Multiverse Marvel Ride Coming to Avengers Campus
Disneyland Resort announced a Marvel Multiverse attraction for Disney California Adventure, which will be the third–and biggest–ride in Avengers Campus. This post shares ride details and a sneak peek at concept art for the future expansion to the land, as well as our commentary about what we’re expecting, the potential timeline, and more. (Updated September 11, 2023.)
This has been a long saga, thus far involving three different D23 events, and several variants of the Marvel E-Ticket attraction. It started at the 2019 D23 Expo, with Disney revealing plans for phase 2 of Avengers Campus. This was to become a brand-new E-Ticket attraction where guests will step on board a Quinjet and fly alongside the Avengers in an epic adventure to Wakanda and beyond.
In this attraction, guests were to team up alongside the Avengers in a battle to save the world from one of the most powerful villains they have ever faced. Disney indicated that Imagineers are conceiving an all-new innovative ride system to put you in the middle of the action in this Avengers E-Ticket. Given that all of this is past tense, it should be clear that the Avengers E-Ticket won’t be built. So here’s an update on what is happening, at least, as of Late 2023…
2023 Destination D23 Update: During the “A Celebration of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” presentation in Fall 2023, Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro shared new details around the third future attraction coming to Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure.
As depicted in the concept art below, the Marvel super heroes have created a new vehicle capable of jumping between worlds and even realities – on planet Earth and beyond. The design combines elements of Tony Stark’s time-suits with Xandarian jump points and Wakandan technology to create a vehicle that combines portal technology and flight capabilities to maneuver through the skies, transporting heroes to remote worlds in a matter of moments. Here’s the new concept art:
At the very least, this confirms that the Avengers Multiverse E-Ticket is not dead. That may seem like an odd reaction given that the Marvel ride was just announced last year, with concept art shared at the D23 Expo. However, a lot has changed since then.
If you recall, Bob Chapek personally teased the King Thanos attraction during his D23 opening remarks last year, before D’Amaro made the announcement a couple days later on stage. The big change, as you’re likely aware, is that Bob Chapek was fired only a couple of months after the announcement, and Bob Iger returned. As such, it was plausible that this was a pet project killed by Iger, just like the metaverse and Prime plans. In fact, that’s what we thought!
Shortly after returning, CEO Bob Iger revealed that an Avatar Experience Is Coming to Disneyland. He has since made multiple media appearances and mentioned this, and is clearly excited about both this and the success of Avatar: Way of Water. Iger is also personally friends with James Cameron, and was previously enthusiastic about adding Pandora to Animal Kingdom. So it was plausible to think that an Avatar project had been fast-tracked, and the Marvel E-Ticket had once again been sidelined.
It’s not just Bob Iger, either. Disney Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro had held a number of interviews this year, during which he has discussed plans for the future, bullishness on parks, and desire for capacity-expanding additions. Not once was the Marvel Multiverse attraction mentioned. By contrast, Avatar has come up repeatedly.
There’s also past precedent, as this wouldn’t be the first time that plans for the third attraction in Avengers Campus were derailed. Although the Avengers Headquarters facade was built with the Quinjet atop the building, that’s it. There’s no show building or anything being built backstage.
For the few years since Avengers Campus opened, Disney has not said much of substance about the E-Ticket. In fact, up until last year’s D23 Expo, the company almost pretended it was never announced. When directly asked about the attraction during the opening of Avengers Campus, company spokespeople wouldn’t even discuss it.
Even before the closure and pausing of projects worldwide, we were skeptical about the Avengers E-Ticket. Phase 2 is often where projects go to die, especially at second gates. Just take a look at all of the unbuilt World Showcase pavilions around EPCOT, or even what has not happened with the Giant Dirt Pit.
Disney California Adventure has experienced this same phenomenon in recent years. Had the second phase of the big DCA reboot come to fruition, Paradise Pier would still be a thing–but with another trackless dark ride in the style of Mystic Manor. And that’s just one thing that was intended for the follow-up to the success of Cars Land and Buena Vista Street.
