Here Are Disney’s Biggest Issues With Avengers Campus They Need to Address

Disney is known for creating immersive themed lands that transport guests into the worlds of their favorite stories, from a galaxy far, far away in Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge to the charming small town of Radiator Springs straight out of the Cars film. Many of these lands have seen incredible success due to their engaging theming, effective design, and variety of interesting offerings, but one land in particular has fallen a bit flat in the eyes of many visitors. Even though Avengers Campus is the most recent themed land to debut at the Disneyland Resort, there is not quite the excitement surrounding it that there should be.

Disney announced that Avengers Campus would open in two different phases. Phase 1 of Avengers Campus opened in June of 2021, introducing the land and its newest offerings like WEB-SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure and Pym Test Kitchen, and Phase 2 would include the opening of an E-ticket Avengers ride. A few years later in 2024, we are still in Phase 1, and Avengers Campus is not yet in its final form.

We have felt that something has been off from the beginning since the land's opening, and Disney has faltered a bit with their vision for Avengers Campus even before then. With the D23 Expo coming up soon, we are hoping for some major news that will help to turn some of the issues of this area around and provide some clarity on what the next phase of the land will entail. Keep reading for our take on Disney's biggest issues with Avengers Campus that they desperately need to address.

Disney's Concept for Avengers Campus

When Disney first announced the concept for Avengers Campus at the 2017 D23 Expo, they shared how Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout would be joined by Spider-Man and other Avengers in a new themed area that would become “a completely immersive Super Hero universe.”

The timing of this announcement came alongside the positive response surrounding the release of Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2 and Spider-Man: Homecoming in the same year, while fans still anticipated the last two installments of the Infinity Saga, Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019), the latter of which would become the highest-grossing Marvel film of all time.

What Avengers Campus Gets Right

Avengers Campus certainly has plenty of strengths—the number of character meet-and-greets, strong musical score, and great themed dining at Pym Test Kitchen introduced in Phase 1 are all highlights.

The way this land handles character meet-and-greets is arguably its biggest strength, as it takes a very relaxed approach that allows multiple characters from different timelines to appear in the land simultaneously. It's a great contrast to how Disney approached Galaxy's Edge with a rigid timeline that presented many problems, though they have recently been making some strides in addressing these. Avengers Campus, on the other hand, provides enough flexibility that guests can meet characters from all across the timeline, past or present. You can even meet different versions of characters in limited-time meet-and-greets surrounding the release of certain Disney+ shows or new films like Deadpool and Wolverine.

Pym Test Kitchen is another great success of the land that introduced some great new food at Disney California Adventure with fun theming—we consider this to be one of our favorite Disney California Adventure restaurants. The wacky, creative menu items, and quality of the food make it a great fit for the land and the park as a whole.

The Biggest Weaknesses of Avengers Campus

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All of that being said, it's undeniable that Avengers Campus overall has fallen flat. The land feels clunky, bare, and awkward, as there are obvious holes that Phase 2 is meant to fill. Despite the great music, the land as a whole fails to provide an ambiance that you want to sit down and enjoy, nor does it have really much of an inviting area to do this in the first place with a lack of seating and the sun often beating straight down on you.

While the attraction WEB-SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure is admittedly one of my favorite options for a slower-paced break from the thrill rides, it's understandable that some fans are disappointed by this screen-based ride. It's a bit different than Pixar Pier's popular Toy Story Midway Mania in that it requires a lot of physical exertion—while the technology is really cool, the ride can definitely leave you feeling rather exhausted with sore arms by the end.

The web shooter accessories advertised for the attraction have also not been as popular as Disney may have hoped and are repeatedly discounted, an indication that the ride is not quite engaging enough for visitors to want to actively purchase these accessories.

Avengers Campus Entertainment Cuts

Disney does aim to fill out the land with a lot of smaller entertainment offerings, but after the wow-factor of the flipping Spider-Man stuntronic and the novelty of the other entertainment offerings has worn off, there's not much that is still actively drawing us to Avengers Campus other than the characters, a meal at Pym Test Kitchen, and, of course, Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout.

The recent entertainment cutbacks have also affected Avengers Campus as well with performances of Warriors of Wakanda: Disciplines of the Dora Milaje reduced and the show Dr. Strange: Mysteries of the Mystic Arts canceled. We don't know what Disney's ultimate plans are for the Dr. Strange: Mysteries of the Mystic Arts space as of yet, but this show was always a popular offering that drew fans in. The entertainment was already doing much of the heavy lifting for the land, so these cuts have contributed some additional strain and unfortunately shone an even brighter spotlight on the shortcomings of the land.

So, this leads us to the question, what does Avengers Campus need to revitalize itself? The answer is, what Disney had promised all along…and maybe a little bit more.

Absence of an E-Ticket Attraction at Avengers Campus

The land was designed with a future E-ticket attraction in mind, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that it feels incomplete without this key factor. Much of the hype that was built up surrounding the land pertained to this major ride, which has slipped into the background over the past few years as Disney prioritized other projects.

