News Coco Boat Ride Coming to Disney California Adventure

[coffeefan]

Yea I’ve been surprised that strong consensus around here seems to be 2028. I think people got fixated on the Olympics way back when but haven’t adjusted their expectations.

Well, that's when we were told construction would begin in fall 2025. I think 2028 and 2029 are both possible it just depends on if Disney is willing to pay for faster movement.

 

[Disney Irish]

Yea I’ve been surprised that the strong consensus around here seems to be 2028. I think people got fixated on the Olympics way back when but haven’t adjusted their expectations.

Its more than just the Olympics, its the 3 projects for DCA that are all in various stages, as have been discussed.

Because the more you push out each of these project the more it affects the timelines of the others.

 

[britain]

In the 21st century? In highly (overly) regulated California? Building from scratch on barren earth a large water flume attraction inside a show building with special effects and animatronics?

I think you said the magic word: FLUME. If it was just a bus bar Fantasyland ride, maybe they could do it in 2.5 years. But once you add water, you are begging for 6-9 months of complications and delays.

 

[mickEblu]

Its more than just the Olympics, its the 3 projects for DCA that are all in various stages, as have been discussed.

Because the more you push out each of these project the more it affects the timelines of the others.

Right which is why I said…

Avengers 2027
Coco 2029

But if they don’t pick up the pace on Avengers I’m not so sure about that summer 2027 anymore.

 

[TP2000]

Again I'm not saying that 2029 is not a possibility, I'm just saying that 2028 is doable if they wanted to get it open. For example Runaway Railway actual construction was under 3 years, 2 years 4 months to be exact, from September 2020 actual start of the build after demo to January 2023 opening. And that was just a big warehouse as well.

Land clearing and site prep started for Runaway Railway in June, 2019. This is a photo from November, 2019 of the prep work for the ride building before the cement foundation work began, five months after clearing began.

Runaway Railway would not open for over 3 more years, in January, 2023. You can subtract six months off that timetable for all the Covid delays in the spring/summer of 2020, but that still gets you to a solid 3 year timeline from land clearing to ride opening for Runaway Railway.

So it all depends on the how long the land clearing takes.

They haven't even begun to demolish any backstage buildings, or done anything to the backstage park area at all. All they have done so far is cut down the trees along the abandoned Lion King Tram route. At a normal pace, they will begin backstage demolition within a month or two, and that will continue through summer and into the fall.

Then comes foundation work, and actual physical construction would first begin in the winter of '27. The ride and its associated park development around it would then open by the Summer/Fall of 2029.

But for now I'm just keeping 2028 as a possibility.

I don't know why you would.

The Coco ride at DCA won't open in calendar year 2028, and instead will be opening in Summer, 2029 at the earliest. But I'd bet two Churros the current Marketing Thought Leader in the TDA Presidential suite will want to debut it in September for Day of the Dead/Halloween season and to boost off-season local visitation.

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

Why do I keep thinking that for Coco, Disney will build a version of Frozen Ever After and retheme it?

 

[TP2000]

I think you said the magic word: FLUME. If it was just a bus bar Fantasyland ride, maybe they could do it in 2.5 years. But once you add water, you are begging for 6-9 months of complications and delays.

Yup. And I assume this ride system will have a few tricks up its sleeve, like a drop or two, a spinning effect a la' Shanghai Pirates, a lift hill or elevator, etc.

The Small World ride system that WDI had Arrow Development make for the World's Fair was brilliant in its simplicity, and moved thousands of people per hour. But that was 1964 and the ride was built in a hurry, and a slow moving boat ride through a winding flume doesn't cut it any longer.

My God, even Miss Joan Crawford herself had to bribe these kids with free Pepsi-Cola to get them onto that ride!

(That's Disney Irish being clutched by Miss Crawford in the middle with the giant grin, pretending the 1964 World's Fair actually opened in 1963. I'm the Black kid in the next seat giving the entire thing side eye behind my Pepsi.)

Coco will undoubtedly have special effects and physical thrills built into its ride system, in addition to the visual effects and animatronics the ride system passes by and through. It's March, 2026 and they haven't even started site grading. It will open at DCA in the latter half of 2029.

 

[britain]

Why do I keep thinking that for Coco, Disney will build a version of Frozen Ever After and retheme it?

Possibly, that sure would match their penny pinching tendencies. But I think they just learned with Tiana that crafting satisfying story beats around a pre-designed flume can be more trouble than it’s worth.

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

Man, I hope so!

 

[britain]

Yup. And I assume this ride system will have a few tricks up its sleeve, like a drop or two, a spinning effect a la' Shanghai Pirates, a lift hill, etc.

The Small World ride system that WDI had Arrow Development make for the World's Fair was brilliant in its simplicity, and moved thousands of people per hour. But that was 1964 and the ride was built in a hurry, and a slow moving boat ride through a winding flume doesn't cut it any longer.

