The long anticipated Avengers Campus was finally open to the public on Friday June 4th!
Located inside Disney's California Adventure, where A Bugs Land previously existed, you'll find an all new area dedicated to those magnificent Marvel superheroes.
The footprint is relatively small and narrow. The area currently includes Webslingers (an interactive 3D spiderman ride), Guardians of the Galaxy, two shawarma stands, one treat (Terran Treat) stand, and Pyms Kitchen + Lab. There will also be another ride based on the Quinnjet but that's not projected to open for at least another year or two.
There is also one shop that sells webslinger paraphernalia that will boost your points in the ride. As well as the robot spiders. And a kiosk that sells clothing and other merch.
Beyond that there are several photo opportunities and places where shows will take place. Such as a Doctor Strange themed area, Spiderman show, and some other vehicles.
In all, it's a nice new addition. However there are some needed improvements. For starters, there's hardly any shade. For anyone that remembers the lush landscaping of A Bugs Land, all that is removed. It's almost entirely concrete and hardscaping. We were especially sad to see the massive fiddle leaf fig trees removed - they were gorgeous! If you're looking for a shady respite, the Avengers Campus is not it. About the only spot you'll find greenery is the Doctor Strange corner.
We were lucky enough to get Boarding Groups for both days to Webslingers, and thus entry. For others the wait was an excruciating 4-5 hours in standby, just to enter the campus.
Mobile Ordering was an absolute nightmare. That opening day they were warning guests that mobile orders did not guarantee them admittance into the area, and thus a ton of food was thrown away. Saturday they changed that policy, according to one CM, but it was also impossible to get a firm answer from anyone. By Sunday there were some issues with the app as it seemed they weren't allowing us to order if we weren't inside AC. But even after we were inside, it still was telling us we weren't. It was frustrating to say the least. Eventually, Sunday afternoon we were able to get mobile orders for the Pym Tasting Lab at 8:55pm. You'll find my review of those drinks on that page, but the fact that they closed up the campus promptly at 9:00pm and scurried us out made us rush our order and dump most of the cocktails since we couldn't walk and drink (due to COVID precautions). We even found the bathrooms to be locked up as we left. When I asked a CM where the nearest open bathrooms were (because I wasn't about to walk a mile back to the hotel with a full bladder!) she rudely said to leave and start heading toward the gates.
That rough experience on the last night of our two days trip really soured everything. Disney could, and has, done better for their guests with the opening of new lands. Look at the opening of Cars Land or Star Wars Land - these were timed and limited and the process could have been similar here, even with COVID safety precautions.
Even with that weird experience, I am hopeful that things will start to work out. Maybe they'll even put in more shade.
Here's hoping to a five star experience on our next trip! read more