The Disneyland news worth caring about this week, May 26
A chemical scare, a new Fantasyland hideaway, and the Avengers ride question everyone’s asking.
A chemical scare just outside Anaheim, a charming new corner of Fantasyland, and a status check on New Orleans Square’s most notable absence. Plus: what we actually know about when the Avengers rides are opening.
🚨 A chemical emergency hit Orange County this week — here’s what it meant for Disneyland
On Thursday, May 21, a 34,000-gallon pressurized tank of methyl methacrylate — a volatile chemical used in aerospace plastics — began overheating at a GKN Aerospace facility in Garden Grove, about five miles from Disneyland, triggering evacuation orders and warning of a potentially catastrophic explosion.
Evacuation orders eventually covered around 40,000 Orange County residents across parts of Garden Grove, Anaheim, Buena Park, Cypress, Stanton, and Westminster through the Memorial Day weekend. Governor Newsom declared a state of emergency for Orange County.
Disneyland remained outside the evacuation zone throughout the incident, and the Orange County Fire Authority explicitly confirmed there was no threat to Disneyland, Angel Stadium, or Knott’s Berry Farm. Disney issued an official statement on Sunday saying the resort was approximately five miles from the incident and not in the identified evacuation zone, while also noting it was actively supporting cast members who lived in affected areas and had been displaced.
Still, I don’t blame anyone who rescheduled a trip or wondered if they should. And I can only imagine what those evacuees have had to go through.
The more practical issue for park visitors was getting there. Beach Boulevard was closed north of the 22 Freeway through at least parts of the weekend, and some of the western access corridors into Anaheim saw complications from emergency response activity and rerouted traffic. If you were navigating to the parks via your usual route and hit unexpected detours, that’s why.
As of this writing the situation appears to be stabilizing — authorities suggested over the weekend that a possible crack in the tank may actually be releasing pressure gradually rather than building toward a catastrophic rupture, which is the better of the two outcomes. Worth monitoring local news if you have a trip in the next few days.
🏡 Disneyland just added a genuinely lovely new corner to Fantasyland
The mystery construction project that’s been walled off next to Edelweiss Snacks since early spring is finally open, and it’s worth knowing about: it’s called the Edelweiss Lodge, and it’s a covered outdoor seating area that opened this week just across from the Matterhorn.
Truly a one of those “tell me how old you are without telling me how old you are” moments when a new seating area is high on my list of important Disneyland news.
The lodge matches the alpine chalet design of Edelweiss Snacks — similar roofing, railings, and columns — with open walls that let the air in while the roof provides shade and rain cover. The space is filled with tables and chairs, plus chandeliers and lamps for evening lighting.
There are a few small details worth calling out: one sign features a measuring stick for the “highest recorded snow pack” at the Matterhorn, marked at 43 inches — an inch taller than the ride’s height requirement — supposedly recorded in 1959, the year the Matterhorn opened.
A little context on why this matters: the seating area it replaced — Fantasia Gardens, which occupied the former Motor Boat Cruise dock from 1993 until this year — was one of the quieter, more pleasant spots to sit in Fantasyland. Its loss during construction genuinely pushed foot traffic onto nearby walkways. The Edelweiss Lodge is a clear upgrade: more covered seating, better theming, and it finally gives Edelweiss Snacks the setting it always deserved. If you’re grabbing a turkey leg or a cheesy garlic pretzel bread on your next visit, this is now the place to eat it. You just might find me there doing some calf stretches as well.
🏴☠️ Pirates of the Caribbean: a three-week check-in
Pirates of the Caribbean has now been dark for three weeks with no announced reopening date, and based on everything we know, it’s staying that way for a while. Disney Tourist Blog’s best current read — based on Blue Bayou reservation availability and permit scope — is late June at the earliest, with later in the summer a real possibility.
