When Disney announced it was going to build a villains-themed section at Magic Kingdom in Florida, it was a little hard to get your head around. Villains, of course, are a key part of Disney’s legacy. You can’t have heroes without them, and people absolutely love them. But villains also suggest darkness, evil, and fear. Not exactly emotions you want in a theme park. So what, exactly, was this land dedicated to villains going to be?
Well, a new report claims Disney had been a little conflicted about this as well. According to an in-depth report over at the Wrap, in the past few months, original plans for the new area have been significantly changed, bolstered, but most importantly, lightened up. What at first was being developed as something more akin to the Dark Universe section in Universal’s rival Epic Universe will now be closer to the much more popular Isle of Berk, the How to Train Your Dragon section of that same park. Still centered on the bad guys, but just in a brighter setting.
How does that work? Well, according to the report, the big, main ride in the section was originally going to be a full-on roller coaster themed to Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty. That is no longer the case. Now, the main attraction will still be Maleficent-themed, but it’s instead an indoor water ride similar to Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure ride at Shanghai Disneyland. The scale is said to rival the Cars-themed Radiator Springs Racers at Disney’s California Adventure or Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. This way, Disney can charge premiums for line cutting (aka Lightning Lane) all year round, even when it’s raining outdoors in Florida. Something it couldn’t do for a roller coaster.
There will still be a roller coaster, though. It will just now be themed to The Emperor’s New Groove and be a bit less intense. Meaning it’s more family-friendly, so smaller children can get on it. Think the Slinky Dog Ride in the Toy Story area of Hollywood Studios. Plus, while initial plans for the area only included two rides, now there is likely to be a third one too. It’s a carnival-type ride (think Dumbo) centered on Ursula from The Little Mermaid.
According to the report, these changes are still very new and in the works. The aim, most likely, is to have everything in place in the next few months so the brand-new Disney CEO (and former head of the parks division) Josh D’Amaro can give all the details at the D23 Expo event in August.
You can read much, much more over at the Wrap, but let us know what you think below. Is this the right move? Did you actually think the area was going to be scary?
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