Disneyland Resort is planning several new attractions and updates that will start construction in the next two years.
At Walt Disney Co.’s fan convention D23 Expo earlier this month in Anaheim, Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro announced a series of projects in the works across the company’s parks and experiences division that are all in active development.
“Plans are drawn; dirt is moving,” the executive told attendees on Aug. 10. “I just want to be clear about this: we are doing everything you’re going to hear tonight.”
The event, touted as “Horizons: Disney Experiences Showcase,” was held at the Honda Center on the second day of its three-day convention. Disney’s experiences unit, which includes the company’s parks, hotels and cruise ships, makes up around 30% of its annual revenue.
D’Amaro, who was the president of Disneyland Resort for almost two years, offered several updates for its two parks in Anaheim, with most of the new attractions being attached to California Adventure.
Thus far, none of the upcoming projects are officially connected to the DisneylandForward development that was approved in May. Disney is planning to spend at least $1.9 billion in Anaheim over the next decade to build new attractions, hotels and parking within the nearly 500-acre resort.
At the Anaheim Convention Center, the D23 Expo held an exhibit dedicated to the ongoing work of Disney engineers, called imagineers, that displayed renderings and models of some of the immersive attractions coming in the next five years.
Below are details on what’s coming to the Disneyland and California Adventure parks starting this year.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure to Open in November
On the Disneyland side of the resort, Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro gave a handful of updates that will be incorporated at the original Anaheim Park sooner rather than later.
Following a reminder of Disneyland’s upcoming 70th anniversary, which will be celebrated in the park in 2025, D’Amaro shared that the opening date of the rethemed Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will be Nov. 15 this year at the start of the park’s holiday season.
Closed since summer 2023, the attraction replaces the Splash Mountain ride in an area now called Bayou Country. The newly rethemed ride features the characters from the 2009 film “The Princess and the Frog” and is set at the end of the movie during a Mardi Gras celebration in 1920s New Orleans.
will debut in Disneyland in 2025
Disneyland will also debut a new animatronic fashioned after founder Walt Disney in a new show that will alternate with Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln inside the Main Street Opera House.
It will open in 2025 as the first audio-animatronics figure of Disney built by Walt Disney Imagineering. Dubbed “Walt Disney – A Magical Life,” the show places the Mickey Mouse creator in a replica of his office onstage.
D’Amaro noted that Disney first introduced the technology about 60 years ago. His great-nephew Roy Disney has visited the Imagineering campus to see the process and was also in the Honda Center crowd the night of the park announcements.
“I speak for our entire team when I say there is so much pride and excitement for everyone involved in this endeavor,” D’Amaro said.
—Emily Santiago-Molina
Doubling Up on the Avengers
One of the most anticipated projects is the doubling of Avengers Campus with the construction of two new rides expected to break ground in 2026.
The Marvel Studios superhero-themed land originally opened at California Adventure in 2021 in time for the park to catch up on its pandemic-stunted attendance. The six-acre campus debuted only one ride at the time, the Spider-Man-themed Web Slingers, along with a new cafeteria and was already anchored by the rethemed Tower of Terror attraction now inspired by the “Guardians of the Galaxy” film.
Executives from Walt Disney Imagineering told the Honda Center audience that the park would be knocking down the southeast wall to build out the land extension, behind the existing facility dubbed Avengers Headquarters.
One of the new rides was first announced at the 2022 D23 Expo by Disney’s Josh D’Amaro, who said it would feature the villain King Thanos, a variant of the movie character, with the Avengers superheroes teaming up and jumping between worlds from the comic book films to defeat him.
at the Marvel-themed campus
This year, the official name was revealed as Avengers Infinity Defense with a maquette of the new ride vehicle on display.
Brent Strong, executive creative director of Avengers Campus, said at the Imagineering exhibit that this third attraction has been in the works since the beginning of planning out the Marvel land, and now the ride is ready for construction.
He added that up to a thousand hands can work on creating, designing and building a single ride at the parks. Currently, Disney imagineers are moving on from paper and computer designs and onto mocking up final prototypes.
As for what park attendees can expect to see, Strong described the ride as a combination of immersive media with large-scale physical sets. This attraction will borrow elements from other immersions such as Rise of the Resistance at Galaxy’s Edge in Disneyland.
D’Amaro followed up with the news of a fourth ride called Stark Flight Lab featuring two-person pods picked up by a large robot arm taking riders on a simulated flight. Set in the workshop of Marvel character Tony Stark, actor Robert Downey Jr. will reprise his role as the billionaire hero.
Both rides and the new area will all be under construction at the same time. No timeline or opening date was revealed.
Coco in Audio-Animatronics Tech
The last of the future attractions coming to the resort’s California Adventure park is an all-new ride inspired by the Pixar Studios film “Coco,” and it will be similar to the existing Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean rides, according to Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro.
It will feature the characters and songs from the animated movie set on a trip to the land of the dead.
“We’re bringing our skeletal cast of characters to life in a big way through the latest audio-animatronics technology,” D’Amaro told the Honda Center audience.
Construction will begin in 2026 with the location yet to be announced.
Riding Avatar’s Way of Water
Disney’s Josh D’Amaro confirmed a new themed area that was first teased by Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Iger in April — the world of Pandora from the film franchise “Avatar.”
The new land will also be attached to California Adventure, although the exact location is unclear. Iger revealed plans and a rendering for including Avatar at the Anaheim park during the company’s annual shareholders meeting when discussing the DisneylandForward initiative, right before it was approved by the Anaheim City Council in May.
“We’re thrilled about many potential new stories that our guests could experience at Walt’s original theme park,” Iger said during the meeting.
At D23 Expo, D’Amaro said this land will be themed after the second installment of the James Cameron franchise, “Avatar: The Way of Water” and upcoming films as well. Walt Disney World’s Pandora in Florida opened in 2017 based off the first film.
The space will also include a new ride as well with concept art showing a water-based attraction. An opening date was not announced.
by CEO Bob Iger, confirmed at D23 Expo
