It’s official: A villains land is being built at Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney Co. confirmed Saturday night.
“This land will be home to the villains that you know and those that you loathe, which means ‘happily ever after’ … it may feel like just a distant dream,” said Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney Experiences, which include the company’s theme parks and Disney Cruise Line.
The announcement by D’Amaro was one of a slew of expansion plans at Disney parks worldwide revealed at a D23 fan club event in Anaheim, California. Among the developments: A “Monsters, Inc.” land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, the first animatronic of Walt Disney himself and even more cruise ships.
The villains area is “going to be a fearless new vision for what a Disney experience can be,” he said near the end of the presentation, which lasted more than two hours and 45 minutes.
This bad-guy expansion land will feature two new attractions, which were not described Saturday evening, as well as dining and shopping, he said, without specifying where the villains area would be located. No timeframe for the villains construction was announced.
In other Magic Kingdom developments, the park will add two “Cars” attractions to its Frontierland as well as a new nighttime parade called “Disney Starlight.”
“We’re leaving Radiator Springs behind and we’re heading off to the wilderness,” D’Amaro said. One “Cars” ride will be a race rally across the frontier, and the second will be geared to young children. Construction will begin in 2025.
“This is going to bring some new energy to Frontierland,” he said, and delve into “what it means to explore the American wilderness.”
The new parade, set to debut next summer, will be led by the Blue Fairy from “Pinocchio” and include characters from films including “Encanto,” “Frozen,” “Peter Pan” and others.
The session was attended by 12,000 people at Anaheim’s Honda Center. It included a live orchestra on stage and, between announcements, performances by Meaghan Trainor, Rita Ora, Shaboozey, John Stamos, Pentatonix, Billy Crystal and the Deadpool character. Ke Huy Quan, who rose to fame as Short Round in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” and grew up to win an Academy Award in “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” had a stint as the guest conductor of the orchestra.
Disney Cruise Line orders 4 new ships, announces ‘Hercules’ show on Disney Destiny
The “Monsters, Inc.” land at Hollywood Studios will include a suspended roller coaster, a Disney parks first, that tours through the laugh factory. Construction starts next year, D’Amaro said.
Saturday’s session included updates on previously announced plans for Disney’s Animal Kingdom, which will be home to attractions tied to “Encanto” and the “Indiana Jones” films.
Construction on the replacement attractions for Animal Kingdom’s Dinoland will begin this fall, D’Amaro said, and they are all expected to debut in 2027. The area then will be known as Tropical Americas.
The Indiana Jones ride, set to take over the space of the current Dinosaur attraction, will be different from other Indy rides in Disney parks, Bruce Vaughn, chief creative officer at Walt Disney Imagineering, said Saturday.
“It takes place in an ancient Mayan temple that Indy has recently discovered, and he’s heard rumors about a mythical creature that lives deep within this temple,” he said.
Animal Kingdom visitors will cross from Discovery Island into Tropical Americas where they will see a new town named Pueblo Esperanza and the home of the “Encanto” attraction, Vaughn said.
In the ride based in the animated house of the Madrigal family, “Antonio has just received his special gift — the ability to communicate with animals — and his room has transformed into a rainforest,” Vaughn said.
These projects were announced last year but considered “in the works.” In a 2022 D23 session, executives teased about plans for “beyond Big Thunder,” the Frontierland roller coaster at Magic Kingdom. D’Amaro did not say Saturday if that area would be the location of the new “Cars” attractions.
Walt Disney Co. has pledged to spend $60 billion over 10 years on attractions worldwide. Industry watchers have speculated about moves at Walt Disney World as Universal Orlando’s expansion — Epic Universe theme park — is slated to open in 2025. Some experts have predicted a fifth theme park for Disney World, but there was no mention of a new park on Saturday.
In a quarterly earnings call with market analysts last week, Disney executives said its theme parks had seen “demand moderation” in recent months. The result was small revenue growth. They said that trend was expected to continue in the near term.
Disney Cruise Line orders 4 new ships, announces ‘Hercules’ show on Disney Destiny
Among the other Saturday announcements from Disney were:
• Disney Cruise Line will add four more ships beyond what had previously been announced, bringing the total to 13. Timeframe: between 2027 and 2031.
• The Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run ride at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge will get a new story tied to the theatrical release of “The Mandalorian and Grogu” movie in 2026.
• The revised version of Test Track will debut at Epcot in 2025.
• A Spaceship Earth lounge is planned for Epcot for next year. The previously announced pirate-themed tavern for Magic Kingdom also will open in 2025.
• The “Zootopia: Better Zoogether” show in the Tree of Life Theater at Animal Kingdom will arrive in winter 2025. The Tree of Life Theater currently is home to the “It’s Tough to Be a Bug!” 3-D film.
• At Disneyland, “Walt Disney — A Magical Life” show will feature an animatronic version of Walt Disney. It will rotate with “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.”
• Disney California Adventure is adding rides based on “Coco” and the second and third films of the “Avatar” series.
• DCA’s Avengers Campus will get two new attractions, Avengers Infinity Defense and Stark Flight Lab.
• Disney Adventure World in France will be home to a “Lion King” ride (art concepts show a log ride and drop) and a “Frozen” land.
• Shanghai Disneyland will be home to a Spider-Man themed “high-energy thrill coaster.”
D’Amaro assured the group that these plans were not in the blue-sky category.
“Plans are drawn. Dirt is moving,” he said. “I just want to be clear about this: We are doing everything you’re going to hear tonight.”
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