Before the coronavirus hit Southern California and forced the closure of Disneyland for the better part of a year (it isn’t expected to reopen before 2021), plans had been rosy for the resort, with a planned summer 2020 opening date for Avengers Campus, the new Marvel Studios-themed area of Disney California Adventure. The keystone attraction for the new land is the cumbersomely titled WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure, and thanks to a new presentation by Disney Parks ChairmanJosh D’Amaroat the virtual IAPPA (that’d be the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions) event, we now have a look at the ride vehicles in action.
Video: the upcoming Spider-Man Web Slingers ride vehicles in action at the loading station:#WDS2#IAAPAExpopic.twitter.com/xCLzcD2CBf
The ride vehicles don’t look too dissimilar from the Toy Story Midway Mania vehicles, since the ride is based on similar technology (these Spider-capsules are more enclosed and look vaguely Tony Stark-ish). In the attraction, you will be “shooting web” from your own wrists while trying to assist Spider-Man (once again voiced and played byTom Holland) as he tracks down some out-of-control Spider-bots, who are menacing Avengers Campus.
Originally, the E-ticket Spider-Man attraction planned for the land involved a swinging pendulum mechanism that would have you careening through the canyons of New York. It was a next-level idea that Disney filed patents for, but when it came down to playtesting, both the motion and the level of immersion (a bustling New York City street would have been projection mapped onto the floor of the show building) made people lose their lunch. So a smaller scale project, with a more proven ride technology, was proposed and built instead.
Other projects for the land include a Doctor Strange stage show which uses some very cool, next-level technological effects, anAnt-Man-themed restaurant and anAvengersE-ticket attraction. Although it hasn’t been announced how 2020 has affected these projects, with nearly $1 billion in future projects being jettisoned and more than 400 Imagineers being laid off in recent months, leading to projects like a proposed, widescale renovation of EPCOT in Florida very much in doubt. (It also didn’t help that theAvengersattraction was centered around Black Panther, a character whose Marvel Studios future is up in the air after the tragic death of starChadwick Bosemanearlier this year.)
But whatever form Avengers Campus comes in, we’re very excited to ride the Spider-Man ride and take a trip on Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout! Exactly when that will be remains to be seen …
