Disney Villains have broken out of the Halloween season and moved into more permanent homes at Disney theme parks, where their poison apples and magic potions promise to turn happily ever after into a nightmare fantastic on a year-round basis.
Disney Villains already star in a new Broadway-style show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, a new parade at Hong Kong Disneyland and will soon get their first themed land at the Magic Kingdom.
Which raises the question: Where could the Disney Villains take up permanent residence at Disneyland or Disney California Adventure?
DCA Parade Route
Of course, the Frightfully Fun Parade already stars a host of Disney Villains along with floats based on the Nightmare Before Christmas and the Haunted Mansion during DCA’s annual Oogie Boogie Bash event.
But Oogie Boogie Bash is a seasonal after-hours event with a separate admission.
What about a daytime parade at DCA starring Cruella de Vil, Ursula and Gaston?
The Uninvited: A Villains Takeover Party runs during the day and just after dusk at Hong Kong Disneyland with show stops along the parade route. The Disney Villains: Into the Frenzy parade ran during Halloween 2024 at Tokyo Disneyland.
While the Uninvited and Into the Frenzy parades were tied to Halloween, there’s no reason the Disney Villains couldn’t draw crowds throughout the rest of the year in Hong Kong, Tokyo or Anaheim.
DCA would be the perfect home for the Disney Villains who could add another tentpole intellectual property to the park and extend the day further into the evening with a must-see nighttime parade.
Disneyland Parade Route
The Uninvited parade would work just as well on Disneyland’s Main Street U.S.A.
The show stops along the route turn the Uninvited parade into mini theatrical performances.
Sleeping Beauty Castle could be incorporated into the parade.
Disneyland was home to a Disney Villains show that ran in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle during the original Mickey’s Halloween Treat seasonal event in the 1990s.
The mini show started with a witch flying from the Matterhorn and casting a spell on the castle that triggered a climbing vine lighting effect that reached the top turret.
The Evil Queen, Cruella de Vil and other Disney Villains emerged on the castle drawbridge for a song as the grand introduction to a meet-and-greet photo opportunity during the after-hours event that eventually morphed into Oogie Boogie Bash.
Fantasyland Theatre
Fantasyland would be a natural home for the Disney Villains — many of whom starred in Disney’s fairy tale animated classics.
The new “Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After” that opened this summer at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida tells the story of a host of Disney Villains who feel misunderstood.
“Unfairly Ever After” would be a natural fit in the outdoor Fantasyland Theatre that has been home to Broadway-style musicals in the past, but has been without a theatrical stage show since “Tale of the Lion King” ended its run in January.
Hyperion Theater
DCA’s mothballed Hyperion Theater has sat unused since “Rogers: The Musical” closed after a limited summer run in 2023.
“Unfairly Ever After” might work better in the indoor Hyperion that has been home to Broadway-style musicals based on Aladdin and Frozen.
The Disney Villains in “Unfairly Ever After” enter via the Magic Mirror where they’ve been trapped after suffering defeat in each of their stories.
Cruella de Vil, Captain Hook and Maleficent present their cases on stage and the audience decides who has been treated the most unfairly of them all.
DisneylandForward Expansion
The DisneylandForward expansion plan approved in 2024 envisions the Disneyland and DCA theme parks extending across Disney Way into parking lots north and south of the Disneyland Hotel and Pixar Place Hotel.
Disneyland has not yet revealed any themed lands for the expansion areas.
Could a version of the Villains Land planned for Walt Disney World someday end up in Anaheim?
The Magic Kingdom’s Villains Land will include two major attractions, dining and shopping in a dark, devious and thorny land where the evil ambitions of Disney Villains can run wild and their stories can be told.
The Villains Land will feature an Art Nouveau style inspired by the turn of the 20th century architecture of Paris, France. Walt Disney Imagineering has developed a swirling design aesthetic it has coined “Conjured Architecture” that appears to be frozen in place by cursed magic.
Disney Entertainment Destination
Another part of the DisneylandForward expansion plan could make an ideal home for the Disney Villains.
The Disney Entertainment Destination eastside expansion would bring together theme park experiences, hotels, retail, dining and entertainment on the Toy Story parking lot next to the Anaheim Convention Center.
Concept art of the eastside retail area features a central lagoon surrounded by shops and a low-rise hotel with a parking structure near the corner of Katella Avenue and Haster Street.
Disneyland has not talked about what type of theme park experiences or entertainment might end up at the proposed Disney Entertainment Destination.
The central lagoon could become home to a World of Color-style water show. The Disney Villains would make an outstanding theme for a nighttime spectacular.
Shanghai Disney’s version of Downtown Disney includes a 1,200-seat Walt Disney Grand Theatre that’s home to a Mandarin-language version of “The Lion King” Broadway musical. A separate admission version of the “Unfairly Ever After” show could make the Disney Villains the anchor attraction if the Disney Entertainment Destination included a similar theater.