Guests visiting Disneyland Resort in California lately may have noticed several construction sites throughout the theme parks. In the near future, even more construction walls will go up as Disney continues preparing for the next generation of new rides. Projects in the works include attractions based on some of Disney’s most popular movie franchises, balanced with attention toward classic Disney stories. These initiatives parallel the new rides coming to Disney World in Florida.
With so many new Disneyland rides announced, when will they all open? In this story, we’ll map out all of Disneyland’s upcoming ride announcements year by year, sharing what Disney has revealed about their opening dates and, in some cases, making predictions based on informed insight from Disneyland leadership remarks and construction progress. Mickey Visit brings you the latest Disney news and planning resources, including Disney building its first-ever Lion King ride and details on the replacement of a Disneyland dining location.
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When Will Disneyland’s New Rides Open?
Walt Disney Imagineering is busy developing and constructing new rides opening in the coming years at Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure, the two theme parks of Disneyland Resort.
Guests will soon journey to the Land of the Dead with Miguel and Mama Coco, train to be an Avenger with Tony Stark, and even travel to the distant planet of Pandora. Disney has also announced an overhaul of Tomorrowland and the return of several Disneyland favorites. We share details for all of these projects below, updated based on Disney’s recent remarks at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event. This is an updated version of our previous look at new rides opening.
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That’s not even to mention the ongoing construction work for new restaurants coming to Downtown Disney.
Walt Disney World in Florida also has a huge slate of upcoming attractions, including Villains Land, a Monsters, Inc. door vault roller coaster, and an Encanto ride. See the calendar of when Disney World rides will open.
Collectively, Disneyland’s upcoming attractions make up a sweeping expansion that will impact nearly every component of the Disneyland experience. Let’s go through year by year to see when everything will open.
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2026 at Disneyland
2026 at Disneyland can be viewed as more of a transitional year as construction in more areas of the resort has ramped up. There have not been that many openings of new offerings this year.
For most of this year, Disneyland has still been riding out the wave of its 70th anniversary, which kicked off in May 2025 and concluded in August 2026. Among the highlights was the celebrated return of the Paint the Night parade for a limited time.
The most significant addition in 2026 has been Bluey’s Best Day Ever!, a live show in Fantasyland Theatre at Disneyland Park. This marked the Disney theme park debut of hugely popular preschool characters Bluey and Bingo. The production also brought themed photo-ops, food, and merchandise to the venue.
While the small-scale Bluey experience is sticking around for now, Disneyland otherwise hasn’t debuted any permanent new attractions in 2026. The most recent major attractions to open were Walt Disney – A Magical Life in 2025, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure in 2024, and Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway in 2023.
The remainder of 2026 will be focused on seasonal celebrations. Halloween Time continues through October 31, and the holiday season will take place from November 13, 2026, through January 6, 2027.
In March 2026, a huge Disney leadership shuffle influenced the trajectory of Disneyland’s future. As former Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro became the new Disney CEO, former Disneyland Resort President Thomas Mazloum took D’Amaro’s place as Disney Experiences Chairman.
Subsequently, former President of Disney Parks International Jill Estorino replaced Mazloum as the new Disneyland Resort President. As you you’ll see below, these shifts have already impacted Disneyland’s slate of upcoming rides and the opening timelines.
2027 at Disneyland
One of Disneyland’s first project dates for 2027 will be an update to Autopia, the Tomorrowland ride with miniature cars. Disney will either close the ride or convert all of the attraction’s current gas-powered engines to electric by February 1, 2027.
Notably, this change was prompted by a mandate from the California Air Resources Board and is unrelated to Disneyland’s more sweeping Tomorrowland overhaul, which we detail below. Disney has not formally announced when or if Autopia will temporarily close to accommodate the switchover, or if any other changes will be made to the ride during the transition.
It seems more likely that the ride will close instead of be completely overhauled by that date based on the other news about Tomorrowland.
The first big additions of the year will happen in February 2027 with the return of two amazing shows.
Remember…Dreams Come True will return to Disneyland Park in February 2027. This fireworks show originally premiered in 2005 for Disneyland’s 50th anniversary celebration, and most recently performed during a limited-time engagement in 2018. The show’s soundtrack features Julie Andrews narrating a journey through Disneyland ride music.
The 2027 version will be refreshed with new projection elements along Main Street, “it’s a small world,” and the Rivers of America.
“An updated take,” in Disney’s words, of the original version of World of Color will debut at Disney California Adventure in February 2027.
The inaugural iteration of Disney’s breathtaking water projection show premiered in 2010 with favorite Disney movie moments from Enchanted, WALL-E, Toy Story, and others. We look forward to hearing the Sherman Brothers opening song once again.
Magic Happens, Disneyland Park’s daytime parade, will return in summer 2027. The procession debuted in 2020, and most recently performed in 2024. Magic Happens features floats based on Moana, Coco, and Frozen 2, to name a few.
