Maleficent Dark Ride?

January 27, 2014, 9:24 AM

The new film 'Maleficent' coming out in theaters May 30, 2014 starring Angelina Jolie.
Is there potential for a future dark ride coming to Walt Disney World in the next few years?!
If so, what would you like to see as the main elements to the ride?

Replies (12)

January 27, 2014, 11:03 AM

I don't see this happening. But if by some miracle it did, I could see it being a much more intense version of Snow White's Scary Adventure.

January 27, 2014, 12:04 PM

Don't count your chickens before they hatch. There's no guarantee that "Maleficent" will be a successful film, so much like "Frozen", people should take a wait and see approach. The film does look pretty amazing from early trailers and buzz, but I don't think guests should expect anything beyond the typical Disney pre-movie-release buzz inside the parks with any attraction or overlay of an existing attraction to occur years later.

The entertainments industry is very fickle, and you can't invest millions of dollars into a theme park attraction for a movie that might only break even at the box office. Imagine if Disney had started building a "John Carter" attraction in advance of release of that film. They'd have egg on their face right now. Disney can spend hundreds of millions to develop a movie, because they can always work to make that money back, but once they commit to putting something in the parks, they have to be wedded to it, and know that it's going to draw.

January 27, 2014, 2:47 PM

I don't think there will be a dark ride.

Even if it is successful, you'll be more likely to see a temporary exhibit or something similar.

Disney's live action Alice in Wonderland was a big hit, & DCA set up the Mad T Party.......but a full blown dark ride is something completely different.

They are going to be doing more live action versions of their properties, but I don't think these versions translate as well to theme park rides. (Enchanted was huge, but she isn't considered one of the princesses)

I think they'd stick with the animated versions for inspirations for dark rides (outside of the Star Wars / Marvel / Avatar style franchises)

January 27, 2014, 3:29 PM

Even if the Dark ride isn't straight from the new film, it seems like fantasy land should have a ride featuring Sleeping Beauty!!! It's a classic!

January 27, 2014, 7:30 PM

She has an entire castle and walkthrough in Disneyland. Isn't that enough?

Edited: January 27, 2014, 9:30 PM

And let's not forget Maleficent's antagonist's role in Fantasmic!

January 28, 2014, 5:17 AM

This movie just seems like a poor man's Wicked with Disney princesses, so of course I have no doubts it will make money, but you don't start building a ride when the movie opens. That leaves a 2 year gap between completion and the movie. Disney's never done an antagonist ride before, or for that matter an antagonist movie.

January 29, 2014, 12:35 PM

I do 'not' see this happening. There were two huge fan sites online back in the early 90's (remember the days of IRC chat?)and both of them were campaigning for a "Mary Poppins" inspired dark ride in Fantasyland or Main Street USA. They went so far as to create a "change.org" campaign as well as flood the WDW Imagineering phone lines and e-mails with urgent messages.

The ideas were absolutely brilliant and beyond creative. But alas nothing ever came of it. Even with the success of "Saving Mr. Banks" this past Holiday, there has not been any type of focus on Mary Poppins characters or movie 'moments' within the park.

January 31, 2014, 4:20 PM

I always thought that there should be a Sleeping Beauty dark ride with an AA dragon at the end.

February 1, 2014, 2:04 PM

Ryan, don't count your chickens before they hatch. This movie doesn't even come out until May. A dark ride depends on how popular the movie is and how large is the fan base. We cannot answer these questions until the movie is released.

February 3, 2014, 2:53 PM

Tyler, I still think an actual dark ride is very unlikely.

I would see Frozen getting a dark ride before this film would.

There are alot of popular Disney properties that don't have dark rides. The Little Mermaid only recently was given an attraction.

Most of the renaissance films have maintained their popularity for 20+ years & Aladdin, Lion King, Beauty & the Beast, etc. have yet to get their own dark ride. These films were hits.

Like I said earlier, I could see them doing a temporary attraction like a meet & greet or walk through, but for a dark ride.....I see Frozen as a more likely candidate...if at all.

February 4, 2014, 10:56 PM

I would love to see something like transformers. 3D and on a moving track (but in the realms of a fairy tale kingdom).

This discussion has been archived and is no longer accepting responses.

Vacation deals

Park tickets

Subscribe by email

Subscribe by RSS

New attraction reviews

News archive