I’ll be the first to admit that most of the time when Disney Parks announce closures, I’m much more interested in what’s coming in than what’s going out. While nostalgia is a big part of what makes Disneyland and Walt Disney World the places they are for many people, I'm usually more focused on what's new at Disneyland or Disney World because new is always exciting. And yet, now I stand here and admit that I’m the one worried about the future because Disney California Adventure, my favorite weird little Disney park, looks poised for a drastic transformation that could change everything the park stands for, and those changes may be starting sooner than I thought.
At D23 this month Disney Experiences announced a lot of new attractions at the parks around the world, which is going to result in a lot of attractions closing to make room for them. Disney California Adventure was one park that got a lot of attention, as the park will be seeing multiple new attractions over the next several years, and the first casualty of that has been revealed as the Red Car Trolley is set to close early next year.
The Red Car Trolley Is Closing At Disney California Adventure
Disney California Adventure is a weird park, but that's why I love it. When it opened it was a theme park dedicated to California that was located in California. Think about that, you had to go to actual California to experience the theme park version of California. Over the years DCA has undeniably changed, but much of the “California-ness” of the park remains, even if there’s a distinctly Disney sheen over the whole thing.
I love Buena Vista Street and the classic feel of an era I never got to experience. It’s the perfect place to be on Dapper Day or really any day in the parks. The Red Car Trolley is a big part of what makes the vibe of the area feel alive, as it’s an actual piece of moving scenery. Unfortunately, it won’t be moving much longer.
Yesterday Scott Gustin confirmed that, for construction to begin on the two new Avengers Campus attractions at DCA, the barn where the trolley is kept backstage will need to be removed, meaning the trolley will cease operation early next year. An exact date has yet to be announced. When asked if the trolley would ever return, Disney was vague, which is not a good sign.
While the Red Car Trolley hasn’t been quite as magical since the Suitcase and a Dream live performance ended, I still love to ride the trolley when I can, and just seeing it makes me happy. And while Disney didn’t close the door on the trolley maybe returning, I don’t think it will because an even bigger change to DCA isn’t too far away that likely would have also required the Red Car to close.
The New Avatar Land Could Change Everything About California Adventure
You see, another of the announced additions to Disney California Adventure is a new land dedicated to the Avatar franchise. While the exact location of this land inside the park has not been confirmed, the most likely spot is Hollywood Land, the land next to Buena Vista Street which is where the Red Car Trolley goes after it leaves the entrance of the park. While construction on this land is likely years away, there’s no way the trolley was going to travel through Pandora.
Beyond that, the addition of Avatar itself to Disney California Adventure, wherever the land goes, is going to fundamentally transform Disney California Adventure. You can turn Paradise Pier into Pixar Pier without making a massive change to the way the land looks and feels, You can add San Fransokyo instead of San Francisco, but building an alien landscape next door to a recreation of the theater where Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered is something that, even if it could be hidden from view, can’t be ignored entirely.
Unless the Avatar land goes in a completely different place, the Red Car will likely stay closed because rebuilding its barn, only to stop running it again in a couple of years when Avatar land construction begins, doesn't seem worth anybody's time or effort.
I certainly hope I’m wrong. I hope that the new Avatar land is part of the planned DisneylandForward expansion, and will be far enough away from the existing park that it won’t feel like a massive shift in theme. I hope the Red Car Trolley can be moved, without being removed. But knowing that Magic Kingdom’s Rivers of America can be replaced, there’s no reason to believe that anything else is happening here.
To be clear, even if this total transformation I'm afraid of happens, it will be years before it's done, but this feels like the first step on a long road. I’ll still love Disney California Adventure if the name even remains when all the work is done. I expect it will still be a fun park full of lots of great attractions and some of the best food at Disneyland Resort. But it won’t be the same, and if this is the first step toward that change, I guess it’s time for me to start saying goodbye.