This means that for the first few months of 2027, after the holiday season’s final day on January 6, Disneyland will noticeably be without any full parade until the summer. Shorter cavalcades are likely to be performed during this time.
2027 will see continuing construction for the Eastern Gateway, a new complex east of the theme parks, with:
- an 8-story, 6,000-space parking deck
- drop-offs and pick-ups for ride-share services
- drop-offs and pick-ups for buses servicing nearby hotels
- a new security checkpoint
- a bridge over Harbor Boulevard, connecting the Eastern Gateway with the entrances to Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure
Above is a look at what the overall area looked like before construction began.
Now here’s a look as of August 2026, labeled with what each area will be home to in the future.
Disneyland officially broke ground for the Eastern Gateway in August 2026 following the closure of a cast member parking lot.
The Eastern Gateway will unlock a large expansion area in Disney California Adventure that has been slated for Avatar.
The Avatar project is still happening, but has been postponed. We’ll have more to say about Avatar later in this story. Disneyland leadership has said the Avatar delay does not affect the schedule for the Eastern Gateway. With this in mind, Mickey Visit predicts the Eastern Gateway will open sometime between late 2027 and mid 2028.
While the construction of the parking structure itself doesn’t seem complicated, the maneuvering of the bridge crossing Harbor Boulevard and changes on the Disneyland side of the street will have to happen in a highly coordinated way that I could see taking more time.
2028 at Disneyland
An expansion of Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure will open in 2028. The project will add two new rides to the Marvel theme park land.
Avengers Infinity Defense will be a battle against Thanos involving ride vehicles traveling through large physical sets and screen-based spaces. Stark Flight Lab will simulate superheroes’ flying patterns with a robotic arm that flings guests through the air.
Disney confirmed the 2028 opening of the Avengers Campus expansion in August 2026. This is somewhat surprising considering the new rides are well into construction, and that 2027 won’t include any huge headlining ride additions at Disneyland. We are sure that Disneyland would have wanted to get the rides open earlier if they were able to. Now we just have to hope for an early 2028 opening.
The 2028 opening is also unexpected considering the December 2026 release date for Avengers: Doomsday and the December 2027 release of Avengers: Secret Wars.
Disney likes to sync the openings of new attractions and new movies whenever possible, with each entity serving as synergy promotion for the other. This happened when Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission – BREAKOUT! opened at Disney California Adventure the same month that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 debuted in movie theaters. The strategy was most recently implemented when the Mandalorian and Grogu were added to Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run at Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios on the same day that their film was released. The list goes on.
Sandwiching the opening of the Avengers Campus expansion between two major new Avengers films seems like an opportunity Disney would ordinarily love to leverage.
The fact that the Avengers Campus rides are opening in 2028 instead shows us that the construction schedule must truly need all the time it can get, and that the seemingly steady progress so far may not show the full breadth of the work that’s left to be done.
2029 at Disneyland
With the remaining items in our list, we venture into prediction territory, as Disney has not confirmed the opening dates or even the opening years for several other projects.
Disneyland officials have, however, confirmed the sequential order in which other future projects will open on the record to Mickey Visit. Pair this information with the announced opening dates for the rides we’ve already discussed above, and we gain some clarity on an estimated timeline for how things will roll out.
Following the Avengers Campus expansion in 2028, the next major Disneyland Resort attraction to open will be the Coco boat ride at Disney California Adventure.
This family-friendly attraction involves Miguel and his family celebrating Día de Muertos by looking back on their memories, including Miguel’s voyage to the Land of the Dead. See more details about the Coco ride here.
Coco 2 will be released in movie theaters in November 2029. As we discussed above, Disney loves a synergy moment when their movies and theme parks can complement one another.
With Avengers Campus’s new rides opening in 2028, there is no reason for the Coco ride to also open that same year in the same park unless Disney really wants to prioritize increasing Disney California Adventure’s capacity as soon as possible. It would make more sense to let each project have its own moment of promotional blitz, and provide a long enough time between their openings for guests to visit multiple times.
This is a topic that often comes up in speculating ride opening timelines. Does park capacity or marketing play the larger role in determining when a Disney ride opens? Usually it’s a bit of both. This would place the Coco ride’s opening after 2028.
In this same scenario, it’s unlikely that Disney would let the Coco 2 moment pass without capitalizing on it by having the Coco ride ready in time for the movie’s release. This would place the Coco ride’s opening before 2030.
Therefore, 2029 seems like a pretty safe bet for the Coco ride to open.
2030 at Disneyland
After finishing the Coco ride, Disneyland has two more major projects announced: an overhaul of Tomorrowland at Disneyland Park and a new Avatar land at Disney California Adventure.
Initially, Avatar was scheduled to be on deck after Coco. In August 2026, Disneyland leadership shared with Mickey Visit they have shifted their priorities. Avatar is still coming, but Tomorrowland will be first.
