New Disney World Permit Shows Changes to Villains Land, But Not Scrapping of Previous Plans
It has been a busy couple of weeks for Villains Land new and (especially) rumors, and Walt Disney World just added fuel to the fire with a fresh set of filings. Honestly, this feels a little like Imagineering is trolling fans, with new construction permits offering a Rorschach test, of sorts, allowing fans to see whatever they want to see in them.
In case you missed it, yesterday’s big new post covered the Magic Kingdom Bigger & Bolder Villains Land Rumor: Emperor’s New Groove Coaster, Maleficent Mega E-Ticket, Hades Dinner Show & New Third Ride! In that lengthy post, we covered full details of the alleged changes the land, plus our assessment of whether each change passed the smell test.
At nearly 4,000 words long, I fear I might’ve overdone the analysis. Especially since some of the comments and social media reactions kind of missed the point. I’m going to endeavor to be much more concise in covering today’s new filing with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) for “Project SNK.”
If Project SNK sounds familiar, that’s because Walt Disney World previously filed documents with the FDEP on this project that revealed the outline of buildings in Piston Peak and Villains Land, offering an idea of the lands’ layouts, locations of each attraction, sizes for show buildings, and more.
The FDEP filings reveals multiple facilities, as well as their location in the former River of America. The permit shows a total of 8 facilities versus the 4 attractions confirmed for the expansion, but there’s also expected to be restaurants, retail, as well as backstage support.
Let’s start with the FDEP filing for Project SNK from mid-January:
These FDEP filings are the first to show facilities, which fans assume to be buildings. I’ll admit that this type of filing is well outside my area of expertise, and I’m slightly reluctant to read too much into it (more on that later). Nevertheless, let’s walk through the expansion, with my theories, hesitations, etc.
The two facilities on the southern side of the construction site, closest to Country Bear Musical Jamboree, are for the Cars Piston Peak National Park Land. The upper hexagonal “building” is the flat ride, which oddly has been omitted and obscured from concept art and presentations Disney has done on Piston Peak. The space dictates it’s a flat ride, a la Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree or Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters.
The lower u-shaped building will likely be under themed environments, similar to how Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is a building enveloped by rockwork with roller coaster track going around and over it. Our expectation is that the Cars E-Ticket is likewise a multi-story indoor-outdoor attraction. The concept art strongly suggests as much, and that’s more or less necessary to fully maximize this footprint and not have a blink-and-it’s-over attraction.
Here’s another look at the January FDEP filing:
The facilities above Piston Peak mostly relate to Villains Land.
In our previous post, I speculated that the slim structure adjacent to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad could be the outdoor roller coaster load station or perhaps a show scene, which would explain its smaller size and long footprint. Based on what I’ve learned since, that was wrong. I’m now almost positive that this is unrelated to attractions; think more along the lines of the marketplace stalls in Galaxy’s Edge.
The two largest buildings at the back of Villains Land are for the roller coaster (left) and dark ride (right). It’s my understanding that the latter also houses the land’s main restaurant. The current tracks for the Walt Disney World Railroad will be re-routed farther to the north, going behind the roller coaster; the facility above the dark ride is a new station.
Above is a color-coded illustration that I cobbled together to make this easier to visualize.
It’s not perfect, but it should give you a better idea of where everything is (allegedly) going. Lightning McQueen’s signature red is Cars Land; green is for the Haunted Mansion mystery project; purple is for Villains Land. The one very obviously backstage building is grey.
One thing I cautioned against doing previously was taking all of this at face value. As I wrote in our previous post on these facilities, I’m slightly skeptical that this shows all of the buildings. Since this filing relates to wastewater and utilities, and the facilities are almost incidental, it’s possible that the buildings are only shown to the extent necessary or relevant. And that they are rough approximations.
For example, Villains Land is going to be heavy on restaurants and retail, and there simply is not sufficient space for that and two major attractions as depicted. And no matter how you slice it, that long rectangular building is oddly shaped, even if it is reasonably large in size at 15,000 square feet.
