News Coco Boat Ride Coming to Disney California Adventure

[mickEblu]

Yeah, I very much believe that the finale of TBA will be the majority of the Coco Ride. We will have facades lining the canal with many simple figures on terraces and steps and the occasional high end AA littered in the foreground of 3-5 scenes. And in those facades will be "windows" with tons of screen-based gags.

I think if you think about Pirates as just the town section (well dunking, auction, chasing, burning the town), that will the idea for Coco with tighter sets and more screens. With luck we'll get a little cool opening scene/moment before we get to the city of the dead, but I wouldn't expect more than that general concept of 4 sections of a cocktail party.

The biggest challenge, for me, is making it not one-note. Pirates succeeds because the difference between the bayou and the caverns of gold and skeletons and the ship battle, and the town section and even the muted encore before the final lift. The ride has variety and you get every part of a pirate ride that you could ask for. With Coco, I hope it isn't just endless haciendas and skeletons singing and dancing. I want Marc Davis gags and moments.

And that is what Tiana's finale lacks. There's not a lot to discover and let your eyes wander over like in Pirates, IASW, and even the previous finale for SM. You could look and watch the scenes all around you with the gators and the hay cart and the variety of figures on the boat to even the blue bird and Brer Fox/Bear gag. Now, everything is designed to make you look at Tiana only. You do get the nice little Carlotta wave moment, but that feels like they moved the greeter moment with the porcupine on the shell and merely moved it inward, taking that space away from the energy of the finale. And then when you do pass Tiana's mom and friend, the projection animation, the blandness of the band, and the staging all puts focus on Tiana. When you look elsewhere, you can feel your eye redirected back to her.

Hopefully this team is a bit better in design and storytelling, and we get to explore a new world rather than see familiar characters park and bark.

Good points. My biggest thing is make it atmospheric. Think atmosphere first, characters second. Give us a whole opening scene like the blue bayou over at POTC where we float through a candle lit cemetery. Then drop us down into the land of the dead where we slowly start to see the characters etc. Let there be some conflict. Make us feel like we re in on the adventure and not just watching a retelling of the story on a moving vehicle. Don’t exclude the villain and don’t make the ride one dimensional. Happy. Party. Happy. Bright. Singing. Happy. Happy. Celebration.

 

[BrianLo]

I dont think you are being unreasonable. But then early concept art can always be iffy, especially since D23 Expo has pushed Disney to announce things that they really aren't ready to announce.

There is something else that will likely surface soon that is perhaps even bigger.

I’m reposting this comment here, which was further clarified to be about the West Coast, for fairly obvious reasons.

Pandora wasn’t announced at D23 nor was Avengers “too soon”.

 

[Disney Irish]

I’m reposting this comment here, which was further clarified to be about the West Coast, for fairly obvious reasons.

Pandora wasn’t announced at D23 nor was Avengers “too soon”.

Shareholder meeting is coming up in 2 weeks.....

 

[mickEblu]

I’m reposting this comment here, which was further clarified to be about the West Coast, for fairly obvious reasons.

Pandora wasn’t announced at D23 nor was Avengers “too soon”.

Just curious why you think this has something to do with Coco instead of Avatar? I think his point is “this isn’t the only big project that’s changing course” but I could be wrong. I see more in common with Villains and Avatar than Villains and Coco. Both are the signature projects that were likely earlier in the design process and will require the most resources at their respective parks and open last.

 

[Disney Irish]

Just curious why you think this has something to do with Coco instead of Avatar? I think his point is “this isn’t the only big project that’s changing course” but I could be wrong. I see more in common with Villains and Avatar than Villains and Coco. Both are the signature projects that were likely earlier in the design process and will require the most resources at their respective parks and open last.

Its reasonable to think it could be either (or even both), as both are pretty ambitious without changes and they may have decided to go bigger even still.

So you may be getting your drop after all....

 

[BrianLo]

Just curious why you think this has something to do with Coco instead of Avatar? I think his point is “this isn’t the only big project that’s changing course” but I could be wrong. I see more in common with Villains and Avatar than Villains and Coco. Both are the signature projects that were likely earlier in the design process and will require the most resources at their respective parks and open last.

The second round of Avatar artwork when we learned about the boat ride did not come from D23, that came in the spring. The announcement for it came 15 months before on a shareholders meeting.

His comment was about projects at D23 being not quite ready to be shown off but rushed because the conference demanded such, that’s simply not applicable to Pandora, in fact they didn’t even really show us anything new.

Just taking the full comment at face value.

 

[Disney Irish]

And so it begins, demo starts in the area -

BLD2025-05343
Issued
1616 S Disneyland Dr Anaheim, Ca 92802
Dca - Block 500 - Demolition: Remove 775 Sq. Ft. Storage Shed Building, 75 Sq. Ft. Storage Unit, 600 Sq. Ft. Canopy Attached To Bldg# 931, Substation #210 And Cap Utilities Throughout.

This is this building -

 

[Touchdown]

They also need to borrow from the end of the Epcot Mexico ride too, I want fireworks going off on the roof for the finale scene.

