Can the Avengers Save Disneyland?

With so little word about the Disneyland Resort in recent weeks, we wondered about a big project that was underway at Disney’s California Adventure. It is the Avengers Campus. We want to share in detail what is planned for this entirely new land, it’s attractions, restaurants, retail and more. When will it finally be constructed and will it help save the resort’s attendance when it finally opens?

You can find our podcast here on Podbean, iTunes, Spotify, MyTuner, and ListenNotes. Key notes and photos are below, but you’ll find most of my commentary on the podcast.

Happy Birthday Spiderman!

This week is Spiderman’s birthday. In the scene where Peter picks up his passport, his birthday is listed as Aug. 10. His year of birth isn’t specified, but it stands out as a tribute to Spider-Man’s first appearance in The Amazing Fantasy #15, widely recognized as having been released on Aug. 10, 1962. We’re celebrating by talking up his new attraction and the entire Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure!

Avenger’s Campus

Avenger’s Campus is the name given to this section of Disney California Adventure, which largely takes over the former Tough to be a Bug space and Bug’s Life Land. The word campus is actually an acronym that stands for “Centralized Assembly Mobilized to Prepare, Unite, and Safeguard.” 

The campus will eventually offer three attractions:

• Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout
• Web Slingers: A Spiderman Adventure
• Avengers Quinjet

Avengers Campus is supposedly based on a place that Howard Stark, Tony Stark’s father, had originally built. In Insider, Dave Bushore, vice president of franchise creative and marketing at Marvel Studios, said Avengers Campus is very much rooted in the idea that this is a place Tony Stark’s father, Howard, built.

“Our message with the campus is that the idea that Tony [Stark] learned he wants to be more than a weapons manufacturer [in ‘Iron Man’],” Bushore told Insider. “He wants to help the world in a great way. He is taking everything his father built… and turning it into a place for everybody to help train people and spread that message of heroism.”

WEB Support Coming to Disney California Adventure

WEB Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure is the name of the new attraction coming to Avengers Campus. WEB stands for Worldwide Engineering Brigade. This will be the first Disney ride-through attraction to feature a favorite neighborhood hero: Spider-Man. This new family-friendly attraction, WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure, invites guests to put their web-slinging skills to the test.

The story is as follows:

At the Worldwide Engineering Brigade – also known as WEB – Tony Stark has assembled bright innovators like Peter Parker to invent new technologies and equip everyday people to become Super Heroes. WEB will house the new WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure, the first Disney ride-through attraction to feature this iconic Super Hero.

The mission: team up with Spidey and help capture the out-of-control Spider-Bots before they wreak havoc on the Campus. During an open house at WEB, you will be asked to wear 3D glasses and test drive their latest invention, the WEB Slinger vehicle, which allows you to sling webs like Spider-Man. The attraction will give you a taste of what it’s like to have actual super powers as you help Spider-Man collect Spider-Bots that have run amok!

The technology adapted specifically for this attraction includes a seamless blend of 3D and new interface, which allows guests to go on a mission and experience what it’s like to have super powers and sling webs alongside Spider-Man. 

WEB is all about how bright young innovators like Peter Parker are inventing new technologies that let all of us become Super Heroes. It is supposed that some of his friends will also make appearances in this attraction.

This attraction will have no height requirement, making it a family friendly attraction.

Outsidears tweeted the blueprints of the new attraction which has a similar layout to Midway Mania. The ride vehicle and the use of 3D glasses also are reminiscent of this attraction, which is already found in Pixar Pier at Disney’s California Adventure.

Tom Holland does give voice to this attraction.

Spiderman will be given a new outfit that was intended for both Disney California Adventure and Walt Disney Studios Paris.

The attraction is using technology that allows guests to “sling webs”. It’s believed to be similar to a ride technology used on the Ninjago attraction in LegoLand.

The attraction largely takes up the former space used for It’s Tough to Be a Bug. Though it’s anticipated that the old Kleenex box that was the restrooms for Bug’s Land will be utilized as part of the queue.

Some Cast Members were already selected for the test and adjust team supporting the new Spiderman attraction before the virus hit. To draw attention to getting the role, one Cast Member, a Karli Bull from Fantasyland Attractions, designed her resume as a secret agent profile stamped, “CONFIDENTIAL.” After being selected, each of them took on Code names and aliases.

Remains to be seen whether the flight of Spiderman is one element of a stunt show, and intro into him coming out for a meet ‘n’ greet, or something that happens on a rotational basis like the clock going off at “it’s a small world”

The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman is very popular at Islands of Adventure in Universal Orlando.

More Heroes to Disneyland’s Rescue

Lots of Character. Disney California Adventure has for some time held meet ‘n’ greets with Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Black Widow, Doctor Strange, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Panther, the Dora Milaje, Thor and even villains like Loki (as there has in the past).

Did you know that Ant-Man and The Wasp will also be making appearances? Also Iron Man himself will be debuting his new armor in Avengers Campus: the Mark 80.

Dr. Strange. You may have heard that Dr. Strange had a sort of meet ‘n’ greet show going on in one section of the Avenger’s Campus. It’s believed to be comparable to the Jedi Trials experience.

Did you know that at night, the area glows even more vividly with majestic colors and lights, pulsating with mystic energy.

Villains as Well. The villainous Taskmaster, who will have a role in the upcoming film “Black Widow,” will be seen for the first time at a Disney park at Avengers Campus. Taskmaster’s abilities include photographic reflexes.

