MK Piston Peak and Villains Land Construction Thread

[mattpeto]

I expect Tropical Americas (at least) to open in phases, like Galaxy's Edge and New Fantasyland.

Maybe Encanto first and then Indy?

Josh says it all opens in 2027 from the video embedded here. I’m going with “it’s all open by end of 2027”.

 

[James Alucobond]

Maybe Encanto first and then Indy?

Wouldn't the reverse make more sense? The Encanto show building is not yet complete, whereas Dinosaur is about to close and is staying in place. Logically, retrofitting that building and the restaurants will take less time than what remains for Encanto, plus the guest flow of having only Encanto blocked off is very similar to what we were already living with after Primeval Whirl was demolished.

 

[mattpeto]

Wouldn't the reverse make more sense? The Encanto show building is not yet complete, whereas Dinosaur is about to close and is staying in place. Logically, retrofitting that building and the restaurants will take less time than what remains for Encanto, plus the guest flow of having only Encanto blocked off is very similar to what we were already living with after Primeval Whirl was demolished.

It's a good point.

Could Indy open next Spring or Summer? Based on previous changeovers, I'd suggest that's more likely than Encanto.

I'm going with my gut and saying that the whole land opens on the same day. Maybe a soft open at something specific prior.

 

[lentesta]

Maybe Encanto first and then Indy?

Josh says it all opens in 2027 from the video embedded here. I’m going with “it’s all open by end of 2027”.

I suspect Encanto first too.

When WDI presented Indy at that Maya archaeology conference last year, they said they had not yet build the first model of the ride. And it was clear the story hadn't been completed. Which means we don't know show scenes, effects, etc. And all of that still had to go through budgeting and value engineering. So in early 2025 WDI didn't know what the ride was yet.

The construction plans for Encanto are dated March 14, 2024. So Encanto was finalized a full year before WDI presented their preliminary thoughts for Indy.

I know Indy's an existing ride. But Encanto has a decent head start and will drive Disney's "intent to visit" metric. So I suspect it's getting the attention and will open first. That's just a guess.

 

[Purduevian]

Wouldn't the reverse make more sense? The Encanto show building is not yet complete, whereas Dinosaur is about to close and is staying in place. Logically, retrofitting that building and the restaurants will take less time than what remains for Encanto, plus the guest flow of having only Encanto blocked off is very similar to what we were already living with after Primeval Whirl was demolished.

Indy has the building... but still has to demo everything inside

Encanto doesn't have the building... but doesn't have anything stopping construction... I could see arguments for either.

 

[Gusey]

Indy has the building... but still has to demo everything inside

Encanto doesn't have the building... but doesn't have anything stopping construction... I could see arguments for either.

I was thinking similar. There might be a chance that by the time Dinosaur is gutted, the Encanto showbuilding is fully built?

When WDI presented Indy at that Maya archaeology conference last year, they said they had not yet build the first model of the ride. And it was clear the story hadn't been completed. Which means we don't know show scenes, effects, etc. And all of that still had to go through budgeting and value engineering. So in early 2025 WDI didn't know what the ride was yet.

That's interesting. I remember back in 2024 them showing the model for the outside, but I never considered that we haven't seen the inside models of either ride (not that I'm expecting them to show any more models other than ride vehicles at D23 this year)

 

[flyerjab]

I’m hoping for a grand opening of the entire land at one time. I’m not a fan of staged openings. I remember when SW:GE opened in stages at WDW, I was underwhelmed at first. After RotR opened I remember thinking how much more impressive it would have been if the entire land debuted collectively.

Maybe for WDW it is better from a monetary standpoint to open in phases. It creates repeat spikes in attendance when multiple large attractions in the same land open on different dates.

 

[BrianLo]

I suspect Encanto first too.

When WDI presented Indy at that Maya archaeology conference last year, they said they had not yet build the first model of the ride. And it was clear the story hadn't been completed. Which means we don't know show scenes, effects, etc. And all of that still had to go through budgeting and value engineering. So in early 2025 WDI didn't know what the ride was yet.

The construction plans for Encanto are dated March 14, 2024. So Encanto was finalized a full year before WDI presented their preliminary thoughts for Indy.

I know Indy's an existing ride. But Encanto has a decent head start and will drive Disney's "intent to visit" metric. So I suspect it's getting the attention and will open first. That's just a guess.

I’m not sure I agree with the broader premise. Assuming Encanto opens the back half of 2027, as widely expected.

Maelstrom to Frozen 20 months, The splash conversion was 17 months, Test Track 3.0 13 months.

On the other hand, most of the ground up new builds have been 32-40 months. I don’t see much issue with the timing alignment.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Just don’t soft open the carousel…that’d be lame. At minimum, don’t open anything until one E ticket is ready.

I’ll be honest. With Indy opening next year, I’m worried about scope. That seems ambitious. I really don’t want it to largely remain a dark rainforest, but with no dinosaurs. I don’t want the largely-empty TBA finished product.

