Credit: Jeremy Thompson, FlickrOne of the best things about visiting Disney is getting to see your favorite characters come to life, but having that dream ripped away can certainly lead to a less-than-enjoyable vacation.
Many guests planning a vacation to Walt Disney World or Disneyland typically have a lot of planning to do. Aside from planning what hotel you want to stay at, guests must decide what days they want to visit the parks. For Disneyland Resort, are you planning on visiting Disneyland Park on day one? Or Disney California Adventure? Are you purchasing Park Hopper tickets or doing one park per day?
At Disneyland, plans can also get as complex as deciding the order of attractions you want to visit. Maybe you will start off with Indiana Jones Adventure, move to Haunted Mansion Holiday, knock out “it’s a small world”, jump on Big Thunder Mountain and then Space Mountain, all before you head to Tiana’s Palace for lunch! This also might be something you need to work out on your Disney Genie+ for Lightning Lane options.
Next, you need to find your favorite characters to say hello to, and make sure you ride their attraction!
Let’s say you love Peter Pan! You can visit Magic Kingdom or Disneyland Park, ride Peter Pan’s Flight, and then meet him as he wanders Fantasyland. At Disney World, you can even see him in the Festival of Fantasy parade. This also goes for so many other Disney movie franchises like Moana, Frozen, Stars Wars, Marvel — the list can go on.
When Disneyland opened in 1955, Walt did not have the plethora of IP (intellectual property) that The Walt Disney Company owns today, so there were not too many rides in the first few years of development that were based on movies. We, in turn, were able to see Disney’s creative Imagineers break boundaries within their own realms of creativity, giving us original stories and attractions.
From this, we saw the birth of incredible attractions like Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, The Tiki Room, Carousel of Progress, “it’s a small world”, and more.
Since its inception, Disneyland Resort has grown astronomically. Not only is there Disneyland Paris, but also, Disney California Adventure. The theme park just added San Fransokyo to tie in the world of Big Hero 6 and Baymax. They also have Cars Land, which brings the Pixar film to life, while Pixar Pier animates other films such as The Incredibles, Inside Out, and Toy Story in the real world.
The theme park is truly incredible and, recently, became even more epic as it joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Avengers Campus is a themed land at Disney California Adventure and the first Marvel Cinematic Universe-themed land in the parks.
It was originally scheduled to open on July 18, 2020 as part of the Disneyland Resort’s 65th-anniversary celebration; however, it was delayed to June 4, 2021 as part of the park’s 20th-anniversary celebration since the opening was postponed indefinitely following the closure of the park due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! officially opened on May 27, 2017. Disney Parks revealed during their D23 Expo panel in July 15, 2017, that Spider-Man and the Avengers will join the Guardians of the Galaxy for an “immersive Super Hero universe.” The land also features Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure, and in the future, Avengers Quinjet will open.
There is also amazing entertainment like Doctor Strange: Mysteries of the Mystic Arts, Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Dance Off!, Spider-Man’s incredible swing, and more.
Dining options like Pym’s Test Kitchen and Shawarma Palace are some of the best in the theme park, and the amount of MCU characters that have entered the Campus is as expansive as the universe itself. Iron Man, Captain America, The Hulk, Spider-Man, Black Panther, Black Widow, Loki, Thor, Peter Quill, Groot, Nick Fury — the list can continue for quite some time.
The land has proven to be highly popular, especially Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout! which took over the original Tower of Terror attraction. The drop ride encapsulates guests into the world of Guardians of the Galaxy, and it is also the only spot where you can see Rocket come to life. Rocket is featured in the preshow with an advanced animatronic, which makes the “trash panda” / raccoon come to life before our eyes. Rocket details the mission to us, and sets up guest expectations for a fantastic experience with top-notch technology.
Sometimes, however, the ride has to go into B-mode. This happens when Rocket breaks down.
When this happens, the animatronic is removed from the ride entirely, which certainly is a major miss for guests riding.
As of yesterday, it was reported that Rocket was removed from the Avengers ride entirely.
One guest said, “Instead of the usual Rocket Raccoon animatronic in the pre-show room today, they showed footage of CG Rocket on the screen. His lines were roughly the same but were said differently than usual. Is this a new norm or is it only a measure taken when the animatronic is down?”
Others began to respond to the post, noting that they had also seen Rocket missing — some recollections date back to over two months, so it seems he may have been gone consecutively throughout this time.
Director James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 stars Chris Pratt as Peter Quill/Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Dave Bautista as Drax, Bradley Cooper as Rocket Raccoon, Vin Diesel as Groot, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Sean Gunn as Kraglin, Chukwudi Iwuji as the High Evolutionary, and Will Poulter as Adam Warlock. The film centers around Rocket’s backstory, making his animatronic even more popular now than ever.
We have seen animatronics removed from Disney rides in the past. At the moment, Pirates of the Caribbean in New Orleans Square has been removing one of their iconic pirates as they have been fixing him. Although this does not mean that the animatronic is gone forever, it can be a rather lengthy amount of time before its return.
Have you ever ridden Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout! on B-mode?
Planning a trip to Disneyland is always a blast, especially if you plan on visiting Disney California Adventure! The theme park is directly across from Disneyland and has some of the best attractions you can ride and experience. Cars Land will truly blow you away as you see Lightning McQueen come alive on Route 66. Radiator Springs Racers is a must-ride, and eating at Flo’s Café has the best vibes. Want to test your thrill side? Incredicoaster will blast you through Pixar Pier. The Pixar Pal-A-Round provides DCA with the perfect backdrop, and a little further into the land, you can experience Avenger’s Campus and ride Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! Disney’s Grand Californian Resort is attached to the theme park, so you can hop on Soarin’ Around the World and then back to your hotel! Want to start booking? The Disneyland website has everything you need to know about the Disneyland app, hotels, tickets, and the Disney Genie+ service. Click here to check it out.