The Disneyland Resort is currently undergoing a major expansion that will introduce several new rides, including four rides currently in the works for Disney California Adventure. A major addition coming to the resort is a new Avatar land, which will feature a unique and immersive attraction.
Below, we will take you through everything we know right now about the new Avatar addition and what the land will feature. This major addition is one of the most ambitious items in the list of new Disneyland rides planned for the resort’s future.
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Avatar Land at the Disneyland Resort Overview
In a 2023 earnings call, Disney CEO Bob Iger first hinted Avatar-themed “experience” would be coming to the Disneyland Resort, shortly after the release of the immensely successful Avatar: The Way of Water sequel. There was initially much speculation surrounding what this experience would entail.
Then, in 2024, at a Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference, Disney CEO Bob Iger indirectly confirmed that this would be a new land, saying, “We have one Avatar based land, Pandora, in Florida we’re going to put a second one in California. That doesn’t mean we can’t put one somewhere in Asia or somewhere in Europe for instance.”
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Since that time, Disney has shared concept art, details on the new attraction that will be featured, and models for the design of the land. Disney confirmed that this new addition will be located in Disney California Adventure and later shared that Monsters, Inc. Mike and Sulley to the Rescue! would be closing to make way for it. The ride will be permanently closing in early 2026, and no exact date has yet been shared at the time of writing.
There are also some other new rides coming to Disney California Adventure, including a new Coco ride and an expansion coming to Avengers Campus that will double the size of the land. We anticipate that the order of opening for the new additions will be the two Avengers Campus rides, followed by the Coco ride, and then the Avatar land, meaning that we expect we won’t see the latter open until around 2029. You can see our separate article on when we anticipate all of the new Disneyland rides will open.
This is the most complex project of them all, and its construction is also tied to the major infrastructure project introducing a new parking structure and transportation hub. They can only begin the Avatar construction once this new parking structure and bridge are active. We anticipate that the green and black areas shown below will become the new Avatar land.
With that in mind, let’s dive into everything that Disney has shared so far about this new project!
New Avatar Land Concept Art
Disney shared that while the successful Pandora—The World of Avatar at Disney World’s Animal Kingdom is based on the original Avatar film, this new land draws inspiration from Avatar: The Way of Water and upcoming Avatar films. The new Disneyland Resort land does not yet have an official name at the time of writing.
We assume, based on our predicted opening timeline for the land, that it will primarily be centered around Avatar: The Way of Water and Avatar: Fire and Ash, given that the next two planned films of the franchise don’t debut until 2029 and 2031.
You can see that the concept art of the overall land is very much reminiscent of the second film. It appears that pools of water, where ride vehicles pass through, will back up to a stunning, massive rock structure with a waterfall. We can already tell that the design will have the same immersive “wow” factor as the floating mountains of the Avatar Flight of Passage queue at Animal Kingdom, complete with lush foliage and striking details.
There are several bridges that visitors can pass over, and in both of the concept art renderings, there are creatures visible to guests walking through the land. We are spotting what appears to be large otters lounging on the shore (that appear to be part of the ride) and a type of blue bird atop the floating rocks.
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We got to see the creative process in action with some of the models of the land revealed in the D23 Imagineering: Behind the Dreams pavilion.
While the new attraction (discussed in more depth below) is the only part of the land that is formally announced at this point, we assume that more details on additional offerings will be shared in the future. We expect dining, shopping, and perhaps even another new surprise attraction added (like they did with Stark Flight Lab for Avengers Campus). If not another ride, we could see them do something similar to Moana’s Journey of Water walkthrough or introduce a kids’ play area.
In an ideal world, we could even see them introduce some new live entertainment to the park, or even unique meet-and-greet experiences with the creatures of Pandora. I’m thinking about the puppetry success of Toothless at Epic Universe and the Harry Potter creatures that appeared at Universal Fanfest Nights. How fun would it be to see them pull off something similar for the Avatar universe? The possibilities are really endless, so we will have to wait and see what Disney has up their sleeve.
We anticipate that they may be withholding some details of the new land until the debut of Avatar: Fire and Ash. If the land is partially based on this film, then they are limited in how much they can share without spoiling this upcoming installation. It will be interesting to see how they combine several films into one land.
New Ride at Avatar Land
The land will feature a new ride where guests will embark on an adventure to look for Pandora’s natural wonders, taking guests “all the way to the wide-open seas of Pandora.” During this “thrilling” excursion, they will discover the beauty and danger that come with the journey. Disney describes this as a “dynamic, intense and emotional experience on a grand scale.”
We expect this new experience will use the ride system from the popular Pirates of the Caribbean attraction at Shanghai Disneyland. We even dare to say that the ambition and thrill of this boat ride may be akin to what Imagineers envisioned for the shelved Rivers of Time attraction in Disney California Adventure’s EPCOT-style park that was never built.
In the concept art Disney shared above, we can see a Tulkun breaching. We also have a look at another portion of the ride that appears to take us through a darker setting where a pack of Viperwolves is closing in. It looks like the water has a bioluminescent glow, which will be a fun detail to experience.
While the addition of this new Avatar land has been met with mixed reception from fans, it does make sense that Disney would invest in bringing this franchise to the Disneyland Resort, given the popularity of Pandora at Animal Kingdom and the immense success of the two Avatar films. We’re curious to see how Disney executes this vision and the unique possibilities that this new land opens up.
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