My God, even Miss Joan Crawford herself had to bribe these kids with free Pepsi-Cola to get them onto that ride!
View attachment 911729
(That's Disney Irish being clutched by Miss Crawford in the middle with the giant grin, pretending the 1964 World's Fair actually opened in 1963. I'm the Black kid in the next seat giving the entire thing side eye behind my Pepsi.)

Coco will undoubtedly have special effects and physical thrills built into its ride system, in addition to the visual effects and animatronics the ride system passes by and through. It's March, 2026 and they haven't even started site grading. It will open at DCA in the latter half of 2029.

High tech tricks with the flume could cost more time, or as I mentioned, it could be the low tech traditional flume, where Disney CAN’T control the exact timing of your boat or size of your splash - unlike Shanghai - that could really cause more headaches. It notoriously caused Splash Mountain to slip from January to July back in ‘89.

Add to that more complicated skeleton animatronics and effect projections and now it’s really hard to shave 5 seconds off this dialogue that Pixar’s Story Group approved a year prior.

 

[Disney Irish]

Land clearing and site prep started for Runaway Railway in June, 2019. This is a photo from November, 2019 of the prep work for the ride building before the cement foundation work began, five months after clearing began.

View attachment 911727

Runaway Railway would not open for over 3 more years, in January, 2023. You can subtract six months off that timetable for all the Covid delays in the spring/summer of 2020, but that still gets you to a solid 3 year timeline from land clearing to ride opening for Runaway Railway.



They haven't even begun to demolish any backstage buildings, or done anything to the backstage park area at all. All they have done so far is cut down the trees along the abandoned Lion King Tram route. At a normal pace, they will begin backstage demolition within a month or two, and that will continue through summer and into the fall.

Then comes foundation work, and actual physical construction would first begin in the winter of '27. The ride and its associated park development around it would then open by the Summer/Fall of 2029.



I don't know why you would.

They've also clear all the temporary buildings that were there previously. Main demo is now on the Maintenance and OVD building (and potentially the Parade Building).

I'm aware of MMRR exact timeline, much of which was skewed by the pandemic closures. Actual construction from the moment they put beams into the ground to opening was 2 year 4 months, almost exactly.

So again it all depends on how long it takes to clear the rest of the land, since its not as extensive clearing as MMRR, much smaller demo footprint, I can't imagine it takes very long once they get going. We already have permits pulled for the demo, so they will get started here very quickly.

The Coco ride at DCA won't open in calendar year 2028, and instead will be opening in Summer, 2029 at the earliest. But I'd bet two Churros the current Marketing Thought Leader in the TDA Presidential suite will want to debut it in September for Day of the Dead/Halloween season and to boost off-season local visitation.

You can stick to your timeline, that is fine. I'm just saying that 2028 is doable depending on if Disney wants it open by 2028. Since we don't have an announced date anyways, this is all speculation, so anyone could be right. For all we know it won't be until 2030/2031 before it opens, we just don't know until Disney says something.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Land clearing and site prep started for Runaway Railway in June, 2019. This is a photo from November, 2019 of the prep work for the ride building before the cement foundation work began, five months after clearing began.

View attachment 911727

Runaway Railway would not open for over 3 more years, in January, 2023. You can subtract six months off that timetable for all the Covid delays in the spring/summer of 2020, but that still gets you to a solid 3 year timeline from land clearing to ride opening for Runaway Railway.



They haven't even begun to demolish any backstage buildings, or done anything to the backstage park area at all. All they have done so far is cut down the trees along the abandoned Lion King Tram route. At a normal pace, they will begin backstage demolition within a month or two, and that will continue through summer and into the fall.

Then comes foundation work, and actual physical construction would first begin in the winter of '27. The ride and its associated park development around it would then open by the Summer/Fall of 2029.



I don't know why you would.

The Coco ride at DCA won't open in calendar year 2028, and instead will be opening in Summer, 2029 at the earliest. But I'd bet two Churros the current Marketing Thought Leader in the TDA Presidential suite will want to debut it in September for Day of the Dead/Halloween season and to boost off-season local visitation.

I'm going with 2028 for Coco, don't know if it's Late 2028, Summer 2028, but I've got a feeling in my calcium rich bones they want to show off their new "turbocharge" mandate, and that the new CEO in town can get things built faster.

I also don't know if we can use Runaway as a fair comp, with Covid delays, needing to include offices in the building, and also a land refurb that had a PLETHORA of issues ... hard to know where that would have ended up if done today.

As far as we know this is the first time in a while they are just building a ride, not a land, not a mountain, a ride.

It could be a 2.5 year build, if we count starting from clearing now in March 2026. November 2028, open in time for Dia de Los Muertos?

 

[britain]

I'm going with 2028 for Coco, don't know if it's Late 2028, Summer 2028, but I've got a feeling in my calcium rich bones they want to show off their new "turbocharge" mandate, and that the new CEO in town can get things built faster.

