Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, is about to get a little bigger.
On Saturday October 28, Disney will break ground on one of its newest attractions: a Broadway-style theater. The as-yet unnamed theater will be located near the Main Street, U.S.A. section of the Magic Kingdom, in an area currently used as a backstage parking lot for cast members, opening up a new area to park visitors.
In keeping with Main Street, U.S.A.’s design scheme, which was inspired by Walt Disney‘s hometown of Marceline, Missouri, the new theater takes inspiration from the historic Willis Wood Theatre. That theater stood in Kansas City, Missouri, from 1902 until it burned down in 1917, overlapping the six years when Walt himself lived in the city (1911–1917).
While there’s no official word on what will show at the theater, the Hyperion Theater at Disneyland‘s California Adventure might give us a clue. Opened in 2001, the Hyperion Theater currently shows “Frozen: Live at the Hyperion,” a shortened live action version of Disney’s Frozen that is performed three times a day. The Hyperion’s longest-showing feature, though, was “Disney’s Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular,” which played from 2003 to January 2016.
If the Florida theater follows the same model, it could also be home to a live action version of one of Disney’s hit animated musicals. While Frozen would certainly pack the seats, Disney could opt for something to help distinguish the Orlando theater from its Anaheim cousin. Given its current popularity (and the popularity of Lin-Manuel Miranda), Moana would be an obvious choice.
Disney could also do something more dramatic, and use the theater to show some of the company’s Broadway hits, such as The Lion King or Mary Poppins, making Walt Disney World a permanent home for Broadway theater in the Sunshine State.
What would you like to see play at the new Walt Disney World theater? Let us know in the comments!
Images: Disney
The World Needs More FROZEN!
- Meet Frozen‘s snowflake expert.
- See Olaf as different Disney Princesses.
- Check out Frozen characters in the style of Tim Burton.
