Opening back in July of this year, Avengers Campus was the first major expansion to come to Disneyland Paris in, well, a very long time. I’ve been visiting Europe’s most-visited tourist attraction regularly for five years now, and finally, I got to experience a new ride! Having had the opportunity to visit its Californian cousin back in February, it’s fair to say I wasn’t overly excited about this land. I’m not a big Marvel Cinematic Universe fan to start with and cold modern-looking lands aren’t really my vibe. But as undoubtedly the worst Disney Park in the world, Walt Disney Studios Park sorely needs whatever additions it can get. So on to the Eurostar I hopped, filled more with curiosity than excitement, to see what Avengers Campus had to offer!
I’m sure many of my fellow theme park fans reading this will know what I mean when I say how very weird it felt to walk into this area. Disneyland Paris is my second home. I know it like the back of my hand. In the last five years, it’s barely changed a bit (sigh) so I wasn’t ready for the emotion this completely re-worked area actually brought. And from the moment I stepped in, I was smiling.
Walking past Studio Theatre, Studio D and Stitch Live, the floor begins to evolve. Splashes of blue and white weave their way into the paving, and you start to see stylistic nods to the superheroes up on the buildings, before turning the corner and being greeted by the full land.
Immediately in front of you is the Gateway Portal character spot, which when I arrived had a long line of people waiting to meet Ant-Man (later it was Wasp) in front of the fab backdrop. Next up on the left is the new flagship restaurant, Pym Kitchen, directly opposite the park’s brand-new attraction Spider-Man W.E.B. Adventure.
Walking past WEB and Pym Kitchen, you arrive at the main hub of the campus. With Flight Force directly in front, Stark Factory to one side and Mission Equipment to the other, this hub is wide and open – and for good reason! Almost every time I walked through here, there was something going on. The first time I arrived in the plaza, the Wakandan Dora Milaje were performing. The next time, Black Widow was fighting some enemies on the roof. The time after that? The Guardians of the Galaxy were hosting a dance party. Whilst all of these happenings meant that a crowd quickly build up, cast members were on hand to ensure walkways were still accessible. I cannot emphasise enough how good it feels to have a land feel so alive. That’s simply not something we had in Walt Disney Studios park. Every time I walked through here, kids were squealing with delight as another of their favourite heroes made an appearance.
The area itself is a pleasant enough space to be in. It does feel more industrial than I’d like but hey, that’s the theme I guess. There is a lot more greenery surrounding Flight Force than I expected however, which contrasts nicely with the enormous metal structure encasing the ride. In person, I liked this a lot more that I had in photos, but in daytime (and surprisingly, also at night) I wasn’t super impressed with the lighting. I just felt like more could have been done than a few circular shapes. Maybe I just didn’t catch it at a great time?
I was also pretty impressed that this area also featured a lot of low walls, perfect for sitting on. I’d been worried that there would be no benches, or anywhere else for people to sit for a moment but thankfully I was wrong on that count!
So, what is there actually to do? Let’s take a look!
Attractions
Avengers Campus is home to two attractions, one re-theme and one brand-new (well, new for this park anyway): Avengers Assemble: Flight Force and Spider-Man W.E.B. Adventure (catchy names, eh?)
Avengers Assemble: Flight Force
Avengers Assemble: Flight Force is a retheme of the old Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster avec Aerosmith that used to be the headline attraction within the former Backlot area of the park. The coaster itself has (to my despair) remained exactly the same but with a complete re-do of the queue and ride experience.
An immediate gripe I had about this ride is that there is no queue time board at the front of the attraction. To reach the actual queue – and signage – for Flight Force, you need to walk up a curved pathway that takes you around that giant metal structure. There you can finally check the wait time, and choose between Single Rider, Premier Access (if you’ve paid and pre-booked) and Standby.
For my first ride, I went through the Single Rider line. Disappointingly, this line misses essentially all of the theming of the attraction, with no pre-show or really any themed space. Instead, you are merely held in a grey room with a screen giving you the safety notices. The voice here isn’t even introduced, so I had not a clue who this heavily accented (Irish?) voice belonged to.
Disappointed, I went back around and made myself – a single rider – endure the standby line in order to appreciate the theming. (Love that enthusiast life.)
This began with the grim discovery that the initial cattle pen from the coaster’s previous life has remained, although thankfully the queue did move quite quickly so I didn’t spend too long here.
Once inside, the first room you are greeted with is lined with a series of large profiles of the various Avengers. I wasn’t a huge fan of just having essentially posters lining the walls where once was a genuinely interesting (for me at least) collection of memorabilia. It reminded me a bit of the Hyperspace Mountain queue, where the posters of various ships give big ‘least effort possible’ vibes.
