As most people know, Walt Disney World is not just one theme park but FOUR separate theme parks (plus two water parks, 20+ hotel resorts, golf courses, a shopping/dining district, etc).
First, you have the Magic Kingdom, the OG WDW theme park which opened in 1971.
Next, you have EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) which opened 11 years later in 1982.
Then, you have Hollywood Studios (originally Disney-MGM Studios) which opened a few short years later in 1989.
Finally, you have Animal Kingdom which opened almost a decade later in 1998.
As you can see, there was a lot of theme park activity during the first 27 years of WDW. However, over the last 27 years, we have gotten ZERO new theme parks. Yes, Disney expanded parks, replaced and updated lands, etc. But that mythical “Fifth Gate” has yet to materialize… yet.
Could Epic Universe Be a Game Changer?
With the opening of Epic Universe over at Disney’s competitor, Universal Studios, talk of a Fifth Gate has started to intensify among WDW park fans. Early buzz regarding Epic has been, well, pretty epic! Universal’s third gate (fourth for those counting Volcano Bay water park.. which we don’t) appears to be a real game changer, taking the theme park experience to the next level. Everyone is left wondering how Disney will respond to this competitive threat.
Universal has always been something of a rival. However, that rivalry has been something along the lines of “big sibling, little sibling”. While WDW is a full vacation by itself, Universal never really had enough to make for an exclusive trip. But now with the opening of Epic, it is pretty clear that you could spend a whole week at Universal Studios without getting bored. The little sibling isn’t quite so little anymore!
Disney’s official response to Epic Universal has been something along the lines of we have been responding all along, with a constant flow of new rides, attractions, and experiences. But I think Disney fans are now craving something more. They are hoping that Disney is going to swing for the fences instead of settling for a consistent diet of singles and doubles. Certainly, a Fifth Gate would count as “swinging for the fences”.
Besides, not only does WDW have a tons of open space to build on, they have a deep well of intellectual property to draw upon. Not to mention, they have some of the best creative minds in all of entertainment! Certainly, if they wanted to make a Fifth Gate happen, they could!
Buster and the Banshee’s Ideas for a Fifth Gate
Despite the fact that we probably aren’t half as brilliant as the imagineers at Disney, that isn’t going to stop us from speculating on our ideas for a Fifth Gate. Read on to find out what they are…
Super Hero World
This is a theme park dedicated primarily to those who use their “super powers” to protect society.
While there are plenty of super hero lineups within the Disney stable (the Incredibles, Big Hero 6, Buzz Lightyear, Darkwing Duck, etc), a Super Hero World would only work if you incorporate the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The MCU has completely reshaped visual storytelling, with its universe of projects linked together across multimedia. The movies, when good, are absolute juggernauts! In order to truly succeed, any Super Hero World Fifth Gate would need to include them.
Unfortunately, there is just one problem. Currently, most of Marvel’s most popular characters are licensed to Universal!
Universal Studios has the exclusive East Coast theme park rights to most of the Marvel. This is why you can find a Spider-Man ride, an Incredible Hulk ride in Universal’s Island of Adventure. Meanwhile, Marvel representation at WDW is quite muted, given its popularity.
Disney has tried to work around this licensing deal by including in the parks Marvel characters not covered by the agreement (ex: Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind). But in order to bring their most iconic members into the parks, they would need to renegotiate this deal with Universal.
Of course, Universal has no real incentive to give up their theme park rights. In fact, I would imagine that Universal would be happy to keep the deal in place, if only to prevent their competitor from creating a Marvel World at WDW. But if Disney could ever work out a deal with Universal, creating a theme park around Marvel seems like an absolute no-brainer!
Disney Worlds of Fantasy
Disney Worlds of Fantasy would be centered around the idea of bringing imaginary worlds to life. You see some of this already in the park through Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge, Toy Story Land, Pandora, and other existing lands. But this park would provide an environment to further explore that concept of immersive world building in the theme parks. Imagine a land dedicated to Arendelle, or Agrabah, or Neverland. The possibilities are limitless!
You could envision portals taking you into each of the lands, transporting you to a new time and place, each with its own rides, attractions, shows, and foods.
The thing we like about this idea is it can support so many different popular concepts all in one park. This allows Disney seamlessly to bring in IP that would have to be shoehorned in if it went into a different park (i.e. Cosmic Rewind at EPCOT). Besides, who wouldn’t want to spend the day exploring these fantastical worlds that we have only seem on screen in real life?
If you look at many of the international Disney parks, there already exists an Arendelle. There already exists a Zootopia-themed land. So this also gives imagineers a chance to bring these popular lands into the domestic parks. And maybe there would even be room for a Muppets Land (hint, hint!).
