Disneyland Just Shrank Its New Parking Garage. Here's Everything Else Coming to the Resort
A new permit cuts the Eastern Gateway structure to seven levels and about 5,250 spaces. Here's where that project and the rest of Disneyland's expansion stand, from Avengers Campus to Avatar.
Disneyland's first big piece of expansion construction just got a little smaller. A new permit filed with the city of Anaheim shows the parking structure at the Eastern Gateway shrinking from eight levels to seven, cutting planned capacity from 6,000 spaces to about 5,250.
The structure's total size drops from 3,257,394 square feet to 3,115,680, a reduction of 141,714 square feet. The number of EV chargers actually goes up, from 302 to 316. Disney hasn't explained the change.
What the Eastern Gateway is
The Eastern Gateway sits east of the theme parks on the site of a former cast member parking lot and administrative building. Along with the garage, it includes a rideshare and bus drop off and pick up station and a new security checkpoint.
A pedestrian bridge over Harbor Boulevard will connect it to the Esplanade, the plaza between Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure. Updated concept art for the bridge, quietly changed after the August groundbreaking, swaps vertical stripes on the interior walls for cascading curves and drops some trees and greenery for plain concrete.
This project matters more than a typical parking garage. The current transportation hub, where rideshare and buses drop off today, has to move before a big chunk of the resort's future plans can start, and the Eastern Gateway is where those services are headed.
The bigger plan
All of this falls under DisneylandForward, the long term plan the city of Anaheim approved in 2024. It lets Disney build theme park attractions, hotels and shopping on land that used to be limited to parking and other uses, and Disney has tied it to at least $1.9 billion in investment. A former Disneyland Resort president described it as a roadmap for the next 30 to 40 years.
Avengers Campus doubles in size
Two new attractions are going into Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure, and the building for them already looks close to finished from the outside.
Avengers Infinity Defense is the big one, a large indoor ride where Iron Man, Hulk, Ant-Man and Black Panther take on a multiverse variant of Thanos. Stark Flight Lab sits under an open air shelter on the edge of the same building, with a robotic arm moving riders around as they test Stark Industries technology. Disney hasn't announced opening dates for either one, and most estimates point to 2027.
Disney's first Coco ride
A family boat ride through the Land of the Dead is coming to Disney California Adventure, in a new building behind the Incredicoaster. Imagineering has compared its scale to Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion, with Audio-Animatronics throughout. The site was cleared and prep work started in early 2026. There's no official opening date, and late 2028 is the common guess.
An Avatar land
The longest wait belongs to the Avatar land, which Imagineering calls a full destination inside Disney California Adventure. It will focus on the ocean side of Pandora from Avatar: The Way of Water and Avatar: Fire and Ash, including at least one boat ride.
It takes over part of Hollywood Land, including Monsters, Inc. Mike and Sulley to the Rescue! and the Hollywood Lounge, plus the current transportation hub beyond the Monsters, Inc. building. Monsters, Inc. is reported to stay open into early 2027 before it closes for good. Because the hub can't close until the Eastern Gateway and its bridge are finished, Avatar is still years out, with most estimates landing around 2030 or 2031.
Mike and Sulley to the Rescue! opened in 2006, taking over the building that once housed the Superstar Limo ride, so its closure will end a nearly 21 year run.
A new Tomorrowland
Disney Experiences Chairman Thomas Mazloum surprised the crowd at D23 on August 15, 2026, by announcing a reimagined Tomorrowland for Disneyland Park. He said the goal is to bring back the optimism and sense of possibility that inspired Walt Disney when the park opened in 1955.
Disney says the land will honor the original while adding new attractions, more open space and new areas built around visions of the future. Imagineer Emily O'Brien, who oversees creative work for Disneyland Resort and Tokyo Disney Resort, is leading it. So far there are no ride names, no layout, no cost and no timeline, and Disney hasn't said which current Tomorrowland attractions are affected.
Porto's and Downtown Disney
Porto's Bakery and Cafe, the Southern California favorite announced for Downtown Disney back at the 2022 D23 Expo, is moving into the space that Earl of Sandwich used to occupy. It was supposed to open in 2025 and missed that target, and construction only began late last year. Concept art shows a large two story patio. There's still no opening date.
What's already new
Not everything is years away. Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run in Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge got a new version starring Din Djarin and Grogu, which arrived on May 22, 2026, the same day The Mandalorian and Grogu hit theaters.
What this means for your next visit
For now, the Eastern Gateway work mostly shows up around the Esplanade, where construction is affecting a few guest services near the park entrances. Expect walls and changes to how you get between the parking areas, the rideshare drop off and the gates while the bridge goes up.
The fun stuff starts arriving in 2027 with Avengers Campus, then Coco, with Tomorrowland and Avatar further out. If you're planning a trip in the meantime, our crowd calendar has day by day forecasts for both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, with real park hours and live waits.
Keep in mind how few of these dates are official. The only firm timing so far is the August groundbreaking for the Eastern Gateway and the fall start of the bridge and garage work. Everything else, from Avengers Campus to Avatar, is still waiting on an announced opening date, and even the Monsters, Inc. closing comes from reports rather than an official Disney date.
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