What’s actually happening in there: permits filed before the closure covered rockwork, updated projection systems, speaker replacements, and structural work across multiple scenes. That’s not a short list. The permit scope is consistent with the kind of overhaul that takes months, not weeks. Disney hasn’t said a word publicly about what’s changing — which is standard for refurbishments that involve visible updates they’d rather reveal as a surprise. The last significant work on Pirates was over a decade ago, so whatever comes back will likely look and sound noticeably different in at least a few scenes.
I would pretty surprised if this happened right now, but… could we be seeing the inevitable dialing back of Jack Sparrow?
Blue Bayou reopened May 21 as planned, though with a partially obstructed bayou view while the ride is still under construction. The dining room is open, the food is the same, but the atmosphere — which is genuinely the main reason people, such as myself, book Blue Bayou (if you can’t wave to people on the boat what is the point??) — is compromised until Pirates returns.
If you have a reservation in the next few weeks and the view matters to you, and if it doesn’t then what’s wrong with you, it’s worth knowing.
🦸 Rumor Check: Will both Avengers Campus rides open by end of 2027?
Likelihood: One of them, maybe. Both of them, probably not. 4/10.
Here’s where things actually stand:
Avengers Campus at DCA is getting two new rides as part of a major expansion that will roughly double the size of the land: Stark Flight Lab, an Iron Man-themed ride where guests sit in “gyro-kinetic pods” that roll along a track, and Avengers: Infinity Defense, a much larger E-ticket attraction where guests join the Avengers in battle across the multiverse against ya boy, Thanos. Both have been under active construction since last year, and aerial photos from late April show meaningful vertical progress on Stark Flight Lab’s show building.
The two rides are quite different in scale and complexity. Stark Flight Lab is the simpler of the two, and could theoretically open as early as 2026 if Disney wanted to stagger the rollout the way they did with Galaxy’s Edge. Avengers: Infinity Defense is the more complex attraction, and the more realistic estimate for that one is 2027 or 2028.
Disney has a strong incentive to time at least one of these openings with the Marvel film calendar. Avengers: Doomsday opens December 2026, followed by Avengers: Secret Wars in December 2027, and Disney would almost certainly want the new land open in time for the Secret Wars press campaign, which will presumably kick into high gear in fall 2027. That makes a late 2027 opening — think November, in Disneyland’s preferred sweet spot between Halloween and Thanksgiving — the most strategically logical target.
The catch: most analysts who track construction closely put the most realistic window at late 2027 to mid-2028, and note it will be a genuine challenge to hit even the earlier end of that range. Disney Tourist Blog specifically floated November 12, 2027 as an educated guess for a simultaneous opening of both attractions — but acknowledged the current pace of work makes that a stretch.
The honest summary: one ride open by end of 2027 is plausible. Both rides open by end of 2027 would require Disney to move faster than the current construction trajectory suggests. Don’t book a trip specifically around it, but do keep watching — this will be the biggest thing to happen at DCA in a long time.
Quick Hits
Yep, it’s still happening. Starting June 9, the 11 a.m. park hopping restriction is gone. Disney confirmed this week that guests with Park Hopper tickets or Magic Key passes can switch between Disneyland and DCA at any time of day starting June 9 — no more clock-watching until late morning. You still need a reservation for your starting park. Quietly one of the most guest-friendly changes Disney has made in years.
Several rides quietly reopened this past week. The Disneyland Monorail, Davy Crockett’s Explorer Canoes, and Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin are all back open after refurbishments. Good news in a stretch that’s had a lot of closure updates.
Hyperspace Mountain has two weeks left. The Star Wars overlay on Space Mountain ends June 1 — it flips back to the standard version overnight with no downtime.
Oogie Boogie Bash presale is three weeks out. Magic Key Inspire holders get access June 16, all Magic Key holders June 17. The event runs 33 nights August 18 through October 31 — a record number. October weekends go fast.
Soarin’ Over California ends June 30. Soarin’ Across America opens July 2, with just one day of downtime between the two versions. If you want to catch the California film before it goes, June is your last window.
Still dark with no return dates: Pirates of the Caribbean (late June at earliest), Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters (closed since April 13 — Toy Story 5 opens June 19, make of that what you will), Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind at DCA (closed since January).
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