 

[doctornick]

Just don’t soft open the carousel…that’d be lame. At minimum, don’t open anything until one E ticket is ready.

I’ll be honest. With Indy opening next year, I’m worried about scope. That seems ambitious. I really don’t want it to largely remain a dark rainforest, but with no dinosaurs. I don’t want the largely-empty TBA finished product.

Yep. I'd rather see it be more ambitious and take longer than open quickly but be underwhelming.

If they decided to delay IJ relative to the rest of the land, where it is located, pretty secluded and off to the side, would make it pretty feasible to not feel like Tropical Americas is still under construction. I'd be okay with Encanto/carousel/playground opening first and IJ later even though staged openings are less ideal.

 

[DisneyDodo]

Indy has the building... but still has to demo everything inside

Encanto doesn't have the building... but doesn't have anything stopping construction... I could see arguments for either.

I was thinking similar. There might be a chance that by the time Dinosaur is gutted, the Encanto showbuilding is fully built?

Indy doesn’t just have a building, it also has a track. Removing the themed elements from Dinosaur and enclosing the Encanto building wouldn’t really put them on equal footing. But even if they were at the same stage of construction, it doesn’t mean the remaining work would equal (e.g. if one relies more on projections vs physical effects, it could be done quicker, etc.)

Having said that, I do believe Disney intends to open these at the same time. They delayed the closing of Dinosaur knowing that it would take less time to transform an existing ride than to build one from scratch. They presumably chose a phased closing instead of a phased opening.

That could always change though if construction doesn’t go according to plan. SWGE was intended to open all at once, but they experienced delays with Rise and decided not to hold back on opening the rest of the land.

 

[BrianLo]

With Indy opening next year, I’m worried about scope. That seems ambitious.

Not really…

Indy has an entire functional ride system and a completed enclosure that doesn’t even seem like either will have major modification. Encanto is incompleted envelope of open air vertical steel.

Mission Breakout ran a tight 4.5mo schedule, I don’t know why Indy is setting off anyone’s alarm bells. 18 months is a lot of time.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Not really…

Indy has an entire functional ride system and a completed enclosure that doesn’t even seem like either will have major modification. Encanto is incompleted envelope of open air vertical steel.

Mission Breakout ran a tight 4.5mo schedule, I don’t know why Indy is setting off anyone’s alarm bells. 18 months is a lot of time.

Because I just witnessed the transformation of Splash to TBA and was underwhelmed.

 

[James Alucobond]

Because I just witnessed the transformation of Splash to TBA and was underwhelmed.

I mean, you're talking about something animatronic-packed moving to a much less dense design, whereas Dinosaur is already pretty austere. Leaving theme aside, I think from an enjoyability perspective, the worst case is a lateral move.

 

[BrianLo]

Because I just witnessed the transformation of Splash to TBA and was underwhelmed.

That had nothing to do with not having enough time and everything to do with their choices. They can have this whole ride stripped to studs and have a functional ride platform ready for set installation before Encanto. So why aren’t we waving a red flag on Encanto’s scope?

 

[gorillaball]

I expect Tropical Americas (at least) to open in phases, like Galaxy's Edge and New Fantasyland.

Man I hope not, I think that has gone over poorly both times.

 

[BrianLo]

Whoops, sorry. Just noticed this is the villains thread, which actually had some equally interesting developments. Suggest we multi quote each other over there to keep this thread running.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I suspect Encanto first too.

When WDI presented Indy at that Maya archaeology conference last year, they said they had not yet build the first model of the ride. And it was clear the story hadn't been completed. Which means we don't know show scenes, effects, etc. And all of that still had to go through budgeting and value engineering. So in early 2025 WDI didn't know what the ride was yet.

The construction plans for Encanto are dated March 14, 2024. So Encanto was finalized a full year before WDI presented their preliminary thoughts for Indy.

I know Indy's an existing ride. But Encanto has a decent head start and will drive Disney's "intent to visit" metric. So I suspect it's getting the attention and will open first. That's just a guess.

A model isn’t a specific design milestone and their use has been pushed back in the design process.

Not knowing the show scenes would mean the project was approved without completing concept design, which is not good.

 

[Phicinfan]

I think this one makes the most sense as a new train station. The larger footprint to our left is too close to the existing Frontierland train station and is likely an attraction with a tunnel or comparable (ala Tron) for the train to go through. This one is more to the rear of the park and would make for a new back entrance to the the land and to MK.
View attachment 905515

Do we have confirmation that the track isn’t moving? I agree this as a train station would be nice, but current track layout goes through the other large new building site. Would this have a window look like people mover does at times??

 

[JohnD]

Do we have confirmation that the track isn’t moving? I agree this as a train station would be nice, but current track layout goes through the other large new building site. Would this have a window look like people mover does at times??

I'm only guessing based on current configuration. Who knows?