The Disney Parks pavilion at D23 Expo, Aug. 23-25, 2019, in Anaheim, Calif., shares a sneak peek at highly anticipated new areas and experiences coming to Disney parks around world. This space showcases new areas coming to Disneyland Resort in California and Disneyland Paris that will champion the next generation of Super Heroes, representing just one of the ways Disney continues to bring immersive worlds to life for guests around the globe. (Joshua Sudock/Disneyland Resort)
For months, Disney’s California Adventure has had temporary walls blocking our view where once A Bug’s Land stood. Some panels proclaimed it as a Stark Expo venture, and so we knew that it had something to do with Marvel. (Well, we knew that anyway, as an Avengers manhole cover showed up outside of Guardians of the Galaxy Mission: Breakoutfrom Day One.) In Paris, similar construction has been going on.
What Disney confirmed tonight ahead of D23 is that the lands have a name: Avengers Campus. And those of us who have been busily trying to build the Marvel Theme Park Universe in our heads got some of our theories confirmed. Anaheim, Paris, and Hong Kong will all be connected in one endless loop of time, like reading your favorite comic over and over. Hong Kong already has The Iron Man Experience and Ant-Man and the Wasp attractions, and during Summer of Heroes (thanks to Universal in Orlando, Disney can’t actually say “Marvel Superheroes”), the Avengers show featured a cameo from Iron Man “calling in” from Stark Expo in Hong Kong. Thus, they were connected.
The Disney Parks pavilion at D23 Expo, Aug. 23-25, 2019, in Anaheim, Calif., shares a sneak peek at highly anticipated new areas and experiences coming to Disney parks around world. This space showcases new areas coming to Disneyland Resort in California and Disneyland Paris that will champion the next generation of Super Heroes, representing just one of the ways Disney continues to bring immersive worlds to life for guests around the globe. (Joshua Sudock/Disneyland Resort)
The Disney Parks pavilion at D23 Expo, Aug. 23-25, 2019, in Anaheim, Calif., shares a sneak peek at highly anticipated new areas and experiences coming to Disney parks around world. This space showcases new areas coming to Disneyland Resort in California and Disneyland Paris that will champion the next generation of Super Heroes, representing just one of the ways Disney continues to bring immersive worlds to life for guests around the globe. (Joshua Sudock/Disneyland Resort)
More details will be unveiled throughout the weekend as guests tour the “Imagine Tomorrow, Today” pavilion at D23, but from the photos Disney has released, we can hazard some guesses. Concept art from a Spider-Man attraction have already leaked, and the photos here confirm something with the character. (Spot the suit!) Of course we need an Iron Man connection, and the beauty of the Theme Park Universe is that Tony Stark will always be alive, and not just in our hearts.
The Disney Parks pavilion at D23 Expo, Aug. 23-25, 2019, in Anaheim, Calif., shares a sneak peek at highly anticipated new areas and experiences coming to Disney parks around world. This space showcases new areas coming to Disneyland Resort in California and Disneyland Paris that will champion the next generation of Super Heroes, representing just one of the ways Disney continues to bring immersive worlds to life for guests around the globe. (Joshua Sudock/Disneyland Resort)
The Disney Parks pavilion at D23 Expo, Aug. 23-25, 2019, in Anaheim, Calif., shares a sneak peek at highly anticipated new areas and experiences coming to Disney parks around world. This space showcases new areas coming to Disneyland Resort in California and Disneyland Paris that will champion the next generation of Super Heroes, representing just one of the ways Disney continues to bring immersive worlds to life for guests around the globe. (Joshua Sudock/Disneyland Resort)
I’d also say the giant salted pretzel confirms another rumor — we’re getting an Ant-Man microbrewery, though the can of soda also suggests it’s more likely a quantumbrewery. And just to be clear — California Adventure is not a “dry” park. Beer and wine have been sold there from the beginning, so a microbrewery themed to an Avenger works. The pun is just so… well… something Scott Lang would say.
(Joshua Sudock/Disneyland Resort)
We should have more detail after this weekend. Mac Williams, Jason Salazar, and myself will be braving the crowds and bowing down to the mouse. See you on the other side!
In addition to running Fanboy Planet, Derek has contributed stories to Arcana Comics (The Greatest American Hero) and Monsterverse Comics (Bela Lugosi's Tales from the Grave). He has performed with ComedySportz, City Lights Theater Company and Silicon Valley Shakespeare, though relocated to Hollywood to... work in an office? If you ever played Eric's Ultimate Solitaire on the Macintosh, it was Derek's voice as The Weasel that urged you to play longer. You can buy his book "I Was Flesh Gordon" on the Amazon link at the right. Email him at [email protected].