Super Hero Appetites

Pym Test Kitchen. With all of this a new counter service experience called Pym Test Kitchen coming. It is a food innovation science lab where the food and drinks tell a story. Just as Ant-Man and The Wasp use “Pym Particles” to grow and shrink just about anything, Pym Technologies applies this innovative science to the creation of shareable bites, inventive-sized entrees and sweet treats. You will be able to taste-test such items as the Impossible™ plant-based large and micro meatballs with pasta, or the “Pym-ini,” a panini served by the slice or as a long, multi-portion sandwich. 

The Impossible Spoonful It’s a massive vegan meatball served in a comically large ladle-turned-bowl, finished with a teensy fork stuck on top. 

Here is a PB³ Superb Sandwich with banana smoothie shooter and tater tots, from the adult menu at Pym Tasting Kitchen.

What happens when you combine a large chicken schnitzel with a small slider-sized potato bun, topped with Sriracha and teriyaki citrus mayos and pickled cabbage slaw? You get the Not so Little Chicken Sandwich.

Pym Tasting Lab. Just a few steps from Pym Test Kitchen, the Pym Tasting Lab represents Scott Lang aka Ant-Man’s pet project and has a focus on adult beverages. Craft beers on tap range from a blood orange hefeweizen to an amber lager, and they’re poured via an ingenious reverse draft system where the glass fills from the bottom up.

The Pym Tasting Lab will feature four different beer cocktails, as well as snacks that feature big flavors but come in small, munchable bites, such as sweet and savory popped grains, mini pretzels, and salted honey-roasted peanuts.

Did you also know that there will be two food carts?

Shawarma. First, the Avengers have invited the crew of their favorite “shawarma joint” in New York, the Shawarma Palace, to open a second location at the Campus. Enjoy favorite shawarma-inspired snacks at this food cart, which is decked out with memorabilia since the Shawarma Palace owners are huge Avenger fans. Shawarma-inspired snacks will be served and it is anticipated that items will include a warm chicken wrap with garlic sauce, and a vegetarian Impossible Victory Falafel.

Terran Treats. Of course, Guardians of the Galaxy–Mission Breakout will be fused into the total Marvel Campus. Taneleer Tivan did not limit his collection to lovable misfits; he is also curating a weird and wonderful menu of intergalactic eats at the Terran Treats food cart near Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout! 

One item will be a Cosmic Cream Orb, similar to a raspberry cheesecake pate a choux.

A slightly more familiar choice but in a different form will be these churros retitled as sweet spiral rations.

Shop, Drop & Save the World

WEB Suppliers. The WEB Suppliers store is where you will find the latest WEB inventions, including interactive Spider-Bots much like the ones you will see in the new attraction, WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure. Each Spider-Bot has a remote control, and all eight articulated legs move forward and backward. Best of all, you can tap into your inner WEB inventor by customizing your Spider-Bot with tactical upgrades to harness the powers and styles of favorite Super Heroes, including Black Panther, Iron Man and Black Widow, as well as Ant-Man and The Wasp. 

Other must-have items at WEB Suppliers include a specially-designed backpack to carry Spider-Bots when they are not in action.

Spider-Man light goggles, a take-home spider web kit and Funko Pop! vinyl figurines of Spider-Man and Iron Man.

Campus Supply Pod. Nearby, the Campus Supply Pod is the place to power up with official Avengers Campus gear, including performance fleece hoodies and tees, headwear, drinkware and other Super Hero supplies.

The Collector’s Warehouse. Recall that there is already a retail experience at the exit to Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout! That will also be part of this experience.

Avengers Quinjet

Avenger’s Quinjet, a working title for this attraction, is supposed to do for Avenger’s Campus and Disney California Adventure what Rise of the Resistance is supposed to do to Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge and Disneyland.

In a New York Comic Con 2019 panel, Scot Drake stated: “We’re inventing an all-new ride system for this…The demands of these characters and this experience is forcing us to invent and we’re really excited about that. It’s going to be something like you’ve never seen before.”

The experience will allow guests to step on board a Quinjet with Black Panther and fly alongside the Avengers in an adventure to Wakanda and beyond. Scot Drake noted: “This is going to be the basis of our own origin story. We’re going to build back up and get to fight alongside with all the Avengers in this epic battle in Wakanda.”

Scot Drake, who heads the entire Marvel portfolio across all Disney theme parks globally, previously headed up Tomorrowland at Shanghai Disneyland. That includes the spectacular TRON: Lightcyle Run.

Avengers Campus Worldwide

There are three primary campuses, one at Disney California Adventure, one at Disneyland Hong Kong, and one being built at Walt Disney Studios Paris. But there are also smaller presences elsewhere. Here’s how it breaks out at five other locations:

Stark Expo Hong Kong

• Iron Man Experience
• Ant-Man and the Wasp: Nano Battle
• Avengers Quinjet

Walt Disney Studios Paris:

• Web Slingers: A Spiderman Adventure
• Iron Man Roller Coaster
• Avengers Quinjet

Shanghai Disneyland: Mission Station

Epcot: Xandarian Base

Disney Cruise Line: Mobile Base

There’s Always More

Thanks for joining us. Make sure you check out the following:

DisneyatWork.com

It’s where we take best-in-business ideas from the “Happiest Place on Earth” and help apply them to your business organization. Visit DisneyatWork.com

YouTube.com

It’s our place for videos and more at my YouTube channel J. Jeff Kober

Book a Stay at Walt Disney World

Meanwhile, is it time to book your next trip to Disney? The best person to answer that question is David Zanolla, owner and agent of of Out The Door Travel, LLC. There’s no cost–but it could save you a lot of time–and even money–especially when you put it in the hands of someone who really knows Disney and travel. Call today at 309-863-5469 or reach out to him via zanolla@otdtravel.com