Disney Reveals New Coco Boat Ride Story Details & Concept Art, Plus Opening Speculation

Disney revealed new details and concept art for the brand-new Coco attraction being built backstage behind Pixar Pier in California Adventure at Disneyland Resort, including attraction’s timeline and story premise. Along with this, there were other developments during the 2026 D23 Expo that narrow down the opening date range.

Following a live performance of La Llorona by Grammy-winning artists Los Lobos, superfan and host of the Disney Experiences showcase Neil Patrick Harris was joined by Walt Disney Imagineers with big announcements to share about the Coco boat ride and other Disneyland Resort projects.

Ali Rubinstein (Senior Vice President, Global Creative & Development Studios) and Emily O’Brien (Portfolio Executive Creative Producer, Disneyland Resort and Tokyo Disney Resort) took to the stage at Horizons: A Carousel of Progress at the Honda Center, revealing new details about the first-ever Coco attraction at a Disney park!

Stepping into the colorful, wonderful world of Disney and Pixar’s Coco, fans will be able to spot favorite friends like Miguel, Dante, Héctor, and more as we remember Miguel’s unforgettable trip to the Land of the Dead.

This brand-new attraction at Disney California Adventure will celebrate all the things we love about Coco, highlighting the characters, music, Mexican culture, and the love of a family that’s passed down through the generations.

The attraction storyline will pick up a year after the events of the original film. The queue, which will begin in Pixar Pier next to Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind, welcomes you to a “casa museo” dedicated to the music of Miguel’s great-great grandfather, Héctor Rivera.

Above is a look at concept art featuring the Héctor statue that’ll be in the Casa Museo de la Familia. An inscription on the statue says “¡Su familia era su mundo!” or “His family was his world!”

This is a nice touch. At the risk of spoiling the original movie, it ends with Miguel discovering that Héctor Rivera is his great-great-grandfather, and not Ernesto de la Cruz. As it turns out, Héctor is the kind of man people should be erecting statues to celebrate.

Presumably, that’s exactly what happened after the events of the movie, which is what would make the Coco boat ride a sequel to the film as opposed to a straightforward retelling.

This approach to attractions is becoming more common in ways that are sometimes subtle and sometimes obvious; the results are hit or miss, just as they are with the traditional Cliff Notes retelling approach.

This also makes much more ‘story sense’ than the courtyard featuring a Miguel statue, like what already exists in Disneyland Paris. Honestly, we figured they’d just clone that and call it a day, glossing over the fact that, in-universe, Miguel probably would not have a statue dedicated to him one year after the first film ended. Héctor Rivera, on the other hand, probably would!

After going through the “casa museo” queue and boarding your boat, you’ll join Miguel and travel through his memories of the Land of the Dead. It will truly be a beautiful, moving experience full of fun and surprises, leaning heavily into the music and emotion of the cherished Pixar film while inviting you to live Miguel’s journey alongside your own friends and family.

Disney and Pixar’s Coco 2 is well underway, and Imagineers are working closely with Pixar to ensure this family-friendly attraction nods to both the original and upcoming film. (Which should be interesting since Miguel is a teenager in the sequel and Ernesto de la Cruz returns!)

The untitled Coco boat ride will be an attraction the whole family can enjoy, as there will be no height requirement. This is fantastic news, as Disney California Adventure badly needs more family-friendly attractions. And ideally, before Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue closes. Speaking of which…

Coco Boat Ride Opening Predictions

A couple of things happened during D23 that are likely to impact the opening timeline for the Coco attraction. First, Second, Disneyland Resort announced that Avengers Infinity Defense and Stark Flight Lab will both open sometime in 2028! No specific season, let alone a month or precise opening date were announced.

Second, Disney Changes Project Timeline for Disneyland: Adding Tomorrowland, Delaying Avatar. 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. Avengers opens first, followed by Coco. Eastern Gateway is its own thing, and probably opens in between the two.

The bigger news is that, after Coco, Disney will shift its development focus to Disneyland and reimagine Tomorrowland. Following that, they will then return to the Hollywood Backlot in the future for the new Avatar destination.

Timeline-wise, it’s pretty safe to say that the Avengers Campus expansion and Coco do not open in the same calendar year unless Avengers Campus is at the very beginning and Coco is at the very end. That’s not what we’re expecting.

