7 new Disneyland attractions and their opening dates
Anaheim's Disneyland plans to add new attractions based on Avatar, Coco, The Avengers, The Mandalorian, Princess Tiana and even Walt Disney himself over the next five years as it embarks on an ambitious expansion plan.
Disney Parks Chairman Josh D'Amaro announced plans to build seven new attractions at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure over the next five years at the D23 fan event held at the Honda Center on Saturday, August 10.
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“Everything I'm about to share with you all is currently in development,” D'Amaro said at the D23 event. “The plans are in place, the dirt is being moved, and I want to be very clear: everything I'm going to share with you all tonight is currently in development.”
Which ones will open first? And what's coming after? Here's an overview of the expected grand opening schedule for all seven new attractions.
1) Tiana's Bayou Adventure
Work to transform Splash Mountain into Tianna's Bayou Adventure has been underway for over a year.
The renovated log slide will reopen on November 15th, just in time for Disneyland's winter holiday season.
Some areas of the newly renamed Bayou Country may open sooner than Tiana's Bayou Adventure.
2) Walt Disney Animatronics
The world's first Walt Disney Audio-Animatronic figure is set to debut at Disneyland's Main Street Opera House in 2025.
The new animatronic show, “Walt Disney – A Magical Life,” will be a standalone show for the first performances, then alternate with “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.”
The opening of “A Magical Life,” combined with Disneyland's 70th anniversary celebrations next year, will give the Anaheim theme park plenty of publicity in 2025.
3) Smuggler's Run Transformation
Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge's Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run will be getting a Mandalorian-themed makeover to coincide with the release of The Mandalorian and Grogu in May 2026.
An early summer release date likely means the ride adaptation will debut in spring 2026 at the two Star Wars lands at Disneyland in Florida and Disney's Hollywood Studios.
4) Avengers: Infinity Defense
Disney California Adventure's Marvel-themed area will double in size with the addition of two new rides, “Avengers: Infinity Defense” and “Stark Flight Lab.”
Construction on the Avengers Campus expansion is scheduled to begin in 2025.
Concept art for the Avengers Campus expansion shows the attraction's new building stretching into the last remaining section of the original Disneyland parking lot, behind the Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout drop tower ride.
The Avengers E-Ticket Ride has been in development since 2019, presumably meaning Avengers: Infinity Defense is further along in the development process and will likely open first.
If that's the case, Avengers: Infinity Defense could be released as early as 2026.
5) Stark Flight Labs
Stark Flight Lab will seat passengers in pods attached to robotic arms during flight simulations.
Disneyland has yet to announce whether Avengers: Infinity Defense and Stark Flight Lab will open at the same time, but that seems unlikely. Separating the opening dates by a year or two would give Disneyland the opportunity to promote each ride individually, which would be more cost-effective.
If that happens, Stark Flight Lab could open sometime between 2027 and 2029.
6) Coco Attraction
The world-first “Coco” attraction coming to Disney California Adventure will take guests on a musical journey to the Land of the Dead with Miguel and other characters from the 2017 Pixar film.
Construction on the new Koko attraction is scheduled to begin in 2026.
A Coco-themed area has been proposed as part of the Disneyland Forward expansion project, suggesting a new attraction could be built in the parking lot south of the Pixar Place hotel.
The new mega-adventure, “Coco,” built by Walt Disney Imagineering, could take a year or two to open, and if Disneyland ultimately decides to expand the attraction into the land, a full-scale theme park could take even longer.
A new Coco attraction is scheduled for 2027 on Disneyland's development calendar, with further expansion of the Coco-themed area likely in the years after that — if that goes according to plan.
7) Avatar Area
The innovative new attraction coming to Disney California Adventure is based on Avatar: The Way of Water and the upcoming films in the franchise and will take guests on a thrilling, action-packed journey through the vast oceans of Pandora.
Disneyland has not yet announced when construction will begin on the Avatar-themed attraction or what an opening date might be.
The Avatar experience has been heralded as a potential expansion project for Disneyland Forward.
Disneyland officials say DisneylandForward will allow Walt Disney Imagineering to think more broadly about possibilities and develop ideas for what Avatar's destination could be.
Of all the new attractions announced for Disneyland Resort, the Avatar-themed area will likely take the longest to build from the ground up, with Disney not yet calling the Avatar addition a “themed land,” variously describing it as an “experience,” “destination,” or “area.”
A D23 blog post promised that the new Avatar experience coming to DCA will be just as amazing as the 12-acre World of Avatar themed area at Disney's Animal Kingdom in Florida.
Construction of the full-scale Avatar-themed land based on the “Water Road” is expected to take as long as the 14-acre Star Wars Galaxy's Edge, which took four years.
That would put the earliest date on the calendar for DCA Avatar Land would be 2028. If Stark Flight Lab is scheduled before Pandora, it would be 2029. If the land only has one unfinished Avatar attraction, it could be completed sooner.
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