First Models of Villains Land at Magic Kingdom Reveal Dark Forest Roots

Dendrophiles, rise up! We’ve got a whole post about trees. Specifically the scary and menacing trees that’ll line a veritable Dark Forest in Villains Land at Magic Kingdom, with these Snow White-inspired trees being the only models that appear for the expansion in the Walt Disney Imagineering booth at the 2026 D23 Expo.

Let’s start with basic background about the Imagineering: Horizons pavilion at this year’s D23 event in Anaheim. This is the largest pavilion that WDI has ever done, and wow does it show. The whole booth is basically model mania! There are multiple Marvel models, plus ones for the Avatar Destination at Disney California Adventure, Space Mountain Earthrise at Tokyo Disneyland, Lion King Pride Lands at Disney Adventure World. Plus, Tropical Americas, Carousel of Progress and Monstropolis at Walt Disney World.

The largest exhibit in the WDI booth on the show floor is the massive model for Piston Peak Cars Land at Magic Kingdom, which takes up an entire room. Well, almost. Tucked away on the opposite wall is a small (but mighty) atmospheric display devoted to Villains Land at Magic Kingdom. Specifically, the Dark Forest of the expansion along with a bit about the architecture.

For the 2026 D23 Expo, Walt Disney Imagineering intentionally designed a pavilion that captures the excitement WDI feels as it brings projects to life that were announced in 2024 at the Horizons Showcase (Parks Panel). Aptly named, the “Imagineering: Horizons” pavilion celebrates this extraordinary moment of growth and momentum happening across Disney Experiences, with each resort represented throughout the space.

The biggest of those announcements two years ago was Villains Land at Magic Kingdom. Josh D’Amaro concluded the Parks Panel with a bang, officially announcing Villains Land and revealing that it’ll be home to two major attractions, dining, and shopping on an incredibly twisted grand scale.

It’s widely believed that Villains Land will include an outdoor “story coaster” and an indoor family-friendly dark ride. This is based on a mixture of concept art, informed speculation, permits & documents filed with Florida, show building sizes, and a dash of credible rumors. Based on the combination of the above plus the reality that construction progress will reveal a whole lot more in the next two years, we are expecting some Villains Land news from the 2026 D23 Parks Panel (more on that in a minute).

Given that likelihood, it’s noteworthy that Villains Land has a comparatively undersized presence in the pavilion. It’s also not completely surprising. There’s only so much that Imagineering will want to share at this point, and Villains Land is such a massive project that’s so anxiously-awaited by fans that any morsel of new information deserves it’s time to shine in the spotlight.

As we’ve previously predicted in multiple posts, we were not expecting a large-scale model of Villains Land at the 2026 D23 Expo. Given project timelines, it stands to reason that this will be the big model at the 2028 D23 Expo, much like how Piston Peak is showcased this year.

Against that backdrop, here’s the Villains Land video from the Imagineering: Horizons pavilion. Despite this being one of the smallest exhibits in the booth, it’s actually one of the longest videos, and is actually fairly fascinating:

Villains Land’s Dark Forest roots and architectural inspiration. pic.twitter.com/UCjL9U57Gh

— Disney Tourist Blog (@DisTouristBlog) August 15, 2026

The video references Walt Disney’s 1937 animated classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, strongly suggesting the ‘natural’ landscape of Villains Land will be rooted in the Dark Forest through which Snow White flees as she’s surrounded by menacing trees with leering faces that tower over her.

The concept sketches on display in the video clearly draw inspiration from Snow White, as Imagineers use the dark and twisted environment from that film for early explorations of the dimensional design of Villains Land. The art that appears on screen reveals not just the trees themselves, but pathways with light fixtures and other details, indicating that this could be the look of the walkways that guests traverse within Villains Land.

Along with the video, the two models displayed on the show floor in the Imagineering booth are these same menacing trees, and there are cutouts of similar trees serving as the backdrop for the Villains Land section of the pavilion.

Here are photos of the Villains Land models:

What caught my attention is that the lengthy video features several distinct tree designs and example pathways. My expectation is that Villains Land, like other recent large-scale lands such as Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Fantasy Springs (Tokyo DisneySea), will have long and winding pathways to aid with crowd flow.