I also don't know if we can use Runaway as a fair comp, with Covid delays, needing to include offices in the building, and also a land refurb that had a PLETHORA of issues ... hard to know where that would have ended up if done today.

As far as we know this is the first time in a while they are just building a ride, not a land, not a mountain, a ride.

It could be a 2.5 year build, if we count starting from clearing now in March 2026. November 2028, open in time for Dia de Los Muertos?

It could be that in order to show that they can indeed execute quickly that they pitched a Coco attraction that has none of the elements that cause time-sucking complications.

Which plan would be least prone to cause delays?

• Shanghai tech revised for small boats in a small space?
• Frozen Ever After clone with Coco story beats fit into the trough’s predetermined requirements?
• Proposed Gran Fiesta overlay dusted off and executed with simple looping animations?

Hmm…

 

[mickEblu]

Land clearing and site prep started for Runaway Railway in June, 2019. This is a photo from November, 2019 of the prep work for the ride building before the cement foundation work began, five months after clearing began.

View attachment 911727

Runaway Railway would not open for over 3 more years, in January, 2023. You can subtract six months off that timetable for all the Covid delays in the spring/summer of 2020, but that still gets you to a solid 3 year timeline from land clearing to ride opening for Runaway Railway.



They haven't even begun to demolish any backstage buildings, or done anything to the backstage park area at all. All they have done so far is cut down the trees along the abandoned Lion King Tram route. At a normal pace, they will begin backstage demolition within a month or two, and that will continue through summer and into the fall.

Then comes foundation work, and actual physical construction would first begin in the winter of '27. The ride and its associated park development around it would then open by the Summer/Fall of 2029.



I don't know why you would.

The Coco ride at DCA won't open in calendar year 2028, and instead will be opening in Summer, 2029 at the earliest. But I'd bet two Churros the current Marketing Thought Leader in the TDA Presidential suite will want to debut it in September for Day of the Dead/Halloween season and to boost off-season local visitation.

Here's the kicker TP... Coco 2 is coming out in 2029 which would likely be fall 2029 considering the movie is centered around Day of the Dead. With that said I am open to a Spring or Summer 2029 opening for the Coco ride as there is not any reason the movie couldn't be released earlier in the year.

 

[mickEblu]

It could be that in order to show that they can indeed execute quickly that they pitched a Coco attraction that has none of the elements that cause time-sucking complications.

Which plan would be least prone to cause delays?

• Shanghai tech revised for small boats in a small space?
• Frozen Ever After clone with Coco story beats fit into the trough’s predetermined requirements?
• Proposed Gran Fiesta overlay dusted off and executed with simple looping animations?

Hmm…

To be honest if they do announce this ride is opening in 2028 at d23 this year I'll be slightly concerned about the quality of the attraction. I don't think that would be a great sign. Not to say we cant be underwhelmed in 2029 too hahah.

 

[mickEblu]

Why do I keep thinking that for Coco, Disney will build a version of Frozen Ever After and retheme it?

I think this a is a best case scenario. As much id love something more, you give me a contract saying we get a Coco version of Hong Kong's Frozen ride and I'm signing it.

 

[DL-fan]

Let’s just go for January 2029, Disneyland’s last two major rides opened in January.

 

[mickEblu]

I'm going with 2028 for Coco, don't know if it's Late 2028, Summer 2028, but I've got a feeling in my calcium rich bones they want to show off their new "turbocharge" mandate, and that the new CEO in town can get things built faster.

I also don't know if we can use Runaway as a fair comp, with Covid delays, needing to include offices in the building, and also a land refurb that had a PLETHORA of issues ... hard to know where that would have ended up if done today.

As far as we know this is the first time in a while they are just building a ride, not a land, not a mountain, a ride.

It could be a 2.5 year build, if we count starting from clearing now in March 2026. November 2028, open in time for Dia de Los Muertos?

I don't think 2.5 years is impossible but when you consider the movie in 2029 and the fact that 3 years would be sort of the norm for Disney for a project like this it seems unlikely that late 2028 is on the table with the movie is potentially 6-8 months away.

 

[Disney Irish]

Here's the kicker TP... Coco 2 is coming out in 2029 which would likely be fall 2029 considering the movie is centered around Day of the Dead. With that said I am open to a Spring or Summer 2029 opening for the Coco ride as there is not any reason the movie couldn't be released earlier in the year.

I'd just like to point out, while its a good assumption that the second movie will still use Day of the Dead, we don't know for sure that is part of the actual plot this time around. Not saying you're wrong, but just saying that we have to leave open the possibility that the second movie will use a completely different premise this time around.

 

[mickEblu]

Let’s just go for January 2029, Disneyland’s last two major rides opened in January.

And I don't think either was planned that way. lol. MMRR got hit by Covid and ROTR had its own issues which is why it didn't open with the land.