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

[Fox&Hound]

From what I can suss out BBTM is either Cars and Villains (with TSI/ROA safe) or just Villains, with Cars taking over the rivers. I'm concerned it's the latter.

Would they keep part of the rivers? And say just fill in the top part?

 

[WondersOfLife]

I could see a stage show with Villains, but I don’t see a CBJ type show here.

Probably a Villains Tonight style show

 

[WondersOfLife]

I'm gonna jump on the "I hope Disney does this right" train.... man... it really sucks for a companys reputation to be "dont **** this one up."

 

[BasiltheBatLord]

I'm gonna jump on the "I hope Disney does this right" train.... man... it really sucks for a companys reputation to be "dont **** this one up."

Definitely the most hyped I've been for a theme park land since Super Nintendo World.

 

[Ragerunner]

I think this will be amazing and it keeps MK from having a single IP themed land.

 

[Consumer]

Not my cup of tea, but clearly a good fit for the park, unlike Cars.

 

[Marionnette]

As someone with young grandkids, color me "not thrilled" on this. A villains land sounds great but not at the MK. I would have preferred to see it at HS (not sure where within its foot print) because that park needs more attractions and it's already more appealing to older kids. But given how slowly Disney builds, my 3 yo and 10-month old grands will probably be in college by the time this comes close to completion.

 

[Jrb1979]

Could we possibly see Disney's first B&M in the villains land? I'm excited for Villains land and hope it's as dark as it is in the concept art.

 

[DisneyHead123]

I’m glad they’re expanding but still disappointed in the concept. Villains does not fit as a land in MK, IMO. I hope they at least give it a more creative name.

Theming is definitely my biggest concern with Villains and Cars. I love the quaint Americana charm of MK. Also mixed feelings about them putting villains in the park that is probably most geared to small children. Love the concepts, not sure about the location.

 

[easyrowrdw]

I think it fits much better than at any other park.

The idea of having two castles/Fantasylands in MK, a light and a dark, is really appealing symbolism. And if done correctly could be one of the bolder ideas Disney has ever taken on.

If that’s what they do, then I think it could fit. But Villains on its own is not a dark Fantasyland as far as I see it. I think it needs to be developed beyond land of bad guys to be a proper land in MK.

The lands in MK are about something bigger. The rides and characters that inhabit the lands fit within that larger theme. With villains, there’s nothing bigger; the characters are the theme. That’s why I think it doesn’t fit as a land in MK.

 

[HairyLegPirate]

As someone with young grandkids, color me "not thrilled" on this. A villains land sounds great but not at the MK. I would have preferred to see it at HS (not sure where within its foot print) because that park needs more attractions and it's already more appealing to older kids. But given how slowly Disney builds, my 3 yo and 10-month old grands will probably be in college by the time this comes close to completion.

I politely disagree - I think Villains Land in MK is the best call as a “dark mirror to Fantasyland” sort of angle, plus while I agree HS needs capacity, they are getting some with Monstropolis, and MK is still the much more highly visited park and also needs more capacity. Plus, this keeps HS the more “individual IP lands” park while it keeps MK lands more varied in that regard. I’m pretty excited about placement for Villains, I think it makes a ton of sense.

 

[monothingie]

I was surprised and thrilled when this artwork popped up last night.

The trajectory, as it was explained to me, was that these projects were a bit volatile because of the ballooning cost of building the as-envisioned BBTM project. When the leading proposal was the Mesa Village of Coco transitioning immediately past BTMRR which then brought you to a dark woodline as the path continued into a Dark Kingdom concept, the cost projections to achieve suitability were skyrocketing. A direction explored here was a treatment of Villains that created a bizzaro village where they'd set up camp. This is when I started warning about expectations. Showing the OG concept art last night and promising 2 major attractions, the right proposal for the property was chosen.

I'm concerned that the Cars projects got the nod because they could fit on the remains of TSI/ROA, allowing them to do a less-expensive and smaller single-phase BBTM with Villains. Reading the tea leaves from last night, this seems to fit.

Or, if Cars and Villains are both going in the "big loop" BBTM original vision, the ballooning costs of that project could have been enough to kill the was-ready-to-go-months-ago Moana project.

I know they said construction starting 2025, but this seems like Blue Sky without actually saying Blue Sky.

 

[JD80]

This looks amazing. Looking at the concept art with both Cars and Villains I'm guessing two things:

• The offroad track for the cars ride will actually be ROA reformed. No idea how that's actually going to make liberty square look though. it'll be strange.
• There is a bit of water in the front of the concept art for Villains. I'm willing to bet right now off little to no information that water is part of what's staying in ROA at the back end.

 

[DisneyHead123]

So is it official the Moana ride is cut? I was worried when we didn't hear anything about it last night.

I would be surprised if it didn’t reappear at some point, maybe next year. No insider knowledge but Moana 2 is coming out and I thought they already had designs and patents for this ride ready to go.

 

[Dcgc28]

Great choice here and big win for the community, we've been asking for this for what? Decades now? Finally, now lets hope they do it correctly and don't cheap out. We need meet and greet areas...like a lot...a solid E Ticket ride and a good selection of themed food.

I think they'll do fine though, they'll use a lot of Halloween Party ideas.

 

[KDM31091]

I do like that there's a tiny amount of water in the art, so maybe we don't lose the entirety of ROA. But, I'm sure the Riverboat is a goner anyway, as it wouldn't fit in the villains land. Which is depressing, as it's so iconic. Alas, change is inevitable

 

[wdwmagic]

I'm really interested to see how far they will go with this coaster. Will Epic push them to make this MK coaster their most intense yet? Or will they play safe with it being located in MK.

 

[Coaster Lover]

Could we possibly see Disney's first B&M in the villains land? I'm excited for Villains land and hope it's as dark as it is in the concept art.

My gut says no... Disney has a really nice relationship with Vekoma and my gut feeling is that they go with them. Monsters Inc Door Coaster (MIDC? [until a formal name is announced]) has the look of Vekoma (yes, I realize these are just concept drawings and cannot be used to determine what the final coaster will actually look like) and given that two of the last three new coasters at WDW were Vekoma's, I think that's the same bet (on top of that, I just don't see it being super easy to theme a B&M as much as Disney would want to). I could see Intamin as a possibility too...

 

[Tonto]

I'm as excited as anyone else but unfortunately I am not confident in the current team at Disney to match expectations on this.

I feel like that's a fair statement but I also think Disney could have the proper motivation now that they haven't had in the past. That motivation is poor attendance coupled by a brand new theme park being built by Universal.
That's a perfect storm that could do some serious damage to Disney. They are keenly aware of what's going.
I also think bringing back creative imagineers is a step in the right direction.
This feels like a pivot. With that said, time will tell.

At the end of the day, fans are winning!

 

[DisneyHead123]

As someone with young grandkids, color me "not thrilled" on this. A villains land sounds great but not at the MK. I would have preferred to see it at HS (not sure where within its foot print) because that park needs more attractions and it's already more appealing to older kids. But given how slowly Disney builds, my 3 yo and 10-month old grands will probably be in college by the time this comes close to completion.

I feel the same with a 4-year-old… don’t love it but he’ll likely be 9 or 10 by the time it’s finished. I think the placement puts Villains Land in a precarious position though. The “not family friendly” factor could easily result in cold feet, especially if a recession hits. I think this land would be safer elsewhere, location at MK adds a potential chopping block factor.