Your Spidey sense will be tingling... in your wallet.
It appears even amusement parks are getting into the “upgrade” game.
Starting today at Disney California Adventure Park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, their new Spider-Man ride will be widening the eyes of every kid who walks by.
Related
Taking a cue from the formerly digital-only world of paying a premium to get more of what you thought you just paid for, Disneyland is offering a $29.99 upgrade to its brand new ride, oh, I mean experience, the WEB Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure.
It’s a ride, sure, but you have a choice to purchase this wristband thing that really expands the experience. Actually, just trying to describe it is a bit of an experience.
First, there’s a kind of pre-show where Peter Parker (Tom Holland, from the upcoming “Spider-Man: No Way Home”) demonstrates the cute but mischievous Spider Bots. A sudden malfunction in their reproduction mode sends a big swarm of Bots flying out of the workshop into havocville. Then things get even kookier.
You then put on 3-D glasses and ride the WEB (Worldwide Engineering Brigade, of course) slinger vehicle to capture the Bots and save the Campus.
With some definitely exciting and ingenious visual effects, riders can shoot webs from their wrists, fight the bad guys, and log a tally on their ride vehicle. (Yup, man has figured out how to make even fun amusement park rides a competition.)
Admittedly, this upgrade does sound pretty cool.
“We have invented a ton of technology to make it possible,” said Brent Strong, executive creative director of Walt Disney Imagineering. “With nothing in your hands, you get to reach out and sling webs. It’s like magic.”
But -- and you knew this was coming -- if you want to accentuate your ride and rack up a score, you’ll need to invest $29.99 in the handy-dandy WEB Power Band, available at the three merchandise outlets in the Adventure Park. It’s an armband that straps onto the rider’s forearm and unlocks a mode for multiple webs along with other additional super power options inspired by Marvel heroes.
Or at least we assume they’re Marvel heroes. It’s not just the ride that sounds like you might need a degree to ride it. The whole concept of Marvel, Disney, and amusement parks has become megamedia-age complicated.
Related
As the New York Post tries to explain, this ride is part of the new Avengers Campus, (Centralized Assembly Mobilized to Prepare, Unite, and Safeguard, of course) within the Adventure Park. In the ever-expanding (storytelling and legalese) world of Marvel, the six-acre park creates a Marvel Universe, but because of complicated legal licensing rights you can’t call it that, because that belongs to Universal Studios, a glitch that means there’s unlikely to be a duplicate Campus coming to Florida’s Disney World anytime soon.
Remember when a double-loop would get a new roller coaster a spot on the nightly news?
Well, at least for your extra $29.99 you get to take the wristband home with you, and apparently it beams up a Spidey logo in the dark. It’s also non-refundable, so your kid is definitely taking it home and playing with the thing all summer!
You can also splurge on an interactive Spider Bot of your own, for a cool $79.99. But then, you might also want to eat food at some point during your day at Disneyland too.
“WEB Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure” replaced the “It’s Tough to Be a Bug” ride.
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram