Disney is currently in the midst of construction on their two North American theme parks in order to bring Star Wars into them in a big way. Once that's done, it appears they may have their eye on doing the same thing with Marvel superheroes. Disney's California Adventure park across the street from Disneyland will open its first Marvel-themed ride this summer and it sounds like the park is planning a lot more to follow after that's done.
Disneyland will see its new Star Wars Land formally open in 2019, but Disney blog Micechat recently spoke with a source about what is being planned for the park after that work is done and they revealed that Disney's plans for Marvel are so big that existing parts of Disney's California Adventure could be devoured in the process. According to the source, who admits plans could change, once Star Wars Land is complete, the plan is to do a major renovation of Fantasyland, but once that is done, the Imagineers will be heading over to DCA to build out a land dedicated to Marvel. As currently outlined, the Marvel land could actually consume some or all of the existing Hollywoodland as well A Bug's Land. The former area is designed to look like classic Hollywood and contains a theater where stage shows are performed, the latter is based on the Pixar film A Bug's Life and is dedicated to smaller rides for younger visitors, similar to Fantasyland at Disneyland.
California Adventure's Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is currently under construction to turn it into the Guardians of the Galaxy Mission: Breakout ride. It's long been speculated that the ride would eventually become an entry way to a larger Marvel dedicated area, there's a largely undeveloped space behind the ride which Disney could easily convert, but based on this information, it appears plans may actually be to turn much of the area surrounding Mission: Breakout into Marvel space.
Disney has been slowly adding Marvel to it's California parks over the years since the company was acquired by the Mouse House. Currently, Disneyland's Innoventions Carousel houses small areas dedicated to Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America. There's also a photo area set up in Hollywoodland at California Adventure where fans can get photos with Marvel characters like Spider-Man.
While it's easy to be critical of Disney for being a company that has seemingly purchased every part of pop culture they didn't create themselves, there's something to be said for a theme park where one can experience all of these great properties in one place. There's no real need to make your reservations now. With Star Wars Land still two years or more from completion, and the Fantasyland renovation planned first, it's going to likely be the better part of a decade before the Marvel area is ready for visitors, and that assumes that plans and budgets don't change between now and then.
In the interim, Guardians of the Galaxy Mission: Breakout and the Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Dance Off! are set to open this summer to feed your Marvel fix.
