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

[necott99]

It’s really not needed.

1 incredible coaster won’t change magic kingdoms perception.

If anything it will be net negative. Young parents are disneys biggest demographic, along with older grandparents. They want to be able to ride the rides with their 4 year old. That’s the appeal of Disney.

When you start creating a line up of rides with height restrictions as well as restrictions for the older population that have high blood pressure/spinal issues/heart disease then your excluding 2 major demographics for Disney for the appeasement of 1 - teens and young adults.

But ultimately that was never Disney focus, and to start now would be fruitless as one major coaster won’t all of sudden swing perception pendulum.

100% agree with this. If WDI is trying to play catch-up with Universal and begin appealing to the teen/young adult demographic in 2024, then they are setting themselves up for failure, and it will bite them swiftly. If everyone recalls, WDI attempted to "mature" the Parks back in the late 80s-90s with the introduction of Splash Mountain, Star Tours, Body Wars, Dinosaur, RNRC, ToT, Alien Encounter, etc. Everyone loves/loved these attractions, and they're certainly more thrilling than your Fantasyland dark rides, but their introduction did not alter the perception of the Parks as family friendly first, and thrilling second (or maybe even third or fourth). That's because being accesible and NOT thrilling is woven into the fabric of the Parks' being - if WDI ever wanted to pretend that this wasn't the case, it would ultimately alienate much of its customers who trust Disney to provide family friendly, but quality, entertainment.

 

[Winter]

I don’t think they would not do I think they should. They don’t need coasters that intense at WDW.

Cosmic Rewind is IMHO about the perfect level of intensity they should aim for with this coaster.

I think a roller coaster on the intensity of Everest would work well for a villains land.

 

[dothebrdwalk]

They said only things in active development but to me, this was the "Blue Sky" concept of 2024.

 

[erasure fan1]

I don’t think they would not do I think they should. They don’t need coasters that intense at WDW.

Cosmic Rewind is IMHO about the perfect level of intensity they should aim for with this coaster.

You are right on the money. I've said in the past, Disney doesn't need a bunch of hyper coasters all over the place. Cosmic and Everest are as intense as you need. What makes a Disney coaster special, is not its intensity level. Its the emersion you get from riding it. That's why I say cosmic is fun, but it's nothing special overall. If a villain coaster can blend the thrill of cosmic with the attention to detail and theme of 7 Dwarfs and everest, they will have something special. No hyper coaster needed.

 

[WoundedDreamer]

"villains don't belong at magic kingdom" is such a funny statement

These people are noting that a celebration of evil, decay, and darkness do not belong at the Magic Kingdom. Villians belong at the Magic Kingdom within their proper context. Which is being defeated and vanquished. No incongruity.

 

[WoundedDreamer]

Yeah sorry but saying the villains of Disney’s animated film catalog don’t belong at the castle park that has significant ties to and is often viewed as the park for Walt Disney animation is actually an insane take.

No, the insane take is that a park dedicated to the life and legacy of Walt Disney would feature a land that celebrates evil and hideousness.

 

[Mike S]

You are right on the money. I've said in the past, Disney doesn't need a bunch of hyper coasters all over the place. Cosmic and Everest are as intense as you need. What makes a Disney coaster special, is not its intensity level. Its the emersion you get from riding it. That's why I say cosmic is fun, but it's nothing special overall. If a villain coaster can blend the thrill of cosmic with the attention to detail and theme of 7 Dwarfs and everest, they will have something special. No hyper coaster needed.

I was really going by the art which looks pretty crazy at the back and how it travels through that canyon at the front of the art. It just reminded me of Velocicoaster but maybe it would be closer to Taron at Phantasialand.

 

[montyz81]

So in this Villians land, do they plan on including audio animatronics of Bob Iger, Bob Chapek, and Josh D’Amaro and any of the imagineers that came up with some of the plans for these new attractions? Maybe they should include the Walt Disney Animatronic being beat up by the Iger animatronic! That’s what many of these new changes feel like!

 

[Mike S]

So in this Villians land, do they plan on including audio animatronics of Bob Iger, Bob Chapek, and Josh D’Amaro and any of the imagineers that came up with some of the plans for these new attractions? Maybe they should include the Walt Disney Animatronic being beat up by the Iger animatronic! That’s what many of these new changes feel like!

Remember that South Park scene with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg *doing things* to Indiana Jones?

 

[Bocabear]

Just when I thought the tearing out the heart of EPCOT was the worst thing.... this comes along....truly worse...

 

[Ghost93]

This is really the biggest issue for Disney. Even they did build one coaster that was intense enough to interest big coaster enthusiasts, one just isn't enough. Most of them aren't going to go to ride just one attraction when there are numerous other parks that offer many, so it likely wouldn't be a massive draw for that demographic.

They're really too far behind to catch up to other parks for that demographic, unless they wanted to solely invest in monster coasters for several new attractions in multiple parks. But that wouldn't do much to help capacity for their core audience, while attracting more guests solely for those coasters, so it would potentially cause more problems than it would solve.

Their best bet if they really wanted that market would be to build a 5th gate that mainly revolved around big coasters, but I don't think that would be worth the investment for Disney.

Villains land won't be too much for children. It will be for children who LIKE thrills and scares. There are many kids that want thrills and don't want to feel treated like babies. The villains land would cater to them as well as teens and adults.

 

[UNCgolf]

Villains land won't be too much for children. It will be for children who LIKE thrills and scares. There are many kids that want thrills and don't want to feel treated like babies. The villains land would cater to them as well as teens and adults.

I agree, but I doubt it will be any more thrilling than Cosmic Rewind or scarier than Haunted Mansion.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

Have we heard any rumblings of how the Villains Land will connect to the existing park? Essentially how will you enter / exit the land?

 

[peter11435]

No, the insane take is that a park dedicated to the life and legacy of Walt Disney would feature a land that celebrates evil and hideousness.

The park is not dedicated to the life and legacy of Walt Disney.

 

[GhostHost1000]

Not to lend any credence to Tom, but the initial plans for BBTM were found to be far too costly to reach suitability.

They're still expanding in that general area, but I believe the 2-phase, "huge loop" proposal has been abandoned.

wow... so there are no plans currently to connect the expansion areas and still have the dead end?

 

[Erdago]

wow... so there are no plans currently to connect the expansion areas and still have the dead end?

Unless I’m misunderstanding your point, I believe the existence of the Cars area replacing the Rivers would also fix the dead end (since you’d be able to cross from Big Thunder to Haunted Mansion via the Cars land instead of walking around the Rivers. It’s a very inelegant solution, and one I’m not enthused about, but it should resolve the dead ends the Rivers create.

 

[GhostHost1000]

Unless I’m misunderstanding your point, I believe the existence of the Cars area replacing the Rivers would also fix the dead end (since you’d be able to cross from Big Thunder to Haunted Mansion via the Cars land instead of walking around the Rivers. It’s a very inelegant solution, and one I’m not enthused about, but it should resolve the dead ends the Rivers create.

Ah ok that’s right. I was thinking more about villains land

 

[PREMiERdrum]

wow... so there are no plans currently to connect the expansion areas and still have the dead end?

No dead end - there will be 2 points of entry for Villains. Just not at all what was initially laid out.

 

[Yellow Strap]

I mean the name of the land has been right in front of us this whole time!

 

[DCLcruiser]

Villains land won't be too much for children. It will be for children who LIKE thrills and scares. There are many kids that want thrills and don't want to feel treated like babies. The villains land would cater to them as well as teens and adults.

I don't expect it to be scary at all. More medieval than spooky.