Extinct Attractions - It's Good to be Bad with the Disney Villains
Welcome to Extinct Attractions. It’s time to end the Halloween season with a look at one more spooky and villainous attraction.
Disney always goes all in on Halloween time, with its parties starting as early as midway through August. But with Halloween tomorrow, it’s almost time to move on to bigger and better things, like Christmas since there’s already snow on Sleeping Beauty Castle. We aren’t there yet, though, so let’s head on over to Disneyland Paris for a particularly evil attraction.
On October 1, 2015, Disneyland Paris decided to embrace being villainous with the opening of a new show called It’s Good to be Bad with the Disney Villains, which took place on the Castle Stage. For the show, they decided to go all out on the villains and include as many as humanly possible (to the point that the Disney WIki page had to include a [ handy] chart of which years each villain appeared). They would often change out who was in the lineup from year to year, which helped lead to some nice variety and some deep cuts.
Over the years, all of these different villains appeared:
- Maleficent
- The Evil Queen
- Cruella De Vil
- Jafar
- Frollo
- Dr. Facilier
- Gaston
- The Queen of Hearts
- Captain Hook and Mr. Smee
- Lady Tremaine, Anastasia, and Drizella
- Hades
- Yzma
- Ursula, Flotsam, and Jetsam
- Governor Ratcliffe
- Mickey Mouse
- Donald Duck (as Maleficent)
Via EveryCharacter.com's Facebook
The last two were some puzzlers, but I mean come on? That outfit is so cute, it’s ridiculous.
They went all out on the changes to the characters, so why stop there? They also changed the theme of the show slightly as well to try and connect to the new villains each year with some subthemes of Villain’s Den, Unenchanted Ball and Are You Brave Enough? The one that stood out to me the most, though, was the 2017 version, Rock On, so that’s what I took a look at today.
The show starts out with a bang as Dr. Facilier emerged from backstage with a giant guitar that was pretty cool on its own, but then fireworks started coming out of it like in Mad Max: Fury Road and it simply could not be beat. His musical tunes summoned some backup dancers to the stage in some rad outfits that evoked a true spirit of Halloween.
After the opening number, a giant crown spun around on the stage to reveal the Evil Queen whose primary objective was to summon the rest of the gang of villains. So many villains emerged on the stage that I had to pause the video to jot all of them down. Deep breath. The villains included Hades, Frollo, Queen of Hearts, Tremaine, Anastasia, Drizella, Cruella De Vil, Captain Hook, Jafar and Gaston. Whew, that was a lot.
Via YouTube
Things only got better when Yzma popped out of the woodwork to make her presence known like the proper diva that she is. She never really gets to be a part of the festivities, so it was exciting that she got in on the action for once.
There weren’t too many songs once everybody was on stage, as it was more about the banter with the audience with the villains egging them on by saying Halloween is their favorite time of year since they finally get to enjoy themselves. As the show continued, each of the villains got a little moment to shine, helping it feel fun and unique.
It’s hard to describe the show exactly because there was a lack of truly standout moments, but it just had a certain energy to it. It seemed like all of the performers and crowd were having a great time and were really into the show. One can definitely understand why they brought it back again and again with the updated characters helping it feel fresh and new every year all the way until its final year in 2022. It’s hard to beat a stage show with more villains than one can count as the new show in Hollywood Studios can attest.
As always, don’t forget to check out my interactive maps of the Disney Parks throughout the years where you can watch or learn more about all the attractions from every Disney park around the world.
Thanks for reading and have a magical day!