gizmodo.com: 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?
9 comments:
I am absolutely obsessed with this idea of a villain's land at disney. I think a big thing for me as a kid is I was someone who really loved the villains in Disney movies and so did a lot of my friends. I remember for so long my favorite character of any Disney movie being Scar from The Lion King because he just had this air of Mystery and rebellion and that was something I really looked for as a kid, especially as an older sibling who felt a lot of pressure to be perfect all the time and so being able to kind of idolize this villain who is able to lean into this evilness was something very special for me. I also think the ones are just really cool, especially in the Disney movies. I mean when we think about the character designs of Ursula, Maleficent or Cruella Deville they are all very big and bold characters and I think it's really cool to see that. I also think the villains are also the funniest very often. I mean if you go to the Disney parks and interact with Gaston at any point you'll know just how exciting those interactions can be. I'm really excited for this and I think it's really great that they're leaning into their villainous characters as much as they are their protagonists
I love that the concept is finally being executed. I think that this world will definitely be a wonderful new addition to the park and will end up drawing in more visitors. I do, however, feel a little let down by the fact that the rides are not going to be higher thrill like Mount Everest or Space Mountain. I understand that Disney is trying to be inclusive with age range and scare factor, but this is a land for the villains who are portrayed as the wicked people in Disney's franchise. Because it is adding to Magic Kingdom, I think it is ok to go into a darker tone because of a lot of the kid-friendly attractions are available at this park in particular. I do think that it would be a great highlight for the villains, and I really want to see what they end up deciding for the end result of the park.
I’ve written about Villains Land at Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in previous comments, but as development progresses, the land continues to get more and more exciting. The permits that have been coming out in recent weeks really show the land’s scale, with several major attractions spread across its acres, moving the area of the land beyond the footprint of the former Rivers of America. Relating more closely to the article, I think the land’s overall theme will resemble that of the Villains Unfairly Ever After show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, as that seemed to have been a testing ground for ideas Imagineering is developing for the land. The plot largely revolves around the Villains being misunderstood (but still evil), without really implying a scary aspect to the show. The show’s overall theme worked really well and was engaging for a 30 minute presentation, and I am curious to see how that will apply to a land a full scale, or how they would adapt it to a full scale.
I think this is an interesting but obvious choice they were going to make. Universal, the entire reason they are making this because of Darkmoor, can get away with having a land like this because its supposed to be fun for teens and older, it’s been advertised like that and will continue to be, and while you still will see little kids at Universal, that’s not their brand or what they are going for. Disney, on the other hand, makes their whole brand be about kids visiting their parks, having fun, and meeting their favorite characters, not being scared by a highly immersive land. I am very excited for this new land to come out, and I feel like even though they’re making it more family friendly, it’s still a great thing to have and should be very unique, however, I am a little disappointed in their decision to make it all ages rather than focus on the older audience.
As others have said this redesign seemed somewhat inevitable. Disney's brand has always been focused on fun for the whole family so the idea of a darker themed land that appeals to young adults more than children like seen in Universal likely was never going to get approved. As for the new plans I'm definitely excited, especially for the Emperor's New Groove themed ride. I will definitely be disappointed if The Emperor's New Groove themed ride does not start with some variation of "Pull the lever Kronk". Overall while the idea of villains land was always going to be softened to some extent I hope that Disney keeps some level of the darkness. Like the article states heroism only matters in a world with villains to fight against. With the new CEO it will be interesting to see if and how Disney's plans change going forward. I look forward to hopefully hearing more at the next D23 about this land.
I think having a villains section in Disney is such a cool idea and I would be so obsessed. I'm pretty sure the only time we see all of the villains is during Halloween and Disney has some really cool Villains. I get that sometimes villains in the Disney movies can be a little scary but older audiences LOVE the villains and I agree. Personally I think that if they follow through with the whole Disney Villains theme it would attract an older crowd which would bring in more money to the parks (not that they need it). They could do so many cool things with the villains such as making a newer peter pan ride with captain hook. I think if they did a ride like that and made it kind of like the soarin ride but ur laying down would be so cool. Also I think a Hercules ride would be so cool especially with Hades and they could include some of the mythical creatures like the Hydra which would be awesome.
Disney World's villain area is such a cool concept and I'm so excited for this! When I was a kid, I always thought the villains were so fun but never got their own rides and now they have a whole section just for themselves. I think this is gonna be such a hit. I think it would've been easy for them to go the scary route because so many Disney villains have that scary factor but I do love that they decided to go less in the direction of scary even though as a teenager, I would've found that very cool. Disney is adapting for all audiences, especially because the majority of their audiences are kids who probably wouldn't visit Disney world villains area if it was very scary. Therefore they wouldn't get very many people because most parents would want to go but not without their kids so I think this will be a big hit for Disney.
While I know scaring kids is bad in concept, I am very upset that they are watering down this area and thus changing original plans. The original concept sounds so amazing and I’m sad we’ll never get it. I feel like now people are too afraid to add substance and dark themes to things made for kids as they fear the reactions of the children, but I honestly think this isn’t a good thing to do. That substance and dark themes can contribute to incredible storytelling and core memories that help with critical thinking and media literacy as well as better understanding of the world around us. Unfortunately, the world is not the bright place a lot of fairytales speak of, and while it is nice to escape from that, if kids aren’t eased into that reality, it’ll hit really hard and be very upsetting once that reality hits them. I’m not even saying that we should scare kids, I’m just saying that we shouldn’t be so afraid to show them a real villain and we shouldn’t shield them to such a heavy extent.
To start off the idea of a Disney Villain centered area of a Disney theme park is a really cool idea that honestly should have been done before. Afterall for Halloween Disney already makes its theme parks transform for the spooky season into a place that is centered around its many iconic villains. I for one love when the theme parks have a touch of Villainy is mixed into the theme of the parks, and that makes Halloween at the the theme parks one of my favorite times of the year. As such learning that there will be a Villain centered permanent area of Disney Land is a very excited development. It is a little disappointing though to learn that Disney will be scaling back the idea to not scare kids due to the fact that many people who are not children attend the parks regularly. I understand that Disney is kid focused, but ignore the wishes of your other patrons is a little disheartening.
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