool.

There's a reason why luigi's dumb dance party and maters junkyard jamboree are nearly always less than 15 min wait and why RSR is always a 90 min wait.

Half-joking suggestion: what if the flat ride used either the Luigi ride or the Mater's Junkyard Jamboree technology and was themed to Lady Tremaine? The idea could be that she is forcing the guests to scrub her floors. The ride vehicles look like giant scrub brushes.

For whatever coaster drop or water ride chute, all that is needed from The Emperor's New Groove is "pull the lever Gronk."

I don't remember a character in The Emperor's New Groove named Gronk. Could you have possibly meant KRONK?

The guests don't need to be told the details of the land's lore. The designers need the lore to do a good job designing it so it doesn't come off like an arbitrary hodge-podge junk-drawer of IPs. We don't need a second land at Magic Kingdom like this, just use Fantasyland -- these IPs are already part of Fantasyland.

This is part of the reason why I don't think a Villains Land is such a good idea.

Door Coaster

For what it's worth, I'm excited for the Door Coaster and Monstropolis. I just wish they didn't have to tear out MuppetVision to put it in.

Maybe the spinner could be something more similar to the Inside Out attraction at DCA or Blowfish Balloon Race in Mermaid Lagoon at Disney Sea.

The question is, what villain would lend themselves to a balloon ride? Ratigan had a blimp, from what I recall, but somehow I don't expect them to build a Great Mouse Detective attraction.

ow are you going to explain what binds all these villains together? An affection for goth color schemes or twisty art nouveau architecture? But there isn’t anything actually evil about that! Just like there isn’t actualy anything evil about hooks for hands, black capes, or pipe organs. It’s just the “trappings” associated with bad guys.

Keep the villains as antagonists in the heroes’ rides, not as protagonists in their own.

This is ANOTHER reason why I don't think a Villains Land is a good idea.

I see kids dress up as Maleficent and Cruella every Halloween.

The animated characters, or the heroic live action versions?

If the 2000s era Emperor’s New Groove gets a major ride and Lilo and Stitch, which is far, far better, and literally it’s garbage remake still make $1,000,000,000,

We already had a Lilo and Stitch attraction open in the park long before Villains Land was announced. It sucks, and it's closed now, but it's still worth mentioning.

MK used to house attractions like SWSA and MTWR.

Are you of the opinion that it's better without those kinds of attractions?

I mean, to be fair, a lot of the attractions in the park still have some sort of tension or a spooky moment or two in them, right?

 

[Pizza Moon]

So if they're gonna build an Ursula flat ride, does that mean Disney World will have THREE Little Mermaid attractions?

Honestly, this just feels like another case of them just deciding to greenlight an armchair imagineering idea that fans have asked for a lot (like the Door Coaster and the Electric Mayhem retheme of Rock 'n' Roller Coaster).

I remember there was a claim in one of the Disney World unofficial guides from the 2010s that they were considering docking the riverboat and turning it into a Madame Medusa restaurant. So there's that.

If there was a way to make an attraction - I don't know what kind - out of the Wizard's Duel sequence, that would be pretty cool.

Half-joking suggestion: what if the flat ride used either the Luigi ride or the Mater's Junkyard Jamboree technology and was themed to Lady Tremaine? The idea could be that she is forcing the guests to scrub her floors. The ride vehicles look like giant scrub brushes.

I don't remember a character in The Emperor's New Groove named Gronk. Could you have possibly meant KRONK?

This is part of the reason why I don't think a Villains Land is such a good idea.

For what it's worth, I'm excited for the Door Coaster and Monstropolis. I just wish they didn't have to tear out MuppetVision to put it in.

The question is, what villain would lend themselves to a balloon ride? Ratigan had a blimp, from what I recall, but somehow I don't expect them to build a Great Mouse Detective attraction.


This is ANOTHER reason why I don't think a Villains Land is a good idea.

The animated characters, or the heroic live action versions?

We already had a Lilo and Stitch attraction open in the park long before Villains Land was announced. It sucks, and it's closed now, but it's still worth mentioning.

I mean, to be fair, a lot of the attractions in the park still have some sort of tension or a spooky moment or two in them, right?

The Stitch ride is like saying the Winnie the Pooh or Orlando Frozen rides are the best we can do.

They just chose not to try again making this a moot point…

 

[docnabox]

This dark water ride featuring Maleficent seems like it would be a great place to feature something like the Niteflight Expedition attraction coming to Dollywood. Or maybe I have no idea what I am talking about.

But as I understand it, the vehicles there will go from water ride to aerial ride to coaster. I could see a water portion as the set up leading to an aerial portion as Maleficent transforms into the dragon and then a coaster portion through the thorns and vines.

But again, I am no expert.

 

[EricsBiscuit]

Yes. I think a LOT of people want to see Disney do another Expedition Everest or Big Thunder Mountain scale coaster at WDW, and perhaps push it a bit further.

That’s because most people don’t really know what’s best. MK needs a weather proof high capacity mega e ticket dark ride more than it does a high intensity roller coaster. If someone wants thrills, let them go to Six Flags.

 

[eddie104]

I’ve been preaching for a Dark Fantasyland ever since this project was announced.

I’m still hoping they lean into that direction and keep the original concept art elements intact. As for the changes to the ride lineup I’m happy but very skeptical about The Emperor New Groove being the IP they chose. SDMT should be the inspiration as far as theming goes versus bare bones Slinky Dog Dash.

The flat ride needs to be more than a bare bones spinner but ultra themed like only Disney knows how to do. I rather it be something unique like they created for Fantasy Springs.

