Disney World Imagineer addresses fan interest in hypothetical villains land from D23: 'We took note'

Poor, unfortunate souls have long dreamt about spending a night on Bald Mountain at Disney World, and a key Imagineer tells EW they've taken fan reaction into account after initially teasing the potential of weaving villainous characters into their parks.

The company's parks chairman Josh D'Amaro had Disney fans buzzing at the D23 convention in September, where he welcomed Imagineering staff to the stage to unveil stunning concept artwork representing hypothetical future park developments — including lands that appeared to be themed to Encanto, Moana, and Disney villains — for the Orlando, Fla., resort. Now, in a separate interview tied to the new Tron Lightcycle Run roller coaster opening April 4 at Magic Kingdom, Imagineer Chris Beatty reveals that fan response has piqued their interest.

"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," he says of the D23 presentation, which he stresses was not intended to highlight concrete plans for the parks, but rather his team "dreaming about what could be" ahead.

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

For now, Disney World Imagineers are fine-tuning the Tron Lightcycle Run coaster — which immerses guests in the world of the Tron series via a 60-mile-per-hour launch into the digital Grid universe — ahead of its April opening, in addition to working on an overhaul of Epcot's World Celebration plaza, a new Moana-inspired water attraction, and Magic Kingdom's Princess and the Frog reimagining of Splash Mountain.

Disney is also hard at work on bringing rides and attractions based on Zootopia, Frozen, and Big Hero 6 to its global properties in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and California, respectively.

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