Villains Land Speculation

[Karin1984]

My speculation::

Rides
As they mention 'thorny' in the press release, I am going to bet that Maleficent will be the queen of this land. Maybe a mini castle like in Fantasyland for BatB.
So assuming a ride in this place. As Maleficent appears constantly in the Sleeping Beauty story, they can probably make a good ride out of this. How she flies at the end to get back to the castle. Could be fun.

I can also think of a ride where all the villains come together. Similar to the Hocus Pocus Show, they all come together to celebrate the darkness or something. Where each villain has their own bit.

As they want to theme it heavily, I am going to assume dark rides. One a la Pirates or Haunted Mansion. And the other an indoor coaster. Outdoor during the day is not going to be scary.

Also hope for everyone that as Florida is getting hotter and hotter that it will have indoor queues with air conditioning.

Shops
My guess is that they will have 2 shops themed with the rides. So if the ride is going to be Maleficent-based, the shop next to it will be full of Maleficent merch. And then another shop with the other villain merch.

Restaurants.
For restaurants, one quick service and one sit down restaurant.
I can imagine an under the water themed fish-restaurant for Ursula.
It's hard to picture other villains & restaurants. Jafar & Middle Eastern, Scar & African, Sher Khan & Indian, Frollo & French?

Also going to bet on Club Villain. But I can also picture Club Villain being transformed into a fully sit down character restaurant, instead of the more club vibe.
I just don't hope they name random menu items after characters. Like on the Disney Cruise Line, the French restaurant has Gaston's escargots... If you name a dish after Gaston, please make it venison, or boar. Something he could have shot himself.

One thing I am going to rule out is a restaurant/bar for Gaston as he already has it in another part of Magic Kingdom. Don't see them remove the tavern next to BatB in Fantasyland

Characters
.Iam not sure if they will let Gaston meet in two spots in Magic Kingdom. That should be a special privilege for Mickey and Princesses ;-)

I think they will keep the stepsisters near Cinderella Castle. As the characters in the parks have evolved in more happy, ditzy characters than they were in the movie.

Cruella will be out meeting for sure. Hope they will introduce the villains they have used during Oogie Boogie Bash as face characters. Mother Gothel, Madam Mim, Ernesto de la Cruz, Sid. etc. They have tested them.

And in the end, I hope we will see (from time to time) some rare characters. How cool would it be to meet Madam Medusa from the Rescuers, I think that character would be so much fun. My homepark is Disneyland Paris and we have Edgar from the Aristocats during Halloween parties. Incredibly random, but fun.

 

[Mikey15]

Villans land seems to me to go best behind (north of) Haunted Mansion. I seriously doubt they would eliminate the train. They managed to accommodate it with the Tron expansion and it should be easy enough to do behind HM.

Not eliminate, but we lost it for what, 5 years with the Tron construction? It felt like a really long time

 

[Mikey15]

Eh, 2 rides, a restaurant & some shops don’t need that much room.

Starting with 2 is one thing, but you want the option to add on later.

Each of their recent land additions (New Fantasyland, Pandora, TSL, SWGE) have gone with 2 new rides, plus maybe incorporating a third already there (TSM, and now Dinosaur->Indy) but left enough space that it's not impossible to add a 3rd in ten years or something like that.

 

[TheDailyMoo]

Starting with 2 is one thing, but you want the option to add on later.

Each of their recent land additions (New Fantasyland, Pandora, TSL, SWGE) have gone with 2 new rides, plus maybe incorporating a third already there (TSM, and now Dinosaur->Indy) but left enough space that it's not impossible to add a 3rd in ten years or something like that.

I was also thinking this...I would assume this will be a very popular land and they'll want to be able to expand it in the future. I'm also assuming they've thought out every angle of the logistics for future expansion but with Disney these days who knows!

 

[focusondisney]

Starting with 2 is one thing, but you want the option to add on later.

Each of their recent land additions (New Fantasyland, Pandora, TSL, SWGE) have gone with 2 new rides, plus maybe incorporating a third already there (TSM, and now Dinosaur->Indy) but left enough space that it's not impossible to add a 3rd in ten years or something like that.

It’s been 6 years since Toy Story land, 7 years since Pandora and 12 since New Fantasyland opened. Not 1 of them has had a new ride announced, let alone built. Disney management is way more likely to cut plans than to add them.

 

[vinotinto]

My speculation::

Rides

As they want to theme it heavily, I am going to assume dark rides. One a la Pirates or Haunted Mansion. And the other an indoor coaster. Outdoor during the day is not going to be scary.

Also hope for everyone that as Florida is getting hotter and hotter that it will have indoor queues with air conditioning.

Yes! I love that the concept art looks “dark” and I hope they do achieve that “dark” look, even when outdoors. They’ll need some type of way to create shade to dim that FL sun. Thinking how areas of Diagon Alley are covered.

Whenever we walk into Toy Story Land in DHS, I think how it feels we’re walking on the face of the sun. That won’t work for Villains Land.

