Disney Announces ‘Largest’ Magic Kingdom Expansion Ever

Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products Josh D’Amaro was a busy man on Saturday. During the D23 Expo, announcements and news are always coming out, but D’Amaro is usually the show’s star, with significant information about changes to Disney Parks that get the crowd riled up. And this year was no different.

D’Amaro started with some of the newer projects we already know about, like the opening of the World of Frozen at Hong Kong Disney Disneyland and Zootopia Land coming to Shanghai Disneyland. But the audience wanted more, and D’Amaro delivered.

D’Amaro and Disney’s Chief Creative Officer and Co-lead of Walt Disney Imagineering Bruce Vaughn updated fans on the new attractions coming at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, with a new Zootopia-themed experience replacing It’s Tough to be a Bug under the Tree of Life and A Tropical American-theme land replacing DinoLand USA, which will include an Encanto ride. 

At EPCOT, D’Amaro announced that Moana’s Journey of Water will open on October 16, and the EPCOT World Celebration will finally be completed in December.

But for Magic Kingdom, Vaughn and D’Amaro were somewhat cryptic. The duo teased an expansion coming to Magic Kingdom, calling it the “biggest thing we’ve done at Magic Kingdom.” The duo compared this new project to Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge in Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Pandora: The World of Avatar in Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

And that tease got the internet buzzing over what could be coming to Magic Kingdom, and fans think they have an idea.

Talking about the potential expansion at Magic Kingdom, Bruce Vaughn says it could be "the biggest thing we've done in Magic Kingdom" and compared it to the scale of Galaxy's Edge and Pandora. pic.twitter.com/zBWHP2rg2C

— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) September 9, 2023

Villains Land Coming Soon?

At last year’s D23 Expo, D’Amaro teased the possibility of a Villains Land replacing DinoLand USA in Animal Kingdom. Still, fans were slightly put off once they heard about the placement. Villains don’t fit with the ascetic of Animal Kingdom. But it could fit right in with Fantasy Land at Magic Kingdom.

Earlier this year, Imagineer Chris Beatty told Entertainment Weekly at the opening of Tron: Lightcycle/Run that Disney took note of the applause that a possible Villains Land received at last year’s D23 and that they were working on something that fans would enjoy.

But based on the crowd’s reaction to the announcement and online reaction, a Villain’s Land is all fans seek.

Other Possibilities?

Are there other possibilities for this Magic Kingdom expansion? Possibly. Is there an attraction that will satisfy Walt Disney World Resort fans? Maybe.

Perhaps Disney Imagineers are considering an Avengers Campus like Disney California Adventure. Or even a Cars Land. But that, again, would just be borrowing from Disneyland Resort rather than creating something new.

With Tianas Bayou Adventure and the Hat Box Ghost Coming to the Haunted Mansion, the Magic Kingdom is getting a new attraction and an update to an old one. But creating a separate expansion for Disney villains would blow the top off of fans.

This is what we want and what we’ve been waiting for. So, please, Josh D’Amaro, give Disney fans this one thing, and we promise we won’t ask for anything else, at least not until the next Destination D23.

We will continue to update news from Disney’s Destination D23 at Disney Fanatic.