 

[MistaDee]

And so it begins, demo starts in the area -



This is this building -

View attachment 910127

Very exciting! I wonder what this means for that other building to the southeast: not being included on this permit might mean it's here to stay, or if it may just continue to operate until it's time for it's own demolition

 

[Disney Irish]

Very exciting! I wonder what this means for that other building to the southeast: not being included on this permit might mean it's here to stay, or if it may just continue to operate until it's time for it's own demolition

Separate buildings, separate permits, I would assume.

 

[AJFireman]

BLD2025-05343
Issued
1616 S Disneyland Dr Anaheim, Ca 92802
Dca - Block 500 - Demolition: Remove 775 Sq. Ft. Storage Shed Building, 75 Sq. Ft. Storage Unit, 600 Sq. Ft. Canopy Attached To Bldg# 931, Substation #210 And Cap Utilities Throughout.

This was posted as DL CONF on 10/27/2026 along with BLD2025-05343 will be interesting to see what this shows once it becomes public.
This permit doesn't take any of the buildings only the canopy of the maintenance building 931 and two small sheds. Curious why wouldn't a permit for building 931 include all of it instead of just the canopy??

Also Building 931 had permits pulled in December 2025. Why would they do improvements just to demolish this soon.
Record BLD2025-06581:
Building Permit
Record Status: Plan Review
1776 S DISNEYLAND DR 931 92802
Project Description: DCA - Central Maintenance Facility - Tenant Improvement: Remove and replace filtration system and associated controls. Install new backwash pumps in pit. Structural supports and anchorage for new equipment. With electrical and mechanical.

Just some thoughts maybe it will not be as big as we think it is??

 

[MistaDee]

This was posted as DL CONF on 10/27/2026 along with BLD2025-05343 will be interesting to see what this shows once it becomes public.
This permit doesn't take any of the buildings only the canopy of the maintenance building 931 and two small sheds. Curious why wouldn't a permit for building 931 include all of it instead of just the canopy??

Also Building 931 had permits pulled in December 2025. Why would they do improvements just to demolish this soon.
Record BLD2025-06581:
Building Permit
Record Status: Plan Review
1776 S DISNEYLAND DR 931 92802
Project Description: DCA - Central Maintenance Facility - Tenant Improvement: Remove and replace filtration system and associated controls. Install new backwash pumps in pit. Structural supports and anchorage for new equipment. With electrical and mechanical.

Just some thoughts maybe it will not be as big as we think it is??

Interesting - so if I’m tracking correctly this is potentially an indicator that the building to the west will be demolished but the east building could be here to stay with a potential new canopy attached to a show building?

Or perhaps that the equipment and infrastructure could be retained, the building shell removed and the whole thing subsumed into an annex in a larger building

 

[AJFireman]

Interesting - so if I’m tracking correctly this is potentially an indicator that the building to the west will be demolished but the east building could be here to stay with a potential new canopy attached to a show building?

Or perhaps that the equipment and infrastructure could be retained, the building shell removed and the whole thing subsumed into an annex in a larger building

What I interpret it as is the red circle is the canopy and 775sqft storage shed(It is used a the Paint Shop) that is being removed from building 931 the actual building is not being demolished(so far). Not sure where the 75 sq ft shed is. The Substation I believe is right above the circle. Everything else is temporary storage and several trailers that can be moved.

 

[Disney Irish]

What I interpret it as is the red circle is the canopy and 775sqft storage shed(It is used a the Paint Shop) that is being removed from building 931 the actual building is not being demolished(so far). Not sure where the 75 sq ft shed is. The Substation I believe is right above the circle. Everything else is temporary storage and several trailers that can be moved.

View attachment 910637

The point is that this is the beginning phases of the demo. You don't demo an attached canopy, sheds for the building, and the buildings power substation if you're keeping the building. This is the removal of the surrounding support structures for the building before you demo the rest of the entire building.

 

[mickEblu]

The WSJ reports Incredibles 3 is set to release in 2028:

The studio that long prided itself on making two original movies for every sequel is now making two sequels for every original. June’s “Toy Story 5” is widely expected to be a blockbuster, a third “Incredibles” is scheduled for 2028 and a second “Coco” is expected to land in 2029.

Well there you have it folks. The Coco ride at DCA won’t open until 2029

 

[Disney Irish]

Well there you have it folks. The Coco ride at DCA won’t open until 2029

Well tell Disney they can stop demo on the surrounding areas and wait at least another year.

 

[mickEblu]

Well tell Disney they can stop demo on the surrounding areas and wait at least another year.

Or they can continue on and take their sweet time as usual

 

[Disney Irish]

Or they can continue on and take their sweet time as usual

I'm sure all the local contractors will love to soak up all that sweet sweet OT just sitting around doing nothing....

 

[TheDisneyParksfanC8]

Well tell Disney they can stop demo on the surrounding areas and wait at least another year.

The ride appears to be based on the first move anyways, so 2028 is still on IMO.

 

[Disney Irish]

The ride appears to be based on the first move anyways, so 2028 is still on IMO.

I agree, I think Mick is sort of joking anyways. It'll be an interesting couple years at DCA with these projects.