Imagineers shared with Mickey Visit that the Tomorrowland reimagining will be inspired by Walt Disney’s original vision for the land, and will include all-new attractions, not just sprucing up existing rides. Read more of the Imagineers’ insight into their macro approach for the Tomorrowland reimagining. Specific details beyond this have not been announced.
With Coco placed squarely in 2029, and Tomorrowland coming after Coco, that means 2030 would be the earliest potential opening year for the Tomorrowland changes in terms of sequential project order. Is 2030 feasible for a Tomorrowland turnaround, though? The Coco ride has been under construction for nearly a year at this point. Work on Tomorrowland hasn’t started at all, and its scope is presumably larger than one ride.
That being said, 2030 is probably a very intriguing target date for Disney on this particular project, as that’s the year when Disneyland will turn 75. The park’s third-quarter-century birthday is July 17, 2030. The opportunity to pair the opening of the Tomorrowland updates with Disneyland’s 75th anniversary seems like the most tailor-made Disney decision ever, maybe even more so than the Coco ride/Coco 2 pairing.
With Disneyland being the first Disney theme park, and the only one that Walt Disney ever set foot in, Disney tends to put a premium on the park’s history. Opening the gates of a “New Tomorrowland” on Disneyland’s 75th birthday seems like something Disney would be jumping up and down at the chance to do.
Disney Parks Chairman, Thomas Mazloum, also referenced the 75th anniversary of Disneyland when he announced the Tomorrowland overhaul onstage. “As we approach Disneyland’s 75th anniversary, with an eye towards the horizon of the parks’ centennial I think it’s time to renew that promise once again in a way that deeply honors the original and imagines the future with optimism and that starts with Tomorrowland.”
Whether that’s possible from a construction standpoint, though, remains a question mark. Then again, as we’ve seen, Disney also stretches out anniversary celebrations for long periods, so it’s possible that 2030 could see the first wave of Tomorrowland changes open, and that others would follow. We just don’t know yet, especially without having details on what exactly the Tomorrowland reimagining will entail.
Mickey Visit cautiously predicts the first phase of Tomorrowland’s reimagining will open in 2030.
2031 and Beyond at Disneyland
This brings us to Avatar. A new land based on James Cameron’s Avatar films is coming to Disney California Adventure. The land will be flanked by a huge mountainous landscape and waterfall. Inside and outside of this structure, guests will experience the land’s marquee attraction, a boat ride that combines thrilling and calm moments to give riders a full perspective on Pandora’s natural beauty and the awe it inspires.
The Avatar land will partially be located in what is currently the Disneyland transportation hub. As detailed above, once the newly constructed Eastern Gateway opens, the current transportation hub will close.
The remainder of the Avatar area will reside in what is currently the portion of Disney California Adventure’s Hollywood Land belonging to the family-friendly Monsters, Inc. dark ride and empty soundstages. Disney has confirmed that the nearby Hyperion Theater will survive, but has not announced the fate of Mickey’s PhilharMagic.
At first, Avatar would have followed Coco as the next major construction project at Disneyland Resort. In August 2026, Disney confirmed to Mickey Visit that the Tomorrowland overhaul would take precedence over Avatar. The company still says Avatar is happening, just that it will happen later than planned. This places the project’s opening date quite far away.
If Tomorrowland begins to open in 2030, at best, it probably won’t be finished until 2031. That means we’re talking 2032 or later for Avatar, and we’d lean toward later considering the amount of rock work and water infrastructure that will be required of the project.
Disney had initially announced that Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! would permanently close in early 2026 to prepare for the Avatar construction, then pushed the closure to early 2027. When Disney postponed Avatar, they also confirmed to us at Mickey Visit that the closure of Monsters, Inc. was likewise delayed. The ride remains open indefinitely for the time being, but will eventually close.
Disney may be in an uncertain state of mind with the Avatar franchise in general right now. The fourth and fifth films in the series are scheduled to be released in 2029 and 2031. We got no mention or update of Avatar during the recent set of movie announcements at D23. The fan sentiment on the project has also been surprisingly negative for the project with people asking for a more classic Disney Animation-inspired expansion. Some have suggested Zootopia should replace it. This surprises us because of the popularity of the Pandora land at Animal Kingdom. That is one of Disney’s best in recent years.
As much as Disney likes its synergy opportunities, I think in the case of Disney California Adventure’s Avatar land, Disney is more occupied with getting it open, period, rather than attempting to time the opening with any master plan.
Given these circumstances, we think the Avatar land could open in 2032, but seeing as that will be nearly a decade after Disney first announced this project (!), we suspect it’s just as likely that Disney may pivot to a different idea to build here instead. For now, though, Avatar is still on the way. The further out that this project is pushed the more likely the ideas around it will change.
We are closely watching every update around the new rides coming to Disneyland.
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