Decoding Disney World’s NEW Villains Land Announcement

Disney fans finally got an announcement that many have been hoping and waiting for! A Villains-themed land will be coming to Magic Kingdom.

While Disney did not release a whole lot of information about what to expect with this new land, there are a few things we do know for sure.

Many Disney fans have been asking for a Villains themed area at Disney World for a long time, and it looks like that time has finally come! During D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, Disney announced a Villains land in Magic Kingdom and provided us with a few details. To start, Disney announced that this area will feature two major attractions, dining, and shopping on a “twisted and grand scale.”

We also know that the Villains land will be located behind Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Disney also revealed some concept art for the area, but other than that, we are left to analyze the art and dream about what we hope to see in this new area.

Of course, we have been looking closely at every single piece of concept art that was released during the Disney Experiences Panel at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event. Especially at the Villains land because we are excited to see what will be coming to this new area!

Obviously, one of the first things you probably notice when you look at the concept art is that it is dark and menacing. There are lots of sharp points, dark corners, and mysterious areas.

When considering what attractions may be coming to this area, there are two notable areas of the concept art. First, down towards the bottom it looks like there is some track inside of a cave going under waterfalls.

You can also see a similar looking track in the top left corner of the picture. Those tracks are high up and they look pretty intimidating!

It is very possible that the black track is part of the same attraction, as we are thinking the area likely won’t be getting two roller coasters. The second attraction is a bit harder to spot. There are lots of areas towards the back of the land that could easily house a show building for an attraction.

While the dining and shopping coming for the Villains land could be spread out throughout the land, we also think that this area of the map is a prime contender for housing some stores and restaurants.

It is possible that this area will house two different themed areas. We noticed that the area in the back is much lighter and has more white to it, while the area in the front has a more orange tint and appears darker.

 

We would love to see at least one highly-themed sit down restaurant as well as some villainous quick service options.  We also can’t wait to shop all of the villains merchandise.

Another question that is at the fore front of lots of minds, is when will this new land be opening? Disney did not give us much information at all about an opening timeline. The only information they provided is that preparations are already underway for this land.

However, that could mean a lot of things and it really doesn’t give a good indication of when to expect this area to open. Instead, let’s look at some of the other announcements to see when we MIGHT be able to experience this land for ourselves.

There are two other Disney World announcements that we have some sort of timeline for. The first is Pueblo Esperanza in Disney’s Animal Kingdom. This new area will be replacing DinoLand U.S.A. and will feature Indiana Jones and Encanto. Construction is expected to begin on this area in fall 2024 and Disney announced that this area should be opening in 2027.

That means that they are expecting it to take over two years to transform an area of the park. We also learned that a Cars land will be coming to Magic Kingdom as well. The Cars land will be built where The Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island currently are. This area is expected to begin construction in early 2025.

That begs a couple of big questions. First, would Disney work on two big projects in Magic Kingdom at the same time? The new Villains land and the new Cars land are pretty close by, so it could be useful for efficiency, but that would be a lot of construction in one area at once.

Also, how many projects would they want to have going at once? By early 2025, construction for Pueblo Esperanza and Cars land will be underway. There will also be work going on for the new Magic Kingdom nighttime parade, the new Zootopia show at the Tree of Life Theater, and two new lounges are set to open in Disney World in 2025. As well, construction may still be going on for the reimagined Test Track that is expected to open in 2025. Would they also add the Villains land to the list?

Let’s also take a look at one of the more recent expansions at Disney World, Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge. Construction for Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge began in April 2016 and the new land opened in Disney World in August 2019. That is a little over three years for the construction to be completed.

Realistically, we probably won’t see construction start for the Villains land until at least early to mid 2025. If Disney builds the land to the scale they were promising during the Disney Experiences Panel, it will likely take them quite a while. We would think that it would take at least two years to complete, since that is how long it will take them just to transform the DinoLand U.S.A area, and the Villains land will be a new area being built from the ground up.

So even though we are super excited for this area and we can’t wait to explore it, the Villains land likely won’t be open for a few years. Until then, we can continue to analyze every detail of the concept art and daydream about what we hope to see in this new land.

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Take a first look at models of some of the new areas announced by Disney!

What are you hoping to see in the new Villains land? Let us know in the comments!

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