For Phase 2 of Avengers Campus, Disney announced the introduction of an E-ticket attraction where recruits would board a Quinjet and join the Avengers in an epic battle. Then, at the 2022 D23 Expo, the vision for this ride was adjusted as they revealed that the ride will be leaning into the concept of the Multiverse allowing guests to encounter “all the Avengers against all the foes from anywhere from every when that you can possibly imagine” and fighting against King Thanos, a version of the infamous villain who won in this story.

What Happened to the Phase 2 E-Ticket Avengers Ride?

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic came in the middle of all these plans and clearly threw them for a loop. We have been waiting for years to hear concrete details about what Phase 2 of Avengers Campus will entail, and unfortunately in the meantime, some of the momentum of the Marvel movies has been lost. Avengers: Endgame was a turning point for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the films succeeding it have been met with mixed reception from fans. This has undoubtedly put Disney in a tricky situation as they wonder how to move forward with the attraction while still in the midst of feeling out the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

This is why even though the concept of the ride has already been changed a couple of times, we think it could still be changed again. Disney was clearly trying to build off of the excitement surrounding the Multiverse around the time of the 2022 announcement by introducing this concept to the ride, but we're now here two years later with still no apparent work that has been completed in the parks.

Most Recent Update for E-Ticket Avengers Campus Ride

The most recent announcement at Destination D23, which essentially confirmed that the ride was still happening, was the reveal of a new world-jumping vehicle with “a design that combines elements of Tony Stark’s time-suits with Xandarian jump points and Wakandan technology.”

An interesting follow-up to the Destination D23 announcement was the news that the attraction would feature “physical worlds” and would be brought to life “with a blend of large-scale built environments and immersive media,” which addresses the fear that many fans had that the ride would be almost completely screen-based. This is a good sign that Disney is still planning on going all out with this ride, and we could see them leaning into a next-generation version of ride systems utilized by Universal that combine 3D screen-based content with physical sets.

Fans were initially bracing for the idea that this ride would be primarily screen-based, so this gives us some hope for what we can expect. This really needs to be a cutting-edge ride to reignite interest in the area. While Disney California Adventure has plenty of strong thrill rides, it doesn't have anything in the realm of what we describe above. The appeal of a ride like this could easily tip the scales from the land feeling underwhelming and aimless to drawing a great deal of interest back in.

Could There Be Additional Improvements to Avengers Campus?

When the land first opened, some of its shortcomings felt permissible with the knowledge that it was incomplete. However, the longer we go without an E-ticket ride, the more it feels like the potential of this land has been neglected in favor of bigger, flashier projects. No matter what the premise of the E-ticket ride is, Disney just needs to commit to something, start moving forward on it, and make it a priority.

However, there are even more improvements we think could be made to the land. What we would love to see at the upcoming D23 event, though we don't know if it will happen on the scale we hope for with so much attention currently being poured into the Avatar experience, is a full announcement of what we can expect for Phase 2 of Avengers Campus. There is much more that Disney can do to round out Avengers Campus, from introducing some more fun dining experiences to adding more of an inviting seating area for guests.

More Dining at Avengers Campus

Pym Test Kitchen is a particularly fun dining location, and we really feel they knocked it out of the park with the theming and the food. However, this is the only main dining option, as the rest of the locations (save for Pym Test Kitchen) are stands. With how much thought and creativity they put into the concept and menu of Pym Test Kitchen, it's possible that they could do this just as successfully for another Marvel-themed dining experience.

I personally think that the focus on a singular movie is what made this dining location successful, but if Disney wanted to, they could have a generally Avengers-themed dining location with menu items inspired by the various heroes. No matter the specifics, if they leaned really heavily into the theming for an idea like this, it could be a huge draw for guests.

Other Improvements to Avengers Campus

Another issue that needs to be addressed as part of Phase 2 is the lack of shaded areas to sit throughout the land. Walking through Avengers Campus, you often don't feel like it's an inviting place to linger, as the land's design doesn't lend itself well to this. While it may not be the most straightforward fix, we'd like to see more thought put into a solution for this problem as part of the land's second phase of development so that not every area feels so exposed.

The merchandise store outside of WEB-SLINGERS, WEB Suppliers, also doesn't have as much appeal as what was perhaps anticipated. The Spider-Bots you see outside of the attraction are overpriced and fail to draw guests in the same way that the Galaxy's Edge droids do, and we have seen these discounted. This location may require a refresh to keep prices reasonable and introduce better merchandise to renew interest.

Return of Rogers: The Musical

We also think it was a smart move to have a Marvel-themed show running at the Hyperion, however briefly Rogers: The Musical lasted. The addition of this show made a lot of sense due to its proximity to the land, and we could see its return having a positive effect. The smaller entertainment in Avengers Campus that takes place throughout the day does contribute some exciting energy to the land, but it feels like there is a need for something bigger and grander. We would not be surprised if we saw another bigger entertainment offering departing from the style of the frequent Atmosphere Entertainment shows announced for the land as part of Phase 2.

Even though Avengers Campus feels off balance at the moment, we still think there is the potential for Disney to address some of the land's issues, many of which will hopefully be naturally resolved when Disney reveals (and begins work on) its second phase of development.

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