Walt Disney World offers a huge amount to do for visitors to the Orlando area. It boasts four theme parks, two water parks, an entertainment district and numerous other attractions. And, of course, visitors to the resort may also stray off-site, taking in Universal Orlando’s two theme parks, Wet ‘n Wild Orlando, SeaWorld Orlando, Aquatica, LEGOLAND Florida or Busch Gardens Tampa. Still, that hasn’t stopped speculation over the years that Disney will eventually look to further expand its Florida resort by adding a fifth theme park. It certainly has the room – less than 34 percent of its 25,000 acres has been developed. Not all of the remainder is suitable for construction, but several potential areas large enough to hold a full theme park do exist. The Magic Kingdom opened in 1971. EPCOT Center followed in 1982, and Disney-MGM Studios (now Disney’s Hollywood Studios) debuted seven years later. Disney’s Animal Kingdom opened in 1998. So, for the first three decades of its existence, Walt Disney World opened a new theme park approximately every 9 years. It’s now 2014 – 16 years since the last park opened – and restless Disney fans waiting for news have taken matters into their own hands. Over the last few years, numerous rumored “fifth gates” have been floated on the Internet – and some have attained an almost mythical status. In recent weeks, those rumors have resurfaced over on Screamscape. Will we ever see any of these particular concepts become a reality? Probably not (it’s more likely that Disney will take a different approach). But, just for fun, let’s take a look at them.
3. Disney’s Night Kingdom
Back in 2008, there were strong rumors that Walt Disney World was on the verge of finally announcing a fifth gate. These were driven by reports from long-time Disney correspondent Jim Hill, who claimed that Disney would splurge more than half a billion dollars on the project ahead of a 2011 opening. As Hill described it, Disney’s Night Kingdom would be Disney’s answer to SeaWorld Orlando’s Discovery Cove. Like the SeaWorld park, it would limit attendance to very small numbers – around 2,000 at a time. And just like Discovery Cove, it would focus on intimate experiences involving exotic wildlife. Night Kingdom would operate from 4pm until midnight, and would staffed by a ridiculous 4,000 Cast Members (yes, that’s two for every guest). Naturally, that would mean that it would be a very expensive place to visit – with prices as high as $300 per person.
In a sign that the rumors were too good to be true, Hill claimed that the entrance to Night Kingdom would be a supersized recreation of the Adventurer’s Club, the legendary venue from the shuttered Pleasure Island over at Downtown Disney. Here, guests would check in and register for the various experiences on offer. These would include hand-feeding hippos, riding a zip line over a pool of crododiles, exploring a cave full of bats and interacting with penguins. The highlight, though, would be a night-time trip (equipped with night-vision goggles) across a darkened African savannah. This would give guests a chance to view nocturnal animals going about their business – something they couldn’t do on the existing Kilimanjaro Safaris attraction at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Also on offer would be two themed eateries, as well a Broadway-style stage show hosted in a 2,000-seat theater. Hill even claimed that two hotels could be constructed during a later phase. Six months after his original report, Hill claimed that the plans for Disney’s Night Kingdom had changed. Indeed, the name of the park itself was under review, and it was now known as Disney’s Jungle Trek. Many of the proposed experiences were still part of the plans, but the theater was to be scaled down. The opening hours would also change, with the park operating from noon to 2am. Table-service meals would be replaced by an all-you-can-eat buffet. 
Recently, though, Disney announced that the whole of Animal Kingdom will soon open late into the night, as part of a major revamp of the park that will include the addition of Pandora – The World of Avatar. On offer will be a new nighttime version of Kilimanjaro Safaris, featuring an updated storyline and a focus on animals that are largely nocturnal – so another rumored element of Disney’s Night Kingdom is finally due to become a reality.
2. Disney’s Dark Kingdom
Image: Disney
Disney has created a lot of wonderful characters over the years, and many of them are celebrated in its theme parks. The likes of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Snow White and Cinderella are well represented in the Magic Kingdom, for example. But what about all the fantastic villains that have gone head-to-head with Disney’s heroes and heroines? Don’t they deserve to be celebrated, too? Evidently, many fans think so, as rumors of Disney’s Dark Kingdom (also known as Shadowlands) have abounded for years. 
What form would such a park take? In some ways it might be anti-Magic Kingdom, dominated by a huge recreation of Maleficent’s Castle. Other rumored attractions include a Night on Bald Mountain roller coaster (inspired by Fantasia), a Captain Hook ride and numerous dark rides themed around the likes of Cruella De Ville. There was even said to be a Dumbo-style spinner ride based on Ursula from The Little Mermaid. The Dark Kingdom rumors still do the rounds every now again, sometimes taking the form of a new land at the Magic Kingdom instead of whole separate park. And Disney does appear to value its villains highly, having given them their own special eventat Disney’s Hollywood Studios last year and again in 2014.
1. The Star Wars “boutique park”
Disney’s 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm inevitably led to rumors that the company would look to further exploit its Star Wars characters at its theme parks and resorts. While most speculation has focused on the addition of a Star Wars Land to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, a separate park has also been subject to hushed whispers – albeit seemingly based on little substance. In January 2013, the Disney Gossip blog claimed that Disney had assigned a small group of Imagineers to develop concepts for another “boutique park”, similar in scale to Disney’s Night Kingdom but this time themed around Star Wars. It was claimed that the park would offer a 4-6 hour, heavily-personalised experience, which would revolve around guests being selected for “Jedi Training”. Star Wars fans would be charged some $200 per visit, a considerably higher price than that charged at other Walt Disney World theme parks. Comparisons were drawn to the long-rumored Star Wars sub-land at Disneyland Paris, with Disney and More analysing the similarities in detail. Most notably, a recreation of the Mos Eisley Cantina that is in the pipeline for the Paris park was also said to be under consideration for the Walt Disney World project. For now, though, the most likely Star Warsproject remains new additions to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, although we shouldn’t expect to see much movement on this any time soon. Walt Disney World is busy installing Pandora – The World of Avatar, which won’t open until 2017.
Will we EVER see a fifth theme park at Walt Disney World?
Jim Hill has continued to lead the rumor-mongering over a fifth gate, suggesting back in 2011 that one could be in the works for 2021. But numerous counter-arguments have been put forward. The most common of these is simple: that by opening a fifth park, all Disney will achieve is a reduction in attendance at its existing parks (the dreaded “cannibalization”). This argument has been put forward each time that Walt Disney World has opened a new park, and in each case it has turned out to be ungrounded – at least in the long-term. The opening of Animal Kingdom, for example, did have a detrimental effect on attendance at the other three parks in its first year (although overall attendance still rose by almost 3 million guests). But attendance has long since recovered, and Disney generates more revenue as a result. With Disney facing increasing competition for vacation days from an increasingly-aggressive Universal Orlando, we wouldn’t bet against it ultimately expanding its offerings with a fifth gate to keep guests on-site (and spending more) for longer. But with new parks taking more than half a decade to develop, don’t hold your breath.
