Taking the spot of land originally devoted to the rumored Avengers quin-jet coaster, with the rise of the Multiverse as a key fixture of the MCU's current storyline..."Dr. Strange and the Manor of the Multiverse" promises to deliver DCA its signature E-Ticket dark ride. The Manor in question is none other than a recreation of the historic Winchester Mystery House, located just a quick drive away from Silicon Valley where Avengers Campus takes place. This synergy places the Manor of the Multi-Versre in its own unique corner of Avengers Campus.
Entering through the palm tree laden gardens, guests turn to the left and enter the Winchester Armory. It is here where a Potato Head style interactive AA of Sam Elliot's old west GhostRider exposits what's going on. Seeking answers to the rapid changes to the timeline, Dr. Strange has headed to the Winchester Mystery House as a known source of supernatural activity and the house being a "gateway" of sorts to other dimensions thanks to the way Sarah Winchester designed the house in a unique topsy turvy way. Sam Elliot is a full blown skeleton with very similar movement to the Jack Sparow AA in Shanghai's Pirates. He also weaves tales of how the civil war weaponry that made the Winchester fortune eventually did come back to haunt Sarah, thus making this spot a prime location for "Nexus Events".
Heading out into the side garden of the house, guests can see several different portals on the side of the manor all leading into a black cosmic void similar to what is shown in the "What If" intros. Visually it's made very clear that the multiverse is very literally closing in on the manor. Heading into the landscapers quarters guests see an episode of WandaVision playing on an old school black and white TV while an argument is happening the room over.
Smart-eared guests will be able to discern the voices as the two different Fantastic Four casts, from the Tim Story films and Fan Four Stick respectively. The different versions of Marvel's First Family are bickering about who the real Fantastic Four is. Clever in-jokes in the dialogue here include references to Chris Evans playing both the Human Torch and Steve Rogers as well as the often rumored name-drops of John Krasinski and Emily Blunt as Reed Richards and Sue Storm. Suddenly a lightning strike occurs very similar to the classic Tower of Terror pre-show and Wanda comes on the TV. She claims that she is searching for her missing children across the multi-verse and using the mansion as a conduit. She will find her children at any and all costs and NOTHING will get in her way.
Another bolt of lightning strikes and we suddenly find ourselves in the wine cellar of the Winchester Mansion, only it's been taken over by the TVA. This is our boarding area. Miss Minutes gives us an appropriately theme park-y safety spiel while Howard the Duck bartends a small wine bar. Every hour for about 15 minutes a live puppet of Howard the Duck will come out to interact with the guests. When the puppeteer isn't performing Howard can be seen via a Pepper's Ghost screen ala Rey in Rise of the Resistance and Peter Parker in Web Slingers, and can still interact with the guests Turtle Talk style as they wait to board their vehicles.
The ride vehicles are pretty standard trackless dark ride designs with industrial TVA logos. The official name of the vehicles will be TVPs. Time Variant Patrols. TVPs will load two at a time and be sent directly into a dimensional portal to start off the ride. The portal is essentially a mix of screens, fog, and flashing lights meant to throw off the senses of the guests as they immediately emerge out of the tunnel into the manor itself. The tunnel is meant to be a spiritual successor of sorts of the Mighty Microscope transition into Inner Space.
The first room we encounter is the famous Staircase to Nowhere. The staircase leading up to the ceiling is also surrounded on all sides by MC Eschter style staircases as a result of the MultiVerse rift. In the first WOW moment of the attraction a full bodied Dr. Strange AA "levitates" from the room under us to face us head on. With a stern look in his eyes he curses the TVA for meddling in sorcery business and warns us to stay clear of the Scarlett Witch if we know what's good for us. Using the trackless tech Strange then uses his mind to push us back into the next room.
"Oh...that's awkward" Strange remarks and curses the confusing and mirrored layout of the manor. Strange has accidently hurled us straight into Sarah Winchester's bedroom where a full body Scarlett Witch is causing the room to go absolutely haywire. Mobius and Hunter B-15 are trying to fight off Wanda but not making much progress. Mobius shoots a dimensional portal and yells at us to go through it right as the walls are about to rip apart in the room.
In a running theme of the heroes trying to help and getting us into more trouble, the portal leads us straight to the mansion's infamous Door to Nowhere, a door that is constructed right onto the side of the mansion leading directly to a three story plunge to the concrete below. Using a tilting floor we are actually able to feel like were about to go tumbling down the side of the house as a familiar web catches our vehicle. Suddenly we are flung backwards and Toby McGuire Spider-Man is seen hanging upside down to the tune of Danny Elfman's triumphant main theme. Spidey gives a thumbs up as we head into the next room.
Out of the frying pan and into the fire, we are hurled into mansion's iconic séance room which served as a real life inspiration for the Stretching Room. Much like said famous set piece, the key defining feature of the séance room is a lack of windows and doors. There's a very creepy foreboding atmosphere and a jump scare of a lightning crack before the room suddenly descents into kooky Halloween zaniness as Kathryn Hahn's beloved Agatha Harkness rises from the center of the room in full on witch gear. Projected silly skeletons and jack o lanterns line the walls as a sing along to "Agatha All Along" takes place with guests rotating around her. Guests then descend backwards into a door which opens behind the AA.
