Disney World’s New Villains Land at Magic Kingdom Will Be Its Most Original in Years: Report

Disney World’s Villains Land just might be scary good.

The Wall Street Journal spoke to Disney Imagineering leaders past and present about what fans can expect from the forthcoming addition to the Magic Kingdom. The new area, which is already under construction, is expected to feature villains from beloved movies like Snow White, Peter Pan, and Aladdin, among others.

Bruce Vaughn, president of Imagineering, called the current projects “by far the most ambitious period” in Imagineering’s history. “We’re going to ramp up and reignite Imagineering culturally and we’ve got a tremendous amount of investment coming through.”

According to the Journal, there has been a push for more original storytelling in the parks, including from Imagineers themselves.

When Bob Iger initially became the CEO of Disney in 2005, the focus for parks shifted to franchises, as opposed to creating original stories like the ones featured in beloved attractions such as the Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean rides, the outlet reports.

Cars, Star Wars and Avatar, three massive franchises, got major lands dedicated to them in the U.S. Disney parks in the 2010s.

The former president of Walt Disney of Imagineering from 2020 to 2024, Barbara Bouza, told WSJ, “at every all-hands meeting, I would be asked if we’d get to create new Imagineering original stories again.”

Villains Land was announced in August 2024 at Disney’s annual D23 conference. The Magic Kingdom land will feature two new major attractions, as well as dining and shopping.

A TikTok shared by Disney Parks featured fan-favorite evildoers including Yzma form The Emperor’s New Groove, Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin‘s Jafar and Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, teasing what fans could expect.

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Villains Land began construction in 2025 and does not yet have an opening date.

In addition to Villains Land, numerous other projects are underway, some featuring original backstories, like the Tropical Americas land replacing DinoLand U.S.A. at Animal Kingdom. Two attractions there will, however, be themed to beloved films and characters: Encanto and Indiana Jones.

Other upcoming lands are inspired more fully by Disney IP: A new Monsters Inc.-themed land was announced to occupy the former home of Muppet*Vision 3D at Disney Studios; and a new Cars-themed land (a version of which already exists at Disneyland in California) will replace and expand on the Rivers of America area at Magic Kingdom.