A decade prior to the Walt Disney Company acquiring Marvel Entertainment, Universal Studios opened Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida, a short drive away from Disney World. The park includes Marvel Super Hero Island, featuring “The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man” and “The Incredible Hulk Coaster,” two acclaimed and still-popular attractions. But as fun as they are, Marvel Super Hero Island can’t help but feel like a relic from a different time, from before the Marvel Cinematic Universe dominated the box office. Universal is keeping the Spider-Man and Hulk rides, but Disney is also opening Avengers Campus, or because no one’s going to actually call it that, Marvel Land.
On Wednesday, Disney announced that Avengers Campus (“an entirely new land dedicated to discovering, recruiting, and training the next generation of heroes”) will open in Disneyland on July 18 (Disney World has to wait until 2021). “It’s about living out your superhero fantasies,” Walt Disney Imagineering Executive Creative Director Brent Strong told GMA. “Not just bring it to life — where you get to see your favorite heroes or you get to meet your favorite heroes — but you actually get to become a hero.”
There will be rides (although only one, Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure, will be open at launch), food (the Pym Tasting Kitchen has a giant chicken sandwich that I want to immediately; also, yes, there will be shawarma), and appearances from all your favorite MCU characters. And maybe some you don’t like, too! Cough Star-Lord cough:
There are embedded Easter eggs for the diehard fans who can name every Infinity Stone, as well as the newbies who don’t know their Iron Men from their Ant-Men. There will be plenty of heroes on hand, too: Visitors will be able to meet and interact with Iron Man, Spider-Man, Black Widow, Black Panther, Okoye and the Dora Milaje, Ant-Man, Wasp, Doctor Strange, Groot, Gamora, Star-Lord, Captain America, Captain Marvel, Thor, and Loki.
The land will be separated into five areas: the Collector’s Fortress (it’s where Guardians of the Galaxy — Mission: Breakout, the former Tower of Terror, is located); the Worldwide Engineering Brigade (WEB), with the Spider-Man ride; the Pym Test Kitchen and Tasting Lab; the outdoor Doctor Strange-themed Sanctum; and the Avengers Headquarters, which “will be the stage for live shows and the eventual home of a bigger attraction,” according to Polygon. In case you were wondering why Disney’s new CEO (this Bob, not that Bob) was in charge of parks: “Avengers Land” is why.
Introducing Avengers Campus, an all-new land opening July 18 at Disney California Adventure Park. A Super Hero training complex for the next generation of heroes…just like you. #LetsGoBeHeroes
— Disneyland Resort (@Disneyland) March 11, 2020
(Via Entertainment Weekly, GMA, and Polygon)
