 
July 1991 – June 1996, October 1998 – July 2004
LOCATION
Fantasyland – The one-of-a-kind villain gift shop loomed within central Fantasyland, in the shadow of the castle. When crossing the drawbridge, guests would find the shop immediately to the right, in the stone hall before Peter Pan’s Flight. Today this space has been slightly moved, and the entrance to Villain’s Lair is now the pathway to Snow White’s Grotto.
EXPERIENCE
Details:
- Merchandise – Villain-themed toys, accessories, and collectibles
- Unique Features – A mosaic mural of Maleficent, large stone pillars with some of her crows perched on top
Villain’s Lair was a shop celebrating the Mistress of All Evil (Maleficent) and her wicked Disney friends. Disneyland visitors interested in villains, not princesses, found their happy place inside the dark and mysterious stone building. The shop uniquely focused on antagonists from Disney films, and villains frequently held meet & greets out front.
CLOSURE
This space always served as more of a meet & greet space than a shop. And in a land like Fantasyland, every inch of space is precious! So in 2004, the shop closed to become the Heraldry Shoppe. The Villain’s Lair entryway continued to be a meet & greet space for a few years. But after a while, the villains simply roamed Fantasyland like the princesses, so the Lair disappeared from the landscape altogether.
TRIVIA
For its first few years of operation, Villain’s Lair was simply called, “Disney Villains”. A lot of guests didn’t realize it was a shop, and thought it was simply a meet & greet area. So when the shop reopened, the name changed to Villain’s Lair.
Nice idea but I think a Villain Shop would fit better in New Orleans Square than Fantasyland.
That’s an awesome idea, Brendan! I think it would be so cool to have a villain shop in NOS.