Recently, the city of Anaheim voted to forgo certain restrictions that were, in essence, keeping Disney from developing land it already owns next to Disneyland. While there’s an upcoming vote that could still alter plans for a Disneyland expansion, it’s expected that Disney will ultimately win out. The company promised to invest 1.9 billion dollars into its park. Part of the deal also includes money for the upkeep and development of public spaces within the city. The hope is that these deals are enough to persuade voters to keep things in Disney’s favor.
There’s a big rumor going around that if an expansion to the Disneyland Park does take place, one of the first things that the company will be looking to create is Wakanda-themed land. A Wakanda-themed expansion, from Black Panther, was on the shortlist provided by Disney Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro in one of his more recent media appearances. That list included Coco, Frozen, and Zootopia as the other Disney productions that may be granted a foothold in the park. There’s a bit of a loophole that Disney has to contend with, which makes California perhaps the only place where Wakanda can come to life.
Marvel had a previous agreement with Universal that said they were the only brand that could use their characters in theme parks east of the Mississippi River. While the company is now part of the Disney conglomerate, the agreement still stands, and it’s given Disney quite a few headaches. There are Marvel characters that Disney uses in Florida, but in essence, they are the few that have fallen between the cracks. This is an issue that the Mouse House hopes to resolve, but for now, Anaheim seems to be the only logical home for Wakanda, at least stateside.
Rumors indicate that a potential spot for Wakanda at Disneyland would be in between the Disneyland Hotel and Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel. This expansion would force Disney to extend other areas of the park as well. That way, guests wouldn’t be roaming out of the park and to the hotels only to find a life-size replica of Wakanda in the middle. Another element that seems to go in favor of this expansion is the fact that Imagineers decided against including the city as part of the Avenger’s Campus main attraction. One of the original plans was to have a battle scene in the city. Ultimately, what we got was a highlight of the King Thanos figure.
At this point, the only confirmed new land at the Disneyland resort as part of the expansion is the one themed to Avatar. It’s also important to remember that the city of Anaheim has to ratify the vote to give Disney the green light. That vote will take place on May 7th. If things go according to plan, we could start seeing confirmations about the new lands at the Disneyland Resort real soon. Until then, Wakanda will remain a myth!
