Avatar Boat Ride Attraction at Disney California Adventure First Look | D23 2026
Disney has revealed a first look at one of the attractions coming to the Avatar Destination (colloquially referred to as Avatar Land until Disney gives us an official name) at Disney California Adventure in the form of a boat ride. This first look comes via a new rockwork model at the D23 fan event happening in Anaheim this weekend. Check out the model photos in the gallery below.
The model shows a ride system that will seem to have significant ride capacity, with the boats seating at least 30 guests each (for context, the Pirates of the Caribbean boats can fit 22-24 people). You can also see the Disneyland Monorail running adjacent to this ride, given that it will live in the northeast corner of the park, where Hollywood Land currently resides. Though the model certainly shares obvious similarities to the Na'vi River Journey at Disney Animal Kingdom, the ride vehicle is clearly different, as the boats at the Florida park only hold 6-8 people.
Speculation amongst Disney theme park fans is that this might share the same ride system used at the beloved Pirates of the Caribbean at Shanghai Disneyland, which, if you're not familiar, is vastly different from the classic Pirates attraction at the American Disney parks. That ride system allows for a lot more movement than just moving straight ahead. Perhaps Disney will share more details at the Disney Experiences panel at D23 this weekend.
Theme parks aren't the only big-ticket item at D23 this year. Disney is also hosting a Kingdom Hearts panel, which we're expecting Kingdom Hearts 4 news from considering that Disney just said that it views Square Enix's long-running RPG series as a billion-dollar franchise.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, and a co-host of Next-Gen Console Watch. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.