Disney Unveils Marvel-Themed Collector’s Fortress Park Attraction

CBR

By Brandon Staley

Published Apr 20, 2017

The new ride will see patrons journey to the top of the fortress, and is part of a larger superhero-inspired summer event.

Disney today officially unveiled the next big Marvel-themed attraction for its California Adventure Park. The Collector’s Fortress will open to the public on May 27 as part of the Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! attraction that will see Rocket Raccoon assault the fortress and free his fellow Guardians from imprisonment at the hands of Taneleer Tivan, the Collector.

The new attraction will take the place of the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, an attraction that has stood in the park’s Hollywood Land area since 2004. Visitors to the fortress will admire the Collector’s extensive stores of flora and fauna from around the Marvel Universe --

the newest addition being the Guardians of the Galaxy themselves -- before ascending the tower in a bid to free the spacefaring super team.

The ride will be similar in style to the Tower of Terror. Visitors will ride an elevator to the top of the tower where the Guardians are being held. Rocket will interrupt the ride, unleashing a destructive volley against the Collector’s holding cells, all to the tune of music inspired by the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films. The ride will conclude with a massive drop from the top of the fortress to the bottom.

Mission: BREAKOUT! is part of a larger, timed event at the theme park called Summer of Heroes. Summer of Heroes will run from May 27 until September 10 and include scheduled events like the Awesome Dance Off! with Star-Lord and occasional superhero encounters with Groot, Black Widow and Hawkeye. Black Widow and Hawkeye will occasionally entertain young parkgoers with the Avengers Training Initiative, a series of physical exercises meant to test if kids are prepared to join the iconic hero team.

The Tower of Terror has been closed since January for reconstruction into the Mission: BREAKOUT! ride, but its closure was not received well by some park patrons. After the change was announced in July of 2016, a Change.org petition was started to urge Disney to keep the Tower of Terror. The petition drew over 35,000 supporters, but was unsuccessful in affecting Disney’s plans. The Tower of Terror will remain open at Disney’s Orlando, Tokyo and Paris locations.

Taneleer Tivan is one of the Elders of the Universe, a loose collaboration of individuals whose respective ancient races went extinct long ago. Having endured long but lonely lives, The Elders of the Universe are known for their intense fascinations. Taneleer Tivan, who debuted in “The Avengers” #28 and was created by Stan Lee and Don Heck in 1966, took on the hobby of collecting all things he considered important in the universe, often including its denizens. The character was first portrayed on film by Benicio del Toro in a mid-credits scene for “Thor: The Dark World,” and later went on to play a pivotal role in “Guardians of the Galaxy.”