A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow: My Plans, Thoughts and Criticisms for new immersive lands and my Hopes for the Future of Walt Disney World

 A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow: My Plans ,Thoughts and Criticisms For New Immersive Lands and My Hopes for the Future of Walt Disney World

Hello Readers,

As many of you know yesterday at 5pm I wrote an article apologizing to you all for not reporting sooner on a rumor I heard over 3 months ago about the Galactic Star Cruiser, which we now know has been turned into WDI offices focusing on the future expansions of Walt Disney World in Florida. As many of you also know months before certain items are either announced or changed, I have written up a concept on this page, that ends up becoming reality(such as my Concept on the closure and repositioning of Muppets to the backlot areas near Rock N Roller Coaster, which as I argued for and conceptualized in that article is going to be rethemed to the Electric Mayhem). Today however I wish to discuss some of my newer more evolved concepts, for the Disney Parks in order to compete with Universal Epic Universe which opens Thursday May 22nd of this year, as well as some concepts I have for the current plans Disney already announced including: The Tropical Americas Expansion at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Monsters Inc at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and the Beyond Big Thunder Project at Magic Kingdom, while also providing some concepts for Epcot, and some future concepts that I’d argue down the line Disney can create to compete with Epic Universe.

Tropical Americas 

As many of you know the tropical Americas expansion at Disney’s Animal Kingdom(DAK)has already begun with the phased closure of Dinoland USA already taking place, and while many details are currently underwraps, we do know this concept will include an Encanto and Indiana Jones Attraction, with rumors spreading by online theme park analyst that something in this land may also be Coco themed(while not confirmed by WDI). 

My Coco concepts

DAK has a history of being a park focused on conservation, environmentalism and animals, but lets take this back to its origins. Back when the park was being developed DAK was supposed to include not only the animals of the Past(Dinosaurs) the animals of now, but also was to include the animals of fantasy and myth, with an attraction including both unicorns and dragons. Historically the mythical area was cut and the imagineers who developed this Animals of Myth land left Disney for Universal creating the Lost Continent at Universal's Islands of Adventure.

In the movie Coco, there are mythical beasts, these Spirit Animals called Alebrijes and are vibrant and exciting animals that could be a focus of the Coco themed attraction. 

Coco Ride Concept:

On the ride guests will be paired with a new Alebrijes, and take flight with Miguel, Dante and Pepita, through the land of the dead, with a focus on the legends of the Alebrijes and the variety of them that can be found throughout the land of the dead.

Coco Scavenger Hunt

If a ride won’t do perhaps an interactive magic band scavenger hunt through the land to locate the Alebrijes including some fun interactions with Dante and Pepita, could exist in this land using digital technology, lighting and elemental effects(water, wind, smoke) could be an exciting way to learn about these magical creatures in this new land. 

Coco gets a restaurant

Maybe the smallest thing Disney can do is make a restaurant that serves Mexican Cuisine, that is themed to Coco in this area, that changes colors between the land of the living and the dead, creating magical moments for guests while dining, including digital interactions with the Alebrijes. 

Indiana Jones Concepts In DAK 

As we know also part of this land will be Indiana Jones, a strange yet satisfying concept, where the Ride Dinosaur will be transformed into an Indiana Jones Attraction(like the rest of the Disney’s around the Worlds Version of this Ride). At first I  was against this but since they are moving forward with this concept, I am going to provide some concepts for this area. 

The Indiana Jones Shopping Bazaar.

Similar to Star Wars Galaxys Edge the Indiana Jones Shops should be immersive, a place that isn’t an average gift shop, a South American bazaar full of Quick Service foods, snacks and Drinks, as well as costume items, whips and accessories, but also including toys that are authentically Tropical American, while immersed in the lore of Indiana Jones. 

Interactive Indiana Jones Area

As many guests want to play, perhaps Magic band interactions can be used with Indiana Jones in this new land. Animatronic Snakes and Spiders, that interact with guests, setting off traps with their magic band as they play in this area. Currently Magic Bands are limited in the parks to Bounty Hunters in Galaxy’s edge perhaps these themed interactions in the Indiana Jones area of the Tropical America’s can boost sales for Disney and give guests some exciting memories. (perhaps it's also a treasure hunt)

Monsters INC Land

Moving over to Disneys Hollywood Studios(DHS) to Monsters Inc that is set to replace the Muppets Area, There is very little they can do in this area to make me more excited, but i thought of a few things we need to see in this area aside from the Door Coaster that is supposed to be built here. 

