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

[Dcgc28]

They are not getting rid of or changing BTMRR.

I’m just saying 5 years ago you would’ve said the same with splash.

 

[Bill Cipher]

Again, boo to villains land. Villains are what make hero attractions great.

I get where you're coming from with this take; a villain without a hero or anti-hero as their foil does not make for a particularly compelling linear narrative, especially if said villain is not meant to grow or develop into a hero throughout the course of their story. But theme park attractions don't have to be traditional linear narratives. I think the appeal of a villains land lies solely in the atmosphere instead of narrative beats, much like the Haunted Mansion. That atmosphere doesn't even have to necessarily be spooky. An attraction based on Yzma and Kronk from The Emperor's New Groove could take place in Yzma's lab with a range of zany mad-scientist hijinks with an atmosphere that can be moody and wacky at the same time, all without being too scary for the littles. And just because a villains land exists does not mean villains would be retroactively removed from attractions where a hero faces a villain.

 

[Teddybearre]

I get where you're coming from with this take; a villain without a hero or anti-hero as their foil does not make for a particularly compelling linear narrative, especially if said villain is not meant to grow or develop into a hero throughout the course of their story. But theme park attractions don't have to be traditional linear narratives. I think the appeal of a villains land lies solely in the atmosphere instead of narrative beats, much like the Haunted Mansion. That atmosphere doesn't even have to necessarily be spooky. An attraction based on Yzma and Kronk from The Emperor's New Groove could take place in Yzma's lab with a range of zany mad-scientist hijinks with an atmosphere that can be moody and wacky at the same time, all without being too scary for the littles. And just because a villains land exists does not mean villains would be retroactively removed from attractions where a hero faces a villain.

Depending on how big they would want the Villains land to be, I could see Yzma getting an indoor c-ticket coaster themed to her lab, maybe something like a higher quality version of the Scooby Doo coaster at WB Australia. I’m seriously hoping Disney wouldn’t skimp out on the sheer amount of attractions they could do for this land, there’s way too much potential

 

[bmr1591]

Honestly, the removal of Aladdin's Flying Carpets will do more for capacity improvements than having it operating lol with how much of a bottleneck it causes.

Just move it to DHS somewhere.

Morocco Pavillion.

I’m just saying 5 years ago you would’ve said the same with splash.

Splash was tied to SotS. BTM is not.

 

[PREMiERdrum]

Ear to the ground, it seems like this unified project may have now been split - both literally and figuratively - in a somewhat less ambitious arrangement. And it's still early.

 

[Bocabear]

I’m just saying 5 years ago you would’ve said the same with splash.

But they didn't tear out Splash...they re-skinned it...but the ride is still there... Rather than any of the other suggestions, it would be great if the area behind Big Thunder just became the new and improved Frontierland... Immersive with new attractions...like Frontierland felt back in the 1970s... Make the current Frontierland be a New Orleans Riverfront setting... It would add a better narrative to the park as you travel around the Rivers Of America loop...

 

[DisneyDodo]

Next DECADE is feasible. I’d imagine any full build-out of Beyond Big Thunder would stretch into the 2030s though.

Oh it’s certainly feasible. I just don’t think it’s the direction Disney will ultimately choose to go, given that they have so many other places they can expand to (and, more to their liking, so many existing attractions they can replace) that would require much less investment. I think it’s more likely we see a Moana E-ticket in the Adventureland expansion plot, something (Incredibles?) in the SGE building, something in the MK theater plot, and/or something new where the speedway currently sits before they build a new land all the way behind RoA.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Oh it’s certainly feasible. I just don’t think it’s the direction Disney will ultimately choose to go, given that they have so many other places they can expand to (and, more to their liking, so many existing attractions they can replace) that would require much less investment. I think it’s more likely we see a Moana E-ticket in the Adventureland expansion plot, something (Incredibles?) in the SGE building, something in the MK theater plot, and/or something new where the speedway currently sits before they build a new land all the way behind RoA.

Those options are certainly easier. Who knows. I expect more on DAK first, anyway.

 

[DisneyDodo]

I’m personally convinced Encanto got pushed to AK because the plan is going to be to shove Arendelle into the back of MK including possibly rethemeing/tearing out Big Thunder. No rumors around it or anything like that and not saying I WANT that to happen. But I could see it with the massive IP push Disney is on.

