As part of the celebrations for the 30th anniversary of Disney Paris, the park opened a new area on the 20th, where Armageddon and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, inspired by the band Aerosmith, used to be: the Marvel Avengers Campus.
The 27,500 square meters were presented to journalists from around the world in early July, after two years of preparation – the project had been mentioned for the first time in 2018 at the D23 Expo Japan, a biennial meeting of all the park’s branches.
It is an immersive experience in one of the world’s most famous heroes’ universes, starting with the compelling and attractive storytelling, which already embarks the recruit, as visitors are called, in a totally parallel world.
Marvel Avengers Campus has a roller coaster, “Avengers Assemble: Flight Force”, which goes from zero to 96 m/h in three seconds. It feels like a real takeoff.
As a preamble to the attraction, something impressive. An incredibly realistic “animatronic” of Iron Man anticipates the difficult mission that the “heroes of tomorrow” are about to embrace – and who would deny a request from Tony Stark?
The idea is to help him fight the threatening Kree missiles inside the Flight Force, a car designed by the hero. All this in the dark, with only the voices of Iron Man and Captain Marvel, who also participates in the adventure, as audio.
The “legend” behind the Marvel Avengers Campus, incidentally, has it that Tony Stark came across this former SHIELD base in Paris, built by his father Howard, and turned it into the Avengers HQ. Hence the mixture of “old” structures with newer ones, built by Stark.
The second attraction is not far behind in terms of surprise: the “Spider-Man, Web Adventure” is pure adrenaline for visitors. Now, would-be heroes have the opportunity to help Spider-Man destroy the Spider-Bots, giant spiders that multiplied because of a mistake in young Peter Parker’s lab.
Inside the Web-Slinger, a car designed by Parker, four people equipped with 3D glasses play their virtual webs.
Everything is done with state-of-the-art gesture recognition technology — visitors aim directly at giant screens, hitting enemies and earning points. Does your arm hurt? Certainly. But once at Disney, the idea is to play.
Outside, in the Avengers area, meeting up with Thor, Wasp, Loki and even Doctor Strange is commonplace. When they’re not saving the world or making their way to the training center, they stroll around campus and stop to take pictures, always with a kind word and a smile.
Shows with French and American actors reinterpreting scenes from the franchise’s films take place on restaurant ceilings.
FRIDAY, the famous artificial intelligence created by Tony Stark, watches over the campus and interacts with the superhero team.
Integrated into the facade of the “Avengers Assemble: Flight Force” building, the Avengers HQ, it welcomes recruits, ensures that no threat looms over the horizon, and announces the arrival and departure of the Avengers.
In terms of food, tourists can visit Pym Kitchen, a restaurant that offers large and small sizes of pizzas to pretzels and hamburgers.
In the Stark Factory restaurant, located in the atelier of the Avengers, where the heroes repair their equipment, you can eat appetizing pizzas made in open kitchens. In the center of the place is the Hulkbuster, huge armor created with the help of Bruce Banner for the Hulk.
The food trucks are a good option for a quick stop where you can taste Asian dishes or a hot dog in the style of the streets of New York.
The complex also has a store with the latest superhero artifacts, clothing and accessories — so the traveler doesn’t feel like a lowly, powerless mortal.
The report even found the brand new Spider-Bots there, which change their appearance and improve their combat skills like Iron Man, Black Widow and Black Panther.
The pre-opening party for Marvel Avengers Campus in June was even seen in the Parisian skies, with hundreds of drones and pyrotechnics, which drew the logos of the heroes in giant size.
Stars such as Brie Larson – the new Captain Marvel in cinema –, Pom Klementieff, Iman Vellani, Les Black EyedPeas, Tony Parker and Raphaël Varane were present for a preview of the expected immersive universe.
Fourteen heroes appeared on the roof of one of the park’s buildings, alongside Bob Chapek, president and CEO of The Walt Disney Company, and Natacha Rafalski, president of Disneyland Paris.
The first Marvel themed universe in Europe — it already exists in Disney California and Hong Kong parks — promises to shake up the old continent. For those who like to take the Disney experience to the extreme, one option is the brand new four-star Disney Hotel New York – The Art of Marvel, which opened on June 21.
With 561 rooms and suites dedicated to Spider-Man, Avengers or Marvel superheroes, the atmosphere here is New Yorker, judging by the basketball court and the Skyline bar with a (fake) view of the city’s skyscrapers.
A full-size Iron Man armor and 350 artwork inspired by the franchise’s heroes created by over 110 artists make the hotel one of the world’s largest collections of publicly available Marvel artwork.
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Tickets from 56 euros at www.disneylandparis.com.
