Disney World unveils 'incredibly twisted' Villains Land for nightmarish Magic Kingdom expansion

"This land will be home to the villains that you know and those that you loathe, which means happily-ever-after might feel like a distant dream," a Disney exec said of the highly anticipated addition.

Poor, unfortunate souls waiting for major Disney parks developments just hit the jackpot, as the company finally confirmed that a long-rumored Villains Land is coming to Disney World's Magic Kingdom park.

Pop star and Descendants: The Rise of Red actress Rita Ora helped kick off the reveal on Saturday night at Disney's D23 convention in Anaheim, Calif., singing a haunting version of "Trust in Me" from The Jungle Book, before Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro detailed the highly anticipated addition.

"We love our Disney villains, right? Their evil ambition gives us endless possibilities to tell brand new stories," D'Amaro said on stage at the Honda Center arena, where the audience erupted with applause when a giant screen flashed concept art for the planned land behind him.

"This land will be home to the villains that you know and those that you loathe, which means happily-ever-after might feel like a distant dream," he continued. "It will have two major new attractions, dining, shopping, and so much more fiendish fun for you to explore. This is storytelling on a grand scale that only Disney can deliver, so, be prepared, you poor unfortunate souls. It's going to be a fearless new vision for what a Disney experience can be."

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In a follow-up post after the D23 presentation, the official Disney Parks Blog wrote that "the new land will encompass all your dreams — er, nightmares," and that it will open on "an incredibly twisted grand scale" unlike anything that Disney has done in the past.

"You might have just felt a shiver run down your spine. That’s because preparation is already underway at Magic Kingdom for this new land. Maybe think twice before you indulge in that next shiny red apple," the blog post continued.

The Villains Land expansion marks the first-ever Disney parks land themed entirely to the studio's villains, though D'Amaro didn't explicitly name any of the anchor characters who will appear in the new park. The concept art does, however, clearly show a rendition of Sleeping Beauty's fire-breathing Maleficent (in dragon form), while roller coaster track can be seen twisting around dark cliffs in the background, and through waterfalls in the foreground.

For years, fans have hoped for a land — or, at times, even speculated on an entire theme park — inspired by Disney villains. Though nothing formal materialized until Saturday's D23 announcement, Disney previously intended to expand the Walt Disney World Resort's Animal Kingdom park with a section bearing a dark theme incorporating dragons and other mythical elements.

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Disney has long teased a potential villains-themed area, which included a preview of concept art for a hypothetical Magic Kingdom expansion shown at the 2022 D23 convention. In a 2023 interview with Entertainment Weekly about Magic Kingdom's new Tron Lightcycle Run roller coaster, Imagineer Chris Beatty again referenced the potential villains-centric expansion.

"We're dreaming every day about what could be next at Walt Disney World. We just wanted to give you a peek at some of the amazing things that could be coming. It's changing every day. It's exciting. I think Josh was really trying to get across that spirit of creativity, of what could be next, of innovation, of the possibility of what could be is still alive and well at Disney and Imagineering," Beatty said at the time of his colleague's D23 presentation, which he said wasn't intended to highlight concrete designs for the parks, but rather marked the team "dreaming about what could be" ahead.

"[The villains concept] got pretty good applause," he admitted. "We took note of how loud the applause was when we announced that."

Elsewhere at Saturday's D23 presentation, D'Amaro welcomed actor Billy Crystal to the stage to perform a tune in the style of his beloved Mike Wazowski character, all in celebration of a new Monsters, Inc. land coming to Disney World's Hollywood Studios park in the future. The themed land will feature a suspended roller coaster traveling through the animated film series' door vault.

Other parks news revealed at the convention included confirmation of the long-rumored Villains Land heading to Magic Kingdom, new Indiana Jones and Encanto rides set to replace Dinosaur and DinoLand U.S.A. at Animal Kingdom, and a Cars-inspired expansion to the Magic Kingdom's Frontierland area.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.