The question left unanswered by the 2023 Destination D23 concept art is whether the Marvel Multiverse ride is still also a King Thanos attraction. On stage, D’Amaro and Imagineers indicated it would combine elements of Tony Stark’s time-suits, Xandarian jump points, and Wakandan technology; there’d be portal technology and flight capabilities to maneuver through the skies, transporting heroes to remote worlds in a matter of moments.
That suggests the Marvel Multiverse attraction is still going to feature a wide range of super heroes and settings, which was precisely what was extended from the previous announcement and concept art (see below). What’s unknown is whether King Thanos is still the villain of the attraction. That was previously the key detail announced, so it’s kind of odd that it wasn’t discussed at Destination D23. It doesn’t mean it won’t be the case, though. There’s nothing about last year’s announcement that necessarily conflicts with the 2023 update.
Avengers Campus at Disneyland Resort will head into the Multiverse with a third attraction with a brand-new story. According to Kevin Feige, this will occur in a version of the Multiverse where Thanos won.
When joining battle with the Avengers, you never know what foes you’ll face from anywhere and everywhen.
This family-friendly attraction will give guests the opportunity to team up with more of the Avengers and their allies from across the Multiverse to battle against enemies, led by King Thanos. (Which only makes sense given that he won in this timeline.)
As a contrast, here’s the concept art for the prior incarnation of this attraction:
This wasn’t even the first concept for a Marvel E-Ticket.
One persistent rumor shortly after the opening of Mission Breakout was that an indoor Captain America Vekoma bike coaster. Disney had supposedly order multiples of those, with that being the location for the second. There are a number of reasons that might not be happening now, but I’m glad they’re doing something different.
As for timing, it’s safe to say that this project is still several years away.
This was not on the “Boundless Future” timeline that Josh D’Amaro shared at the D23 Expo, meaning that it won’t open until 2025 at the absolute earliest. Even that year is probably a stretch. Keep in mind that absolutely nothing has been constructed for this attraction in Avengers Campus.
The Quinjet building is literally just a facade. There’s no show building or anything behind it. Even if work started tomorrow on this, it would likely take at least 3 years to construct. That’s assuming the concept is fully developed and Disney fast-tracked the project, neither of which are anything close to certain.
Right now, Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure feels like an incomplete land. Don’t get me wrong–Web Slingers is fun and the way the area is inhabited by characters is fantastic. Likewise, Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout is fantastic–far better than I ever expected. But the latter feels disconnected from the core land, and the actual campus itself needs more.
It doesn’t help that the only new ride to debut with the land was a Spider-Man ride that’s far inferior to the one Universal built some two decades ago. Disney’s interactive shooter game is fun, but no match for that modern classic.
Admittedly, I’m not the biggest Marvel fan in the world, but I also don’t think the environments featured in the films really lend themselves to immersive worlds in the same way as Star Wars. (Save for Wakanda, and I can’t think of anywhere at Walt Disney World or Disneyland where that would be anything other than a cringeworthy fit, thematically.)
Hopefully this E-Ticket addition is what makes Avengers Campus feel complete, and easier to overlook the dull industrial design and lackluster (and played out) ‘repurposed’ aesthetic of the land itself. There’s a lot to love about the way characters are leveraged in Avengers Campus (although it’s often used as a dirty word by fans, the synergy with Disney+ has been a particular strong suit of the Marvel Land at DCA), but it’s still incomplete. Hopefully this blockbuster Avengers E-ticket attractions live up to the hype and power of the Marvel brand and makes Disney California Adventure an even better second gate.
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Your Thoughts
What do you think of the Marvel Multiverse E-Ticket coming to Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure? Are you a fan of the Marvel land as it presently exists, or do you agree that this E-Ticket is what’s needed to make the land feel complete and top-tier? 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!
