Saturday, August 24, 2019

GAMES360VIEW

The new Marvel-based theme park land is coming to Disney's California Adventure in Anaheim, as well as Disneyland Paris.


It's been a pretty big year for new themed lands in Disney Parks. Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge first opened its doors in Anaheim at Disneyland, followed by its Orlando location at Disney's Hollywood Studios, allowing park guests to experience a brand new interactive Star Wars story on an original planet named Batuu. But more than that, Galaxy's Edge set a brand new standard for Disney's imagineering work with revolutionary new theming elements that include interactive stories and "reputations" for park guests that can be tracked via a mobile app. It's the first of its kind of Disney Parks--but it likely won't be the last. Progress on yet another new land centered around Marvel Studios heroes, is set to debut in Disney's California Adventure next year.

We got our first up-close and personal look at the new land--officially titled Avengers Campus California--at this year's D23 Expo, which featured a massive display of Avengers Campus details. We've rounded up everything we learned from the displays in preparation for Sunday's massive Parks and Experiences panel, which will be sure to provide us with even more information on the land's progress.


Goodbye "Marvel Land," Hello Avengers Campus


D23 saw the announcement of the official name for the new land--nicknamed "Marvel Land" by fans after its announcement two years ago. Officially, the new land will be called Avengers Campus, and it will fit into a bigger network of various Avengers-related bases and projects networked all around the globe.


It's coming to Disney's California Adventure (And Disneyland Paris)


Sorry, Disney World fans, but Avengers Campus is slated to open in two locations--Disneyland's California Adventure Park in Anaheim, California--alongside the popular Guardians Of The Galaxy: Mission Breakout ride--and Disneyland Paris in, well, Paris, France. The two parks will be differentiated by their long-form names: Avengers Campus California and Avengers Campus Paris.

Orlando may not be getting an entire Campus to call its own, but it will be getting a "Xandarian Outpost," to house the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy indoor rollercoaster.


It's opening next year


No official date is set yet, but the California Campus is on the schedule for a 2020 opening.


There's a lot of Spider-Man


There may be some dispute about Spider-Man rights going on between Disney and Sony, but that apparently hasn't yet affected one of Avengers Campus California's main attractions: the W.E.B. or the "Worldwide Engineering Brigade," which came with an in-character explanation from Peter Parker himself on display at D23 Expo.

Details on what exactly W.E.B is are still fairly sparse--like an interactive 3D ride of some sort--but it will certainly be interesting to see how things play out with the development of this attraction as Sony and Disney's legal troubles continue, or if said legal troubles will butt up against the attraction's development at all, given how murky the rights situations for these characters can be outside of the movies themselves.


Every Campus is part of an "interconnected story."


Like Star Wars Galaxy's Edge, which focuses on the new planet Batuu, Avengers Campus will involve an original story set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe--or, well, sort of set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Unlike Batuu which is functionally "time-locked" in a narrative sense to exist at a fixed point in the Star Wars timeline, Avengers Campus is set at some point or in some version of the MCU where Tony Stark is still alive and threats like Thanos apparently never happened.

There will likely be more news to come out of D23 Expo this weekend about the official story that will weave through all the different Avengers Campus locations, whether or not they'll play into the bigger MCU multiverse, have something to do with the splintered timelines, or are part of something else entirely. Until then, we know that the Avengers are building these campus locations around the world, traveling from destination to destination, and using them as opportunities to train new heroes (i.e. park guests.)


There's a ton of Pym tech, too


Thus far, it seems like the California Campus will have some very insect-themed attractions with a whole facility dedicated to Pym Tech on the way. As of right now, we know at least part of it will likely be devoted to an Ant-Man & The Wasp themed microbrewery (get it?) but it seems like the Pym branding and involvement with the in-land narrative will go beyond just food and beverages. It's worth noting that there is an Ant-Man & The Wasp ride currently open at Hong Kong Disneyland, so we may or may not be getting a version of that.


SHIELD is totally okay again(?)


Perhaps one of the most confusing things about the little details that have trickled in about Avengers Campus is just how prominent SHIELD is featured on just about everything. Either this is a prime indicator that the story of the land will be set in some sort of alternate reality or timeline where movies like Captain America: The Winter Soldier didn't happen and SHIELD was never a corrupt puppet organization to bolster global HYDRA control, or we're, uh, just supposed to forget about all of that.

Weirder still, we spotted a direct nod to Alexander Pierce--you know, the sadistic HYDRA leader--on some of the proper SHIELD files on display at the Expo. It definitely seems a little odd.




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