Maleficent Thrills: Everything We Know About Disney’s Villainous Coaster

Well, well. A dark new roller coaster is brewing at The Magic Kingdom.

Two years ago at the D23 Horizons: Disney Experiences Showcase, Josh D’Amaro proudly announced that a new Villains Land was under development for Disney’s Magic Kingdom in the far future. At the time we were shown a glimpse of ominous landscapes and tangled bits of roller coaster. Despite reports of a major creative retooling, this year’s presentation remained consistent with the originally published vision and even fleshed out its two anchor attractions.

Disney spoke more broadly about other future experiences under development for Magic Kingdom, namely the Carousel of Progress renovation for next season, two Piston Peak National Park attractions in the long term, and then the accompanying Magic Mirror dark ride for when Villains Land does eventually see the light. Others can, have, and will analyze these attractions far better than I ever could.

However I’ve made a few observations on this future Villains Land coaster in Magic Kingdom, given that we now have some concrete details and are unlikely to hear more soon. So here’s a breakdown of what we’ve been shown and can take away from it. Ready? Me neither.

The Mistress of All Evil

Villains Land’s new coaster will be themed after one of the greatest of them all; Maleficent, the infamously wicked fairy from Sleeping Beauty. Inspiration is being taken directly from the 1959 Sleeping Beauty animated film and the artwork of legendary Disney illustrator Eyvind Earle. Daring riders will weave through her Forbidden Mountain and Fortress in what has been described as an “exhilarating high thrill roller coaster ride”.

This is a bold statement from Disney, which prefers to make attractions as accessible as possible for guests of all ages and ride tolerances. Thrill coasters are usually more up Universal’s alley, while Disney more frequently tailors attractions that the entire family can experience.

Imagineers have teased the inclusion of roller coaster elements that they’ve never attempted before. Would they be open to trying inversions? Perhaps strong twisted airtime moments will do, or maybe they will even include a drop track similar to that on Hagrid’s at Universal Islands of Adventure. Walt Disney Imagineering certainly knows what’s up.

Cursed Concept

Disney has shared footage of a quarter-inch scale model for the coaster, depicting swirling rockwork and Maleficent’s Fortress to convey a foreboding, menacing atmosphere. Imagineers intend to immerse guests into a location and story that has never been depicted at their theme parks before, and this physical model is helping them approach challenges such as finalizing surface textures and calibrating forced perspective.

It’s difficult to discern the layout of course.

 Track is gleefully intertwined with the jagged rock formations and brambles; there’s even a section where the train descends out from underneath a silhouette of the clifftop castle. The aforementioned thrilling elements remain shrouded in mystery, at least for the time being.

What stood out to me though was a nearly full visual of the model’s train, which appears to be six cars with three rows each of riders sitting in pairs, for a total of 36 passengers.

 If accurate, that would make it the highest seated coaster train at any Disney park worldwide, tied only with Casey Jr. at Disneyland Paris. Consider this a crucial detail.

All the Powers of Longer Trains



For those of you who are unfamiliar, a block zone is a section of ride that only one train may occupy. At the end of a block zone is a method to stop the train in case the block zone ahead is still occupied. This is the safety system that prevents roller coaster trains from colliding with one another.

Thank you, El Toro Ryan.

The sooner a block zone is cleared on a coaster, the sooner the next train of riders can be dispatched, and the higher the throughput of riders is. With Disney however, simply higher isn’t acceptable; The Magic Kingdom is the highest attended theme park worldwide and its attractions must be built to handle enormous demand. Therefore, that means cycling trains as quickly as possible to keep the line moving.

Depending on Disney’s attraction and vehicle capacity, riders are constantly hitting the brakes between brief stretches of layout. Some handle this better than others; on Space Mountain it’s hardly noticeable, while on The Magic Kingdom’s two most recent coasters, Tron Lightcycle/Run (14 riders per train) and Seven Dwarves Mine Train (20 riders per train), the resulting extremely short coasting sequences prove to be (dare I say) an underwhelming experience.

Where the restriction is relaxed is on coasters like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Expedition Everest with longer trains, each of which can seat 30 or more guests per dispatch and are therefore able to spend more duration in a block zone without threatening capacity. Thirty or forty seconds of coasting time not only creates a more satisfying experience but also greater opportunity to accomplish more with its layout.

Maleficent does appear to be closer in nature to Big Thunder and Everest in the sense that it’ll be a sprawling, primarily outdoors coaster as opposed to spatially efficient like Tron, thus allowing the liberty of wide turns and higher speeds. The longer trains will also be better suited to enlarged elements, firmly lifting this attraction out of glorified kiddy coaster territory.

A Forest of Thorns Shall Be Your Tomb!

It’s going to be a long road to Villains Land, and there’s so many other exciting attractions that we can look forwards to in the years ahead. I however do highly anticipate uncovering further details and progress on yet another exceptional project. The Magic Kingdom casts a potent spell as one of the world’s premier theme parks; there is no doubt that Maleficent and the new land it resides in will prove to be a worthy enchantment.

What do you think of Villains Land? Let us know in the comments below!