Avatar Experience Replaces Monsters Inc. - Monsters Inc. Closing Early 2026 - Future Expansion Plans

[JerrodDragon89]

So here is my thing

I think these changes are good...however the timeline sucks

DCA will be weaker from 2026...until they can open something else up and the price wont go down...so year unless they plan on doing something to help capacity at the park the planning on this was bad

They should have gotten Avengers or Coco opened and then closed Monster Inc...people online may not love monsters but its pull 40-60 mins wait every day and on peak days is easily over 60 mins all day

But I think using up some of the drop off space for more theme park is great, Avatar will be more popular then whats there now, The Coco ride is in a great location just adding another ride without removing anything

So overall this is a win...it will just be interesting to see how they move forward

I really wonder what will be in the Disneyland forward land....they have TONS of room to play with since none of these attractions even touch that area

 

[disneychrista]

I really wonder what will be in the Disneyland forward land....they have TONS of room to play with since none of these attractions even touch that area

Isn't Avatar, at least indirectly, part of the Disneyland forward project? They couldn't build it unless they could build the eastern gateway, which was definitely part of Disneyland forward.

 

[JerrodDragon89]

Isn't Avatar, at least indirectly, part of the Disneyland forward project? They couldn't build it unless they could build the eastern gateway, which was definitely part of Disneyland forward.

Sorry, I ment all the land they out aside beyond the Peir and gardens area

They are going to use all the space from the Coco ride all the way over to the parking lot that is currently used for DTD near the Pixar hotel for theme park one day...if Avatar land was apart of that....we would have room but now they have room for 2-3 lands beyond what was announced

 

[Blue32]

I would have loved it if they moved the Monsters Inc dark ride out to where goofy's sky school sits. Not sure if there is enough room there. but I hate to lose those family friendly dark rides. I know Disney does not normally move rides either, but getting rid of more of those off the shelf attractions on the Pier in favor of dark rides would be awesome.

 

[JerrodDragon89]

I would have loved it if they moved the Monsters Inc dark ride out to where goofy's sky school sits. Not sure if there is enough room there. but I hate to lose those family friendly dark rides. I know Disney does not normally move rides either, but getting rid of more of those off the shelf attractions on the Pier in favor of dark rides would be awesome.

They would have to rework things

The current ride is not big but its bigger then that little coaster plus the Q is bigger

I am surprised they aren't just find an area to move the monster ride....but maybe we will get lucky and after all this we get a Monster Doors coaster instead which is need for DCA...we need more family thrill rides at DCA.....GOTG and Cars show people enjoy those and its whats kinda missing from DCA is another family thrill ride

But if they move Monsters Inc I'm down for that as well but would count the door coasters as a bigger win

 

[disneychrista]

They would have to rework things

The current ride is not big but its bigger then that little coaster plus the Q is bigger

I am surprised they aren't just find an area to move the monster ride....but maybe we will get lucky and after all this we get a Monster Doors coaster instead which is need for DCA...we need more family thrill rides at DCA.....GOTG and Cars show people enjoy those and its whats kinda missing from DCA is another family thrill ride

But if they move Monsters Inc I'm down for that as well but would count the door coasters as a bigger win

I am hoping that we get a Monstropolis when they expand the park into the parking lots. And with that the door coaster, that was once up on a time said to go in the backlot plus maybe a new & improved Mike & Sully's.

 

[JerrodDragon89]

I am hoping that we get a Monstropolis when they expand the park into the parking lots. And with that the door coaster, that was once up on a time said to go in the backlot plus maybe a new & improved Mike & Sully's.

An omnimover style Monsters inc dark ride combined with the hid and seek flashfights from the Tokyo version would be another big win

 

[brightlined]

I really don't think closing Monsters Inc is going to have that much of an effect on the park. It's one of the lowest-capacity rides of its type at DLR - that 60 minutes isn't a lot of people, and a decent percentage of those folks are LL and not in line. If they can get Guardians back to full capacity (which is hopefully supposed to happen by early next year), it would significantly cover the loss of Monsters Inc.

The reason they don't move rides - moving a ride like Monsters Inc would cost almost as much as building a new attraction. They can't just move the building - and reusing the interior elements not only wouldn't save much money, I think people would rightfully criticize Disney for their seeming cheapness if they did that. If they can afford to move it, they might as well just build a modern version. (And, honestly, that might be something they're considering.)

 

[LKing]

They need something between Little Mermaid and Goofy's Sky School.

