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

[Andrew25]

And if the rumors of the expansions are true, including a HS one, thats very ambitious too.

It seems that many want them to build a entire new park every 2 years.

Yeah, sometimes fans can get a bit too excited and demand way too much... but at the very least there should always be a construction project taking place in one of the 4 WDW parks.

Having something open every year or so at WDW (whether significant E-ticket/land or a smaller attraction/refurb) is a viable target/expectation.

Gives the parks a 3-4 year cycle of something new. Which as long as that sounds... is more often than what we're currently used to.

 

[JD80]

There should always be a new attraction or a major refurb every 2 years. WDW, being the largest resort should be touting every D23 about projects that are just about to open, projects about to break ground, and some blue sky stuff that may break ground in 2-4 years.

 

[Mike S]

There should always be a new attraction or a major refurb every 2 years. WDW, being the largest resort should be touting every D23 about projects that are just about to open, projects about to break ground, and some blue sky stuff that may break ground in 2-4 years.

Walt Disney World should be treated like how Universal Orlando is treated by Comcast. It’s their crown jewel and they treat it as such.

 

[DisneyRoy]

Cheap theming lol

Easier to not theme and just make things pitch black than building an entire false mountain/facade.


While I'd love more dark rides as well, WDW only has 9 coasters spread across 4 parks. All major coasters at each park are highly popular, so I'd argue they need more coasters. Not extreme coasters, but family-friendly additions similar to Slinky Dog & Seven Dwarfs would benefit capacity woes at the parks.

Not saying WDW should go on a coaster building spree, but they certainly are lacking in that department.

The issue with a lot of coasters is throughput. Even the coasters with fast loading and 4 trains still struggle to get 1200 riders per hour. I'd say they need more people eating highly themed omnimovers to spread people out more.

 

[Bocabear]

There should always be a new attraction or a major refurb every 2 years. WDW, being the largest resort should be touting every D23 about projects that are just about to open, projects about to break ground, and some blue sky stuff that may break ground in 2-4 years.

Oh they definitely do that... They just don't actually follow through with these announcements, and when they do, they are usually heavily value engineered...lol

 

[Andrew25]

The issue with a lot of coasters is throughput. Even the coasters with fast loading and 4 trains still struggle to get 1200 riders per hour. I'd say they need more people eating highly themed omnimovers to spread people out more.

Depends on the coaster itself, but you'd be surprised to find how high-capacity some of Disney's/Universal's coasters are...

• Expedition Everest - 2,040 (~60-sec dispatches)
• Cosmic Rewind - 1,600 (~45-sec dispatches)
• Revenge of the Mummy - 1,920 (~30-sec dispatches)

These are somewhat equivalent to Disney's recent dark ride additions and far more reliable than some of the trackless rides.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Walt Disney World should be treated like how Universal Orlando is treated by Comcast. It’s their crown jewel and they treat it as such.

Universal has made rampant cuts at UOR in recent months.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Depends on the coaster itself, but you'd be surprised to find how high-capacity some of Disney's/Universal's coasters are...

• Expedition Everest - 2,040 (~60-sec dispatches)
• Cosmic Rewind - 1,600 (~45-sec dispatches)
• Revenge of the Mummy - 1,920 (~30-sec dispatches)

These are somewhat equivalent to Disney's recent dark ride additions and far more reliable than some of the trackless rides.

I was timing CR dispatches and they're usually every 30 seconds. Sometimes 40. One time: 25!

 

[Mike S]

Universal has made rampant cuts at UOR in recent months.

I’m aware but my point was on the expansion side. They’re definitely slipping in other areas. Like at Kong…

 

[Andrew25]

I was timing CR dispatches and they're usually every 30 seconds. Sometimes 40. One time: 25!

Yeah, they can definitely send those things out far faster than what I used, but I was just being conservative as GOTG will occasionally go on these random 60+ sec dispatch intervals or send out empty trains on one load side for a few dispatches.

I’m aware but my point was on the expansion side. They’re definitely slipping in other areas. Like at Kong…

Universal has matched Disney in terms of attraction/entertainment quality... but boy are they still leagues behind in their upkeep & operations. Even without reservations in place, you still have to check the Universal site for operating hours as they will close the parks quite early for private events (especially on the weekends as stupid as it sounds) occasionally.

They've made substantial improvements in food quality/service, but they're still lagging behind WDW tremendously. In addition, they've proven they're more than willing to drop show quality in the name of profit protection (removing 3D from Kong) or running an attraction (River Adventure) with missing animatronics covered by an unthemed chain link fence (they didn't put fake foliage until 2 weeks after the attraction had removed the animatronics).

 

[fgmnt]

I don't think Disney needs any more coasters.

The parks have a good mix of attractions but they don’t have enough attractions. I think if the company were to open 3-4 major attractions over an 8 year span in MK and not include a new Mountain, that would be a strategic failure. You can’t phone it in with an addition like the mine train or Tron; you need to build a headliner, capacity monster moderate thrill attraction that happens to be a roller coaster.

