King Thanos ride vehicle for California Adventure revealed at D23

The King Thanos ride is currently in development for Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure, and D23 attendees got a first look.

Avengers Campus is inevitable

Walt Disney Imagineering revealed a ride vehicle maquette and new concept artwork for the King Thanos ride coming to Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure. The sculpture of the ride vehicle is on display at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event in Anaheim, Calif.

The upcoming attraction will involve the Avengers in a multiverse battle against King Thanos. This variant of the villain succeeded in his plans to keep the world wiped of half its existence.

The King Thanos ride vehicle seems to contain three rows of two people each. Legible at the bottom of the maquette are two the words “Warning: Stand clear while opening” and “Multiworld transport vehicle.”

Disney is expected to reveal more details about this attraction during “Horizons,” the name of this year’s D23 parks panel, which commences Aug. 10, 2024 at 10 p.m. ET. Disney has not revealed an opening date for the King Thanos attraction at the time of this writing.

Maquette of the King Thanos ride vehicle

Take a closer look at the maquette, along with a behind-the-scenes peek into the Imagineering creative process, in our video recorded at D23 2024:

The King Thanos ride vehicle appears similar, if not identical, to that of Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure (which opened in summer 2024 at Tokyo DisneySea), itself commonly compared to a non-Disney ride: The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man at Universal Islands of Adventure.

Peter Pan's Never Land Adventure ride vehicle — *Maquette of the ride vehicle for Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure, as seen on display at D23 Expo 2022.*

The ride’s journey from Wakanda to King Thanos

At D23 Expo 2019, Imagineer Scot Drake revealed a major Avengers attraction would join the previously announced Spider-Man attraction within the park’s then-upcoming land. Flying in a Quinjet, just like in the Marvel movies, guests would join the Avengers in Wakanda “in a battle to save our world.” The attraction would feature an “all-new, innovative ride system.”

Avengers Quintjet Wakanda ride concept art — *Concept art revealed in 2019 for the Wakanda version of the Avengers Campus attraction.*
_{Image courtesy of Disney}

By D23 Expo 2022, these plans had apparently changed. There, Chapek confirmed Avengers Campus would still receive a big addition, but the ride would now focus on King Thanos and the multiverse.

Concept art for Avengers Campus multiverse attraction at Disney California Adventure — *Concept art revealed in 2022 for the King Thanos version of the Avengers Campus attraction.*
_{Image courtesy of Disney}

By the time Destination D23 2023 rolled around, Imagineer Brent Strong shared additional concept art revealing a partial view of the attraction’s ride vehicle.