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Credit: DisneyEntertainment is one of the things that sets Disney apart from its competitors, but it seems like guests can expect to see much less from now on – especially at Avengers Campus.
When you think of entertainment at Disney’s theme parks, you probably think of fireworks and character meet and greets. When you look closer, however, you’ll see that there are forms of entertainment scattered all over the parks – the detail of which helps Disney stand out compared to its competitors.
None of this would be possible without cast members. Whether they’re face characters or costumed characters, it’s the people in Disney’s entertainment department that keep the show running and create magic moments for guests of all ages.
Recently, character performers at Disneyland Resort stood up for their own worth. As of May 19, 2024, the majority of cast members who perform at Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure voted to unionize with the Actors’ Equity Association.
This move is intended to give Disneyland’s entertainment cast members an advantage in future negotiations over issues such as salary, safety, and scheduling.
“They say that Disneyland is ‘the place where dreams come true,’ and for the Disney cast members who have worked to organize a union, their dream came true today,” Kate Shindle, president of the Actors’ Equity Association, said in a statement.
But it’s not all good news. As some theorized before the vote, Disneyland Resort has since scaled back several elements of entertainment by removing stage dancers from Club Pixar – a temporary addition for Pixar Fest at Disney California Adventure – and closed the Doctor Strange: Mysteries of the Mystic Arts show.
While there’s no proof that this is directly connected to the union vote (and some have actively argued otherwise), there’s no denying that the timing is a little fishy.
But it seems like Disneyland Resort isn’t done making cuts quite yet.
According to the Disneyland Resort operating calendar, the following forms of entertainment are listed until June 29 but are not scheduled for any day after that.
- Avengers Assemble!
- The Amazing Spider-Man!
- Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Dance-Off!
- Warriors of Wakanda: The Disciplines of the Dora Milaje
- Operation: Playtime! – featuring the Green Army Patrol
- Five & Dime
Doctor Strange: Mysteries of the Mystic Arts is already scheduled to end on June 30. The only forms of California Adventure atmosphere entertainment listed to the latest date in the calendar are Club Pixar (sans dancers, of course) and Citizens of Buena Vista Street.
While Disney has not confirmed what this means for the park yet, if these end dates are accurate, there will be no entertainment left in Avengers Campus. In other words, there will be no actual Avengers on the Avengers Campus, making this just… A campus?
Avengers Campus – which only opened in 2021 – has already long been criticized for its lack of things to do. If it’s truly scrubbed of entertainment, that will make WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure and the land’s food and merch offerings the only new additions to the park (with its other ride, Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission – BREAKOUT!, technically predating it by three years).
In our opinion, the biggest (and most shocking) loss would be The Amazing Spider-Man! Walt Disney Imagineering hyped up this stunt show – which features a genuinely impressive animatronic – massively before the land opened, including in an episode of the Disney+ docuseries The Imagineering Story.
What entertainment would you miss most from Disney California Adventure? Let us know in the comments!