Harryhausen’s

As many fans of the first film know, Mike Wazowski takes Celia to Harryhausen’s for their date. Harryhausens is the Sushi/Japanese restaurant in Monstropolis, and to feature this restaurant in this land to replace Pizzerizzo and Mama-Melrose, may be this iconic restaurant that can include an animatronic of the Eight Armed Sushi Chef seen in the film, and something new and authentic to this park. 

THE CDA  

Similar to the stormtroopers in star wars galaxy’s edge, this land may require roaming performers and who better to interact with children in this land than the Child Detection Agency, who can roam the streets of Monstropolis and interact with guests proclaiming “23-19” as they parade around Monstropolis interacting with Guests and are germophobically scared of Children. 

A Randal Themed Interactive Scavenger Hunt

Guests with a Magicband+ should have an exclusive experience that as they walk through this small land they can find some comical magic, with Camouflage Randal’s hidden throughout this land that appear as guest use their magicbands to detect him, as he goes from invisible to multi color and polka dotted throughout the land using Disney Magic, Animatronics and Screen technology. 

New meet and greet characters

While Mike, Sully and Boo should all be 100% meetable in this park, there are a few more characters whom I would like to see featured in this new land. Randal, Celia, Roz, and Needleman and Smitty, should all be included in this land as meetable characters

The abominable Snow Man’s Snow Cone’s

The need for vendors in this land is something that is limited but most likely to be included in this land and who better to have a themed snow cone cart than the Abominable SnowMan, this vendor will have a variety of multiple flavors of snow cones, pre packaged from “the himalayas” made by the Abominable SnowMan, for guests to enjoy while in Monstropolis. 

Shopping in Monstropolis

Like I mentioned, the shops in Monstropolis should feel real and immersed in the land, not being the average build of a gift shop, but truly feel lived in the world of Monstropolis. Of course those screaming straw cups that they currently sell in the parks are a must, but what if the dolls, toys and merch in this land was made for monsters, not just for man. Shirts with 6 sleeves, candy that was made for monsters, 3 eyed sunglasses, and many more ideas that could generate comical monster gear, which is themed with the movie series which is zany in the best Pixar kind of way.

Beyond Big Thunder Mountain

This is probably the least of my creativity I have ever attempted to conceptualize on this blog. Not only have I already, discussed in one of my first articles a concept for Disney World, for the Magic Kingdom, AKA Dark Hollow, my Disney Villains Themed Land which incorporated nearly all Disney Villains I could think of, but as many of my readers know I am opposed to Cars Land in Magic Kingdom, on the grounds of not wanting anymore cut and paste jobs by imagineering moving Cars from Disneyland California to WDW here in Florida. My criticism of Cars Land is that, I was excited for Coco, and Encanto when those were announced alongside, Villains land but Cars Land is considerably drab in comparison, as many of you possibly already know my criticism is that they should just expand their Disney Villains land concept, and scrap the Cars addition entirely, but if they aren’t going to do that, I have another idea in mind.

New Frontierland concept

Frontierland as it is now in the magic kingdom has gone down hill, with the addition of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure adding New Orleans to this classic Area, conceptualized by Walt Disney himself. It is my opinion and idea, that rather than placing cars in the frontier, Disney, look to the novels of the Old West, TV serials of old and what IP they have across all their acquisitions including 20th century Fox, Lucasfilm, Pixar, and Marvel to develop a New Frontierland beyond Thunder Mountain, bringing the charm of the Old West and American Frontier back to Frontierland, that can then attach itself to Villains Land.