 

[disneychrista]

and reusing the interior elements not only wouldn't save much money, I think people would rightfully criticize Disney for their seeming cheapness if they did that.

Most of the animatronics for Splash were repurposed American Sings animatronics. No knowing really if people criticized this since it was well before the internet.

 

[LAS2AMS]

They need something between Little Mermaid and Goofy's Sky School.

Unfortunately, expansion of the GCH killed this opportunity.

Hopefully one day they’ll demolish the wine restaurant and surrounding area and put something useful there. Or do the same to San Fransokoyo.

 

[LAS2AMS]

Most of the animatronics for Splash were repurposed American Sings animatronics. No knowing really if people criticized this since it was well before the internet.

I’m sure some of the AA will be reused, whether it’s at WDW or somewhere in the DLR (gift shop, etc.). Can’t see them just scrapping Roz… maybe she’ll make an appearance on the PP midway?

Most of the AA were repurposed from SuperStar Limo - some were covered up, others reskinned, many were heavily modified. They’re over 25yo, they’ll wind up in recycling. Same is true of most show pieces.

Like I said earlier, if they are to open a new Monsters dark ride at DCA and DHS, it’ll be vastly different. I highly doubt the Imagineers were too fond of this one - watch YT videos that overlay it with SuperStar Limo. It’s mostly the same ride.

 

[brightlined]

Just for the sake of discussion - this was posted today on Reddit as a hypothetical, and I think it might be close.




I'm gently skeptical that the orange holes are the entry/exit to the land - and might be the ride entry/exit instead. There are rumors floating around that the entrance to the land will be over on the left side of the map (maybe behind Philharmagic), which would make for a better entry view/experience.

 

[LAS2AMS]

Just for the sake of discussion - this was posted today on Reddit as a hypothetical, and I think it might be close.

View attachment 972656
View attachment 972657

I'm gently skeptical that the orange holes are the entry/exit to the land - and might be the ride entry/exit instead. There are rumors floating around that the entrance to the land will be over on the left side of the map (maybe behind Philharmagic), which would make for a better entry view/experience.

I would bet on the show building to be more vertical than horizontal, with the “land” covering it up - similar to how much of SWGE is covering up the show buildings for the two attractions.

 

[LKing]

To me, SWGE in DL feels much more immersive than at WDW. I think a large part of that is because of the entrances. At WDW, it seems really disjointed to walk from Toy Story into SWGE. At Disneyland, there is longer walkway to transition the lands. Hopefully they do the same with Avatar.

 

[LAS2AMS]

To me, SWGE in DL feels much more immersive than at WDW. I think a large part of that is because of the entrances. At WDW, it seems really disjointed to walk from Toy Story into SWGE. At Disneyland, there is longer walkway to transition the lands. Hopefully they do the same with Avatar.

SWGE blends very well into DL. I suspect the land was built around DL, since it was space constrained, and duplicated into DHS. Officially, they were developed together… but Disney says the same thing about Toy Story Midway Mania, which obviously was designed for DCA and duplicated into DHS. Too bad they didn’t duplicate Expedition Everest at DCA!!!

SWGE seems like a bust so far. Often, there’s no foot traffic in what was suppose to attract thousands of people daily. Hopefully Avatar will go better.

 

[disneychrista]

SWGE blends very well into DL. I suspect the land was built around DL, since it was space constrained, and duplicated into DHS. Officially, they were developed together… but Disney says the same thing about Toy Story Midway Mania, which obviously was designed for DCA and duplicated into DHS.

The same with Tiana's. It obviously fits better into DL's Splash Mountain. WDW's has a lot of dead space vs DL's.

 

[brightlined]

To me, SWGE in DL feels much more immersive than at WDW. I think a large part of that is because of the entrances. At WDW, it seems really disjointed to walk from Toy Story into SWGE. At Disneyland, there is longer walkway to transition the lands. Hopefully they do the same with Avatar.

I really don't love that transition from Grand Avenue to GE at DHS, too. It's not terrible, but it just feels weird to walk into a tunnel and end up in the vicinity of the ROTR line. (Especially with the now-former Muppet stuff right there.) At the time, I wished they had started the transition in front of the Muppets rather than building that (seemingly-useless) Grand Avenue facade (on the right as you approach the tunnel).

I have a long internal conflict with GE at DHS. I experienced that GE first, and enjoyed it, but the backlot and New York Street were such a huge part of that park for so long. Even though there wasn't much there, I'm surprised by how much I miss the area around the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area, for example. (And I still miss the front entrance to Toy Story Midway Mania - they might as well just convert that section back into a backstage area again.) DL didn't lose as much to gain GE.

