Disney California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort is expanding with major new attractions. When guests board these rides in the coming years, they’ll come face to face with world-famous superheroes and music-loving skeletons, among other iconic figures from Disney’s vast entertainment portfolio. A long list of new restaurants is also on the way for the Disneyland Resort.
Six new rides and experiences are coming to Disney California Adventure as part of multiple expansion plots. We have details on all of them and when to expect their grand openings. Mickey Visit brings you the latest Disney news and planning resources, including new Hallmark ornaments inspired by Disney theme parks and changes to Disneyland menus.
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A New Era for Disney California Adventure
The upcoming expansions mark the biggest construction projects at Disney California Adventure since 2012. That was when Disney built a new park entrance depicting a romanticized Hollywood circa 1923, the year Walt Disney arrived in town, and Cars Land, a recreation of the Route 66 town of Radiator Springs from Pixar’s Cars, in full scale.
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These changes represented a huge improvement from the park’s kitschy origins. The transformed Disney California Adventure was decidedly more Disney, but maintained its California identity within that mythology. There were tons of wonderful additions and live entertainment that came with that era, including the Red Car Trolley News Boys show that happened in front of the Red Car Trolley, as seen in the photo above.
In the elapsed years since that redefining moment, the park has overlaid some of its existing areas with familiar Disney franchises. Paradise Pier is now Pixar Pier, for example. Disney California Adventure’s only outright, completely new ride since 2012 has been WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure, in which riders blast virtual webs from their hands to save the day.
Now, Disney California Adventure forges its future with an impressive slate of new rides that will physically expand the park’s footprint in three different places. These additions admittedly may not have much to do with the Golden State, but they do contribute to the once-fledgling theme park’s evolution as a star destination while the Disneyland Resort at large prepares for a long-term vision decades in the making.
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Avengers Infinity Defense
Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure is expanding with two new rides. These will join the land’s two existing rides, the aforementioned WEB SLINGERS and Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission – BREAKOUT!, the 2017 makeover of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.
The biggest of Avengers Campus’s two new rides will be Avengers Infinity Defense, a high-tech escapade featuring dozens of Marvel superheroes. Just a few of the familiar faces in concept art include Hulk, Black Panther, and Thor. They’ll all battle King Thanos, a multiverse variant of the infamous villain who we haven’t seen before in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Based on the concept art and models that Disney has shared so far, we expect Avengers Infinity Defense to combine physical sets and screens with a thrilling ride system similar to The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man at Universal Islands of Adventure.
Stark Flight Lab
The other new ride coming to the Avengers Campus expansion at Disney California Adventure is called Stark Flight Lab.
Guests will board a two-person seat, which will be picked up by a giant robotic arm and flung through the air. This will not be a ride for the easily nauseous!
Within the story, riders will test new technology from Stark Industries meant to simulate a superhero’s flight patterns during battles and help train them. The robotic arms will be programmed to mimic the movements of different Avengers, each with their own audio narration track, so guests can ride multiple times and possibly experience very different rides.
Disney hasn’t announced an opening date for the new Avengers Campus rides, but construction is underway. The attractions likely won’t be finished in time for the release of Avengers: Doomsday in December 2026, but we’d be surprised if they aren’t ready at least by the release of Avengers: Secret Wars in December 2027.
Coco Ride
The first-ever ride based on Pixar’s Coco is coming to Disney California Adventure! The family-friendly boat ride will take riders into the Land of the Dead with Miguel and his familia, just like in the movie.
Disney will use the latest in Audio-Animatronics technology and says Imagineering is taking inspiration from classics like Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean, so expectations are very high.
The Coco ride will be located adjacent to and behind Incredicoaster, on land that was previously backstage.
We expect new dining experiences to also be introduced with the Coco ride, possibly as an overhaul of the existing Paradise Garden Grill nearby, but Disney has not formally announced any Coco food offerings.
Disney hasn’t announced an opening timeframe for the Coco ride, but based on the current state of construction, a 2028 opening seems possible.
Avatar Ride
A boat ride based on James Cameron’s Avatar films is coming to Disney California Adventure as part of an entirely new land taking place on the distant planet of Pandora. Crucially, though, this will not be a clone of Pandora – The World of Avatar at Walt Disney World in Florida.
The marquee boat ride in Disney California Adventure’s Avatar land will be unlike anything that exists in a U.S. Disney park to date. Concept art shows the ride traveling both indoors and outdoors, with some scenes looking tranquil and others appearing thrilling.
The ride system may or may not be the same as Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure at Shanghai Disneyland. That ride combines a traditional Disney boat ride with huge simulator screens. California’s Avatar excursion might also share similarities with NightFlight Expedition, a new ride opening at Dollywood that can control its boats’ direction and tilt.
The new Avatar land will replace Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!, a family-friendly dark ride closing in early 2027, as well as some of the surrounding Hollywood Land area. The land will also displace Disneyland Resort’s existing transportation hub, which will be rebuilt as part of a new parking structure nearby.
Unannounced Avatar Experiences
Given the size of the Avatar land coming to Disney California Adventure, the promised scale of the project, and the fact that Disney’s Florida Avatar land contains two rides, it’s possible that there may be more attractions yet to be announced in addition to the headliner boat ride.
In the Avatar films, Pandora is rich in exciting environments and storytelling potential that could lend themselves to adaptation in a Disney theme park.
At the very least, we expect a new dining location or two to be part of Disney California Adventure’s Avatar land, if not entirely new rides that have yet to be revealed.
We anticipate Disney sharing more about the Avatar land and every other item in our story today at the upcoming D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event.
Madame Leota’s Swinging Wake
Madame Leota’s Swinging Wake – A Haunted Mansion Street Party is coming to Disney California Adventure. The new production will be part of Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party, which kicks off for the season on August 18, 2026, and continues through October 31.
Due to the ongoing construction of the Coco ride, Disney California Adventure’s parade route and storage are inaccessible. This means the Frightfully Fun Parade, usually performed during Oogie Boogie Bash, is unable to happen this year. See our full analysis of this live entertainment puzzle.
Disney created Madame Leota’s Swinging Wake as a solution replacement, employing fewer floats and containing its performance space to a smaller area rather than the full parade route.
The classic Disneyland Park attraction will materialize in the street, complete with ballroom dancers, ghosts, and the subjects of the portraits in the stretching room.
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