 

[Hubalorian]

Instead of “Villians Land”, I would prefer this area to be called “The Other Side”.

 

[ChrisFL]

Eh, 2 rides, a restaurant & some shops don’t need that much room.

depends on the rides

 

[focusondisney]

depends on the rides

True.

 

[HopperFan]

I posted my OPINION here ~

Finally MY PEOPLE! will have their place of respect!

I am beyond thrilled!!

View attachment 885167

I will guarantee there are way more Villains fans (with money to spend) than there are Princess fans. If they want to make it perfection give us a Character meal!!!

Thank you Universal Epic Universe. I think the HUGE fanfare and the incredible previews of their Monster Land helped push this out of Blue Sky in the "promise" phase.



Yeah, DS and I hunkered (and he's good at this stuff right down to land measurements) and predict they will shorten the river making it a tighter oval loop. Pull the back end of Tom Sawyer that they don't use away to add peninsula to back land. Build boardwalks like there are along Frontierland on both sides, HM side and BTM side (to not interfere with riverboat) to the "beyond" area. Carsland on the south "behind" BTM and Villains land to the north "behind" Haunted Mansion. Both a great thematic fit as you walk in. Add a train station stop back there between Cars and Villains.

Our armchair imagineering is this (yes we have done this with every announcement for over a decade).
~ Dark grey I cut river through island behind fort which is not used. Riverboat can do that circle.
~ Green is the land that will fill in for the two lands.
~ To the left is Carsland, to the right is Villains land.
~ Red dot is train station giving access to both lands.

View attachment 885172

 

[randumb0]

Take whatever you see in the concept art and water it down

 

[tx911]

Instead of “Villians Land”, I would prefer this area to be called “The Other Side”.

“Tragic Kingdom?”

 

[HopperFan]

Take whatever you see in the concept art and water it down

Give me a couple weeks to bask in the evil before you rain on my parade!

 

[WB1971]

I seriously doubt that. There is plenty of room for both expansions without impacting the river boat or Tom Sawyers Island.

It’s almost certain they are both gone.

 

[RhodyOrange]

I'm sure there are numerous logistical reasons why this can't happen, but how good would this land be if they put it on Discovery Island? It would be like the villains have been exiled from Magic Kingdom, but found refuge right next door. They could open it later and keep it open later than MK, theme the boats to add to the experience, and could even have light/drone shows after dark to make it look extra creepy and foreboding from MK.

 

[croschek05]

Get ready for the train to be closed another 5 years

 

[OhThePain]

I'd assume they can build a path alongside HM and BTMRR to get to and from the expansion without losing TSI or the Liberty Bell, but that is going to be a really long walk to get to and from. Maybe they will be able to add a train station in the area or tweak the Liberty Belle to have a stop there.

I'd like to see a villain final battle coaster or at least dark ride with a pulse. The other attraction I'd like to see is a counter to Mickey's Philharmagic, where instead of "Be our Guest", "I Just Can't Wait To Be King", "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", "Park Of Your World" you get "Kill The Beast", "Be Prepared", "Night on Bald Mountain", "Poor Unfortunate Souls". Maybe swap out "Un Poco Loco", "You Can Fly" and "A Whole New World" for "Friends on the other Side", "Shiney" and "Oogie Boogies's Song".

Assuming there aren't any major delays outside WDW's control, I think the timeline for this will be similar to Galaxy's Edge.

August 2015 - Galaxy's Edge was announced at D23, as a greenlit project with plans already underway.
Early 2016 - Announced construction would begin in April 2016.
April 2016 - Construction started.
August 2019 - Galaxy's' Edge opened, with the land, shops, restaurants and MFSR.
December 2019 - RotR opened.

For Villains Land, I would expect to see them open it in 2028. They may open 1 of the 2 rides earlier than the other. I would expect to see construction start in 2025.

The problem with this outline is you are forgetting a huge time consuming variable. GE was built on already developed land. The expansion is being built on what is currently a watery-woodsy area which is going to take a while to drain and dig up before they can even start on a foundation. I'd think you are being about a year too generous, unfortunately.

 

[vinotinto]

The problem with this outline is you are forgetting a huge time consuming variable. GE was built on already developed land. The expansion is being built on what is currently a watery-woodsy area which is going to take a while to drain and dig up before they can even start on a foundation. I'd think you are being about a year too generous, unfortunately.

Great point and if that is the case, that can indeed add another year. But, aren't they repurposing the Tom Sawyer area for this? That area is not wild and hopefully they build in the watery areas into the theme.

 

[OhThePain]

Great point and if that is the case, that can indeed add another year. But, aren't they repurposing the Tom Sawyer area for this? That area is not wild and hopefully they build in the watery areas into the theme.

I wouldn't think so. TSI is not that big. It's most likely the land on the other side of WDRR, around the Rivers of America, connecting BTMRR to HM.

 

[easyas123]

Get ready for the train to be closed another 5 years

That's the first thing my husband said!
we'll miss Tom Sawyer Island if it goes, although I know we are probably in the minority there!