Disney Changes Project Timeline for Disneyland: Adding Tomorrowland, Delaying Avatar
Disneyland Resort has a trio of projects that have already kicked into high gear this year at Disney California Adventure, and more was just revealed at the 2026 D23 Expo. This covers the official timeline for Eastern Gateway, Avengers Campus, Coco, Avatar, and the reimagining of Tomorrowland.
As basic background, Disneyland President Thomas Mazloum announced a revival of the Eastern Gateway last June during an update with Anaheim on the future of construction projects at the resort. During that, he also revealed the locations of the Avatar and Coco projects within DCA, and necessary prerequisites to make way for DCA expansion.
Since then, work has begun backstage on Coco, with Disney clearing the site where they’ll squeeze in that show building (RIP giant sidewalk hidden Mickey on Disneyland Drive). Meanwhile, the major Avengers Campus expansion that began early last year continues construction. While those projects were fast-tracked, Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue received a reprieve, with its permanent closure pushed back from early this year to sometime in 2027.
The latest update essentially reinforces what was previously shared, while slotting in newly announced projects from the 2026 D23 Expo. We were invited to attend an intimate media gathering with Disneyland President Jill Estorino, Emily “Emo” O’Brien, Imagineering Portfolio Executive Creative Producer, Disney Experiences Chair Thomas Mazloum and other leadership. Towards the tail end of this, they revealed a tweaked timeline for the DLR projects.
The nutshell version is that everything currently under construction remains the same. There are no delays, fast-tracking, or other changes for the timelines on Avengers Campus, Coco, or Eastern Gateway.
As before, Avengers Campus is well on the way and it’ll be first out of the gate. At the 2026 D23 Expo Parks Panel, Disney announced that both Stark Flight Lab and Avengers Infinity Defense will open in 2028. This isn’t a complete surprise, but we were hoping for a 2027 debut.
Then comes the addition of the new Coco boat ride. This currently doesn’t have an opening year attached, but if Avengers Campus is 2028, it’s safe to say that Coco is firmly 2029.
Along with this, work is already underway on the new parking structure and entrance (which we refer to as Eastern Gateway). This is expected to accelerate and begin work in earnest in the coming weeks. Eastern Gateway should also come online sometime in 2028.
Following the first two DCA openings, Disney will shift its development focus to Disneyland and reimagining Tomorrowland. Following that, they will then return to the Hollywood Backlot in the future for the new Avatar destination.
The tricky part, as before, is figuring out how everything after Coco fits in. Although it’s still in the early planning stages right now, it’s entirely possible that phased work on Tomorrowland starts after Avengers Campus opens but before Coco debuts. If the goal is simply tightening the timeline and opening attractions and areas with greater frequency, these projects could overlap. Even so, we could realistically be looking at Tomorrowland’s phased opening starting in 2030 and 2032 or later for Avatar.
Disneyland believes that delivering the projects in this order is the right thing to do for fans, and it ensures that the timelines are more reasonable. That’s all of the information we received, and naturally, it raises a few questions and concerns.
Against that backdrop, let’s discuss some of the biggest unknowns, question marks, and underlying ‘why’ of this all…
Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue, Rescued Again?
During a previous meeting this winter, Disney revealed that Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue would remain open into 2027. No permanent closure date or even season was given back then. As we noted at the time, the family-friendly dark ride could close as early as January 4, 2027 or as late as December 31, 2027.
Disney indicated earlier in the year that was happening without any impact to other construction timelines. Meaning that Eastern Gateway and Pandora were not delayed by virtue of this news. Leadership explained that teams worked to shift around the sequencing of the projects, and found a way to move around the phases of the projects in order to grant the Monsters, Inc. dark ride a reprieve from closure without delaying anything else.
Our assumption is that Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue won’t close in 2027 and probably not even in 2028. Then again, we previously speculated (before it was announced) that it wouldn’t close this year and then, once the 2027 timeline was announced, we further theorized that the can could be kicked down the road again. Here’s why…
Eastern Gateway Unlocks Everything
Before almost anything else can happen, the first piece of the puzzle is the Eastern Gateway transportation hub.