One of the weaknesses of these walkways in other large-scale lands is that they clearly exist for practical purposes and have been underdeveloped in terms of design. Having a veritable Dark Forest with these menacing trees would solve that. It would provide both the connective tissue for the buildings and architecture in the land, as well as placemaking and themed design so the needed crowd corridors don’t seem like they’re only for overflow queues. It has the potential to add a bit of form to largely functional spaces.

The real challenge will be layering these artificial trees alongside real ones without it looking jarring, as the land will obviously need actual trees in addition to the menacing ones. It’ll be interesting to see how Imagineering pulls this off, and just how dense this Dark Forest actually ends up being.

The second half of the video shows Imagineers on a research trip to Europe to investigate architecture, namely the Art Nouveau style. This was previously discussed on a panel at last year’s Destination D23, which was the last time we received a material update on Villains Land.

During last year’s Destination D23, Executive Creative Director Caroline May (who was also present during one of our visits to the 2026 D23 Expo booth) and Executive Producer Wyatt Winter from Walt Disney Imagineering shared how the project team had studied the unique form, scale, and color that define the Art Nouveau style while in Europe. Through partnerships with local professors, along with art and architectural historians, Imagineers received an intimate look at the architectural aesthetics that will serve as the overall design inspiration for the land.

The team highlighted the way Art Nouveau’s natural motifs and swirling designs in Paris make nature appear to be “cursed” like magic has frozen it into place. On the other hand, Barcelona’s art style is Modernisme (think Gaudí–like portions of the Gran Destino interior), which has fewer natural patterns but has architecture with an otherworldly, unnerving appearance.

Another fascinating discovery that they made in both places was how many of the architectural elements had a wonderful color palette, full of rich tones. Seeing details like colorful stained-glass windows and painted metals helped us understand how we might bring the beautiful, deep jewel tones of the animated villains to life in the land’s buildings.

After identifying the similarities between the magical, fluid, and organic appearance of both the animated villains and the Art Nouveau style of construction, the Imagineering team coined the term “Conjured Architecture” for Villains Land at Magic Kingdom. Conjured Architecture refers to the blend of historical components and fantastical worlds that have merged to create something wicked that will be able to be experienced firsthand: a villains-inspired land.

It’ll be interesting to see just how Conjured Architecture is integrated into Villains Land. The land itself looks like it’ll lean heavily on rockwork, with lots of sharp and angular lines in the natural environment. Now we know that the Dark Forest will also play a role in that worldbuilding, adding its own foreboding quality to the landscape.

It thus makes sense to have the built environment offer a contrast to that, with more curvature and lavish ornamentation. We’re curious as to whether this is utilized to soften the appearance of the land or to make the architecture less intimidating to families with young children. Art Nouveau also works for accentuating the eccentric style of at least some of the villains, and their lavish tastes.

Ultimately, I like the idea of Imagineering creating its own design-style for Villains Land, and Conjured Architecture certainly has promise. I’m pleased that Imagineering is taking research trips for Villains Land, looking to real places in Europe for inspiration while also drawing from the animated classics to meld the two into a distinct style. That sure beats Avengers Campus, which is another ‘melting pot’ land of characters from different films, and what I feared might be the foundation for Villains Land.

The interplay of rockwork, Conjured Architecture, and the Dark Forest sounds incredibly promising for the landscape of Villains Land. This twisted and foreboding environment should also act as a nice counterpart and contrast to the nearby Cars miniland, which will lean more into lushness and the natural beauty of a ‘carified’ National Park.

It sounds silly as I write that, but in looking at the massive model of Piston Peak National Park and thinking about the concept art and everything we’ve seen and heard thus far about Villains Land, it’s easier to visualize–and just makes sense.

Stay tuned for whatever else is revealed for Villains Land during the Parks Panel at the 2026 D23 Expo! It’s possible that Disney pulls back the curtain more on the two attractions to put speculation and spurious “rumors” to rest. We’re also hoping that Disney shares which of the 13 previously-announced characters are connected to each location, and some of the storytelling details about the land.

We’re optimistic that Villains Land will be worth the wait, and hope Imagineering is given the time, resources, and budget to get this land right. Fans have waited decades for a ‘Dark Kingdom’ in Walt Disney World’s castle park, and expectations are sky high. So no pressure or anything!

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YOUR THOUGHTS

What’s your reaction to the Dark Forest joining Conjured Architecture in Villains Land at Magic Kingdom? Pleased to see the Snow White influence? What about the fanciful Art Nouveau architecture? Happy about this concept? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!