It’s also unclear to me just how “facilities” are defined. For example, what appears to be the entirety of the Cars flat ride is shown as a facility, even though it’s likely to be an outdoor attraction. If you look at just the above section of the Piston Peak Fun Map, it looks to me like there are multiple separate structures that would each qualify as facilities, but that are not reflected in the FDEP filing.
Against that backdrop, here’s the new February 2026 FDEP filing:
As you can see, the facilities have changed slightly in the new filing.
Again, this is going to function as a Rorschach test, of sorts. There are visible changes to the previous FDEP filing, which could “confirm” that the plans have already changed or, at minimum, can change. After all, if things are able to shift like this, it means they can probably be adjusted further.
Or it means that, as we cautioned, the original FDEP filing was never to be taken literally in the first place. I probably should’ve emphasized this more at the time, but I’ll double down on it here: this (still!) does not show everything in the Cars and Villains Lands. And that’s true regardless of whether or not you believe the plans have changed.
This shows a bit better definition of one version (the original? the only?) of the plans, but it’s not comprehensive or completely accurate to site plans. The “why” of that is beyond my expertise, but my best guess, as I wrote before, is that this FDEP permit only documents what’s necessary to the extent of wastewater and utilities.
Once again, I would warn against taking this too literally. If another permit is filed in a few weeks that shows a slight variance on these outlines, it won’t be because the plans changed again. It’ll be because these outlines were never 100% accurate in the first place. (As just one example, does anyone really believe the mostly outdoor family story coaster is fitting neatly into that box?)
One specific point worth emphasizing is that the show building for what’s widely expected to be the dark ride is roughly 80,000 to 90,000 square feet per the FDEP filings. This may not seem like a significantly sized structure; for reference, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is 92,000 square feet.
That is, until you realize that the land’s main restaurant is otherwise unaccounted for. And also that the combined restaurant and show building for Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure at Shanghai Disneyland is double that size. If you assume that ride system is being used (per yesterday’s rumor) and that it’s a combined restaurant and attraction, this building is still woefully undersized…even if it did supposedly grow (and change shape) slightly since last month.
The good news is that there’s plenty of unaccounted for space behind “it’s a small world” where the show building could be extended, assuming you buy into the new rumor. (See above photo courtesy of bioreconstruct, which shows all of that land having been recently cleared.) It just seems logical to position show buildings behind one another to make them easier to conceal.
In case it wasn’t completely clear from yesterday’s rumor reporting, I’m highly skeptical of the purported changes to the plan. My view is that there’s truth to much of the report, but that the accurate elements do not represent recent or ongoing changes (for example, that it’ll be a family-friendly land and not a truly dark or intense one).
It’s my understanding that the core components of the project are locked-in, and that any changes that happen at this point will be at the margins. Upgrades in placemaking, bigger budgets for certain show scenes, and that sort of thing.
The biggest possible realistic change I could see happening is the flat ride shifting from Piston Peak to Villains Land, or possibly a third flat ride being added. Even that would pose a challenge at this stage in the game, though.
I do not believe that, for example, the dark ride is going to double in size. There are also a bunch of little details in the rumor reporting that I view as dubious; that’s especially true if this is still on the drawing board within Imagineering, for several reasons that I won’t rehash.
There’s so much about the report that I want to believe, but don’t. In fact, the fan backlash to the rumored changes caught me by surprise (ignoring the supposed themes for the two main attractions), as almost all of that would reflect an increase in ambition and bigger budget.
I think it’s going to be a big and bold land, regardless, but I personally far prefer the version that gets the Shanghai Pirates ride system, which is more wow-inducing and revolutionary than any ride system at any domestic theme park–including Epic Universe.
Beyond all of that, there’s this: if you believe the rumors of major changes coming, how do you also believe that newly-filed plans already reflect that, but only via minor changes? Either they’ve gone back to the drawing board and we will see major changes to the plans down the road or they haven’t, and this reflects (at best) minor tweaks and (more likely) different definition to precisely the same plans.
