A video posted by Walt Disney Imagineering could be our first look at some special effects coming to Piston Peak National Park, Tropical Americas at Animal Kingdom, and the all-new Villains Land in Magic Kingdom. Beyond the speculation, of which there will be plenty in this article, it’s just plain cool to get these behind-the-scenes looks at what Imagineers are working on for the theme parks. Let’s jump in!
Imagineering Realistic Storm Clouds
We’ll start with a realistic storm cloud that the Special Effects team at Walt Disney Imagineering is working on. The storm cloud looks pretty amazing in a warehouse setting, so we can only imagine that it would be stunning to see in an attraction with carefully place show lighting. In fact, we don’t have to look very far for an absolutely perfect implementation of this new special effect.
Over in the upcoming Tropical Americas-themed land, Walt Disney Imagineering is working to bring an all-new Encanto-themed attraction to life. While details remain somewhat scarce on the attraction at this point, we do have the following description:
The first-ever “Encanto”-themed ride-through attraction is coming to Animal Kingdom, featuring the beloved Madrigal family from the Walt Disney Animation Studios film. Inside the Casita, Antonio has just received his special gift — the ability to communicate with animals — and his room has transformed into a rainforest. It’s time to go explore alongside him, and you never know what member of the family you might bump into…
Disney also released the following concept art of the attraction, showcasing a lush tropical scene, presumably inside Antonio’s room. This could be the finale scene, which we’ve heard will be a massive space that could rival some other large spaces seen in some of Imagineering’s finest creations.
Critically, we see that the entire Madrigal family is present. Specifically, we’re happy to see that Pepa Madrigal, Antonio’s mom, is present. In the Encanto film, Pepa is revealed to have the power to control the weather via her emotions. At multiple times in the film, a small storm cloud appears over her head when her emotions call for it.
As you can see in the photos below, the storm cloud perfectly matches the size of the one being tested by the Walt Disney Imagineering Special Effects team. Given how convincing the “test” appears in the video, we’d be shocked if there wasn’t a scene in the new Encanto ride that utilizes this technology during a bit of conflict when Pepa’s emotions may be running a bit hot.
Imagineering Instantaneous, High-Pressure Water Blast
Another special effect under development that was shown off was a “special water feature”. This is no ordinary fountain. Instead, it looks more like an instantaneous, high-pressure water blast.
If an instantaneous, high-pressure water blast sounds like we’re describing a geyser, you’re absolutely right. We imagine that we could see this effect in the all-new Piston Peak National Park area coming to Frontierland.
If we enhance the Piston Peak National Park “fun map“, we can see that there is no shortage of geysers planned for an area of the new land near Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. If I had to guess, I would say that there is just as good a chance of seeing this special effect make it into Piston Peak National Park as there is of seeing a hyper-realistic storm cloud above Pepa’s head in the Encanto attraction coming to Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Possible Villains Land Special Effects from Imagineering
While the first two special effects come with a decent level of confidence, this last special effect is less obvious. What makes this effect exciting is that the Imagineer showing it off says that it is for a specific project. However, the video is edited to redact what he said and bleep over the (presumably) multi-word project. My guess is that it’s for Villains Land.
The special effect involves “modern holographic material through media and fiber optics”. While the exact project is redacted, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the flames look to be very villainous and certainly give off an animation-style appearance.
The flames remind me of the Maleficent segment in the Fantasmic show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. I’ve timestamped our full video of Fantasmic below to illustrate what I mean. As for the embedded fiber optics, that’s anyone’s guess.
Of course, this final special effect could be for something else entirely. I think it’s reasonable to assume that we’ll encounter villains in their animated form in Villains Land, and there’s no denying that the flame appears to be animated in a very traditional manner.
Only time will tell if this or any of the predictions above come to fruition!
Here’s the behind-the-scenes tour of the Special Effects lab from the Walt Disney Imagineering Instagram account.
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!