And the queue progresses, alternating between cool (nice Avengers sign) and boring (plain grey corridor) until you reach the first pre-show with the very expensive, very large screen on which Iron Man is scrolling through his phonebook and calling various friends. Whilst I was in here Rocket Raccoon was being called and well, that sure isn’t Bradley Cooper talking. I was actually doubled over with how bad the voice was. (This is the part where I’m told it is indeed Cooper and I crawl into a hole)
Finally, you reach the much-lauded Iron Man animatronic who, with the help of Captain Marvel (on a screen), introduces the mission to you. The animatronic was very impressive and genuinely is absolutely stunning. I was surprised at how muted the movement was, it would have been nice to see a little more life-like behaviour, but either way, I’m proud to have it in the park!
So, having harped on for ages about the queue for this ride. How was the ride itself? Well… if you’ve followed anything about this land you probably already know. It ain’t great. In fact, it’s so poor that apparently, when visiting for the land’s opening, Disney management instructed the park to improve the experience. So we’ll see what happens there!
Essentially, the ride is dark. There are screens, sure. A few. But what surprised me was their positioning. Most of the screens are positioned paralell to the track, presumably to make it feel as though you’re flying alongside Iron Man and Captain Marvel but it just meant I could barely see what was happening, with just a blur of colour in my peripheral vision. There was one screen in the whole experience that I saw fully, thanks to its position directly in front of the train. Other than that, the experience was mostly darkness and a couple of lights at the very end. To my utter shock, however, despite the seats being rock hard and the over-the-shoulder restraints being vile, it wasn’t actually rough?! I rode twice in rows 2 and 5 and both times, walked away totally unscathed. I’ll take that. Oh, and the on-board audio is fun!
Spider-Man W.E.B. Adventure
Way back in February, I wrote a blog mulling over my thoughts on the WEB attraction over at Disney’s California Adventure. Overall, my thoughts were that it was very much OK. Not stellar, and certainly not something I’d rush back to ride, but inoffensive. So, I wasn’t expecting much from its Parisian clone. But you know what? I had a really great time. I actually found myself super keen to ride again, which I did not expect. Admittedly, it was an odd decision to dub over Tom Holland in French and have subtitles on a separate screen. But I’m sure they know the expectations of the local audience better than I do. For me, the pre-show was still fun and engaging and the ride itself was better than I remembered. What took me aback was how accurate the shooting was. My webs went where I wanted them to every single time, and that was just fun.
The only downside for me was that riding via the single rider line, I ended up waiting longer than expected as an entire pre-show full of single riders was batched, before being ushered to the single rider lane in the station. This meant I lost my place in line and ended up much further back, doubling the posted wait time. But from speaking to people on Twitter, it seems that this isn’t ordinarily the case! So fingers crossed it won’t happen again.
Entertainment
According to the Disneyland Paris app, Avengers Campus is home to five different shows: Avengers Unite, Guardians of the Galaxy: Dance Challenge, Heroic Welcome, The Amazing Spider-Man and Warriors of Wakanda. What’s interesting is that none of these shows have posted showtimes, so rather than being formal events they’re just kinda things that happen. Characters just pop up around the land unexpectedly, and often. Really often. In my first half-hour in the land I saw both Warriors of Wakanda and Avengers Unite. When I came back later, Thor and Loki walked past. Another time, Spider-Man was waving down from the roof. This land is alive! And boy, do the guests love it! Aside from Alan Silvestri’s iconic score, the soundtrack of Avengers Campus is the squeals of delight from kids – and their parents – as their favourite heroes spontaneously appear. I really, really hope things stay this way long in to the future, because right now, it’s magic.
There are also two opportunities to meet some of the resident heroes, both at a standard – but gorgeous – outdoor character spot near Pym Kitchen and at the Training Center.
To meet a hero at the Training Center, you must pre-book an appointment – thankfully on the main Disneyland Paris app, not the cursed Lineberty – which can be done by scanning a QR code at the entrance. I’m not sure how often appointments drop, as I showed up at 13:53 and had to wait until 14:00 for the next batch. At 14:00, the app glitched when I tried to get an appointment for Spider-Man, but I was able to get a return time (45 minutes) for Captain Marvel without any further issue. I did have to wait until my final day at the park to visit the Training Center as when I showed up around 17:30/18:00 they were already closed for the day. So, get down early-ish if characters are your thing!
There’s a waiting room inside where you can chill until your appointment, but honestly it’s so quiet and modern that it just felt as though I was waiting for a job interview – not my vibe at all.
The meet itself was nice enough – I hate meeting ‘face’ characters, I’m just too awkward – with a far more interesting setup than the foyer. As part of the experience, I was asked if I wanted to ‘try something new’, which ended up being a photo/video that panned around me. I was pretty surprised however, to see that this wasn’t included with Disney Photopass, and was an additional 15€ upcharge. For a moving photo? Nah, you’re alright.
Merchandise
What’s that I hear you cry? I still have money left in my pocket?! Well, not if Mission Equipment has anything to say about it! I didn’t spend too much time in here as honestly, it was a little unpleasant. WEB Adventure exits through the gift shop, and it’s not a very big shop at all, so the constant waves of exiting guests make things more than a bit chaotic.