The new Eastern Gateway transportation hub at Disneyland Resort will be built on a portion of what’s currently the Manchester Cast Member parking lot. This new area will provide approximately 6,000 parking spaces, shuttle and rideshare areas, security screening and dedicated access for traffic off of Disney Way, improving parking and traffic flow throughout the resort area.
The new Eastern Gateway parking & transportation hub will also feature a pedestrian bridge over Harbor Boulevard, leading to an all-new esplanade arrival experience. This pedestrian flyover will also provide convenient public access to and from Harbor Boulevard.
These enhanced parking, transit, and arrival offerings are the first step in Disneyland Resort’s next phase of construction, creating the infrastructure necessary to prepare for future growth and to welcome more guests as new experiences are added.
The important thing here is that Eastern Gateway is a necessary prerequisite to Pandora – World of Avatar, or whatever Disney chooses to build in the Hollywood Backlot. We’ve been emphasizing this from the beginning, which is precisely why we’ve (correctly) concluded that the Monsters, Inc. dark ride didn’t need to close so soon.
In order to have sufficient room for the show building and everything that the Avatar destination entails, Disney needs to demolish the old bus loops and build into that space. But that can’t happen until the new Eastern Gateway transportation hub is up and running.
The bottom line is that it’s unlikely that the space needed for Avatar or anything built in the Hollywood Backlot will be freed up until sometime 2028 at the earliest. This should partially explain why Disney is slotting Tomorrowland in ahead of Avatar.
Pandora Plans Postponed?
Despite previous reassurances, the previous timeline shift caused fans to be skeptical. The narrative that emerged was that Pandora had been postponed, with many questioning whether it was being reevaluated entirely.
I don’t know that it’s possible to postpone something that didn’t have any real dates or details attached to it in the first place. The fact is that it never had a start date or completion year in the first place. Whenever Disney previously discussed the Avatar destination, they were careful to use language that the project was “still in the early stages of development” (or similar).
Slotting Tomorrowland into the timeline ahead of the Avatar destination definitely means it’s coming later than fans previously expected. Even with no previous start dates, it’s safe to say this is a delay. There’s really no other way to construe it.
On the other hand, there’s a model of the Avatar destination in the Imagineering pavilion on the show floor of the D23 Expo. This is a detailed model that shows the monorail oriented around the backside of the show building in a logical way that would allow a large-scale attraction and accompanying landscape to work.
One of the entries in our 12 Things Disney Will (and Won’t) Announce for Disneyland was “Avatar Axed or Affirmed.” That offered various signals that Avatar might be quietly cancelled. What we have here are essentially two countervailing factors. Either without the other would seem to offer clarity, but both are a recipe for confusion.
The Avatar destination still feels fairly nebulous to me. I’ve already discussed the reasons for that at length elsewhere (including that model post), but my personal read given the totality of the circumstances is that this project is now less likely to happen than it was previously.
One the one hand, the model is cause for optimism. That suggests Disney still intends to move forward on Avatar, and has a sound plan for squeezing it between the Hollywood Backlot and new-look Esplanade. Not only that, but the model looks impressive. It will get more fans excited for the Avatar destination!
On the other hand is the passage of time. With the announcement of Tomorrowland and timing changes, this now means that the Avatar project will almost certainly not start construction until 2029 at the absolute earliest. We might even be looking at a 2030 start date! That would put opening around 2032 or later, most likely.
Just based on past precedent, is very easy to Avatar quietly being cancelled during that time. It is really difficult to put a lot of weight into the Avatar model as the basis for this project still moving forward when there are other signs that it will not.
Honestly, this makes me wonder why Disney would show the Avatar model at all. I obviously don’t have an answer to that, but my best guess would be corporate politics. James Cameron is incredibly powerful and passionate (remember: never bet against him!), and it probably behooves Disney to not upset him for the sake of their future relationship.
