The Na’vi oceanic clan who live on Pandora’s reefs will push out Mike, Sulley and the other Monsters Inc. scare factory workers to make room for a new Avatar themed land that will take over an underused back corner of Disney California Adventure.
Disneyland will transform a portion of the Hollywood Backlot area in DCA’s Hollywood Land into an Avatar destination experience at the Anaheim theme park as part of the $1.9 billion DisneylandForward expansion project.
Work will begin on the Avatar themed land transformation in early 2026 when the Monsters Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue dark ride closes to make way for construction.
Sign up for our Park Life newsletter and find out what’s new and interesting every week at Southern California’s theme parks. Subscribe here. Concept art of the Avatar experience coming to Disney California Adventure. (Courtesy of Disney)Walt Disney Imagineering remains in the early stages of development on the Avatar project which is not expected to debut until 2028 or 2029.
DCA’s new Avatar themed land will be based on the second film “The Way of Water” from 2022, the third film “Fire and Ash” coming in 2025 and other upcoming movies in the franchise.
“Just as ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ introduced places on Pandora we’ve never seen before, we are taking our guests to a whole new location,” Imagineering Portfolio Executive Creative Producer Emo O’Brien said during a media event at Disney California Adventure.
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Concept art of the Avatar destination planned near the Hollywood Land themed land of Disney California Adventure. (Courtesy of Disney)New concept art depicts visitors wandering through the water-centric land dominated by a towering ribbed rockwork wall with a cascading waterfall and cave-like tunnels. A trio of 30-foot-tall peacock-like plants with purple-tipped palm fronds will accent the land. A translucent Metkayina outrigger canoe with seashells decorating the bow can be seen in the foreground next to an emerald green body of water.
So far, Disney has only discussed a single new attraction for DCA’s Avatar land that promises action and thrills on the wide-open seas of Pandora. The innovative boat ride will take riders on a journey through a Pandoran rainforest glowing in luminescent blues, greens and purples.
Concept art of the Avatar themed land proposed for the Disneyland resort. (Courtesy of Disney)Earlier concept art showed riders in boats passing under two bridges on a vast body of water fed by several waterfalls.
The rib-like rockwork with the concentric circles seen in the Avatar land concept art almost certainly conceals an attraction building and the businesses on Harbor Boulevard much the same way the Cadillac Range rockwork in Cars Land hides the Radiator Springs Racers attraction building and the Anaheim Convention Center on Katella Avenue.
Depending on the location and orientation, the Avatar rockwork could also shield the Disneyland Monorail that will run through the middle of the new themed land and visually disrupt the carefully crafted storytelling environment.
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Concept art of the Avatar experience coming to Disney California Adventure. (Courtesy of Disney)Disneyland has not yet announced what else will close in the Hollywood Backlot area beyond the Monsters Inc. ride.
Other locations in the Hollywood Backlot area include the Mickey’s Philharmagic theater building, Hollywood Backlot Stage and Hollywood Lounge outdoor cocktail bar.
The Hollywood Backlot has several unused buildings – including the empty Hyperion Theater, former Hollywood & Dine food court (Sound Stage 12) and former Who Wants to be a Millionaire – Play It building (Sound Stage 17).
Concept art of the Avatar experience coming to Disney California Adventure. (Courtesy of Disney)DCA’s new Avatar themed land is expected to rival the scope and detail of the Pandora – World of Avatar that debuted in 2017 at the Walt Disney World resort in Florida.
“This is going to be on a scale and level that is very much worthy of this incredible franchise,” O’Brien said during the DCA media event in the Hyperion Theater.
DCA’s Hollywood Backlot occupies approximately 6 acres if you include the Hyperion Theater and its queue area. That’s about half the size of the 12-acre Pandora themed land at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Concept art of the Disneyland pedestrian bridge over Harbor Boulevard set to begin construction in Fall 2026. (Courtesy of Disney)New concept art of a pedestrian bridge that will stretch over Harbor Boulevard offers a hint of an Avatar attraction building that will push out into the existing Disneyland bus drop off/pick up area.
A new 40-foot-tall attraction building appears to extend out over the horseshoe roundabout roadway currently used by Toy Story parking lot buses to pick up and drop off passengers at the security checkpoint on the east side of the Disneyland resort.
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