Category: Walt Disney World Resort

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla., Jan. 30, 2012 – Inspiration meets innovation when Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom opens to Walt Disney World Guests in late February of this year. This immersive, role-playing game features unprecedented interaction with Disney characters who come to life in previously hidden areas throughout Magic Kingdom park.

Families, friends and individuals can take on the animated Disney Villains by casting spell cards featuring Rafiki, Rapunzel, Woozles and more than 60 other characters. Individually created by Disney artists and trading card game experts, these beautiful, collectible cards will come in packages of five free to Guests ready to take on the villains.

“Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom gives our Guests a new way to become the hero of the Disney story, taking Disney innovation to a new level,” said Jonathan Ackley, Producer & Creative Director, Walt Disney Imagineering. “It’s a great game of discovery and excitement that plays off our wonderful theme park and incredible family of Disney animated characters.”

Imagineers spent more than four years creating and perfecting this unique experience, which can be played in 15 to 20 minute segments throughout the Guests’ visit to the Magic Kingdom, or continuously for up to three to four hours. More than 95 minutes of original animation was created for Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom – equal to a full-length animated film.

While trading card games are popular with about 60 million people in the US, this is the first time players can experience the challenge in such a complex environment. Guests of all ages will love the storytelling, the engagement with Disney characters and the discovery of hidden details of the Magic Kingdom.

The new Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom game ran a short play-test earlier today and our own Scott Smith was on the scene to be amongst the first to cast spells and battle the Disney Villains. The journey begins at the Main Street Fire House where guests are handed a map and some spell cards. Merlin and the cast member will assist you in training before you embark on your mission to rid the Magic Kingdom lands from the resurrected Disney Villains. The main antagonist of the story is Hades who will bring the other Villains back to life to take over the park by capturing all of the pieces of the Crystal of the Magic Kingdom that are spread throughout the lands.

Here’s a look at the maps guests are given and the current Sorcerers game window locations:

Merlin instructs you to your first location. At each window, you must press your key card against the key hole to open the portal. Once the first portal is open, Merlin will appear and usually explains he is too busy and will hand you off to a corresponding hero character from a film. That character will give you all of the story information you need to know. Before facing the main Villian in your story, you are usually given a second window where you fight a henchman of the villian. Regardless of what happens in the middle windows, the final battle will be with the main villain of your story. Once you have foiled this villain, you can move on to another land or choose to walk away. If you do walk away, you can reportedly return later in the day or even later in your vacation. The ultimate goal is to free all the lands of villains leading to an eventual final battle with Hades.

As far as the cards are concerned, there are 70 in all and it appears each has its own separate animation. For example, with the Mickey’s Magic Beans card, beans would fly at the enemy and beanstalks would grow upwards (this will be much clearer in the provided video). Here’s a look at the cards Scott was provided:

Enough explaining in text, it’s probably a lot easier to just show you a video of Scott and the game in action: