Disneyland visitors excited about the new Marvel attractions, Coco boat ride, Avatar themed land and Tomorrowland makeover all want to know one thing: When will they open?
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Walt Disney Imagineering laid out plans for new lands and attractions coming to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure over the next five years as part of the $1.9 billion DisneylandForward plan during the D23 fan expo in Anaheim.
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The DisneylandForward commitment is part of Disney’s broader plan to invest $30 billion in its theme parks around the globe over the next decade.
Let’s take a closer look at seven projects that will shape the Anaheim theme park resort in the years and decades to come.
1) Avengers Campus expansion
Opening Date: 2028
Disneyland announced during the D23 fan expo that Avengers Infinity Defense and Stark Flight Lab would debut in 2028 as part of the Avengers Campus expansion.
What wasn’t mentioned: Whether the two rides will open at the same time.
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Stark Flight Lab seems less complicated than Avengers Infinity Defense — suggesting the robot arm flight simulator could open before the E-Ticket dark ride if Disneyland decides to split the launch dates.
2) Eastside entrance
Estimated Opening Date: 2028
Disneyland has started construction on the new 6,000-space eastside parking structure on the former Manchester employee parking lot that backs up to the I-5 Freeway.
Four ticket booths on the esplanade between Disneyland and Disney California Adventure have been demolished to pave the way for a new pedestrian bridge over Harbor Boulevard connecting the theme parks and the new parking garage.
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Construction of the 5,000-space Pixar Pals parking structure took 15 months, according to Theme Park Insider.
Theme Park Insider estimates Disneyland’s eastside entryway project will open by early 2028, just in time for the debut of the Avengers Campus expansion.
The DisneylandForward plans approved in 2024 envisioned a 17,600-space eastside garage on the Manchester employee lot — meaning Disneyland could eventually expand the eastside garage.
Disneyland has not announced an opening date for the new eastside parking structure and transportation hub.
3) Coco attraction
Estimated Opening Date: 2029
The new Coco boat ride is under construction on a backstage plot of underused land in Disney California Adventure between Pixar Pier and Paradise Gardens.
The new Coco ride will debut after DCA’s Avenger Campus expansion opens in 2028.
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Theme Park Insider estimates the new Coco attraction will open in 2029.
An official opening date has not been revealed for the as-yet-unnamed Coco attraction.
4) Reimagining Tomorrowland
Estimated Opening Date: 2030
Disneyland announced plans to reimagine Tomorrowland with new attractions during the D23 fan expo.
Imagineering promised the Tomorrowland makeover will stay true to Walt Disney’s original vision of an imaginative, wondrous and optimistic future.
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Disney Experiences Chairman Thomas Mazloum framed the Tomorrowland project around Disneyland’s 75th anniversary during the D23 fan expo without mentioning a specific date.
Theme Park Insider estimates the Tomorrowland overhaul will be complete in time for Disneyland’s 75th anniversary in 2030.
5) Avatar themed land
Estimated Opening Date: 2031 or 2032
Disneyland has announced the new land themed to the “Avatar: The Way of Water” film will take over DCA’s Hollywood Land studio backlot and push out into the bus drop-off and pick-up area along Harbor Boulevard.
The boat ride planned for the new Avatar land looks like a close cousin to Shanghai Disneyland’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle of the Sunken Treasure.
The Avatar land will open after the Avengers Campus expansion and Coco boat ride in DCA and the Tomorrowland transformation in Disneyland.
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Pandora West will be on the scale of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge — which took three years to build at Disneyland.
Expect DCA’s Avatar land to open three years after the first shovel hits the ground.
Theme Park Insider estimates the Avatar experience will open at Disney California Adventure in 2031 or 2032.
Disneyland has not announced an opening date for the new Avatar themed land.
6) Disney entertainment destination
Estimated Opening Date: 2031 or later
The Disney Entertainment Destination approved as part of the $1.9 billion DisneylandForward plan would bring together theme park experiences, hotels, retail, dining and entertainment on the Toy Story parking lot next to the Anaheim Convention Center.
Disneyland teased Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar in Disney Springs at Walt Disney World as one of the potential restaurant concepts that could be part of the eastside expansion plan.
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Theme Park Insider expects the Toy Story parking lot to close for redevelopment after the new eastside parking garage opens in 2028.
The Toy Story lot that was once the 52.5-acre Fujishige strawberry farm is about the same size as the former 55-acre Disneyland parking lot that became the Disney California Adventure theme park, 750-room Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel and 300,000-square-foot Downtown Disney outdoor shopping mall.
Construction of DCA, the Grand and Downtown Disney took three years.
Disneyland has not announced any plans for the Toy Story parking lot beyond releasing the DisneylandForward concept art.
7) DisneylandForward expansion
Estimated Opening Date: 2030s and 2040s
The Immersive Theme Park westside expansion approved in the DisneylandForward plan envisions a theme park on the Downtown Disney and Lilo and Stitch parking lots woven amid the Disneyland Hotel and Pixar Place Hotel.
DisneylandForward dangled 10 themed lands based on Avatar, Tangled, Frozen, Peter Pan, Zootopia, Toy Story, Black Panther, Coco, Tron and Encanto as potential expansion projects in Anaheim.
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DisneylandForward maps showed bridges over Disneyland Drive connecting the westside theme park expansion to Disneyland at the dead end of Bayou Country and DCA at the new Coco attraction.
The westside expansion would likely be broken into two parts with Disneyland expanding north of the Disneyland Hotel and Disney California Adventure expanding south of the Pixar Place Hotel.
The $2.1 billion Fantasy Springs expansion at Tokyo DisneySea is thought to be a model for the Disneyland resort’s westside expansion — with enough room for three lands on the Disneyland expansion pad and three more lands on the DCA pad.
Fantasy Springs features three themed lands in close proximity to each other — Frozen Kingdom, Rapunzel’s Forest and Peter Pan’s Never Land.
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Imagineering Executive Creative Producer Emo O’Brien oversees both the Disneyland and Tokyo Disney resort portfolios. O’Brien was the lead Imagineer on the Fantasy Springs expansion at Tokyo DisneySea.
The DisneylandForward agreement guides expansion plans for 40 years for new themed lands, rides, hotels, shops and restaurants at the Disneyland resort.
Any westside theme park expansion projects likely lay far out on Imagineering’s planning horizon after the current slate of attractions open in the next five years or so.
Disneyland is expected to complete the parking structure and hotel/shopping district on the eastside of the resort before embarking on any major theme park expansion on the westside of the resort.
Disneyland has not announced any plans for the westside theme park expansion area that is expected to be developed in the 2030s and 2040s.
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