Disney provided a ton of long-awaited answers about its theme parks at the D23 event in Anaheim Saturday night, Aug. 10. But that does not mean that Disneyland fans still don’t have questions.
Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro brought plenty to make Marvel fans happy. Along with Walt Disney Imagineering’s Scott Trowbridge, he confirmed that the previously announced Avengers ride in Disney California Adventure will begin construction next year and that it will be called Avengers Infinity Defense.
The attraction will feature a motion-base ride vehicle in a metaverse-traveling adventure to fight King Thanos. But the big surprise for Marvel fans at D23 was that Avengers Campus is getting another new ride. Stark Flight Lab will be a robot-arm attraction that should make you feel like Iron Man in flight. Robert Downey Jr. will reprise his role as Tony Stark in recorded media for both attractions, following his announced return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Doctor Doom.
Disney released concept art showing the placement of both these attractions in an expanded Avengers Campus, but fans still have questions about the placement of the other two rides announced for Disney California Adventure.
The park is getting two new boat rides, one based on Avatar and the other on Coco, which will be Disney’s first theme park ride based on the 2017 Pixar film. D’Amaro said that construction will begin on the Coco ride in 2026, but provided no timeline on the Avatar ride and surrounding area.
Disney did not confirm any location for the Avatar and Coco rides during the D23 showcase. The extended timeline for the Coco ride could suggest that the new attractions may be part of an expansion of the park onto what is now the Simba parking lot, which has been made possible by Anaheim’s approval of the DisneylandForward plan. If these rides are not going into that space, what will?
And what about Disneyland? D’Amaro did reveal that the Main Street Opera House will be getting a Walt Disney Audio-Animatronic figure that will star in a new show that will rotate with Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln. But there was no announcement of World of Frozen or any other new rides or lands at Disneyland. Fans are still left to ask what will happen on the Toy Story parking lot and the cast parking lot west of Disneyland Drive — locations that were depicted as having new attractions or hotels in the DisneylandForward concept art.
As much as fans might have been looking toward this year’s D23 for all the answers about Disneyland’s future, there never will be a final answer on that. Construction on the new Coco ride might start in 2026 but that year also will bring another D23 event, with another showcase of announcements.
As company officials are fond of reminding fans, Walt said that Disneyland never will be complete, so long as imagination remains in the world. The story never ends. There’s always a great big, beautiful tomorrow, and you just will have to wait until then to find out what the one after that brings.
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