 

[Incomudro]

People talking about Disney not making villains too scary for kids after I’ve had to leave Fantasmic with my hysterical toddler because that was too frightening for them.

So?
How did you get them over that?

 

[BrianLo]

We’ve heard from Steve, Len, Martin and the Wrap. Other than Braydon weighing in much to my chagrin, these were the people who had the pulse of the last announcement cycle. Sounds like a real pivot to me.


Other than taking a second to wrap my head around the tonal shift, I’m going offside of the Disney Adults and saying this seems to be a good change. The land needs to be campy and an Yzma coaster sounds campy.

I’m surprised by everyone who thought the former roller coaster was something it wasn’t. It never seemed pitched as terribly intense, it seemed pitched as Hagrid. Slinky dog just seems to affirm a smoother and more family friendly profile and unlike some comments to the contrary, is horrendously LL compatible. There’s a reason SDMT has troubles transitioning off single pass and SDD remains the first choice LL-MP property wide.

 

[Timothy_Q]

A few weeks ago I said the coaster wouldn't have any inversions since Disney hasn't done inversions since 1995-2005 and got a bunch of people disagreeing with me lol

I don't see Disney returning to the Xtreme rides of the early 2000s any time soon

 

[Charlie The Chatbox Ghost]

Call me crazy, but their info on what the land has is pretty much 1:1 what I did for site-that-shall-not-be-named’s podcast. Yzma coaster, Shanghai-style boat ride, Hades restaurant, and a spinner attraction (we initially had it as the infamous Ursula spinner, as the article on this art mentions, but it was changed to a sorcerer’s battle between multiple villains using the Luigi’s system to be more unique)

In a world of AI, what are the odds this site asked ChatGPT what the lands plans are and it scraped the article about my park map artwork and thought it was real?

 

[Andrew C]

it seemed pitched as Hagrid. Slinky dog just seems to affirm a smoother and more family friendly profile

That’s quite a pitch down.

 

[Charlie The Chatbox Ghost]

So what do we think about this being a case of testing the waters for which way they should go?

Given the whole land was greenlit after using the Bluesky artwork for beyond BTM as free market testing, I’m sure this is the same. See which style people like more, a thrill coaster or a family coaster. The Yzma coaster can still work as a thill ride imo

 

[BrianLo]

That’s quite a pitch down.

In what sense? I interpreted it as accessibility and not commentary on thematic integrity.

 

[Andrew C]

In what sense? I interpreted it as accessibility and not commentary on thematic integrity.

Thrill level. It’s night and day. I’m not asking for velocicoaster. But come on. You’re doing a dark ride that’s accessible to all. I don’t get why we can’t have both. 48 inches opens things up to like 7 year olds and above. Is that really so bad with two other rides in the land?

 

[HMF]

With all the iconic villians they have to choose from I have hard time believing they are going to do a ride based on The Emperor's New Groove.

Let alone a kiddie coaster in the vein of Slinky Dog Dash in lieu of a major E-ticket Maleficent themed coaster. They were told to think big right? Just like they were told to do for the EPCOT re-imagining.

 

[HMF]

Taking the scary out of it?

This is par the course these days. Remember, having a murderous axe murderer bride in Mansion is considered "Controversial" now.

 

[HMF]

While some of these presented ideas are actually really neat -- I really don't buy most of it. Emperor's New Groove? That's amazing! But.... I just don't see it in 2030. Also though.... Emperor's New Groove is such a good fit for AK / Tropical America's. If they had this concept.... IDK, I'm confused and smell some crazy rumors lol.

The goal to make the coaster more family friendly makes a little sense, seeing that Tron is in MK - but also, would be highly disappointing for "me."

Emperor's New Groove was really the first major sign that the Disney Animation renaissance was over. You could argue also that making Fantasia 2000 an IMAX exclusive killed its box office potential. I had to drive all the way to Baltimore from the Philly suburbs to see it back in the day.

 

[HMF]

With all the iconic villians they have to choose from I have hard time believing they are going to do a ride based on The Emperor's New Groove.

I have a hard time believing a lot of things they do these days.

 

[HMF]

It's bitten them every time they've tried it.

Edgy doesn't belong at the MK. It's also the realization that you really can't make anything edgy when at most Disney Villains are PG rated.

I think it's the weird fantasy of some Disney Adults hoping that they can experience a "Dark" Disney that in reality never existed throughout their story telling.

Uh, POTC and Mansion were quite edgy in their original forms for their time, obviously they were relatively PG but as we know they have slowly removed the rough edges from those Attractions over the years, especially recently. Heck, the original version of Snow White's Scary Adventure had the implication that the witch kills you by drooping a diamond on your head. You can't child-proof everything or the park will become the kiddie stereotype that its detractors have always said it was.

 

[UNCgolf]

Only real problem I see with Berk (having been there) besides sight lines is it's almost entirely outdoors. Even the waiting area for the show is 90% in direct sun/rain.

From a theme perspective, that works for what it is. or being in Florida when you go from punishing heat and direct sun standing in line for the coaster to punishing rain (or heat and direct sun) waiting to be let into the theater it's a whole other thing.

The biggest problem with Berk as a comparison IMO is that Berk has several rides but none are highly themed or very good. It's not where you're looking for quality themed rides.

 

[HMF]

Less eye-rolling at Maleficent than what’s-his-name from those Star Wars movies from 10 years ago.

Kylo Ren. Why he wasn't given the title "Darth" like every other major Star Wars villain is a mystery to me.