{"id":195494,"date":"2026-02-26T22:26:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T22:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/195494\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T22:26:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T22:26:08","slug":"disneyland-abandoned-plans-for-disney-villains-land-report-says-press-telegram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/195494\/","title":{"rendered":"Disneyland abandoned plans for Disney Villains land, report says \u2013 Press Telegram"},"content":{"rendered":"

Walt Disney Imagineering drew up plans a decade ago for a Disney Villains themed land at Disney California Adventure with a Jafar roller coaster and Ursula spinning ride that were ultimately abandoned in favor of a Pixar Pier makeover, according to a new published report.<\/p>\n

The Wrap<\/a> reports Imagineering developed plans for a Villains Land at the Anaheim theme park during the reimagining of Paradise Pier before ultimately pivoting to a Pixar Pier makeover that was announced in 2017 and debuted in 2018.<\/p>\n

ALSO SEE: Disneyland closes 8 attractions heading into Food & Wine Festival<\/a><\/p>\n

A Disney Villains-themed makeover of California Screamin\u2019 would have turned the scream tunnels on the coaster into a giant Jafar snake from Disney\u2019s 1992 \u201cAladdin\u201d and transformed the ride\u2019s inverted loop into Captain Hook\u2019s hook, according to The Wrap.<\/p>\n

A Dumbo-style spinner ride themed to Ursula from Disney\u2019s 1989 \u201cThe Little Mermaid\u201d would have been built on Paradise Pier in the western helix of the California Screamin\u2019 coaster where the Inside Out: Emotional Whirlwind ride sits today, according to The Wrap.<\/p>\n

\"PixarPixar Pier inside California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Wednesday, March 11, 2020. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register\/SCNG)<\/p>\n

Disneyland and Imagineering ultimately opted for a Pixar Pier makeover rather than a Disney Villains takeover of the former Paradise Pier area of the park.<\/p>\n

The Pixar Pier facelift<\/a> of Paradise Pier built on the Toy Story Midway Mania<\/a> interactive dark ride that opened in 2008 as the first major addition in the massive $1.1 billion reimagining<\/a> of Disney California Adventure.<\/p>\n

\"PixarPixar Pal-A-Round at Pixar Pier inside California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Wednesday, March 11, 2020. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register\/SCNG)<\/p>\n

The fast-moving Pixar Pier project introduced light makeovers that transformed California Screamin\u2019 into the Incredicoaster, King Triton\u2019s Carousel into Jessie\u2019s Critter Carousel and Mickey\u2019s Fun Wheel into Pixar Pal-A-Round.<\/p>\n

Imagineering rethemed Flik\u2019s Flyers into Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind<\/a> and moved the spinning ride to Pixar Pier after DCA\u2019s A Bug\u2019s Land closed in 2018 to make way for the new Marvel-themed Avengers Campus<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe new Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind ride at Pixar Pier at Disney California Adventure in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, June 28, 2019. The ride is a retheamed version of The Flik\u2019s Flyers spinning ride from the former A Bug\u2019s Land. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register\/SCNG)<\/p>\n

The abandoned DCA Villains Land project was mentioned in a story by The Wrap about Imagineering being sent back to the drawing board to reimagine a new Villains Land planned for Florida\u2019s Magic Kingdom with \u201cbolder, bigger ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Initial plans for the Magic Kingdom\u2019s Villains Land included a Maleficent-themed thrill coaster and a Madam Medusa-themed restaurant based on the 1971 Disney animated film \u201cThe Rescuers,\u201d according to The Wrap.<\/p>\n

ALSO SEE: Disneyland pays tribute to Porch Potato known as Mayor of Main Street U.S.A.<\/a><\/p>\n

The revised plans for the Magic Kingdom\u2019s reimagined Villains Land include a Maleficent-themed indoor water ride, a family-friendly coaster themed to the antagonists Yzma and Kronk from the 2000 Disney animated film \u201cThe Emperor\u2019s New Groove,\u201d a Hades-themed dinner show restaurant and the Ursula spinning ride once planned for DCA, according to The Wrap.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the saying goes, no good idea at Walt Disney Imagineering ever goes away,\u201d according to The Wrap.<\/p>\n

A Disney Parks representative declined to comment when reached by TheWrap.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Walt Disney Imagineering drew up plans a decade ago for a Disney Villains themed land at Disney California…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[2223,163,165,164,7,2222,1341,611,420],"class_list":{"0":"post-195494","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-anaheim","8":"tag-amusement-parks","9":"tag-anaheim","10":"tag-anaheim-headlines","11":"tag-anaheim-news","12":"tag-california","13":"tag-disney-california-adventure","14":"tag-disneyland","15":"tag-orange-county","16":"tag-things-to-do"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}