Though you've seen the lands in our top three slots, the story isn't over. In fact, those three lands are perhaps the impetus that's begun a second round of arms races around the world as Disney and Universal race each other to create the next totally-immersive land.
And following in the new cinematic model, each of these upcoming theme park areas are designed to transport guests into worlds they've seen on the big (or small) screen. Take a look at these up-and-coming lands and let us know – where do you think they'll fall in the countdown of the most immersive themed lands on Earth?
TBD: Marvel Super Hero lands
Image: Disney / Marvel
Location: Disney California Adventure, Walt Disney Studios Park, and Hong Kong Disneyland
Opening: 2020
The inevitable rise of theme park lands dedicated to Marvel was all-but assured when Disney acquired the comic book giant for $4 billion in 2009, and cemented once the Marvel Cinematic Universe films grossed a cumulative $17 billion over the course of its first 19 releases. Unfortunately, the rollout of Marvel attractions at Disney Parks has been decidedly mixed, as Universal's agreement with Marvel (pre-Disney-purchase) locks many Marvel heroes from use in Florida and dissuades the use of the Marvel brand even in California. The end result is that the first Marvel attraction was 2017's Iron Man Experience at Hong Kong Disneyland.
Image: Disney / Marvel
Then, in May 2017, Disney California Adventure was changed forever when its headlining Lost Legend: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror was condemned, with the 1920s art deco hotel transforming into a "warehouse prison powerplant" "based on the beauty of an oil rig" (Disney's words, not ours) looming over the California-themed park. In isolation, Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! is a legitimate hit in its own right (if a short-sighted one), even though as a whole, it's a wildly distracting feature that actually withdraws from California Adventure's immersion and storytelling. But its appearance signaled what was long rumored: that an entire Marvel themed land would soon come to Disney California Adventure.
Troublingly, rumors suggested that it would overtake the park's Hollywoodland, effectively replacing one of its newly-redesigned Californian lands to resemble an East Coast metropolis with the New-York-set Avengers Tower reigning overhead. The announcement was made official in 2018 (alongside the announcement of similar lands coming to Hong Kong and Paris, albeit with all Marvel lands featuring a different ride lineup). Hollywood Land was saved, and California Adventure's Marvel land will instead replace "A Bug's Land," disappearing at the end of summer 2018.
Image: Disney / Marvel
The jury's still very much out on what exactly California's Marvel land will include besides the looming sci-fi super hero drop tower, but early rumors suggest that – in order to appease growing concerns that there's very little California left in California Adventure – the land will be themed as a Southern Californian headquarters and training campus for the Avengers. Okay, so it's clumsy and contrived, but no more than the Guardians of the Galaxy tower it'll house, or the strange new Pixar Pier we explored in Disney's California Adventure: Part II. Insiders say it'll probably open with an interactive family dark ride (perhaps based on Spider-Man) before expanding to include a technological E-Ticket based on the Avengers.
How successful this Marvel-themed land is will probably depend on Disney coming through with a reasonable budget for the project, and a sturdy vision that will make the land feel relevent once the era of super hero films inevitably passes. We won't hold our breath (as, admittedly, California Adventure has become the resort's "studio-style dumping grounds" for intellectual property too flavor-of-the-week to reasonably put in the storied Disneyland next door), but it will be interesting to see.
TBD: Frozen lands
Location: Walt Disney Studios Park, Tokyo DisneySea, and Hong Kong Disneyland
Image: Disney
No one seemed more caught off guard by the runaway success of Frozen (now the highest grossing animated film ever) than Disney. After the film's breakout success, they raced to incorporate the icy fairytale into their parks, beginning with the infamous conversion of Epcot's Lost Legend: Maelstrom into the Modern Marvel: Frozen Ever After.
Image: Disney
Shortly after, it was announced that an upcoming expansion to the underbuilt Hong Kong Disneyland's Fantasyland would include a mini Frozen area of its own, reportedly duplicating Epcot's dark ride as its anchor attraction and adding a Seven Dwarfs Mine Train style family coaster.
Image: Disney
Then, in a surprise announcement in 2018, Disney came out with an exciting plan to fix their most pitiful park ever – subject of the Declassified Disaster: Walt Disney Studios Park. The tiny second gate at Disneyland Paris would recieve a complete, floor-to-ceiling, California Adventure sized rebuild including at least three immersive new lands, with an entire Frozen land acting as the park's new icon.
Tokyo DisneySea announced its own Scandanavian land with Frozen accents (just as its Arabian Coast feels grounded and real with some Aladdin accents) in 2015, but quietly walked back the plans before ground was broken.