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
To us, this would be the ultimate in counter-programming. By all accounts, the rides and attractions at Epic Universe skew more towards the older set. There really isn’t that much for families with young children to do. So rather than competing with Universal directly, Disney should corner the theme park market on the demographic that Universal consistently ignores.
We can see this theme park anchored by a life size Clubhouse that guests can explore (perhaps with the help of Toodles guiding them). You could then have lands themed around each of the core Clubhouse characters and their interests. Perhaps a Minnie-land with a Bo-Tique, or a Duck-land where you can see Professor Von Drake’s latest inventions. And, of course, who wouldn’t want to see a real live Goofy-land, with nods to that cult classic film, a Goofy Movie?
The rides, of course, would likely be family friendly dark rides. However, there are so many ways that you can spice them up with fun interactive elements to keep children of all ages engaged. It would be the ultimate experience for younger theme park fans who aren’t looking for thrills, but still want to be included in the magic. There is still plenty of room to be creative within the confines of a family ride.
Star Wars World
As long time Star Wars fans, this is our favorite idea!
Now, you might wonder why Disney would do this. After all, Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge already exists inside of Hollywood Studios. However, hear us out.
Maintaining Storytelling
The amazing thing about the Star Wars franchise is that it spans so many different eras, locations, stories, and characters. You have three different trilogies of movies set during three different time periods. Then there is a television side which adds even more depth to the Star Wars universe. Not to mention all of the canon books, comics, and other materials that are out there. The point is there is so much Star Wars content out there to fill an entire theme park full of experiences.
Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge itself proves this point.
Galaxy’s Edge is supposed to be set within the time period of the sequel trilogy, during the Resistance era. That limits what characters and what stories Disney can support if they want to be consistent. Rey, Poe, BB-8, Kylo Ren, the First Order etc take center stage as this is their time. However, this presents a problem when it come to representing other popular characters. Characters like the Mandalorian and Grogu do not fit into Galaxy’s Edge if imagineers want to remain true to the story.
This presents Disney with two choices. Either they can stick to the story and not allow such characters to appear in Galaxy’s Edge. Or they can break from canon and allow characters from different era inside this land. Based on the fact that you are starting to see a broader range of characters in Galaxy’s Edge, both in Florida and California, they have gone with the latter approach. While this decision is probably accepted among casual fans, it does irk the hardcore Star Wars purists who want the consistent experience.
A Star Wars Theme Park Solves the Storytelling Problem
If Disney were to create an entire theme park around Star Wars, this could solve the problem nicely. They can create a backstory where each land in the new park represents both a different location AND a different time period in Star Wars history. Perhaps imagineers can say that the different lands and linked through time and space by a set of temporal wormholes or something. This is science fiction after all. They can have guests enter the different lands through portals which represent entering the wormholes, similar Epic Universe’s design language.
Doing this gives Disney the freedom to include aspects of ALL of the different Star Wars era, providing an “in story” home for everyone. This would give old school fans the opportunity to explore, say, Tatooine from a new Hope, while giving younger fans a chance to experience Nevarro, the setting from the Mandalorian. This also would satisfy the storytelling purists because there would be a place for everyone, and everyone in their place.
With that is a backdrop, there are so many opportunities to bring these places to life through the setting, rides, attractions, and shows. Star Wars provides a wonderful canvas to bring some amazing experiences to theme park fans.
Will There Actually Be a Fifth Gate?
While it is fun to talk about ideas for a Fifth Gate, is this something that is even likely? Honestly, probably not.
If Disney is going to commit billions of dollars to building a brand new theme park from the ground up, it is going to want some sort of return on investment. The only ways to get that return is if either more people visit, or if people visit for longer, or both.
Regarding getting more people to visit, what might entice families to come is some sort of new attraction. However, Disney has had no shortage of new attractions over the last decade even without opening up a Fifth Gate. Rather than opening a new theme park, they have just replaced older rides with newer, updated ones. While it certainly isn’t cheap to continually update the parks with new rides, it is certainly cheaper than opening up a brand new park.
In terms of getting people to stay longer, for most people with a standard amount of vacation time, it is already hard enough to be able to see and do everything in one trip. Most American visitors are probably taking no more than one business week off from work. That’s five business days plus maybe one or two weekend days on either end of their trip. Even if you were tour from sunrise to sunset every day (which I don’t recommend), you still are going to be hard pressed to see everything in the existing parks in one trip. If you add a Fifth Gate, all it might do is just syphon guests from the existing parks to the new park. It probably isn’t going to get people to add days to their trip.
At the end of the day, a Fifth Gate needs to make financial sense to Disney and its shareholders. If it doesn’t, then Disney is going to stick with four parks for the foreseeable future.
Wrap Up
We hope you will agree that this has been a fun conversation. If you were Disney CEO for a day, what Fifth Gate would you add to Walt Disney World? Let us know what you think!
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