In all likelihood, Avengers Infinity Defense and Stark Flight Lab are on track for Summer 2028 openings. The realistic best case scenario is Coco following that less than 12 months later, with a debut in Spring 2029. The opening timeline range is probably more like between Late 2028 and Summer 2029 for Coco. The ride is unlikely to debut before then, given the understandable desire to pulse openings.

Along with this, we’ll go ahead and predict that, in fact, Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue will not close in 2027. Actually, it won’t close in 2028, either. Quite frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t close at all, and the Avatar experience is quietly cancelled. The Monsters, Inc. dark ride will close eventually. It’s old and nothing special, but my gut is that the Hollywood Backlot is redeveloped in the 2030s and replaced by another family-friendly attraction.

Although Spring 2029 seems like a long time to wait for the Coco boat ride, the good news is that it’s already been fast-tracked. (Difficult to believe given that a boat ride announced in 2024 has a likely 2029 opening year, but it’s true.)

When sharing updates on Disneyland Resort projects last summer and announcing a revival of the Eastern Gateway, Disney revealed that the Coco attraction would be built backstage near Paradise Gardens Park and Pixar Pier. Most significantly, Disney accelerated the construction timeline and revealed that construction would start on Coco last fall as opposed to this year!

Fast-forward to August 2026, and work is moving along backstage to the point that it’s taking the DCA parade route out of commission and causing the 2026 Oogie Boogie Bash to present a street party as opposed to the full Frightfully Fun Parade.

With that said, the backstage work has seemed a bit slow-going in the last few months. That’s often the case with projects at this stage, but Coco in particular hasn’t had much movement this summer.

On a positive note, one thing that really impresses us about this project is how Disneyland is using every inch of its real estate to build this as an expansion of Pixar Pier. The Coco boat ride is being built backstage by an access road connecting to Disneyland Drive, and bordered by Katella Avenue, Downtown Drive, and the backside of Incredicoaster.

Last summer, plans were submitted to Anaheim Public Works concerning the public right of way along Disneyland Drive and Katella Avenue on sidewalks, curbs, gutters, trees, planters, landscaping, irrigation and fencing. These plans do not show the outline of the ride building, but it’s expected to be squeezed between Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta, the DCA parade storage building and the Incredicoaster track.

It’s our understanding that the parade route will return once construction is finished or far enough along to accommodate it. This is pretty impressive, if true. Disney previously worked magic backstage behind Toontown “making space” for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, and our expectation is for something similar here.

It’s a bit amusing that Disneyland constantly squeezes the most out of every inch of its limited real estate and gets new attractions without major sacrifices. Meanwhile, Walt Disney World–the massive Florida Project that promised the blessing of size–constantly is replacing existing attractions despite ample expansion pads. Amusing, I guess, if you’re a Disneyland fan. Sad if you’re a WDW diehard.

If you’re wondering what to expect from the Coco boat ride, the attraction will be filled with the characters and music from the beloved movie, as you join Miguel on a trip to the land of the dead.

Walt Disney Imagineering will draw inspiration for the attraction from beloved classics, like Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. “We’re bringing our skeletal cast of characters to life in a big way through the latest Audio-Animatronics technology,” D’Amaro said at the 2024 D23 Expo. “These figures will appear in ways you’ll have to see to believe.”

Another thing we’re watching for is confirmation that the Coco boat ride will be Imagineering’s first real use-case of the human-to-skeleton transforming Audio Animatronics figure that’s being tested in Pirates of the Caribbean. Perhaps that’ll come at the 2027 Destination D23!

I’m totally on board with a Coco attraction. It’s easily one of the best–and arguably the very best–animated film in recent memory, rivaling Moana, Inside Out, Frozen, and Zootopia. Coco has stunning visuals and beautiful music–scenery and sounds that seem tailor-made for a theme park attraction. The concept is tantalizing. Describing it as a spiritual successor to Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion definitely captured my attention and imagination.

This Coco boat ride sounds fantastic. It’s easy to imagine what a Pirates plus Haunted Mansion inspired Coco ride could be like, which is precisely why this one is so promising. I only hope the size of the budget and building are sufficiently large to accommodate an E-Ticket attraction. My other hope is that this is one of those “good ideas that won’t die” in Imagineering, and they finally found a home for it after trying to make space in EPCOT.

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Your Thoughts

What do you think of the Coco boat ride coming to Disney California Adventure? Expect it to debut in Spring or Summer 2029, earlier or later? Excited that construction and demolition are already getting started? 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!