At the same time, Cameron himself has signaled recently that he is almost ready to move on from Avatar. Given that, perhaps Disney just wants to run out the clock on the Avatar destination. Go through the motions for now pretending that the project is proceeding full steam ahead, only to let the franchise fizzle out on its own and the Avatar destination along with it.
It’s also possible all of this speculation (which, in the interest of balance, happened over a decade ago with the original Pandora at Animal Kingdom when there was minimal movement on that for years) is misguided. As noted above, the Eastern Gateway unlocks everything and truly is a necessary prerequisite to Pandora.
The straightforward explanation might be the correct one; it could simply be the case that Tomorrowland leapfrogging Avatar makes more sense for delivering projects in a more efficient manner. It makes complete sense, and truly is a more logical cadence. (And I’d say that even if Tomorrowland wasn’t in urgent need of a reimagining two decades ago!)
Regardless, the Avatar project still strikes me as the one most likely of being cancelled or changed. Previously, I wrote that it’s not a high likelihood (<50%), just higher–relatively–than any other announced project. With this development, I’d revise that upwards. I’m reluctant to quantify it at this point, as I do believe there are other unknowns at this point that will move the needle in the years to come.
One reason for optimism that Disneyland will move forward with this, regardless, is the popularity of Pandora. It’s the #1 ranked land at Walt Disney World in terms of guest satisfaction. From that perspective alone, it makes sense that Disney would want to build a version of it in DCA.
However, it’s possibly also worth noting that Zootopia is #1 in terms of guest satisfaction at Shanghai Disneyland. Zootopia has been a smash success for that park, and it recently had a sequel that performed incredibly well at the domestic box office.
The argument could be made that there’s more upside for Disney to build that in California as opposed to a second Avatar destination. Perhaps “why not both?” will win out, with Zootopia coming as part of the 10-year plan.
Ultimately, our hope is that Disney is going to bet big on Pandora West. That it’ll feature a blockbuster attraction utilizing the same ride system as Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure at Shanghai Disneyland.
That it’ll be a smaller destination than the Animal Kingdom version, but one with a potentially better and more popular headliner attraction. It’s almost criminal that ride system hasn’t been used anywhere else a decade later, and Avatar seems pitch-perfect for it.
While I have hesitations about the location and the tough transitions from Buena Vista Street and Hollywood Land to the world of Pandora, I really do want to see the Avatar destination built at Disney California Adventure. Even as someone without any particular affinity towards the franchise, I think its universe translates really well to theme parks. Pandora is such a rich and vibrant environment, and you don’t need to remember the stories from the films to get lost in its world.
The existing Pandora has already demonstrated staying power, with Avatar Flight of Passage always having long lines and high guest satisfaction. Going big on Avatar at Disney California Adventure just makes sense, even if it doesn’t come to fruition until the 2030s when the film franchise has fizzled out.
Avatar is one of those properties that’s tailor-made for a theme park, as the meticulous worldbuilding and beautiful settings are what matters, with the plot being secondary. Some attractions transcend their source material, and Avatar is probably the very best example of that. That’s enough for me to hope all of the above speculation is wrong, and this Avatar destination is built at Disneyland Resort.
Planning a Southern California vacation? For park admission deals, read Tips for Saving Money on Disneyland Tickets. Learn about on-site and off-site hotels in our Anaheim Hotel Reviews & Rankings. For where to eat, check out our Disneyland Restaurant Reviews. For unique ideas of things that’ll improve your trip, check out What to Pack for Disney. For comprehensive advice, consult our Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide. Finally, for guides beyond Disney, check out our Southern California Itineraries for day trips to Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, and many other SoCal cities!
Your Thoughts
What do you think of the timeline changes to the projects at Disneyland Resort with the addition of the Tomorrowland reimagining? Think the Avatar destination still ends up happening? Thoughts on the timelines for these projects? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions? Hearing your feedback—even when you disagree with us—is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