SWGE seems like a bust so far. Often, there’s no foot traffic in what was suppose to attract thousands of people daily. Hopefully Avatar will go better.

There's long been suspicion that they killed a third attraction that would have crossed both sides of GE, and I think that's one of the things that's missing. Those two sides are so far apart, and there's just nothing between them. (They also killed the restaurant that would have gone in over by the Tie FIghter.) It's not that there are off-the-shelf flat rides that would go in the space, but anything to give people a reason to visit there, other than just having cool vehicles sitting there. (I do think the new version of MF:SR will help a bit - especially if it's legitimately good.)

Avatar should at least be a smaller space. Hopefully, there'll be some version of Satu'li Canteen (or an appropriate variant).

I'm eager to hear what the attraction will be - I'm gently worried it'll be some hybrid of Jurassic World and Nav'i River Journey. (Oh, please don't let the attraction be as boring as Nav'i River Journey.) The phrasing of "experience" worries me a little.

 

[PiratesOfTheSea]

I'm eager to hear what the attraction will be - I'm gently worried it'll be some hybrid of Jurassic World and Nav'i River Journey. (Oh, please don't let the attraction be as boring as Nav'i River Journey.) The phrasing of "experience" worries me a little.

The DLR Avatar attraction will be more like the Shanghai version of Pirates:

 

[LAS2AMS]

I really don't love that transition from Grand Avenue to GE at DHS, too. It's not terrible, but it just feels weird to walk into a tunnel and end up in the vicinity of the ROTR line. (Especially with the now-former Muppet stuff right there.) At the time, I wished they had started the transition in front of the Muppets rather than building that (seemingly-useless) Grand Avenue facade (on the right as you approach the tunnel).

I have a long internal conflict with GE at DHS. I experienced that GE first, and enjoyed it, but the backlot and New York Street were such a huge part of that park for so long. Even though there wasn't much there, I'm surprised by how much I miss the area around the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area, for example. (And I still miss the front entrance to Toy Story Midway Mania - they might as well just convert that section back into a backstage area again.) DL didn't lose as much to gain GE.


There's long been suspicion that they killed a third attraction that would have crossed both sides of GE, and I think that's one of the things that's missing. Those two sides are so far apart, and there's just nothing between them. (They also killed the restaurant that would have gone in over by the Tie FIghter.) It's not that there are off-the-shelf flat rides that would go in the space, but anything to give people a reason to visit there, other than just having cool vehicles sitting there. (I do think the new version of MF:SR will help a bit - especially if it's legitimately good.)

Avatar should at least be a smaller space. Hopefully, there'll be some version of Satu'li Canteen (or an appropriate variant).

I'm eager to hear what the attraction will be - I'm gently worried it'll be some hybrid of Jurassic World and Nav'i River Journey. (Oh, please don't let the attraction be as boring as Nav'i River Journey.) The phrasing of "experience" worries me a little.

Good points. But even if Disney hadn’t scaled back SWGE, I don’t think it’d be much more successful. IMP, Disney overestimated the appeal of a large, Star Wars dedicated land among a traditional Disney fan base… and Star Wars (but not Disney) fans aren’t going to pay a couple hundred bucks to get into the parks to see it.

Personally, I’ve never watched any of the Star Wars movies (people call me a liar when I tell them this) but know the basic plot for some of the films since they’re so embedded in pop culture. But even I’m stunned at how little foot traffic SWGE gets, especially in the evenings. Probably doesn’t help that ROTR closes early. A Frozen-themed land would’ve been oodles more successful.

Some years back, at WDW, Disney bought some buildings near the edge of its property (former retail center IIRC, it’s near the Animal Kingdom Lodge) to relocate a lot of backend operations at DHS that had occupied what was suppose to be the production facilities. The plan was to tear down those facilities, which were built cheaply in the 80s, for theme park expansion. Of course, Disney being Disney couldn’t bring itself to demolish perfectly fine buildings and thus they’re still there.

So if Disney is willing to demolish most of Hollywood Land for Avatar, and they’re building just one attraction, I know that whatever it is will be good. It won’t be a roller coaster, since it’ll be an eyesore similar to the Guardiqns / former TOT. So I think the ride mentioned above is a strong bet.

I bet the Zootopia film going into AK will replace Philamagic, the old soap opera restaurant will continue to host kids’ shows and the Animation Building will become vacant/ used for special events.

Edit: looks like Hyperion Theater is staying after all.