Disneyland Resort in California is planning a large-scale theme park land inspired by Avatar that will be one of Disneyland’s most significant expansions in years, and Disney just shared a new sneak peek.
Despite earlier rumors of the project being canceled, Disneyland’s Avatar land is still happening, but its timeline has been pushed back. We’re here at D23 to report the latest update on this highly anticipated project so that Disney can prioritize something else instead. Mickey Visit brings you the latest Disney news and planning resources, including a new look at Disneyland’s upcoming Coco ride and a new Nightmare Before Christmas collection coming to Bath & Body Works.
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Avatar Land Coming to Disneyland
A new theme park land based on the Avatar movies is coming to Disney California Adventure at Disneyland Resort.
The area will transport guests to Pandora with experiences and architecture based on 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water and Avatar: Fire and Ash. Those sequels focused on more water-based locales than the forest regions of 2009’s first Avatar movie.
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Importantly, Disney California Adventure’s Avatar land will not be a copy of Pandora – The World of Avatar at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, which opened in 2017 in Florida. The experiences in California will have new attractions.
The headliner of the Avatar land coming to Disney California Adventure will be a boat ride featuring both indoor and outdoor segments. Based on concept art, the boat ride will be thrilling at some moments, mysterious at others, and even relaxing at times.
The information above has been known for quite some time. New details emerged at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, in August 2026, including a major update about the project being pushed back. Let’s dive into it.
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Avatar Land Construction Pushed Back
Rumors circulated earlier this year that Disney had swapped the Avatar land in favor of a different expansion based on another intellectual property (IP). This is not the case.
Disney is still building an Avatar land at Disney California Adventure, but the priority of the project among Disneyland Resort’s other upcoming attractions has shifted.
The next big Disneyland Resort attractions to open will be the Avengers Campus expansion, followed by the Coco ride, both at Disney California Adventure and already under construction.
After Avengers and Coco, Disney will prioritize reimagining Tomorrowland at Disneyland Park before focusing on the Avatar land at Disney California Adventure.
Disney shared this timeline information with Mickey Visit during an exclusive media presentation at D23.
“We believe that delivering the projects in this way is the right thing to do for our fans,” Disneyland Resort President Jill Estorino said during the media presentation. “We’re going to be able to provide a reimagined Tomorrowland in Walt’s park while continuing to invest in Disney California Adventure to bring new stories to life over time.”
As we’ve been reporting, the Avatar land is not a secluded construction project, but one that is intertwined with several other important builds throughout Disneyland Resort. The delay of the Avatar land will affect one of those, but not the other.
Monsters, Inc. Ride Permanent Closure Delayed
Disney reiterated that the Avatar land will be located in a location currently inhabited by two very different entities:
- a portion of Hollywood Land in Disney California Adventure, including the Monsters, Inc. ride
- the Disneyland Resort transportation hub, located immediately outside of Disney California Adventure’s current perimeter
To accommodate the new Avatar land, Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! will permanently close. Disney had previously announced this closure, originally saying the ride would shutter in early 2026 before moving the closure to early 2027.
Disney California Adventure’s Monsters, Inc. ride is still permanently closing eventually, but it now will remain open past early 2027, Disneyland officials confirmed with Mickey Visit. We predict that the ride could be open another year or two past 2027 at least.
An exact closing timeframe has not been announced.
The other component of the Avatar land’s construction is the displacement of the Disneyland Resort transportation hub. Construction is underway on a new transportation hub east of the Disney theme parks, which will include a bridge traversing over Harbor Boulevard traffic and directly leading to the theme park entrances.
The transportation hub construction will continue as scheduled. That project will not be affected by Avatar’s delay.
Possible Reasons for Disney Changing Avatar Land’s Priority
A few factors likely contributed to Disney deciding to push back construction for Disney California Adventure’s Avatar land in favor of prioritizing the Tomorrowland reimagining at Disneyland Park.
For starters, Disney California Adventure was already receiving two huge investments, the Avengers Campus expansion and the Coco ride, while nothing on that scale had been announced for Disneyland Park next door. Turning to Tomorrowland and then looping back to Avatar helps balance out the calendar of future experiences coming to both theme parks.
That was something Estorino pointed out during the media presentation Mickey Visit attended. Disney California Adventure “has become a world-class theme park,” she said, and “it’s really standing on its own.” Estorino continued, “Now, it’s time to turn our attention and focus on the original park that Walt built, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
There’s also the shift in Disney leadership to consider. The Avatar land was one of the first major projects following Bob Iger’s 2022 return as Disney’s CEO. Iger’s second term was always meant to be temporary, and he passed the baton to Josh D’Amaro earlier this year. D’Amaro was previously Disney Experiences Chairman, in charge of all of Disney’s theme parks globally. That role is now occupied by Thomas Mazloum, who previously was Disneyland Resort President, the job currently held by Estorino. Avatar might not be as important to D’Amaro as it was to Iger, and the same may be true of the new leaders in charge of the parks at large and of Disneyland.
Then there’s the question mark looming over the future of the Avatar franchise overall. Disney previously announced a fourth and fifth Avatar film for 2029 and 2031, respectively, and some portions of the fourth have reportedly already been filmed. Despite this, no Avatar movies were mentioned during D23’s studio showcase. Ambiguous remarks from director James Cameron also indicate less eagerness on his part to continue making the movies.
Disney did not share any new details about the specific attractions or experiences within the upcoming Avatar land at D23, but that isn’t very surprising. This project is still years away from being anywhere close to opening. Even before the delay, we estimated it would open no earlier than 2030. A delay of that already stretched-out prediction places this far into the future.
However, the acknowledgement of the Avatar land during D23’s Disney Experiences Showcase and the inclusion of models depicting the land’s huge architecture on the D23 Show Floor imply that Disney wants to communicate on no uncertain terms that they still intend to build the project, just not as soon as they first thought.
We expect more thorough deep dives into the attractions and dining experience(s) of the upcoming Avatar land at future D23s.
The news of the Avatar land’s delay is one of many huge announcements just made at D23. Click here to see all the news revealed at D23 with our ongoing coverage!
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