Villains Head to Hollywood Studios on the Heels of Lightning McQueen Departure
Rev your engines and race on over to Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy by October 7, 2024. The attraction in Hollywood Studios will be closing as Sunset Boulevard prepares for a brand-new Villains stage show to debut in the summer of 2025.
Disney promises that Sunset Showcase will be transformed into the mysterious realm of the Magic Mirror. The as-yet-unnamed new show will feature dozens of infamous evildoers, so whoever your fave is they’re likely to make an appearance. Cruella de Vil, Captain Hook, and Maleficent were highlighted as the recipients of their own live production numbers, and more could be coming.
It’s not too surprising that Lightning McQueen is leaving Hollywood Studios, with the announcement at D23 that two Cars Attractions are coming to the Magic Kingdom. We expect we’ll see the Lightning McQueen animatronic from the Racing Academy somewhere in the mix when these new rides open, possibly along with some of the photo setups from outside the theater.
Villains Land is also on the books for the Magic Kingdom, so you might wonder about the choice to double that up while consolidating the Cars footprint (or is that tire print?). But the timelines are a bit different. Work on the new Cars attractions is scheduled to begin in 2025, whereas the timeline for Villains Land hasn’t been announced yet. It’s not clear whether the new Villains show here will have a shelf life much past the opening of Villains Land, but that’s probably a minimum of 3 years in the future.
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My first thought upon hearing this is that they are using this space as a teaser for what’s to come. Maybe we didn’t realize that Racing Academy was teasing a cars land but now the Villains show is going to tease the Villains land. It will be interesting to see if they bring another new show to this area once construction starts or gets close to ending on the Villains land. Either way I’m just glad I got to see the show once while it was running.
I know Disney is getting slammed by the un-silent minority with their planned closures of Dinorama, Tom Sawyer Island, and the Liberty Belle for more recent IP attractions, but this trade is without question going to be a big plus for HS.
I’m actually less sure. Hollywood Studios is a hard park with kids. There are lots of height restrictions. Racing Academy was definitely not an E-ticket attraction, but it was generally well-liked by families. So I think it’s going to depend on how well this plays as a family attraction. If it ends up removing capacity from the “family roster”, I’m not sure it’s a win for the park as whole.