A Peek into the Past, And a Look to the Future of Disney California Adventure!

Arguably the Disney park with the most contentious history, Disney California Adventure has gone through some serious changes over the years — and the park isn’t done growing!

The Orange County Register sat down with Patrick Finnegan, the current Vice President of Disney California Adventure, to talk a little bit about the past and future of the park, and we noticed a few interesting details in the interview.

To understand the massive amount of change that has happened to the park, we’ll look back at the first iteration, a park dedicated to the boardwalks of California beaches. Good to note that these boardwalks were exactly the thing Walt wanted to provide an alternative to with Disneyland in the first place.

Paradise Pier, prior to becoming current Pixar Pier ©Disney

For several years, the park was a massive failure and no one felt it represented Disney at all. That is until Bob Iger proposed the choice in 2007 to fix California Adventure. The plan would cost $1.1 billion, but it worked and turned DCA into the lovable park it is today.

Well, now DCA is about to enter its 19th year, which means next year is a pretty big anniversary. As a consequence, the team at DCA are doing their best to look at what the future holds.

In his interview, Finnegan mentioned the highly-anticipated Avengers Campus opening this summer! Interestingly, he explained that the controversial decision to retheme Tower of Terror as Guardians of the Galaxy Mission: Breakout! was always based on the knowledge that the ride would anchor an Avengers land. Neat!

Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout

Also, as a result of Avengers Campus opening, it sounds like Disney is setting their sites on what could happen to Hollywood Land. The portion of the park has long been used for Avengers meet and greets. Now, those heroes will move to Avengers Campus. So, what will take their place when they’re gone?

One more interesting tidbit about what Finnegan and the team are working on is based on a popular Oogie Boogie Bash attraction, Villains Grove. This walkthrough trail was super popular, so Finnegan says they’re looking into more ways to use this infrastructure for attractions going forward.