If Disney decides to build a Frozen-themed land at MK, I expect it would be set in the Enchanted Forest from Frozen 2 rather than Arendelle, considering that we essentially already have Arendelle in Epcot. It would be like the approach Universal took with Potter. First they built a land around the most iconic setting from the franchise (Hogwarts), and then they built a land set in a different location in order to differentiate it from the first.

Also, I don’t know why it would involve tearing out BTMR when they have an empty plot next door.

 

[pdude81]

Is there anything to the note posted above about TSI going away? I'm on a trip right now and my son will kill me if we miss it and it's closed when we are back in late August.

 

[ZachPL]

 

[mattpeto]

Hope they do it right.

It would also be nice to have a 2nd entrance back there.

 

[DCBaker]

A little more information via Robert Niles from the media event at Walt Disney Imagineering.

"Iger said that Disney will be filing permits, presumably with the Southwest Florida Water Management District, for construction preparation on a site west of Frontierland. A graphic shown by Iger showed a work area that spans both the waterway connecting the Rivers of America with the Seven Seas Lagoon as well as Floridian Place, north of Maple Road."

Disney confirms two major expansion projects in Florida

www.themeparkinsider.com

 

[doctornick]

A little more information via Robert Niles from the media event at Walt Disney Imagineering.

"Iger said that Disney will be filing permits, presumably with the Southwest Florida Water Management District, for construction preparation on a site west of Frontierland. A graphic shown by Iger showed a work area that spans both the waterway connecting the Rivers of America with the Seven Seas Lagoon as well as Floridian Place, north of Maple Road."

Disney confirms two major expansion projects in Florida

www.themeparkinsider.com

West of Frontierland? The area abve the RoA is more north, so now I'm wondering exactly how this is expected to work.

 

[doctornick]

Quick thought: if they are doing work west of the current Frontierland, I wonder if they might replace the current parade storage area and use that for guest stuff (a proper New Orleans Square?) and then store and start parades more west than now?

 

[Surferboy567]

A little more information via Robert Niles from the media event at Walt Disney Imagineering.

"Iger said that Disney will be filing permits, presumably with the Southwest Florida Water Management District, for construction preparation on a site west of Frontierland. A graphic shown by Iger showed a work area that spans both the waterway connecting the Rivers of America with the Seven Seas Lagoon as well as Floridian Place, north of Maple Road."

Disney confirms two major expansion projects in Florida

www.themeparkinsider.com

So…we still think it’s villains land?

 

[Ichabod Crane]

If those rumors about Disney wanting to see the reaction to Dark Universe before moving forward with villains were true I wonder if seeing the reaction to the land back in January during the initial announcement was enough to make them confident about it.

 

[peng]

So…we still think it’s villains land?

Still think its villains land, no clue what the others are. They would be dumb not to move on it, especially as the dark universe announcement was the one from the initial reveal that people who are outside of the theme park sphere were talking about (though mostly as the dark universe movie franchise was a punchline in filmtwitter and similar communities) and the villains are still big merch movers.

Also I'm surprised Disney is moving on multiple large scale projects at once after years of next to nothing in the pipeline. Hope construction is much faster than the Epcot redo.

 

[Surferboy567]

Still think its villains land, no clue what the others are. They would be dumb not to move on it, especially as the dark universe announcement was the one from the initial reveal that people who are outside of the theme park sphere were talking about (though mostly as the dark universe movie franchise was a punchline in filmtwitter and similar communities) and the villains are still big merch movers.

Also I'm surprised Disney is moving on multiple large scale projects at once after years of next to nothing in the pipeline. Hope construction is much faster than the Epcot redo.

They should really lean in to this “dark kingdom” idea. I think it could be super cool and be a draw for some older folk. Please make Maleficent’s castle, bald mountain, or maybe even the elephant graveyard. There is so much interesting visuals they could pull from. They don’t even have to make it “scary“ (not a fan of horror).

The EPCOT redo isn’t even done not with the rumors of test track possibly closing.

 

[ZachPL]

Villians land just makes a ton of sense, and is great concept. If they arn't building a 5th park in the next few decades then it should definitely be the next magic kingdom land.