To each their own, but I do not see any reasonable interpretation of this filing that gives added credence to this week’s rumor. Maybe it’s accurate–I honestly hope it is! But this is not supporting evidence. If anything, it’s a soft rebuttal to those rumors. But like I said at the top, this is basically a Rorschach test, and fans are going to see what they want to see, using it to confirm their priors. Great job, Disney. A+ trolling effort.
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Your Thoughts
What do you think of this facilities filing for the Cars and Villains Lands in Magic Kingdom? Do you think this shows everything in the expansion, or are some facilities/buildings left off for whatever reason? Think this confirms or refutes the recent rumors? Or, are you in wait and see mode with this? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? 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!
Sanitary sewer lines in the earlier filing lead me to believe at least 2 or 3 of the “facilities” are restrooms.
I’d assume several of the facilities will contain restrooms, even if that’s not their primary purpose. Otherwise, those would be some massive restrooms!
Something worth noting about the updated blueprints, is they do not seem to indicate how tall the show-buildings are. It is very possible to have the restaurant and/or theater be built upstairs from the dark ride or the indoor portions of the roller coaster. The castle in Shanghai Disneyland is a prime example of stacking three attractions atop one another.
Though, as much as I dislike “Emperor’s New Groove”, I can see the rumor about the roller coaster’s theme being true. Since not only does that movie feature a roller coaster with a drop/tilt track, it would free up Maleficent (Disney’s most marketable villain) for the dark ride. Considering how many Disney animated films feature climaxes inspired by “Sleeping Beauty”, it only makes sense for Maleficent’s dragon form to be the climax of the Villians dark ride. Since an indoor animatronic could be far more advanced and fluid, than an outdoor one.
Pardon my rumors about rumors, but I heard that the initial leaks came out shortly after the quarterly reports and their lower than expected future guidance. Given the negative response from Wall Street, I think that the story that WDW is embiggening their plans is going out to more than just the fans.
Given how long it takes to change plans, this submission *could* be evidence that changes are newer, but that could include past 3-6 months rather than 3-6 weeks. It takes time for a surveyor to assemble a set of these for a personal property to submit local planning board; I seriously doubt WDW could move faster than that, even if there weren’t a series of internal approvals needed. Even if I knew what buildings needed to be on these plans, I wouldn’t be surprised if submissions are consistently out of date until vertical building begins and plans (mostly) can’t be changed.
At this point, I think the only thing we know for sure is that my guess that this was Part 2 being moved up was wrong.
It does feel like this leak was purposeful, doesn’t it? I’m not sure what the purpose was, but gauging Wall Street’s reaction might be it. In which case, we could get confirmation of this long before D23–as the shareholder meeting would be the perfect opportunity.
“At this point, I think the only thing we know for sure is that my guess that this was Part 2 being moved up was wrong.”
Given the above, this is not the conclusion I’d jump to. I mean, I think you were probably wrong (no offense), but if the leak were for the sake of Wall Street, the substance of the plans would be irrelevant (and probably wrong!). Fast-tracking phase 2 is still a decent guess, even if it is low probability.
Guess we’ll find out mid-March…or mid-August.
Has anyone compared these permits to the similar ones from Galaxy’s Edge? Wondering if that would provide some guidance on how these relate to final state, i.e. are they just the “facilities” with potable water? (Though I struggle to think of many structures that would have none at all…) or has the permitting process changed too much in the period since then for a helpful comparison?
I too would love the Hercules wish fulfillment attraction but largely agree with your assessment. Thank you for the analysis. And for the record, I did not find the previous post too long at all!
Depending on where they are in the planning process, I would guess the Imagineers themselves could be flying blind to some degree (for example, hearing rumors that their team’s proposal is a favorite even though there are several others being developed.)
I absolutely believe WDW/WDI is trolling fans with the Villains Land news/rumors this week. I think partly for the Rorschach effect, but partly for another reason. I believe that the massively enthusiastic reaction to Villains Land being announced has actually set expectations TOO high for this land. Anything less than “blowing the new lands at Epic Universe out of the water” is going to feel like a disappointment.
