Should DCA have gone with an Avengers Land instead of Cars Land?

“Trips to Disney’s Anaheim parks hit an all-time high for the spring and early summer season, just as the transformation of Disney California Adventure was being unveiled,” according to an article published by the O.C. Register on August 8, 2012.

“Disney essentially bet the farm with Cars Land as the land, with its incredibly detailed Ornament Valley Mountain Range and E-Ticket attraction, Radiator Springs Racers, was rumored to cost nearly $1 billion by itself, or nearly as much as the entire Disney California Adventure park when it first opened in 2001,” according to the Huffington Post.

“Cars Land is the centerpiece to the relaunch of California Adventure. During the past five years, Disney has added more than 20 attractions, including Little Mermaid and Toy Story rides, upgraded hotels and new shops,” according to CNN.

Here’s the obvious question – will Cars Land endure?  A Disney blog called Mice Chat posted that attendance overall is flat – California Adventures is busier but that has come at the expense of Disneyland.

Cars 2 made $559,852,396 in total box office, according to Box Office Mojo. The first Cars movie made $461,983,149 in total box office, according to Box Office Mojo.  But the difference was largely due to higher ticket prices and an expansion in the global box office, from $217,900,167 to $368,400,000.

Does the Cars concept have legs though?  Is it a tentpole movie franchise?  Um no, according to the Pixar Planet blog there won’t be a Cars 3.  Ever.

So if Cars is done, will the two movies sustain the Cars Land, five or even ten years from now?

I don’t see that happening.  My nine year old loved the first Cars movie.  We even decorated his room in a Cars motif.  But when we saw Cars 2 he was no longer all that enthused.  And the Cars posters came down off his walls a long time ago.

Cars Land cost a fortune.  But while it is OK, I don’t see it holding up over time.  Disney should have built an Avengers Land instead, featuring the popular Marvel Comics characters that the Disney company owns.

“Disney is contractually restricted from bringing Marvel characters to its parks in Orlando, where they are licensed to Comcast Corp’s Universal Studios,” according to Reuters, however they can use them at their Anaheim resort parks.  They just haven’t done so yet.

Disney CEO Bob Iger told Forbes that “The Avengers would appear at Disney theme parks in the future, which will be something new for the Marvel super heroes.”

My kids will be watching and enjoying the Marvel Comics movies long after they have outgrown the Pixar movies…