The inclusion of James Cameron’s world of Avatar at Disneyland California Adventure was announced back in 2023, but what’s going on with it now? Well, The Walt Disney Company inundated fans with a ton of announcements during Anaheim’s D23 Expo last weekend. But the latest on DCA’s Avatar expansion has me starting to think it’s never going to happen. Let’s talk about it.
The Latest On Disneyland California Adventure’s Avatar Attraction
While I was in attendance at D23, I, like many fans, made a trip to the convention’s Imagineering Pavilion. There, I saw tons of models for the expansion of Avengers Campus and various upcoming Walt Disney World attractions like Tropical Americas, Piston Peak, Monsters, Inc Land and Villains Land. Among them was also one for Avatar and its planned boat ride. Check it out:
Now, we’ve known since last year that Disney had planned to close down California Adventure’s Monsters, Inc ride and replace it with this Avatar land. And yet, the dark ride has since been saved from closure until sometime next year.
Given the model’s appearance at D23, I had expected we’d get an update on when they planned to break ground on the new land, but then it was only briefly mentioned during Saturday’s D23 Disney Experiences Showcase. As a cherry on top, we learned that the House of Mouse has decided it will delay the Avatar attraction in order to upgrade Disneyland’s Tomorrowland first.
The President of Disneyland Resort, Jill Estorino, also said something interesting that has me skeptical about the arrival of Avatar. She said that since DCA has recently been getting new upgrades like the Avengers Campus expansion and the upcoming Coco ride lately, “it’s really standing on its own”. As she added, via MickeyVisit:
Now, it’s time to turn our attention and focus on the original park that Walt built, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.
Here’s the thing: upgrading Tomorrowland is a huge undertaking, and the announcement was made at D23 as they had just decided to do it. So if Avatar is next in line after Tomorrowland, it feels like they are shelving the Avatar attraction rather than actively working on it anymore.
Will There Be Demand For Avatar Years From Now?
Fans have been asking for an update to Tomorrowland for a long time, but to deliver on the promise of both honoring the traditional land and making it anew, it’s going to take years! It has me wondering if The Walt Disney Company is even sold on adding Avatar to DCA in the first place. Earlier this year, there were some rumors that Disney was possibly changing their mind and making that area into a land for Zootopia, instead.
It certainly helps the case for that property given its sequel made $1.87 billion worldwide last year and Avatar: Fire And Ash performed a bit under expectations at 1.49 billion globally. If Disney was confident in Avatar land, and the concept has certainly already been thought of, what’s stopping them from just making the land while they figure out Tomorrowland? It all smells fishy to me, and after what I learned at D23, I’m personally unconvinced I’ll ever see this land come to life at DCA.
