It's an exciting time for Disneyland Resort as its theme parks and hotels welcome new experiences for the summer and prepare for major new attractions in the long term. Many factors go into developing theme park rides, and one of the most covert but crucial steps in how Disneyland opens new attractions just got underway for its next additions.
Two future rides at Disney California Adventure reached a milestone toward their grand openings. We have insight into what's happening behind the scenes as Disney brings these new stories to the park. Mickey Visit brings you the latest Disney news and planning resources, including a new Haunted Mansion merchandise collection and Disneyland's new $59 ticket.
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Avengers Campus Expansion One Step Closer to Reality
Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure is expanding with two new rides: Avengers Infinity Defense and Stark Flight Lab.
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Avengers Infinity Defense will take riders through the multiverse as dozens of Avengers heroes battle King Thanos, a variant of the villain we know from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We expect this ride to combine physical sets and screens.
Stark Flight Lab will recruit guests to test new technology from Stark Industries that simulates a superhero's flight patterns. Riders will sit in a two-person vehicle that will be picked up by a robotic arm and flung about in various formations.
These rides join the existing lineup of attractions in Avengers Campus: Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission – BREAKOUT!, WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure, the quick service restaurant Pym Test Kitchen, and the streetmosphere show Warriors of Wakanda: The Disciplines of the Dora Milaje.
Ever since the Avengers Campus expansion was announced in 2022, Walt Disney Imagineering has periodically shared sneak peeks of progress, including Robert Downey Jr. trying out a prototype of Stark Flight Lab.
However, Imagineering isn't the only department involved in creating these new Avengers Campus attractions. As with many Disneyland Resort experiences, a team called Test & Adjust is integral to the process.
It's the responsibility of these cast members to consider how the future cast of Avengers Infinity Defense and Stark Flight Lab will operate the attractions on a day-to-day basis, prioritizing Disney's five key values of safety, courtesy, efficiency, show, and inclusion.
A different Test & Adjust team is formed for each new attraction opening at Disneyland Resort theme parks, and the Avengers Campus expansion's Test & Adjust team is now in place.
Cast members working in operations across Disneyland Resort completed a months-long application process and have now been selected to be part of the Avengers Campus Test & Adjust team in roles known as Attractions Leads.
This seems like a dream job for a cast member at Disneyland who gets to step into how the newest ride is finalized for guests.
At this stage in the process, the ideation and concept phases are long over, and construction is well underway for the final product. Therefore, the Test & Adjust team isn't necessarily deciding what the attraction will be, but rather determining how guests will experience it. Examples of this work include how guests board the ride vehicle and the flow of guests through a queue.
This represents a milestone in the journey toward the grand openings of Avengers Infinity Defense and Stark Flight Lab. Disney hasn't revealed an opening date or even an opening year for either attraction, but the formation of the Test & Adjust team shows that Disney has actively progressed into thinking about the day-to-day realities of guests taking part in these new experiences.
Mickey Visit predicts the Avengers Campus expansion will be complete at least by the December 2027 movie release of Avengers: Secret Wars, but could open sooner. Read our analysis behind this prediction here. We hope that cast members being chosen for test and adjust means that they are close to having an operating ride system ready for these cast members to get to work.
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Earlier this year, we heard from Disney executives about plans for sweeping cast member changes to restore the guest experience.
In addition to Avengers Infinity Defense and Stark Flight Lab, other major future attractions coming to Disney California Adventure include a Coco boat ride and a new land based on the Avatar sequels.
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