On Aug. 11, Disney announced plans to build Villains Land as a new expansion of the Magic Kingdom section of Walt Disney World. The area will be themed around iconic Disney villains from various films. The promotional video posted to the Disney Parks Instagram teased Lady Tremaine from “Cinderella,” Gaston from “Beauty and the Beast” and the fairest of them all: the Evil Queen from “Snow White.”
Disney is probably attempting to draw in more visitors and ticket sales with the announcement of Villains Land, seeing as the parks are no longer drawing in the revenue they once did. Reuters reported earlier this month that Disney's experiences segment, which includes parks and consumer products, recorded an operating income drop of 3%.
Couple that with Disney’s theme park rival, Universal Studios, unveiling plans for the Isle of Berk — a “How to Train Your Dragon” themed park with dragons that really fly — and you can see why Disney might be looking for friends on the other side, as Dr. Facilier from "The Princess and the Frog" would say.
Josh D’Amaro, the Disney Experiences chairman, specifically referenced the catchphrases and iconic songs of Scar from “The Lion King” and Ursula from “The Little Mermaid” in a blog post, announcing, “Be prepared, you poor unfortunate souls.”
The choice of theme and promotional characters comes at an interesting time.
Many of Disney’s villains, and certainly its most iconic, are “Queer-coded” — a term that in film and literature that means a character is meant to be seen as potentially LGBTQ+ without the artwork explicitly stating as much.
Scar, the main antagonist of “The Lion King,” for example, is portrayed as much more flamboyant than his brother Mufasa and his nephew Simba. He is an outcast among his family. Even some of his gesticulation with his paws seems to emulate the “limp wrists” stereotypically associated with gay men in popular culture.
Ursula, the other character referenced in D’Amaro’s announcement, was based explicitly on the drag queen Divine. Ursula’s design took direct inspiration from Divine’s high, drawn-on eyebrows, flamboyant style and curves, according to Time.
Much of the Queer-coding of Disney villains is a byproduct of the culture of homophobia at the time of the films’ creations. Through much of Disney’s history, the Hays Code — a set of rules for what could and couldn’t be shown in film — expressly forbade depictions of Queerness unless they were negative. That’s why very few characters can be seen as gay, and if they can be seen as gay, they must also be seen as “bad.”
Even after the Hays Code was repealed in 1968, its impacts on the creation and portrayal of villains in children’s media were palpable, especially in Disney films throughout the 1980s and ‘90s.
Today, Disney is hit-or-miss — to put it gently — with its LGBTQ+ representation.
Throughout June, Disneyland Park hosts a designated Pride Nite with character performers, many of whom are villains. But Disney’s newer attempts at Queer representation in its films have underdeveloped characters, very little screen time or both.
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Despite the harmful impacts, many LGBTQ+ Disney fans feel a special and deep bond with Disney’s villains. The villains are arguably some of Disney’s best characters: they have the most iconic looks and the catchiest songs, and now they may have one of the best theme parks.
Gogo Revalee — or Gogo K. Bootz, as she’s known in the drag community — is a drag queen and University of New Mexico student who has been performing in New Mexico for over eight years. She said she feels that Disney’s history with LGBTQ+ characters and issues has been long and tumultuous.
“I feel you see characters in Disney that are Queer and campy, and you feel represented. But at the same time, during the time that these characters were made, they were not meant to be positive. They're supposed to represent the evil in these worlds,” Revalee said.
Disney’s attempts at including the LGBTQ+ community have drawn the ire of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and many of his alt-right supporters.
In 2022, DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education Act, more colloquially known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Disney, after receiving pressure from employees and fans, spoke up against the bill, according to the New York Times.
Disney’s position, as well as other progressive policies — such as Disney Pride, the retheming of the Splash Mountain ride and changing the greeting at the beginning of firework shows from “ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls” to just “dreamers of all ages” — caused DeSantis and Fox News to label Disney as “woke” and “lacking in morality,” the New York Times reported.
DeSantis also attempted to retaliate directly and financially against Disney World. Since the ‘60s, Disney has enjoyed a special tax and zoning status that allowed the park to functionally self-govern. DeSantis stripped the park of its special status in 2022; however, he realized that the maneuver would force the neighboring districts to absorb the park’s fire protection, police and road maintenance costs, according to the New York Times.
Eventually, the decision was undone, but Disney lost the power to appoint members to the oversight board for the tax district. That power instead rests in the hands of DeSantis.
Disney challenged DeSantis’ control over the board in federal court in 2023 and lost. In March, Disney announced that all pending lawsuits with DeSantis and the Florida legislature were resolved through a settlement, according to NPR.
For fans, Villains Land could represent an exciting new park with classic, beloved characters and a fresh aesthetic never really seen before in Disney parks. Or it could represent a swan song from a dying company that can’t find its footing in a changing political and economic landscape.
“(Disney is) doing a good job of giving the people what they want. From the beginning of time, people have been obsessed with the villains,” Revalee said. "I mean, you're going to have people who resonate with an antagonist … I think it's finally giving audiences that have stuck with Disney for a very long time what they would like."
Addison Fulton is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on X @dailylobo
