blackcauldron85 wrote: ↑Sun Aug 11, 2024 5:05 am
When I went to bed there was no news; waking up just now, there is so much news to process!!! Reading also on WDWNT to fill me in:
I stayed up all night Friday into Saturday for the movie announcements, only got like 4 hours of sleep before I had to go to work. Last night, I found a livestream of the parks event on YouTube and watched it all. I wanted to strangle someone every time a musical performance interrupted the parks announcements. I don’t know how it played to the (intended audience of) people in the room, but it was so frustrating. Towards the end I could tell they were saving up something big, so that kept me going. They talked about Fortnite for like 15 minutes and I still have no idea what that is. But it was all worth it to hear the Villains Land announcement.
Villains Land! Finally! If anything closes to make room for it, it's the Riverboat and Tom Sawyer Island. My heart kind of breaks for Walt if the boat is no more, but I won't be too sad about the island closing, if it happens.
I’m so excited!!! I think you’re right about the Riverboat and Tom Sawyer Island. I feel similarly to you. I enjoy the island, it’s kind of like MK’s best kept secret. But it’s a lot of under utilized space. I’m more concerned about losing the steamboat, too. The kinetic energy of having the steamboat in the background really brings the park to life. You need monorails and People Movers moving past you. I really feel like it makes a difference to the experience, whether you’re actively conscious of them or not.
I wonder what the "2 major attractions" will be!!
The concept art shows a thorny rollercoaster track— so likely Maleficent inspired. I’m hoping for an intense roller coaster with lots of animatronics. In my head: Maleficent’s the big baddie, but there are animatronics of all the villains and they’re planning to take over the MK. Something with Ursula would be fun, too, for the second ride! You could work with water, or do something around her tentacles. I feel like they need Ursula presence there because she’s so popular, but because of her character design, she’s basically impossible to do a meet and greet of so I think an Ursula themed ride would be a great solution!
Cruella must have a clothing boutique!
And speaking of, I need meet and greets. Disneyland has a lot more villains than MK. I feel like the only villain you can easily and regularly meet at MK is Gaston. Is that right? We need to be able to meet Maleficent and the Evil Queen. And we need a visiting villain spot so they can rotate in others: Frollo, Ratcliffe, Mother Gothel, etc etc
We already have Gaston's Tavern; I wonder what other restaurants we could get.. like themed to a particular villain or like villains in general. An Ursula's lair? a castle (I doubt this would happen), like the Queen, Maleficent, the Horned King? Dr. Facilier's lair?
Oh, that’s a good point about Gaston’s tavern! I feel like if they chose to theme a restaurant to Ursula, they’d be expected to have a lot of seafood or at least guests would assume they serve seafood and I think that’s too divisive among appetites. And they already have a seafood restaurant anyway. Maybe the Evil Queen’s banquet hall? Ooh! I hope it’s Evil Queen themed because then it could be Bavarian style food, and yes, you’re right, no matter what they’re going to be doing something with the poisoned apple. It would be fun if you had a villain version of Cinderella’s Royal Table!
I know Universal’s Dark Universe is going to have a vampire Steakhouse Stakehouse. And another restaurant or food stand that will serve Dollywood style cinnamon bread.
I wonder if a villains land would finally break MK’s run of being a dry park. Already you can buy alcohol at, I think, all the sit down restaurants in MK. But this land I think is really going to appeal to adults and I don’t think Disney’s going to leave money on the table… maybe this will lead to alcohol stands at MK.
Um, venison (wink, wink Bambi's Man).
Sounded like it’s going to take a long time before this is ready. I’m guessing 2029 at the earliest.
Cars Frontierland: That sounds great! I wonder what will close though.
I heard about the Cars Frontierland rumors before and was really put off. I don’t like the property that much, and as cool as I hear Radiator Springs Racers is out in CA, I don’t want another clone of something in FL. Especially when (I think) Test Track already uses the same ride system as RSR.
All that said, when they revealed this mini land wasn’t taking place in Radiator Springs and that the ride was also going to be themed differently from RSR, I was sold. I’m glad it’s not an exact clone and I think it’ll be fun. And Cars is such a huge property especially for little boys, I’m glad it’s getting more representation in the parks.
The rumor I’m hearing is that the Cars stuff won’t require shutting anything down (can you imagine if they were shutting down Big Thunder Mountain for this? I’d riot). It sounds like it’s going where the Rivers of America is currently…
Monsters, Inc. land: Yes!! Omg finally finally finally we are getting the coaster!!!!!! Will there be new shopping (probably) and restaurant (maybe?!)?
This came so far out of left field. I was like, wtf? At first, I didn’t know why anyone would really want a Monsters Inc land… I mean, the aesthetics of the factory is like warehouse work. Who wants to be reminded of work on vacation? Lololol But then we got more details and more concept art and I was sold.
The door roller coaster?!?!?! Finally!!! And it’s going to be a suspended coaster which I think is new at WDW. I swear I remember saying “oh I bet they’re going to make a roller coaster out of this scene” the very first time I saw Monsters Inc. Only took them 20 years!
Do you think they’ll bring in the hibachi restaurant from the film??? They have to, right!!! Could be so cool— and I don’t think DHS has any Asian restaurants currently.
My big question is… where is this going??? Right before I started the livestream, I watched Brayden of Mickey Views’ YouTube video about D23 parks predictions. I haven’t watched a lot of his stuff, but a lot of people online swear by his intel. And during the video, he said Muppets and Star Tours were on the chopping block for a new land. And then they announced Monsters Inc land at D23 but didn’t reveal what it was replacing…… not saying it means anything, but I’m a little worried for those attractions now. Taking over Star Wars Launch Bay and Animation Courtyard would also make sense, though.
The other thing that excites me about the Monsters Inc land: it’s unique! I like when the parks have unique to them lands and attractions, instead of clones everywhere.
Pueblo Esperanza: I do really like the Dinosaur ride, but both of the new rides should be really fun. So the Encantoride we'll be on the omnimovers riding past screens and maybe some animatronics? The carousel sounds cute.
I’ve had enough time to grieve Dinoland and move on! lol I really, really do love Dinoland though. And I’m so sad to lose all those Dinosaur animatronics. We need something else dinosaur themed at WDW now. But I think Tropical Americas will fit in nicely with the way DAK is already split up, with Africa and Asia. I hope the Encanto ride is really cool.
Also, I am pumped for the night parade!!! One of my favorite memories as a child was seeing Spectromagic. I’m so glad a new nighttime parade is coming back to the Magic Kingdom.
So much amazing stuff to see and explore soon!!!