Disney Confirms First Part of Disneyland Expansion

Disney's CEO confirms that Avatar will be a big part of Disneyland's expansion.

By Aaron Perine

Disney's Bob Iger confirmed that Disneyland's upcoming expansion will have Avatar as a featured attraction. During the MoffettNathanson Media and Communications Summit, the Disney CEO offered his perspective on new IP coming to the parks. In addition, Iger would reinforce that while a lot of the final decisions about which properties will get some of that space in California and beyond, Avatar is the only name in permanent ink. It makes a lot of sense for Disneyland or Disney's California Afdventure. People still flock to the Avatar offerings in Walt Disney World Resort. So, playing on the series' crowd-pleasing nature seems like a slam dunk from an outside observer.

DisneylandForward moving through the city of Anaheim's legislature cannot be overstated. This is a massive investment in building the parks and Iger is touting that move as the future of their offerings in California. The Disney chief explained, "We have just gotten approval from the city of Anaheim for the biggest expansion of Disneyland since we opened DCA in 2001. It's a huge expansion. We haven't been specific about what's going to be in it, except for Avatar."

Disney Sees A Lot Of Potential In Avatar

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(Photo: Disney)

The parks side of Disney has not been shy about their intentions to get Pandora to Anaheim. That fateful Annual Shareholders Meeting saw Iger plant their flag on that intention. Chairman of Disney Experiences, Josh D'Amaro wrote about their strategy on the Disney Parks Blog. He reaffirmed their committment to bring an Avatar Land to the destination as a part of DisneylandForward. But, it isn't just the popular movie franchise that's getting looked at. There's an entire world of possibilities with that much land available to develop on.

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"We were thrilled to unveil a piece of inspirational artwork developed for a potential new Avatar experience at the Disneyland Resort. We are excited about the stories our guests could experience at Walt's original theme park destination after approval of DisneylandForward – including the chance to experience all-new Avatar adventures with a visit to Pandora," D'Amaro wrote. "Avatar is the latest example of how we are looking to create new and innovative ways to bring our powerful stories to life. Over the past decade, we've delivered massive, immersive experiences at our destinations around the world, including new lands and attractions based on Star Wars, the Avengers, Pixar and more." 

What else do you want to see Disney build out in California? Catch all of our pop culture discussion at @ComicBook on social media!

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