Like the first film in the franchise, Descendants 2 focuses on the dismal Isle of the Lost (an Alcatraz-style penal colony in which all of Disney’s heritage villains are incarcerated), and the obnoxiously perfected Kingdon of Auradon (where all the heritage princesses and heroes reside in royal splendor). Descendants 2 opens in a Fantasy musical number in the familiar setting of the Auradon Prep campus.

In "Ways to be Wicked", the orderly world of Auradon gets turned upside down as the good kids turn a little bit evil after a bite of the iconic enchanted apple. We built this fountain for safe apple bobbing for the cast.

The Garden at Auradon Prep.

Descendant's 2 returns to the VK girls' dorm room, where Evie (Sofia Carson) has brought her own super sophisticated Isle style to the rosy pinkness they moved into months before.

Not only is the VK girl's dorm room a more chic living space than before, but Evie (Sofia Carson) has also turned it into her profitable fashion atelier and fitting room.

In the first Descendants film, Maleficent's raging dragon was reduced to a diminutive lizard by Fairy Godmother (Melanie Paxson). Now that her daughter Mal (Dove Cameron) keeps her in her dorm room, she's tried to make her as comfortable as possible. This lizard cage recalls not only the comforts Maleficent had in the first movie but gives her back her classic cursed spinning wheel.

Descendants 2 also returns to the VK boy's dorm room, here with its brand new 3D printer.

Now the King of Auradon, young King Ben (Mitchell Hope) has an office befitting his station. Here Evie (Sofia Carson) brings Ben bad news.

Another view of King Ben's (Mitchell Hope) office in the royal palace of Auradon.

Another view of King Ben's (Mitchell Hope) office in the royal palace in Auradon.

Like Tourney in the first Descendants movie, Descendants 2 required us to invent another sport of chivalry and tactics. ROAR is a stadium-style team fencing game fought in close quarters.

Descendants 2 introduces a few new young ruffians from the Isle of the Lost. One such ruffian, Uma (China Anne McClain) works for her mother, the overbearing Ursala from the Little Mermaid. Like all the imprisoned villains on the Isle of the Lost, Ursula has had to find a way to make ends meet. Thus her Fish and Chips Shoppe is right at the tide line of the prison island. I wanted the feel of a faded old carnival attraction, still alluring despite its decay.

Naturally, Ursula's Fish and Chips Shoppe has a stage for bawdy pirate musicals and an organ. Every real villain needs an organ.

Here the ambitious and embittered Uma (China Anne McClain) rallies her pirate gang inside the Fish and Chips Shoppe, where her Sea Witch mother Ursula has pressed her into dreary service.

Uma (China Anne McClain) and her pirate gang, including her trusted lieutenants Harry Hook (Thomas Doherty) and Gil (Dylan Playfair) rally to take back what is theirs in Uma's mother's dingy tidal pool of a Fish and Chips Shoppe.

Harry Hook (Thomas Doherty) Swings from a chandelier during "What's My Name" In Ursula's Fish and Chips Shoppe.

A detail of the menu board and specials in Ursula's Fish and Chips Shoppe.

Uma (China Anne McClain) commanding respect on her coral throne in Ursula's Fish and Chips Shoppe. Note the "We Ride With the Tide" iconic street art we developed for her pirate gang.

A detail of Uma's coral throne.

Harry Hook (Thomas Doherty) conspires with Uma (China Anne McClain) in Ursula's Fish and Chips Shoppe.

Having returned to the Isle of the Lost, the VK's (Sofia Carson, Booboo Stewart, Cameron Boyce) show King Ben (Mitchell Hope) how to blend in one of the worse parts of the bad part of town.

A view of Low Tide Lane on the Isle of the Lost. Having been an isolated prison island for decades now, the idea was that every slat and board is on its 9th or 10th life, and every object not screwed down had changed grubby hands hundreds of times.

A view of the Bazaar on the Isle of the Lost.

Another view of the Bazaar on the Isle of the Lost.

A view of the marketplace in Sorcerer's Square on the Isle of the Lost.

Another view of the Bazaar on the Isle of the Lost.

Mal (Dove Cameron) speeds through the Bazaar on her enchanted scooter on the Isle of the Lost.

Mal (Dove Cameron) Gets a consultation from Dizzy (Anna Cathcart) in the madness of Drizella's Curl Up and Dye on the Isle of the Lost.

Drizella's Curl Up and Dye on the Isle of the Lost is where Mal and Evie load up on chemicals for their showdown with Uma's pirate gang. So more than a hair salon as absurd as the rest of the Isle, it also had to be a repository for all kinds of chemistry and alchemy. The idea here was that out of every 100 of young Dizzy's experimental, chemical beauty concoctions, 99 blow up.

A view of the wig dying/drying line and chemistry set-up in Drizella's Curl Up and Dye on the Isle of the Lost.

The ever-unpredictable dye distillery in Drizella's Curl Up and Dye on the Isle of the Lost.

Another view of Drizella's Curl up and Dye on the Isle of the Lost.

A detail of the dry chemistry set up in Drizella's Curl Up and Dye on the Isle of the Lost.

The annual formal Cotillion is the highlight of the Auradon social calendar. It is set on the king's yacht, the True Love. This massive set served a complex variety of stunts, choreography, and visual effects.

The yacht True Love celebrates all the true love's first kisses throughout the Disney classics. Here the grand stairs from the aft end of the boat provide a beautiful entrance for the announced guests.

The former King, his court, and guests look forward to a glittering evening on the yacht True Love.

After a pitched battle between Uma's octopus form and Mal's dragon form, the deck of the True Love is flooded. The fight settled peacefully, the partygoers refuse to let the water ruin their fun. We designed a filling and drainage system into the set to keep an ideal depth for the exuberant choreography, deep enough to maximize splashing but shallow enough not to exhaust the dancers too quickly.

Mal (Dove Cameron) celebrates the evening on the flooded deck of the yacht True Love.

The grand entrance for the announced guests on the yacht True Love.

A detail of the stained glass windows on the yacht True Love, here celebrating Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Mulan.

A detail of the stained glass windows on the yacht True Love, here celebrating The Little Mermaid and Pocahontas.

A detail of the stained glass windows on the yacht True Love, here celebrating Cinderella and Aladdin.

In a moment of doubt about her place in the court of Auradon, Mal (Dove Cameron) returns to the world she knows on the Isle of the Lost, where she takes up residence in the secret hideout she and the other Villain Kids used to share. The Villain Kids then stage a rescue. Here Mal reunites with her best friend Evie (Sofia Carson).

The VK's hideout was always a place of respite from their raging and overbearing parents. It's where the VK's purloined all the best stuff on the Isle, and where Mal perfected her street art.

Another view of the VK's hideout on the Isle of the Lost.

Mal's room in the VK's hideout on the Isle of the Lost.

Uma and her pirate gang rule the rotting docks and rocky edge of the Isle of the Lost. We built this huge chunk of her territory for the big showdown between her pirate gang and the Villain Kids, led by Mal.

Isle of the Lost dock and pirate ship after VFX.

Uma's HQ is this ruined pirate ship. After all the Disney Villains were relocated to the Isle of the Lost, all the ships that brought them were scuttled and they were all locked behind an enchanted barrier. So this is one of many wrecks in these waters, including the sails of the ship, rammed into her side. We found real tall-ship riggers for this work, and they used 10,000 feet of rope in the process.

This photo shows the "rickety" and treacherous landscape of the rotten docksides. This became the setting of a 20 person melee to rescue King Ben and escape the Isle and Uma's vengeful clutches.