New Orleans Concept

Beyond Big Thunder would also be a possible way to expand a new New Orleans Square at the Magic Kingdom. By draining the rivers of America, and redoing the pathways around Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and the Liberty Square Riverboat (The Liberty Belle) they can build Tiana’s Palace as a restaurant right on the water, of the Bayou adventure. From there they can wrap this towards Villains land creating Beignet Stands, a variety of New Orleans style shops and Doctor Facilier’s Parlor which can be a Magic Show Style Attraction similar to Doctor Strange: Mysteries of the Mystic Arts at Avengers Campus in California, and it can exit into a Magic shop in this New Orleans Square concept, returning magic tricks for sale at the Magic Kingdom. This Parlor themed to Doctor Facilier can then exit onto the path near Big Thunder right between Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and the path to Villains land. 

Villains Land Concepts

As many of you know I already crafted a Villains Land Concept as one of my first Articles on this blog, I now have an idea of what Disney intends to do with the expansion, as they announced at D23 the exact villains that will be featured in this new land: The Queen of Hearts, Jafar, The Evil Queen, Lady Tremaine, Yzma, Cruella De Vil, Captain Hook(What is that hat at the D23 announcement) Maleficent, Gaston, Mother Gothal, Ursula, Hades, and Chernabog. It is also believed that it will include 1 restaurant, 1 dark ride, a Villains Coaster(no shock there, just look at my own concept) and a string of Shops. What is shocking to me is the missing iconic villains that they aren’t including(Doctor Facilier for one and Gaston being included is even more shocking given his involvement in New Fantasyland) but with those villains in mind, here is my speculation and concepts for this.

The Coaster

I am assuming this coaster will have a variety of show scenes, and will not just focus on one but multiple villains, including: Maleficent, Ursula, Jafar, Hades and Chernabog, being some of the most powerful villains amongst the ones listed, in this ride guests I am assuming will encounter each of these villains in one go, if so Disney should be prepared to give us reasoning and a story as to why we are encountering each of these villains together(similar to my concept which was the Fantasyland dungeon with a hidden messaging on Sidekicks and friendship even amongst those most evil) this coaster I would assume isn’t going to be like Expedition Everest, Rock N Roller Coaster, Space Mountain or Thunder Mountain railroad but be Disney’s attempt at what Universal has been doing with Escape from Gringotts and The mummy, but a Coaster that drives Guests into Show Scenes with sudden stops and both digital and practical effects. If this is indeed the case I am excited to see what Disney does with this concept.

The Dark Ride

Disney needs a return to the classic Dark Ride Narrative of story telling from the many adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan’s Flight and Snow Whites Scary Adventures, with the incorporation of New Technology seen in Shanghai Disney, Tokyo Disney Seas Peter Pan attraction, as well as some of the elements used on Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Rise of the Resistance, this can prove to be a triumph in the parks, that many fans have been waiting for. My guess and my best guess is that this attraction will focus on a single story and given that Peter Pan is already in the parks that leaves four of these remaining villains from the provided list: Mother Gothel, The Queen of Hearts,Yzma or Cruella De Vil, for this ride to follow. Given that I foresee Cruella getting a Shop, also given he dated nature of the Emperor's New Groove(Yzma) Mother Gothal/ Tangled or the Queen of Hearts/Alice in Wonderland will be getting the Dark Ride Attraction as part of this villain's expansion(although I wouldn’t be upset if it were either of the other 2).

Shops

As far as I can tell the shops, would be themed with the following villains in mind: The The Evil Queen, Cruella De Vil,Lady Tremaine, Gaston, Captain Hook and possiblyThe Queen of Hearts, Yzma or Mother Gothal (Depending on which of them get the ride, the other will get a shop). In my concept for Villains land, The Evil Queen had a Confectionery/Sweets Shop dedicated to making Poison Apples, set int he Dungeon based on Candy Cauldron at Disney Springs(which recently began producing this product as well as Disney Villains themed Candy) and Cruella being the Diva for fashion she is would have a Bippity Boppity Boutique type experience where Children can dress up as their favorite villains. Lady Tremaine I would figure would also have a shop being one of the tamer villains on this list, while Yzma(Kronk) and Gaston had quick service food and beverage in this area Yzma doing a flavored water or specialty beverage type stall, with Kronk's Spinach puffs, and Gaston having a La Feu’s Brew stand (similar to the Wizarding Worlds butterbeer stations at Universal). This is where I criticize what they are doing with Captain Hook. Not only is Hook possibly their most popular parks villain but Hook deserves better than just a shop, while i am merely speculating Captain Hook and Mr. Smee will have a jewlery/Treasure shop or have a experience similar to what A Pirates Life was at the exit of Pirates of the Carribean, I am not giving up hope that Disney will do justice to the Captain. 

The Restaurant

For the restaurant there are a variety of ways Disney can go about this, they can take us somewhere we have been before from the films or craft a one of a kind dining experience. At first thought Locations Such as The Snuggly Duckling(Tangled) or Mudka’s Meat hut(Emperors New Groove) come to mind and for excitement, I return to my already familiar concept, I mentioned in my Villains Land Concept of Eating aboard The Jolly Roger, with Captain Hook, Mr. Smee and the Pirates, They may also take a route of making the Anti-Cinderella’s Royal table and give Lady Tremaine, a restaurant with Anastasia and Dresella, with the other villains in this area, but only time will tell, and I strongly believe my concept of a Jolly Roger Restaurant would be the most fruitful and successful of all the options I have described. 

1 more Attraction please

As fans of the parks Disney should aim to give us more than we bargained for and two attractions can make or bore a land for guests. As for me I will continue to state that in order for a land to contain and move crowds, two attractions are never enough and a third should always be made, even if it isn’t the ride with the highest demand. My concept is for either a second Dark Ride, or a Flat Ride featuring one of these Iconic villains to help assist guests in Capacity control. In my concept the flat ride for the land was a Ursula Themed Dumbo where guests ride on the backs of Flosum or Jetusm to Poor Unfortunate Souls, but maybe by tunneling the train an attraction can be made on the other side of the tracks providing a third dark ride, featuring any of the villains i had failed to mention. These are my predictions for Villains land so lets move on. 

Epcot Concepts.

Now i know what your thinking, Epcot is nearly always under construction and building more would only get in the way of our trip. I couldn’t agree more, but its wrong to leave Epcot out of this conceptual article, when all of the other Parks have been mentioned, but I am also not wrong that Epcot needs more rides, being the park I and many of my friends enjoy the most. 

Wakanda in the World Showcase

While I am unclear on who owns the rights to Black Panther and the Nation of Wakanda, what I can confirm is Shuri, Okoye and Wakanda may not exactly be in the hands of Universal Studios(this is a tricky case however). Marvel needs to make its debut in the Disney Parks and while Universal owns the Marvel Comics rights East of the Mississippi, Disney managed to build Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind at Epcot, as they were excluded from this deal, but whats to say Black Panther isn’t also excluded?

The World Showcase has many real nations from around the world, but The Refreshment Post(AKA Africa) is much more lacking in terms of items and culture, stationed between China and Germany. It is my opinion that Disney Should look into building Wakanda behind this area, hidden from sight, according to maps this area is large enough to house a single attraction, perhaps a few shops and a small stage to build Wakanda between the trees amd Avenue of the Stars in what looks to be a supply and loading zone next to the docks for the epcot ferry boats, just left of the Germany Pavilion’s location. 

For Wakanda, to have a ride, Disney would only need to create a Star Tours motion simulator type ride, set in Wakanda, featuring the Black Panther and as for entertainment, they can have The Dora Milaje, a small Black Panther/Marvel Shop and a Small Restaurant Cooking a hybrid of  traditional African foods and items from the wakanda cookbook released by Disney a few years ago. It wouldn’t need to be huge, just large enough to bring the biggest of Disney IP’s to EPCOT and one of their most successful films to date to the parks. 

The Fifth Gate

While most of this article focuses on concepts Disney has already announced and my takes on said concepts, I would like to ask Disney for another Item, if the focus is to compete 4-3 with Universal, that now has a brand new park on the way, I would like to argue that they attempt to utilize the land north of Western way and Coronado Circuit on the west side of N World Drive to build their fifth gate, their fifth park, as mentioned in other Articles my argument as the Star Wars SuperFan I am is to build from Scratch a New Star Wars Park with multiple Star Cruiser like Experiences, in this area as well as utilize items that Disney acquired from Fox, and if Disney does decide to eventually buy Marvels Theme Park Rights or more IP, to put this all at the fifth gate, as Epic Universe is not to be underestimated, but we won’t know until it opens May 22nd of this year.