Avengers Campus, one of the most popular areas at Disney California Adventure park, is officially expanding! Even though this area already has two rides, several restaurants, and rotating character meet and greets, Disney is investing in bringing even more Marvel to this park with a brand new expansion that was announced by Disney CEO Bob Chapek himself during the Disney Legends panel at this year’s D23 Expo.
And though details were scarce when the announcement was first made, we now know a little bit more about what guests can expect from this new expansion, including details about a new E-Ticket attraction that’s unlike anything that has come before it!
1. The centerpiece attraction will take guests into the multiverse with new heroes and villains
At the center of this phase two expansion will be a new cutting-edge dark ride-style attraction, where guests will have the chance to battle alongside superheroes and villains from everywhere in the multiverse. The cast of characters includes not only heroes and villains that audiences have seen on screen, but new ones as well that are being added just for this attraction. Chief among these new characters will be King Thanos.
Though the name might sound the same, King Thanos isn’t the same Thanos fro blockbuster Marvel Cinematic Universe films like Avengers Infinity War, but instead a variant who won the battle against the Avengers in his universe and has made his way to our world somehow.
Concept art shows a plethora of heroes facing off against King Thanos in this attraction, including Iron Man, Spider-Man, Thor, Mighty Thor (Jane Foster), Hulk, She-Hulk, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, Captain America, Captain Brittain, Ms. Marvel, Jack Russell, Moon Knight, and more.
2. The new ride could be interactive
Though details haven’t been specifically revealed about the type of attraction this new ride will be, during their panel both Feige and D’Amaro hinted that this new ride will have interactive elements, which would make sense considering the nearby Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure attraction is also interactive and allows guests to “fight” alongside Spider-Man.
Based on what little we know, it seems likely that this will probably be another interactive dark ride that will allow guests to become heroes themselves alongside their favorite characters, in this case using their power to defeat King Thanos and potentially other villains from the multiverse as well.
Though the concept art doesn’t really show much about how this interactivity will be achieved, hopefully more information about this potential part of this new ride will be released soon as plans are finalized.
3. This may or may not be an evolution of the “quinjet” attraction first announced in 2017
When the Avengers Campus project was first announced in 2017, Disney said after the first phase was completed (which opened in June 2021 and includes the land as it is now) would come phase two, which would include an Avengers Quinjet ride, which would have transported guests to Wakanda to do battle alongside the Avengers.
Unfortunately, this project was officially put on the shelf earlier this year, but considering this new attraction has a seemingly intentionally vague concept and has a few things in common with this original attraction (which also saw guests teaming up with Avengers to fight a great evil), this could simply be an evolution of this original concept, with a multiversal twist to better match Marvel’s current film slate and help guests feel like they are in their favorite movie alongside these iconic characters.
4. More shops, dining and more are likely to be coming
Though the main draw of this new expansion will be the unnamed E-ticket attraction, to help manage crowds in this area, shops, additional dining, and more will also likely be added to phase two of the Avengers Campus project. Though there is not a lot of space in this area of Disney California Adventure, existing parts of the land could be converted into dining and shops, or the empty Hyperion Theater nearby could be torn down to make way more Marvel-themed locations in this upcoming area.
5. The new centerpiece ride will likely remain a California Adventure exclusive…for now
Though Disneyland Paris features a cloned version of Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure and Hong Kong Disneyland also has its own version of Avengers Campus, is seems likely that due to space constraints and other in-progress projects at those two international destinations, the new unnamed attraction that will headline phase two of Avengers Campus will remain exclusive to Disney California Adventure when it opens, and at least for a few years after that (if not indefinitely). And speaking of…
6. Construction has not begun on this new phase yet
When completed, this ride will be located behind the building that has the Quinjet on its roof, which is fairly well-hidden from guest view. However, as best as we can tell, work on this new attraction has not begun yet, and Disney has not announced any kind of construction timeframes or opening target for this exciting new addition to the Avengers Campus. However, we’d guess that Disney will likely try to open this new attraction sometime in the next few years, potentially as soon as 2025 to coincide with the release of Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, which will also explore the multiverse.
We’ve got a long way to go before this new attraction gets off the ground, but it is certainly exciting to think about what the future has in store for Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure, as it slowly becomes one of the biggest and best Disney parks land in the US.
Of course, much remains to be announced about this upcoming expansion, including the name of its signature attraction and plans beyond a single ride. However, hopefully as Disney finalizes what they want for this new area of the park, hopefully we’ll get more announcements about it. Are you excited for the future of this new land? When do you think it might open?
