Since the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Disneyland has grown even more in popularity and visitor volume. Surprisingly, that was something that could actually happen at the West Coast park, and now it looks like Disney is about to have even more of a reason to let folks through its gates, as the planned Marvel Land is going forward at a bit of a faster pace.
However, there are some snags in the plan to bring the world of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to Disneyland, and they’re pretty big hang-ups. For starters, it can’t actually be called “Marvel Land.” And that’s just the least of their worries, as there’s an even greater restriction to how Disney Parks can actually sell this new attraction.
In addition to such a big restriction, Marvel actually can’t have its name mentioned in the marketing campaign for this brand new section of the Disney’s California Adventure theme park. Planned to open next year, this untitled section has already seen teases scattered throughout the section of the park that houses the current big Marvel attraction Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout!
The details pertaining to Disney’s California Adventure’s new Marvel attraction are pretty spectacular, as while we don’t have many ride details from The L.A. Times’ report on this new Disney park section, save for a Spider-Man themed adventure, other interesting features for this land have been revealed. For starters, the entire section of the park that will house this new project is about to get a pretty big overhaul -- including improved bathrooms, and a special meet-and-greet area where folks can meet their favorite licensing-approved Marvel Studios characters.
Perhaps the two most interesting features being built into this untitled Marvel section of Disney’s California Adventure are a retail outlet that’s apparently larger than the average home in the West, and a microbrewery. Since Disneyland has lifted its previous restrictions on alcohol in the park, this could now make it possible for someone to throw down an Asgardian ale, with the temptation to slam their flagon down and exclaim, “Another!” (But seriously, please don’t do that.)
And yet with all of these special and exciting features in what most would want to call Marvel Land, there’s just no way it can be called exactly that. Though there are pretty specific reasons for that wrinkle in the plan. Overall, it all boils down to preexisting agreements made between Marvel and theme park companies before their acquisition by Disney.
Theme park rights are a bit of a mixed bag, especially when it comes to Marvel. With the rights to certain characters in their lineup tied to Universal’s parks east of the Mississippi River, we’ve seen this sort of complication prevent characters like Iron Man, Spider-Man, or The Hulk appear at the Walt Disney World resort parks. Though since the Guardians of the Galaxy aren’t part of that deal, the East Coast contingent of Disney Parks’ empire has been working on its own attraction based on that comic crew’s misadventures, set to open at Epcot Center in 2021.
As we wait to learn the name of this new section of Disney real estate, thinking of all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe attractions that could be included is something most fans are going to be occupied with between now and the section’s 2020 opening. Though we won’t have to wait that long for confirmation, apparently, as this year’s D23 Expo in Anaheim should represent the next big step in unveiling the future of Marvel’s theme park endeavors.
So if you want to dream without the limits, you’d better do it before the D23 Expo’s August 23-25 timeframe. And you can be sure that as soon as we have those details, we’ll be breaking them on CinemaBlend the moment they’re out there.
