Let’s Talk About the Future of Disneyland Resort
Somehow, Imagineers have created a plan that will make The Happiest Place on Earth even happier.
That shouldn’t even be possible, but the DisneylandForward paperwork suggests otherwise.
Then, we have all the 2024 D23 Expo announcements that show what Disney wants to do at the parks.
So, let’s talk about the future of Disneyland Resort.
Hallmark Change Is Coming Soon
Let’s start with what we expect rather than what we know.
I usually take the opposite approach, but I slogged through thousands of pages of government documents and sat through 20+ hours of Anaheim government meetings.
So, please humor me by listening to what I learned along the way.
The important thing to remember is that Disneyland Resort works a bit differently than Walt Disney World.
Since Disney doesn’t control much of the area in Anaheim, it must liaise with city officials before building anything.
For example, The Villas at Disneyland Hotel required several public and neighborhood meetings.
Park officials needed to assure the locals that the hotel wouldn’t obstruct their views or alter their traffic patterns.
When Disney wanted to modernize Disneyland Resort, park officials conversed with the Anaheim City Planning Commission many times.
Ultimately, the Anaheim City Council voted on the DisneylandForward project, with Disney eventually winning approval.
During those public hearings and bureaucratic filings, we learned what Disney hoped to accomplish at the parks.
For example, Disney plans to build 16 rides at Disneyland Park over the next few years.
Here’s the list that Disney presented as an official proposal:
- Two flat rides like Astro Orbiter and Dumbo the Flying Elephant
- Two outdoor thrill rides like the Incredicoaster and Tron Lightcycle / Run
- Three indoor thrill rides like Space Mountain, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, and Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
- Five outdoor family rides like Autopia, Goofy’s Sky School, Grizzly River Run, Jungle Cruise, and Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree
- Four indoor family rides like Haunted Mansion, Indiana Jones Adventure, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Soarin’
However, when the time came for a vote, the official agreement didn’t require any of these rides. It’s up to Disney what comes next.
What Comes Next?
We’ve got two phases to this discussion. The first is what Disney has confirmed, and the second is what Disney has proposed.
There may be some overlap between the two topics. Since Anaheim didn’t pin Disney down, nothing is certain, though.
Still, at the 2024 D23 Expo, Disney officials revealed several upcoming projects, which I’ve detailed here.
Until Disney provides specifics, I’m only guessing when I try to link the confirmed attraction with the above list of 16 rides.
So, humor me and please give me a lot of latitude as I make some connections, at least a couple of which are likely to be wrong.
Disney has confirmed an Avatar ride based on the second and third films in the franchise.
So, that means fire and water Na’vi as the supporting characters for the attraction.
Illustrations of the attraction indicate that it’s an outdoor boat ride.
There’s a chance the Avatar experience is one of the outdoor thrill rides, but I think it’s more likely one of the five outdoor family rides.
You may disagree in that I wouldn’t describe Na’vi River Journey OR Avatar Flight of Passage as a thrill ride.
You might feel differently about Avatar Flight of Passage, but Cast Members openly refer to it as Soarin’ on Steroids.
I definitely wouldn’t describe Soarin’ as a thrill ride. But the “steroids” part might change the perception.
Then, we have the Coco boat ride coming to Disney California Adventure.
This one’s easy to classify. It’s clearly one of the four indoor family rides.
Then, we have the Avengers Campus expansion.
Avengers Assemble
During a recent Josh D’Amaro interview, a reporter indicated that Avengers Campus would nearly double in size.
That falls right in line with my expectations based on park blueprints and some projections about what happens next.
Perhaps the greatest Disneyland Resort surprise at DCA was the revelation of a second ride.
We already knew about the King Thanos attraction, but Disney also announced Stark Flight Lab, which sounds like a motion simulator.
In terms of cataloging, I expect the King Thanos attraction to be one of the three indoor thrill rides.
So, the question becomes whether Stark Flight Lab is a thrill ride or a family ride. I’m inclined to believe the former.
Motion simulation attractions definitely aren’t for everyone, but the presence of beloved actor Robert Downey Jr. complicates the matter.
Kids love Iron Man. So, it’s possible that this attraction skews younger than the description sounds.
This leads to the debate of whether Star Tours – The Adventures Continue! is a thrill ride versus a family ride. I’d argue the former, but you may disagree.
The Stark Effect
To a larger point, the RDJ part signifies one of the most interesting parts of this discussion.
Historically, Disney hasn’t relied on star power for its attractions.
Sure, we’ve had a couple of glaring exceptions like Rod Serling in the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and the band in Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith.
Serling was dead long before Disney built that ride, though. And a rock ‘n’ roll ride needs a band.
This situation is different. Disney is highlighting a particular actor for an entire attraction.
In the process, the company is showing how much it values test scores. Disney knows from its data research that fans adore RDJ.
His presence in that ride announcement changed the tenor of the conversation from “cheap motion simulator” to “exciting Marvel ride!”
When Disney talks about injecting intellectual properties into its attractions, it generally means cartoon characters.
That’s a safe approach since they’re timeless by nature. Tony Stark is similarly timeless, but RDJ himself is not.
Disney believes in him enough to make a rather shocking exception here. He’s basically getting Star Wars character status.
As Disney builds out Avengers Campus, I can’t help but wonder whether any of the other characters will similarly take center stage.
The company is doing this on Disney Cruise Line with Worlds of Marvel: Quantum Encounter.
Are face actors about to be more of a thing, or is this the RDJ Exception?
As I contemplate Disneyland’s future, these discussions matter almost as much as the rides themselves.
We’re talking about a 70-year-old theme park that constantly changes and evolves.
So, the future of Disneyland Resort isn’t just about the rides but also the experiences. From now on, RDJ is an experience. That’s wild, right?
About the Other Rides
If you weren’t counting, I’ve only discussed four out of the suggested 16 rides coming to Disneyland Resort.
You’re likely wondering about the other 12. Sadly, I cannot help you there, as that’s all Disney has announced so far.
I could tell you about some rumored attractions like Zootopia, and Disney executives have hinted about something Wakanda.
Still, the only four attractions Disney announced at D23 are the Coco ride, the Avatar ride (which wasn’t new), the Stark ride, and Walt Disney: A Magical Life.
In the short term, the show with the Walt Disney Audio-Animatronic is the only thing we should expect.
The rest will arrive in 2026 or 2027. After that, Disney is playing it cool, which is the smart move.
Park officials haven’t announced the other rides yet because those additions are written in pencil, not pen.
At the start of the year, nobody expected Inside Out 2 to become one of the top ten blockbusters ever.
Disney is keeping its options open in case franchises suddenly explode in popularity, just as Frozen, Moana, and Encanto did.
So, we know from the filings what Disney officials have planned for the upcoming expansion rides at Disneyland Resort.
However, we don’t know which brands the company will pick because it doesn’t either…not for sure.
I think it’s fair to say that the future of Disneyland Resort remains up for debate.
In fact, I have a conspiracy theory about what Disney intends to do. I’ll discuss that in an upcoming companion piece.
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Feature Photo: Disney