The next room is a quick stop to the Master Bathroom where Hydroman pops up with a jump scare in the walk-in bathtub. Hydroman is a brand new type of AA where a waterproof layer encases the figures wiring while a jet stream of water rushes through the humanoid shape of the figure. Sharp eyed guests can also spot the beloved Croki lounging in the bathtub, cool as ever.
Heading backwards from the bathroom guests enter the Stained Glass Room where a multi-dimensional fight is going on with three different versions of three of Hell's Kitchen's finest. In this screen effect guests pass through real stained glass windows as they see a screen behind it depicting the fight. From time to time shards of glass will pop from the windows in a style similar to the MuppetVision 3D theater destruction. The three characters fighting in the scene are the Charlie Co X version of Daredevil, the Collin Farrell version of Bullseye, and the Thomas Jane version of Punisher.
At the end of the Stained Glass Room guests fall down a simulated staircase and end up in the mansion's Boiler Room. This is where the attraction's intensity kicks into high gear as we are without warning plunged straight into the middle of a battle between zombie-fied versions of Captain America and Iron Man. These are among the most advanced AAs in the attraction for their fluid fighting movement mixed with the stiff, creepy, uncanny appearance of their zombie state. It's a truly unsettling encounter.
Heading backwards guests enter an elevator which takes us up two stories into the South Conservatory which acts as the manors greenhouse. And guests see green indeed as the biggest jumpscare of the attraction happens and Zombie Hulk pops out from a thick patch of exotic ferns. The tension is instantly melted away by the sight of Zombie Korg very casually and politely asking if he could eat the brains of the passing guests. This room is definitely meant to be a contrast as the biggest scare and biggest laugh of the attraction back to back.
The TVPs speed up to avoid the zombies but go too fast and suddenly careen straight into the doomed Room With No Floor...which is exactly as it sounds. With familiar whip sound effects coming in all directions we are hoisted back up in a trampoline effect as we see a screen with the Andrew Garfield, Toby McGuire, Tom Holland, SpiderVerse Miles Morales and Spider-Gwen, and Spider Ham all giving enthusiastic thumbs up as we head towards another elevator. Spider Noir is leaning against the wall of the elevator and says in a very ominous tone..."Everybody only gets one..."
The elevator doors open and guests come face to face with Nic Cage Ghostrider in full on skull form having a classic Cage freakout against Mephisto, cast as Adam Sandler in full on Uncut Gems legitimately scary mode. Ghostrider rides his motorcycle on an unseen track that appears to rip apart the foundation of the attic, leading to a surprise two story drop-track into one of the mansion's most iconic rooms...The Witch's Hat, named for the distinct appearance the room gives from the skyline of the manor. We see that Wanda has teamed up with Dr. Strange to fend off Agatha who has used the multiverse conduit for her own means and is absorbing the power. In a twist of fate, Dr. Strange now takes on the appearance of Jared Leto who very nearly got the role.
With one last quick one story drop-track, we find ourselves in the grand ballroom for the grand finale of the attraction. Here we see both the Wesley Snipes and upcoming Mahershala Ali versions of Blade fighting a full on calvacade of AA zombies. The AAs are all very limited in movement but the sheer number of them and zombie-like appearance makes for a very striking visual. Zombie characters in the scene include Rocket, Groot, Cosmo, Squirrel Girl, Agent Coulson, Figment, and more.
Dr. Strange (the real one) shows up suspended from the ceiling on the far side of the room and uses his mind to crash the chandelier to the room, which causes a chain reaction that transforms the room via Runaway Runaway style projection mapping into TVA headquarters. Loki greets us at the end of the attraction. "Well, that was fun, wasn't it. Shall we go again?" With that we exit our TVPs and walk down a hallway with two distinct paintings. One of Dr. Strange in a Dali style landscape with a surreal sight that reads "Multi-Verse of Madness". The light at the end of the attraction is a portrait of Wanda reunited with her two children Tommy and Billy, both in costumes inspired by their comics alter-egos. This is both a mysterious and sweet ending to the mind-bending adventure.
Dr. Strange and the Manor of the MultiVerse is an attraction meant to push all of Imagineer's tricks and trades to their limit. It's a bag of tricks like no other. One thing the design strives for is story ambiguity. In a sharp contrast to Rise of the Resistance, guests will have to really listen in on conversations and details to get into the plot beyond "were part of the TVA sent to stop Wanda from messing with the multi-verse". Each room in the attraction is inspired by a real life room within the mansion 13 in total. The attraction is a unique blend of true California history with an uber-popular IP and an ambition towards AA storytelling that truly hasn't seen since the likes of Pirates and Haunted Mansion. It without question will take its place as DCA's definitive E-Ticket.