 

[Advisable Joseph]

Going back to "Beyond Big Thunder," when did people start talking about expansion north of the mountain? I recall reading about more-west-than-northwest from @marni1971. @PREMiERdrum mentioned the north recently, but people in this thread seemed focused there much earlier.

 

[FigmentFan82]

I think so far of all the "rumored to most likely happen" things in MK, I'm most excited about the Moana attraction in AL. for one AL needed a little something extra to really fill out that land. Second, Moana is a great IP and has some of the most beautiful animated imagery seen in any Disney animated film. Lastly, there seems to be some credibility to the rumor that the ride may be something akin to the Shanghai Pirates attraction, which would word wonderfully well with Moana's visuals. Even though it looks like many things are going to happen in MK, if it was only going to be one, I'd hope it was Moana in AL.

 

[ChewbaccaYourMum]

There should always be a new attraction or a major refurb every 2 years. WDW, being the largest resort should be touting every D23 about projects that are just about to open, projects about to break ground, and some blue sky stuff that may break ground in 2-4 years.

Before I start this post I want to apologize to you that I'm quoting your post from earlier today and using it as my example. It's just that I see so many people on here bring up this subject and get mad at Disney for this idea that they are rarely opening things or refreshing them in the four Walt Disney World parks as frequently as they should. It's just plain wrong.

Weeks ago I got this idea to do a deep dive on the history of the parks in Orlando after reading a post on here in some thread about how Universal is always opening things and Epic Universe this and Epic Universe that, and how Disney World could never compete and doesn't give their fans enough. Side note: I am VERY excited for Epic Universe and love both Universal and Disney, just wanted to say that.

So anyway, I started looking on Google for easy articles or sites that have ALL the history of Disney World and Universal Orlando parks to get to the bottom of this. It's not as easy to find, so I decided to go through each and just make my own spreadsheets with almost EVERY year and EVERY park to really be able to have them side by side and compare this debate. I will attach the PDF's here for anyone interested to be able to download them and save them!

The only years I didn't do (yet) were 1971-1979. I started with the good ol' year of 1980! I was doing this research and putting together these spreadsheets during my days at work, when I had time to spare. It has taken me a little over a week, so please spare me if there might be spelling errors or a couple things might be wrong or missing. But, by my nature, I was very stringent on getting everything right so I think it's good, but I welcome anyone to check my work and let me know if something seems off with an opening year!

So I started in 1980, and based on my research, Walt Disney World has NOT had something new in their four theme parks, from 1980 to 2024 a total of 5 times. So out of 44 years only 5 of those years something new wasn't brought to the parks.

When I say something new what I mean is:
-A ride (new or retheme or replacement)
-A show (new or retheme or replacement)
-A firework show (new or replacement)
-A parade (new or replacement)

I understand some people might not want to count something like a new firework show or parade in this. So if I take out the years where only a new firework show or parade were introduced then since 1980- in those 44 years, 7 of them nothing came to the parks.

Also, since 2010 when Islands of Adventure opened The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, there's only been ONE year that Disney hadn't opened something in one of their four parks. That was 2013. Part of this research I was very intrigued at looking at the years since 2010 because it's always a topic of discussion in these forums that Universal Orlando has been embarrassing WDW since then with always opening something and Disney leaving us hanging. Which is again, just plain wrong.

Now of course, bias and opinion comes HUGELY into play here if whoever is reading this post thinks that something opened by either WDW or Universal Orlando is good or worthy. I am not denying that some people might look at this and just be like, for example: "well Frozen Ever After is a bad ride, so who cares that they opened that in 2016." This still doesn't change the fact that WDW did indeed open something.

Ok sorry about the rambling. So to explain the spreadsheets here so it's easy for anyone to understand them (for whoever is still reading this post and is interested lol)
We got the individual years on the left and then going across the top are the parks with their own spaces.
Anything in Bold means it was something brand new. Not a replacement.
Anything in Italic's means it's a firework show.

So enjoy for whoever is interested! And I hope this maybe helps us here on these forums realize that Disney World actually has been consistently giving us fans something almost every year and this notion that they're not is just kind of silly and wrong.

 

[JD80]

Before I start this post I want to apologize to you that I'm quoting your post from earlier today and using it as my example. It's just that I see so many people on here bring up this subject and get mad at Disney for this idea that they are rarely opening things or refreshing them in the four Walt Disney World parks as frequently as they should. It's just plain wrong.

Weeks ago I got this idea to do a deep dive on the history of the parks in Orlando after reading a post on here in some thread about how Universal is always opening things and Epic Universe this and Epic Universe that, and how Disney World could never compete and doesn't give their fans enough. Side note: I am VERY excited for Epic Universe and love both Universal and Disney, just wanted to say that.

So anyway, I started looking on Google for easy articles or sites that have ALL the history of Disney World and Universal Orlando parks to get to the bottom of this. It's not as easy to find, so I decided to go through each and just make my own spreadsheets with almost EVERY year and EVERY park to really be able to have them side by side and compare this debate. I will attach the PDF's here for anyone interested to be able to download them and save them!

