Disney Tips Your Guide To A Great Disney Vacation
Disney guests are condemning one theme park area, with some estimating it may close within the next decade.
It’s not instantly obvious today, but there was a time when Disney California Adventure Park was, well, California-themed.
Originally named Hollywood Pictures Backlot, the area today known as Hollywood Land was initially home to the Disney Animation complex, a musical called “Steps in Time” at the Hyperion Theater, Muppet*Vision 3D, and a dark ride called Superstar Limo.
To say that the land was met with a lukewarm reception would be an understatement. While all of California Adventure was criticized for obvious signs of cost-cutting, Hollywood Pictures Backlot was singled out by many as one of the worst areas of the park.
By the end of the park’s first year, “Steps in Time” was closed due to poor reviews from parkgoers. The area’s food court, Hollywood & Dine, was also closed due to low attendance, while Superstar Limo—which is infamously regarded as one of, if not the worst, attractions in Disney park history—became the first attraction to close permanently at the park.
Hollywood Land Today
Over two decades later, Hollywood Land is a shadow of its former self – in the best way possible.
Credit: Disney
While it may have lost the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror to Avengers Campus (with the attraction rethemed to Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! in 2017), the land still features gems such as the Animation Academy, Turtle Talk with Crush, and Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!
The Hyperion Theater may currently be empty, but it’s also hosted its fair share of impressive productions in recent years. The most iconic was “Rogers: The Musical,” a stage show inspired by the fictional Captain America musical featured in the Disney+ series Hawkeye that received an all-too-limited run in 2023.
Upcoming Changes to Hollywood Land
California Adventure has received a facelift in recent years, improving the park in many ways but also gradually chipping away at its identity as a space inspired by the hallmarks of the Golden State.
Credit: Disney
Hollywood Land has retained its identity longer than most areas of the park. However, last year’s D23 Expo revealed that it would soon undergo its own changes, starting with the loss of the Red Car Trolley – inspired by the Pacific Electric Railway’s “Red Cars” once found throughout Southern California – in February 2025 to make way for the expansion of Avengers Campus.
Parkgoers haven’t reacted too kindly to these changes, with some even speculating that this marks the beginning of the end for Hollywood Land.
Will Hollywood Land Fall Victim to the IP-ification of California Adventure?
The aforementioned Avengers Campus expansion is just one part of a sizable expansion planned for Disneyland Resort.
California Adventure is also set to receive Disney’s first Coco (2017) ride, as well as an area inspired by the Avatar franchise (but apparently not a copy-paste of the land found at Disney’s Animal Kingdom).
Credit: Disney
With Disneyland Resort relatively landlocked, the assumption is that some degree of loss is inevitable. That’s left fans concerned about the future of Hollywood Land – especially considering its proximity to the soon-to-grow Avengers Campus.
As one Reddit user noted, “Sorcerer’s Workshop has been slowly shutting down its rooms one by one, the cable cars are being removed in February, and it’s all right next to the way too small avengers campus… especially with the X-Men coming to the MCU sometime soon, I feel like Hollywood Land is very close to being finished.”
Others have shared similar fears, estimating that the park has “5-10” years left.
Credit: Disney
“With the increase in union activity for performers, there’s a big possibility that the theater goes away too,” wrote one user. “It’s usually dead in there when they have shows anyway. Plus that restaurant that never got used in the back. There is a ton of unused or poorly used space in that land even if they got cub into the drop off zones.”
One user said, “There’s zero way that part of the park is profitable. It’ll either be Avatar or more Marvel. Both options of which I hate, but at least the space will be used more efficiently than it is now…I agree with most of the comments saying 5-10 years, probably closer to 5 given Sorcerer’s and the Red Cars getting cut like you noted. Disney’s a company, they want to maximize profit. It’s a matter of time.”
Meanwhile, some have predicted that Disney will eventually strip away not only Hollywood Land but the rest of the park’s California theming.
Credit: Ken Lund, Flickr
“I think eventually all that will be left of the “California” in [Disney California Adventure] will be [Buena Vista Street] and everything else will be “themed away,” one user predicted. “Will basically mirror [Disneyland], where you have [Main Street, U.S.A.] when you enter and then branches off to various themed lands.”
Is It Time For Hollywood Land To Go?
Not everyone is sad about the prospect of losing Hollywood Land. For some, the area is one of the last areas to suffer from the initial flaw of California Adventure: mimicking a real-life destination that sits within the proximity to the park itself.
Credit: Disney
“Hollywood Land has always been a terribly reductive idea when you can literally drive to Hollywood from Disneyland for an afternoon and see the real thing,” said one Reddit user.
“Personally, I’m GenX and have no romance whatsoever for Hollywood. That’s definitely a Silent Gen/Boomer/older gay thing. The former of whom were the decision makers at Disney when the California Adventure was pitched, Gen X and Millennials rolling their eyes along the way.”
Another user agreed, writing, “I think that nostalgia has transferred to the Buena Vista Street, leaving Hollywood Land more redundant and unexciting. I remember initially wondering why is Disney doing a movie backlot when they never filmed any of their movies there.”
Do you think it’s time for Disney to ditch Disney California Adventure?