Based on the description (including the Xandarian jump points), I was under the impression they would copy the ride system from Cosmic Rewind with a different story and lead characters. Maybe that would be a bit bigger than expectations I’m seeing elsewhere though…
Yawn. I’m not impressed with Avenger’s Campus. It’s just a big cement slab. Kinda like Galaxy’s Edge. I’d have rather heard more about the Avatar thing.
I really hope this involves roller coaster tracks and not just motion simulation.
I’m surprised no mention of this for Hong Kong given that they cleared Autopia for this years ago.
What really sucks is that we get to live in this timeline while alternate versions of ourselves are already enjoying this ride in other parallel universes (then again, there must be other timelines where Superstar Limo is still a thing…).
But seriously, now that this has been announced twice (and maybe thrice or more in different forms) and under both recent CEOs, Disney has got to be past the “blue sky” imagineering phase, right?
It’s hard to think they would keep teasing this ride if it was still just a concept for an ambiguous future date. Right?? Right???
As it is, I feel like the current Avengers Campus is almost like Cars Land if it had opened without Radiator Springs Racers. It’s missing the centerpiece that would provide the excitement and cohesion the land deserves.
If they’re showing a ride vehicle, then presumably they’ve settled on a ride system this time. That’s not nothing!!!
My guess is that the substantive specifics are still up on the air and, since it’s going to (presumably) use a lot of screens and video footage, they’d rather wait and see on what’s happening/popular in the MCU closer to this thing becoming a reality. This still feels like a 2027 or later project to me, and anything that remote is still subject to cancellation, even if they’re showing us concept art today.
I’m very excited for the 3rd attraction to come to all the three Avengers Campus around the world.
we throughly ejoyed avengers campus on our recent trip and probably would have spent more time there for meet and greets if it had not been 100 plus degrees. we thought both rides were a lot of fun. i would wager the wakanda experience e-ticket attraction likely got shelved due to the untimely loss of chadwick boseman.
Yeah well, the 2nd E-ticket? Where’s the 1st? Spider-Man ride is just ok but not an e-ticket IMO. Bugs land was very charming and at least gave the smaller set something to do.
The Multiverse E ticket attraction the blog is talking about would actually be the 3rd attraction for the Avengers Campus. The 1st attraction is the Guardians of the Galaxy Tower ride and the 2nd is the Spider-Man Web Slinger ride. Just wanted you to know that
Yeah, I know that. Tower of Terror was around when bugs land was there. So they reskinned an existing ride and then absorbed it into Avengers campus. So as of now, Spider-Man is the only new addition to the new land. Just wanted to let you know that.
This should round out Avengers Campus nicely. Very excited for yet another e-ticket being added to the Disneyland Resort!
Yes this big E ticket attraction should finally make all the three Avengers Campus locations look and feel complete which is good news from Disney.
I’m skeptical just because my last trip to Disneyland sept 2 it was evident Disney is starting to have financial issues. The food was GROSS. They gave me powdered pre made eggs in my avocado toast at tangaroa terrace. No lids or straws for my drinks all day. Three 1*1 inch pieces of steak on a plate with mashed potatoes for $22. Disney has gotten really cheap it’s not the bougee Disney of the 2010s I remembered
I’m surprised no mention of this for Hong Kong given that they cleared Autopia for this years ago.
I personally don’t love the new multiverse. I honestly don’t want to go on a ride in which Thanos won. They spent several movies having us not like Thanos, why do I want a ride in which the main character is the bad guy?? Out of all the material they have to choose from they give us this??? Boo!
I would just be happy to know thst finally Avenger Campus at all there three locations are finally getting the big E ticket attraction so don’t worry much about it.
I am sure this will be a great attraction, but that Avengers campus land in DCA is so lackluster. A complete after thought with two rethemed attractions (One facing the wrong way) and a bunch of ugly buildings. I am not even a Web Slingers fan at all, but I know plenty of people who enjoy it.
What do you think about the Avengers Campus at Disneyland, Paris & Hong Kong, Disneyland? By the way the big E ticket I’d going in all the Avengers Campus locations with the 1st one being here in the United States.