The only years I didn't do (yet) were 1971-1979. I started with the good ol' year of 1980! I was doing this research and putting together these spreadsheets during my days at work, when I had time to spare. It has taken me a little over a week, so please spare me if there might be spelling errors or a couple things might be wrong or missing. But, by my nature, I was very stringent on getting everything right so I think it's good, but I welcome anyone to check my work and let me know if something seems off with an opening year!

So I started in 1980, and based on my research, Walt Disney World has NOT had something new in their four theme parks, from 1980 to 2024 a total of 5 times. So out of 44 years only 5 of those years something new wasn't brought to the parks.

When I say something new what I mean is:
-A ride (new or retheme or replacement)
-A show (new or retheme or replacement)
-A firework show (new or replacement)
-A parade (new or replacement)

I understand some people might not want to count something like a new firework show or parade in this. So if I take out the years where only a new firework show or parade were introduced then since 1980- in those 44 years, 7 of them nothing came to the parks.

Also, since 2010 when Islands of Adventure opened The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, there's only been ONE year that Disney hadn't opened something in one of their four parks. That was 2013. Part of this research I was very intrigued at looking at the years since 2010 because it's always a topic of discussion in these forums that Universal Orlando has been embarrassing WDW since then with always opening something and Disney leaving us hanging. Which is again, just plain wrong.

Now of course, bias and opinion comes HUGELY into play here if whoever is reading this post thinks that something opened by either WDW or Universal Orlando is good or worthy. I am not denying that some people might look at this and just be like, for example: "well Frozen Ever After is a bad ride, so who cares that they opened that in 2016." This still doesn't change the fact that WDW did indeed open something.

Ok sorry about the rambling. So to explain the spreadsheets here so it's easy for anyone to understand them (for whoever is still reading this post and is interested lol)
We got the individual years on the left and then going across the top are the parks with their own spaces.
Anything in Bold means it was something brand new. Not a replacement.
Anything in Italic's means it's a firework show.

So enjoy for whoever is interested! And I hope this maybe helps us here on these forums realize that Disney World actually has been consistently giving us fans something almost every year and this notion that they're not is just kind of silly and wrong.

Can you convert it to a google sheet and link it here?

I did something similar but just the last 10-15 years and it also helps if you try to add infrastructure, transportation and hotels. Really fills out the investment in the resorts.

 

[Gusey]

The only years I didn't do (yet) were 1971-1979. I started with the good ol' year of 1980! I was doing this research and putting together these spreadsheets during my days at work, when I had time to spare. It has taken me a little over a week, so please spare me if there might be spelling errors or a couple things might be wrong or missing. But, by my nature, I was very stringent on getting everything right so I think it's good, but I welcome anyone to check my work and let me know if something seems off with an opening year!


So enjoy for whoever is interested! And I hope this maybe helps us here on these forums realize that Disney World actually has been consistently giving us fans something almost every year and this notion that they're not is just kind of silly and wrong.

Very interesting. I should add that you left off Dreamworks Land at Universal opening 2024. When you look at Universal since it opened in 1990, they've only had 6 years (1994 2002, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2022) when nothing opened at any Universal Park, so have been doing something similar to Disney anyway. It's just in the recent few years that they've expanded as a resort with the addition of multiple hotels, a waterpark and now a new theme park. And if Beyond Big Thunder is one of the responses to Universal's recent expansion, then I do hope it is more than just 2 attractions and a load of shops like Galaxy's Edge was for Disneyland (a similar expansion plot)

 

[Advisable Joseph]

Going back to "Beyond Big Thunder," when did people start talking about expansion north of the mountain? I recall reading about more-west-than-northwest from @marni1971. @PREMiERdrum mentioned the north recently, but people in this thread seemed focused there much earlier.

I found this:

You're probably right, the scale is huge.

This makes more sense. @SplashZander:
View attachment 666215

Pretty close although more of RoA should remain.

 

[McMickeyWorld]

and COCO really is a perfect fit for World Showcase..... I know they would need to figure out something for crowd management, but that really is the perfect setting for it...rather than trying to shoehorn it into MK...

I personally prefer them to put Coco in Magic Kingdom rather than in Epcot, especially if it would only be a retheme of the Three Caballeros. I feel like the current version of the ride represents the country with more diversity, although I would like them to update the footage.

 

[fgmnt]

I think so far of all the "rumored to most likely happen" things in MK, I'm most excited about the Moana attraction in AL. for one AL needed a little something extra to really fill out that land. Second, Moana is a great IP and has some of the most beautiful animated imagery seen in any Disney animated film. Lastly, there seems to be some credibility to the rumor that the ride may be something akin to the Shanghai Pirates attraction, which would word wonderfully well with Moana's visuals. Even though it looks like many things are going to happen in MK, if it was only going to be one, I'd hope it was Moana in AL.

I’m interested to see if it is real and the opening date they give for it. If it is a real thing it and they want to take a wave of capital projects in MK seriously it needs to be a Holiday 2026-Summer 2027 opening.

 

[Rteetz]

Can you convert it to a google sheet and link it here?

I did something similar but just the last 10-15 years and it also helps if you try to add infrastructure, transportation and hotels. Really fills out the investment in the resorts.

Google sheets suck. The PDF is great.