And I believe Josh and Bob know this, and it partly why I find the rumors that Josh has increased budget and ambition to be credible.
As I noted in a longer comment the other day, I feel like of all the possible Villains to be featured in this land’s shows and attractions, Yzma and Hades would be the least compelling to the average visitor. They’re great characters — two of the best objectively — but neither they nor their films were iconic or recognizable to most outside a limited demographic. And they are very specific to their universes — Pre-Columbian Peru and Mythological Ancient Greece — neither of which juxtapose themselves well with a “Magical Kingdom” and neither of which have any connection to an “Art Nouveau” motif.
I’ve no doubt that imagineers were tasked with creating attraction concepts for every potential villain and the ones rumored this week were likely concepts that were presented as options. But they were almost certainly some of the options to be nixed. So now, when we ultimately get shows or attractions featuring the “superstar” villains of all time, which fit more neatly into the overall theme, they’re banking that the fan reaction will be “oh, this is way better than what Yzma and Hades would have been” vs. picking apart what’s missing or wrong with the final concept revealed. This is just like a real estate agent taking clients around to various homes and showing the worst fits first before moving on to the dream home at the end.
I don’t think the Emperor’s New Groove coaster is actually happening, but I don’t think it’s as far fetched as you do.
Let’s not forget that MK just added attractions based on TRON and Princess and the Frog, two films that were not “iconic or recognizable to most outside a limited demographic.” Granted, there were other reasons for adding both, but the point stands.
In this case, I fully expect Disney to finally lean into the millennial demographic over the next decade. (See also Hercules on the Disney Destiny.) Oh, and don’t forget that we’re one blockbuster live action remake from any “unpopular” movie suddenly becoming a marquee franchise.
You’re right that a blockbuster live action remake can change the game. But even the success of Lilo and Stitch (both the resurgence of popularity of the OG film and the recent smash hit remake) hasn’t translated into any budget for an attraction based on that material.
As far as Tron, there’s just so little IP source material that supports an actual futuristic vision for Tomorrowland (vs the retro-futuristic vibe we see in much of that land at both MK and DL today). Plus, future Tron movies were in the pipeline (Area) when that attraction was greenlit. Had it not already existed in Shanghai (which needed something cutting edge vs retro as the Chinese don’t share all our American nostalgia) I don’t think it’d be MK today.
And as for Princess and the Frog, I lean liberal/progressive politically but the reasons for choosing that IP were blatantly obvious with Disney and other companies under immense political pressure in the wake of the firestorm of protests and social upheaval that began with the tragedy of May 25, 2020. It was no accident that Disney announced the ride on the 1-month anniversary of that event – even before they’d created any conceptual plans. Even if diversity and inclusivity are factoring into the equation here I don’t think Hades (voiced by famously anti-DEI James Woods) and Yzma (appropriating indigenous Inca culture) would check that box.
If you’re asking me personally, I think there are way too few Disney films across all eras represented in the parks. Even masterpieces like The Lion King and Tangled are just now getting a presence in in the international parks. Inside Out has two blockbuster films but just a spinner at DCA. I mentioned Lilo & Stich above. So I’m not trying to diminish the Millennial Disney classics or stomp on anyone else’s nostalgia. I’m speaking from my head instead of from my heart.
The thing that jumped out at me was all the fire hydrant locations on the plan. Have I ever seen a fire hydrant in a Disney park? They have to be there, right? Are they just disguised really well or are they in backstage areas? Now I’m really curious! (I don’t have much opinion on the drawings as it relates to the land. I’m content to wait and see rather than speculate.)
Hmmm, I’m not sure if this comment is from Kevin or if Kevin’s dog logged in and started poking around on his laptop. 😉 If it’s the latter, you’re very well spoken. Good boy!
(Sorry Kevin, started giggling at the thought but your point is excellent. It’s amazing how much “real world” infrastructure is hidden at WDW, or hiding in plain sight! Here’s a link to one example of a hidden hydrant or “unofficial Service Animal Relief Area”: https://www.tiktok.com/@thatparklifegreg/video/7460500117909589294)