At the recent D23 Brazil, Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro took the stage to provide mostly reheated news and information about the expansions and project announced at the August D23 Expo. That said, some new information was also shared, including new concept art for a Moana-themed float coming to the upcoming Disney Starlight parade and new concept art for the Pirates of the Caribbean-themed tavern at Magic Kingdom. Another topic of conversation was the upcoming Villains-themed land coming to Magic Kingdom.
Villains Land Backstory
We’ll start with a look at the backstory for the upcoming Villains-themed land. Joining D’Amaro on stage was Michael Hundgen, lead Imagineer for the entire Walt Disney World Resort. Hundgen has been with Imagineering for nearly 7 years, and he took the head job at Walt Disney World back in October 2023.
Hundgen provided a little bit of new insight into the backstory and theming for the land, which is said to be the largest expansion at Magic Kingdom in the theme park’s entire history. Here’s the backstory for the upcoming Villains-themed land:
In our story, a mysterious spell has been cast, summoning all these villains from every realm. In this land, the heroes – they don’t come to save the day, and there might not be a happily ever after.
Villains land will be home to two major attractions, dining, and shopping on a massive scale. Villains land will take root in the northwest corner of Magic Kingdom where the Rivers of America currently is. While Disney has not provided a timeframe for when Villains land will open, we’re guessing that Villains land won’t open until 2030 at the earliest. The next question is: when does construction start?
Villains Land Construction Starts “Very, Very Soon”
Following the update on the backstory from Hundgen, D’Amaro offered some new insight into the timeframe for construction.
I’m excited about a lot [of projects], and I’m particularly excited about this one. I’m looking forward to breaking ground on this land – we’re going to do that very, very soon.
While groundbreaking “very, very soon” for Villains land is exciting, and I fully believe that construction will begin in the northwest corner of Magic Kingdom in 2025, D’Amaro’s statement at the recent D23 Brazil presentation is seemingly at odds with a statement he made at the D23 Expo in August.
Back in August, D’Amaro confirmed that a Villains-themed land was planned for Magic Kingdom. After sharing some details for the new land, he closed by announcing to 12,000+ attendees that “Earth is already starting to move” at Magic Kingdom. Here’s the quote:
The projects that we announced for Magic Kingdom, they represent the biggest expansion in the park’s entire history. And these are already underway, Earth is already starting to move.
To be clear, the announcements at D23 Expo were only the details, the nuts and bolts, if you will. The message that Disney and D’Amaro wanted to get across was that these are real projects and work is already underway.
D’Amaro clearly heard the criticisms of his division from fans following a 2022 D23 Expo that left more questions than answers. Immediately following the 2022 D23 Expo, I penned an article asking “Will D’Amaro Deliver?“. In that article, I wondered if D’Amaro and company would even follow through with the plans outlined. Two years later, in the week leading up to this August’s D23 Expo, I once again questioned whether or not D’Amaro would provide fans with concrete statements about the concrete required to translate the pretty concept art into reality.
While seated during the 2024 D23 Expo, I was struck by how clear the messaging from D’Amaro was: the projects are real and Disney is moving forward with its plans to allocate $60 billion $30 billion of capital into the theme parks. In fact, the messaging of “we’re doing this” was carried through each and every blog post by the Disney Parks Blog, which embedded the following quote at the end of each article that it wrote about the D23 Expo announcements:
“At Disney Experiences, Imagineers dream, create, design and build these stories into real places. And we have Imagineers in place right now all around the world because everything we’re going to share with you is in active development. Plans are drawn. Dirt is moving. I just want to be clear about this: We are doing everything you’re going to hear tonight.”
In short, dirt wasn’t moving at Magic Kingdom, despite what D’Amaro told attendees. In fact, Walt Disney World hadn’t even filed the permit at the time that D’Amaro made the statement that “Earth is already starting to move”. The permit for the early water management construction was filed two days after D’Amaro told attendees that dirt was moving.
As of press time for this article, that August 2024 permit hasn’t been approved by the state yet. In fact, the state is awaiting a response from Walt Disney World after requesting additional information about the project where the permit had deficiencies.
If I had to guess, Walt Disney World will issue a response with the required additional information later this month as they look forward to 2025 to start construction. In terms of a project timeline, we know that construction will begin for the Cars-themed expansion to Frontierland in 2025, and now we know that Villains land construction will begin “very, very soon”. If I had to guess, Disney will consider any shovels in the ground in the northwest corner of Magic Kingdom as being related to both the Cars project and the Villains project. To be honest, that makes a lot of sense given the proposed locations for both experiences.
As you can see in the concept art below, the Cars-themed expansion will take over the southern half of the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island, while it is believed that Villains land will take over the northern half. In the concept art below, we can see Big Thunder Mountain Railroad off in the distance, the Frontierland facades on the left, and The Haunted Mansion would be just off of the right side of the concept art. Villains land would be further to the right (North) from this perspective.
The permit (that Disney is still awaiting approval for) calls for land clearing along the northwest side of the Rivers of America, and two backstage areas. These “laydown yards” will be used to stage construction equipment and material as Disney works on transforming the northwest corner of Magic Kingdom. Once this permit is approved, it will clear the way for Disney to actually stick shovels in the ground and begin moving dirt in support of Villains land and the Cars-themed expansion.
Walt Disney World has not announced a closing timeframe for the Rivers of America or Tom Sawyer Island, but we expect that they will want to close both areas shortly after the January 2025 closure of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad for a lengthy refurbishment.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!