But, if you can get through the sea of people you can pick up all sorts of Avengers Merchandise and specific merch for both rides! I didn’t expect to see any Flight Force merch, so that was a nice surprise. The headline items are the Spider-Bots (70€) for which there are continuous demonstrations in a small arena in the shop, and of course the Power Bands. These bands are designed to give you various different skills within the WEB attraction. The base band is currently retailing at 40€, with each add-on an additional 30€, so basically expect to spend 70€ if you want any WEB merch! It should be noted that passholder discount is not available on any Avengers Campus merchandise, which is not something I’ve ever seen before and sets a pretty poor precedent imo.
Food
Guess what? I’ve saved the best for last! The food. Until the opening of Avengers Campus, unless I had a reservation for Bistrot Chez Remy, I didn’t eat in Walt Disney Studios Park. It was as simple as that. There was nothing else – as a vegetarian, but also in general I believe – worthy of my time or money. But that’s all changed. For my first time ever at Disneyland Paris, there was more tempting food than I actually had time to try on my trip. What?!
Pym Kitchen
The land’s signature restaurant is Pym Kitchen, a buffet restaurant themed to the Pym laboratory. A meal here will set you back a hefty 42€, with one soft drink included in the price. I managed to snag a reservation here for my trip and will have a full review up soon, but I thoroughly enjoyed my experience. The restaurant is bright and comfy, with a few fun details around (although not as many as in the Californian quick service). The food was good, not great (as a veggie at least) but certainly there were enough very tasty options that I left happy. The staff too were just an absolute delight. I’m not sure how well the concept of ‘too big’ vs ‘too small’ food worked as a buffet, personally I just preferred the lab-themed stuff, but I am a scientist, so maybe I’m biased. I can definitely see myself returning!
Super Diner
The old, beloved, Cafe des Cascadeurs is now Super Diner. Super Diner offers two meal options. A meaty sandwich or a vegan sandwich. That’s it. The advantage of this is that service is very speedy, with my vegan sandwich only taking a few minutes to appear. I opted for the child’s portion as I only wanted a light lunch. This was substantial enough, about the size of a sandwich you’d make at home with two pieces of sliced bread. From the kitchen activity I watched from the counter, I believe the adult portion is twice the size. The vegan sandwich had a great texture, and the vegan cheese was surprisingly creamy. The ‘meat’ pieces could have used a little extra seasoning though, they were a little bland, but it still made for a great vegan lunch. Both sandwiches are 11€ for adults and 7€ for child sizes.
The staff here were amazing too, they were just so friendly and funny and constantly making everyone in the restaurant laugh. Oh and the music in here absolutely slaps. I was a big fan of eating along to Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac and the Ramones!
Stark Factory
The final restaurant I got a chance to try was Stark Factory, another quick service, this time offering pizza and pasta. The pizza here comes as a large square, with a child’s portion being half. The setup was a little strange, in that the meals are prepared and placed on the counter and you simply walk up with your tray and take what you’d like – big Ikea restaurant vibes. When I arrived there was only meaty pizza available and some tomato pasta, so I awkwardly stood to one side and ushered people past as I waited for some pizza I could eat. Once ready, I had to ask the staff to cut a slice in half for me so I could have a child’s portion which again, was awkward.
The pizza itself was gorgeous though! Thick with cheese and sauce and loaded onto a very tasty base. I can’t believe I’m saying it, but Disneyland Paris finally has good pizza! Again, prices weren’t exactly cheap with slices being 14€, and a half slice 7€ but at least the portions were generous and eating in here relatively late, I got to kick back on the plush seating and enjoy a very relaxing environment.
Whilst the park did go above and beyond in theming this restaurant with the addition of Peggy Carter’s office, I can’t really see this lasting long. The entire three days I was there, the whole dining area was fenced off. I’d expect the office to be removed and replaced with more seating to be honest, which is a shame.
Others
As well as three full restaurants, the land also features two food trucks!
One truck sells hot dogs and chocolate-dipped cheesecake on a stick (!) (I cannot wait to try a ‘crispy veggie’)
Whilst the other offers fresh-looking noodle bowls, with mochi for dessert!
Of course, with Disneyland Paris being the way they are it’ll be interesting to see how many of these options are available as we get into the off-peak season. But, for now, I’ve quite simply never had so much choice at WDSP!
I’m honestly shocked at how happy I am with Avengers Campus. Even after the land’s opening I’ve seen a lot of criticism both on YouTube and the wider internet. But though it may be too grey and bland to ever be one of my favourite lands, there’s no denying that it’s a fantastic addition to the park. Between the food and the characters, I’ll be surprised if this doesn’t become one of my most visited areas in the resort.
So, that’s the first stage of Walt Disney Studios 2.0 officially open! Roll on Arendelle!
Speak again soon,
Claire
coasterclaire.co.uk 