Image: Disney
That's because they were thinking bigger, returning to the drawing board and countering in 2018 with a new "fantasy" themed port at the park, with areas dedicated to Tangled, Frozen, and Peter Pan. Built to an immense scale, DisneySea's new port will likely be a contender on our list, taking that "New Fantasyland" formula and amping it up even bigger, with three boat-led dark rides in the new land (which is also rumored to connect to next-door Tokyo Disneyland's Fantasyland, creating a land that seamlessly fuses both parks).
Image: Disney
From the (relatively meager) reclaimed rivers of Maelstrom in Epcot's Norway to entire, stand-alone land in Paris, it's interesting that each resort's Frozen appears unique in its layout, attractions, and even aesthetics. While it remains to be seen which (if any) of the upcoming Frozen-inspired regions become stand-outs to break the top three on our list, it's at least interesting to see Disney adapt the property in different ways.
TBD: Super Nintendo World
Image: Universal / Nintendo
Location: Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood
Opening: Unknown
When Universal announced that it had acquired the worldwide rights to build theme park attractions based on Nintendo's catalogue of characters, industry insiders suggested it may be a coup even greater than Potter or Star Wars, securing Universal a beloved, multi-generational brand, and one that's continuously self-refreshing with new media.
Image: Universal / Nintendo
The first "Super Nintendo World" announced is headed for Universal Studios Japan, but additional lands dedicated to the video game juggernaut are also officially on the docket for Universal Orlando and Hollywood. And most excitingly, plans for the brand in Florida appear to be in a state of growth. While reports initially suggested that the Mario-centered land would simply replace the aging Woody Woodpecker's KidZone at the Studio park, insiders say that plans have expanded...
Now, separate lands dedicated to Mario and Donkey Kong, Zelda, and Pokémon are rumored to be on the way to Universal Studios Florida, Universal's Islands of Adventure, and the yet-unannounced third Universal Orlando theme park, respectively. That, of course, would best even the Wizarding World's dual-lands to create an interconnected trio of Nintendo stories spread across three parks.
Image: Universal / Nintendo
Naturally, we just can't yet say exactly how Universal plans to transport guests into the video game worlds of Nintendo's greatest stories, but all sources indicate that Universal and Nintendo and working closely to emulate the "Wizarding World" formula, and that a particular emphasis has been made to exclude screens from Nintendo World's attractions – admittedly odd given its video game origins, but much-needed in Universal Parks. Especially given the rise of technology in RFID bands, mobile devices, apps, and the success of Universal's own interactive wand model, just imagine how worlds based on Pokémon or the Legend of Zelda could come alive...
TBD: Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge
Image: Disney / Lucasfilm
Location: Disneyland and Disney's Hollywood Studios
Opening: Summer 2018 (California) and Fall 2018 (Florida)
Though the Wizarding World kicked off – and to our thinking, reigns supreme in – the next generation of "immersive" lands, one has to wonder... with the Boy Who Lived be dethroned by a galaxy far, far away? That remains to be seen, but one thing we do know is that Disney's taking a somewhat different approach with the Star Wars themed lands coming to Disneyland and Disney's Hollywood Studios.
Image: Disney / Lucasfilm
Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge won't take place on any alien planet we've seen on-screen. Rather, it'll be set on the remote outpost planet of Batuu – a sort of last-stop before the endlessness of deep space, where thieves, villains, and heroes collide.
Given the (literal) galaxy of settings we've seen in the dozen or more Star Wars films, it's fair that only a new, original creation could please everyone. But in so doing, will Disney latch onto "Wizarding World" style appeal? Can they successfully find the "Butterbeer and wand" equivalent that will make guests truly feel that they're a part of the Star Wars world... even on a world they've never seen on film?
Image: Disney / Lucasfilm
It seems that Disney did learn its lesson from Potter, though, and seems dutifully committed to keeping Coca-Cola out, promising that the food, drink, and even store attendants will be decidedly alien. Both installations of Star Wars' lands will be hidden away from the rest of their respective parks' areas by way of earthen berms and protective portals. As for the timeline? At least so far, it seems that the land will be set in the timeline of Disney's newest triology (Episodes 7 - 9) which means – if they're as committed to consistancy as they say – Darth Vader won't make an appearance...
Obviously, Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge will be a groundbreaking, showstopping, spectacular display of Imagineering prowess that will build upon the Wizarding World's industry-changing standard... But at the end of the day, which will be better as transporting guests into a new world? We'll find out in Summer 2019.
Don't forget to make the jump to our list of the least immersive Disney Parks lands to see the carnivals, boardwalks, and backlots that stand out as opposites to the lands on this list.
Comments
Hello Brian, thanks for this great article! I quite agree with your list. Personally, I would add Main Street USA to it (the original Disneyland version and the Paris version). Even without the big attractions, I feel transported in time and place, so it works quite well.