Strolling Through the (Theme) Park One Day: The MCU at DCA!

Concept art for the new lands, Blue Sky Cellar, photo by the author. 

The promise of a new land at DCA was found in the mysterious hatch next to Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout! and the former Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror. It had the Avengers symbol on it, but I still haven’t seen it, too distracted. The first part was the character meet and greets. This was moved from Innoventions in Tomorrowland, the top floor was Super Hero HQ which had Captain America’s meet and greet to the right with movie props and Cap’s shield. Then, a line to get to Thor with a recreation of the Asgardian throne room and a chance to lift Mjolnir. Around the corner is a hall of Iron Man’s armor and also an interactive Iron Man suit.

Then, there was the Summer of Heroes, which had a station next to the Monsters Inc. attraction which had three or four consoles which you take a test to determine which superhero you are and you got an exclusive comic book. Captain America's meet and greet switched off with Spider-Man, but now he is across the street with a giant half of his shield backdrop. New for me was the Black Panther meet and greet at Studio 17. There is a queue and the Dora Milaje warrior, I wasn’t able to ask if she is Okoye, she wanders around the queue. Entering the meet and greet, it is a medium sized room with three cases; the closest is a sample of four Vibranium tubes, some golden ornament, and Black Panther’s mask and what looks like Shuri’s Vibranium gauntlets possibly models. The meet and greet has Black Panther, he is in the suit, but I think seeing the person’s face through the eye slots was strange.

Also there was Black Widow, but I saw her in the Summer of Heroes. She was fun and this meet and greet has a few minutes of chatting before taking the photos. I was distracted by the low charge on my cell phone. In the middle of it, Loki walked in, I noticed the PhotoPass photographer was taking pics, but not when Loki came in. I was fascinated by the displays, but again there wasn’t enough time. At the Summer of Heroes, Black Widow arrives in a jeep which led to the show, the Avengers Training Initiative. This is like the Jedi Training Academy, four group of kids are brought to the side, and then the show begins. It has stunts with a SHIELD Agent Kay and Black Widow, Iron Man gives a message, Arnim Zola threatens the recruits in computerized form, and the recruits train and then toss foam shields at an Ion Reactor. A fun show.

Avengers Training Initiative show, photo by the author.

The Marvel Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N. at Treasure Island, Las Vegas has what looks like costume displays from all of the MCU movies and uses cell phones at the end to take on Ultron. It would be interesting if there was an interactive component to the Marvel Land. I can imagine that it might be called Avengers West Compound. The poster has buildings with the Avengers symbol, Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum, Black Panther poised outside, so this would be in the Hollywood Land section of the park, and the Mission Breakout! building in the background. So there may be an Avengers attraction and possibly one with Spider-Man.

Doctor Strange currently wanders the park, but it would be great if he had a Sanctum Sanctorum with interactive displays, cloaks flutter, one has a swirling color, and various apprentices or even Wong who can show magic tricks. There is a Spider-Man attraction at Islands of Adventure, a walk through the Daily Bugle, and board a ride vehicle where riders are taken past 3D screens. The villains include Hydro Man, Hydro Man? not one of Spider-Man's best in his rogues gallery. I can see that Disneyland would not like to duplicate that ride. It could be an interactive shooting ride like Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters with riders gesturing (like the Legoland Ninjago ride) to shoot webs. I hope there is a display of screen used costumes and props. I would like to Asgard again or Sakaar from Thor: Ragnarok.  
The Avengers attraction. There is a quintet flying above in the poster. I think there will be a Wakandan embassy where you can meet Black Panther and the Dora Milaje, like the meet and greets now, but also load up on hovercraft like those seen in Avengers: Infinity War. Maybe it takes you through Wakanda, into the city and over to the mines and finally to Shuri’s lab where she tries to prepare you, maybe upgrades your hovercraft with shields. You leave across the fields, maybe go outside of the ride building!, and get into the battlefield that was in Avengers: Infinity War, screens, puffs of smoke, and audio-animatronics of heroes and the Black Order. Finally, Thanos! He holds up his Infinity Gauntlet and activates one of the crystals. You barely escape and return to the embassy loading and unloading area. We will have to wait until 2020 to see the Marvel expansion.

#DisneysCaliforniaAdventure, #SummerofHeroes, #BlackPanther, #BlackWidow