32 photos show what Disneyland Paris' massive new Avengers Campus expansion is like in real life — and it's way better than the US version

It's not meant to be a replica of Disneyland California Adventure's Avengers Campus which opened to the public last summer.

As Disney continues adding different Avengers Campus lands to its parks, the overarching story is that Tony Stark is seeking out different spaces around the world to recruit the next generation of heroes.

At Disneyland Paris, Avengers Campus is a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility compound that once belonged to Tony's father, Howard Stark. (Yes, that part is similar to California's Marvel land, but I imagine that nearly every single Avengers Campus around the world is probably going to be some sort of previous Howard Stark site that Tony has decided to convert.)

"Howard Stark back in the '40s had a Stark factory — Stark Industries — here on this site and it was a covert operation while he was working with S.H.I.E.L.D.," executive producer of Walt Disney Imagineering Robin Reardon told press, including Insider during a conversation with Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) on how the land used to be a secret location for S.H.I.E.L.D.

"So when Tony said, 'Well, OK, I need a place to set up my campus, he actually based it in the same location that his father had," Reardon added.

You can't miss Avengers Campus. It's the main attraction on the left-hand side of the park.

When you arrive at the Walt and Mickey statue, take a left.

My immediate impression during a walk-through of the campus was that it felt larger and more spacious than the US version, thanks to the better utilization of space.

A parks representative confirmed to me that Disneyland Paris' Avengers Campus covers over 6.79 acres (27,500 square meters), .61 acres of which are dedicated to greenery.

Even with the similar sizing, everything feels a bit more scrunched together in the California park. Here, there's more room to move around without bumping into guests.

If you want to avoid the crowds and don't mind missing out on the experience of going through the main entrance, make a beeline straight for the Tower of Terror off to the right side of Avengers Campus.

To the right of the attraction is a small corridor that will lead you to the back entrance of Avengers Campus.

You'll start at the back end of the park by the Super Diner and food truck before coming upon the centerpieces of the park.

Cast members told me that that space will be open to the public.

If you're hoping to beat the crowds to try out one of the park's new attractions like Avengers Assemble: Flight Force, I'd recommend entering through this less obvious entrance.

If you've been on this attraction in the US (called Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure) then you've been on this ride as well.

Both are virtually the same, right down to there being one of two rooms you can enter for the attraction's pre-show with Tom Holland.

The outdoor queue is a little different and there are fewer lockers featured in this queue than in Disneyland California Adventure.

If you're not familiar with the ride, the main gist is that you're helping Spider-Man round up a bunch of adorable little Spider-Bots that got loose and are threatening to ruin the entire campus.

Through an elaborate gesture capture system that tracks and analyzes a guest's shoulder, elbow, and wrist position 60 times a second, the ride gives you the ability to shoot webs like Spidey that magically appear on the screen in front of you.

The Spider-Man attraction is basically where the similarities to the California park start and end.

You can read my full review of Disneyland California Adventure's version of the attraction here.

The high-intensity roller coaster replaces the beloved Rock 'n' Roller coaster starring Aerosmith, which closed in 2019 to be refurbished into Flight Force.

Like the attraction before it, Flight Force also includes three inversions, two of which are sea serpent rolls and one corkscrew. A six-car train, in the Iron Man color scheme, holds up to 24 guests at a time.

You can watch the train enter the station here.

The height requirement for this attraction is 47 inches.

I've gone on Six Flag's Kingda Ka, which shoots you out at 128 mph in 3.5 seconds, and I was convinced that this ride was shooting us out at 80 or 90 mph.

I was shocked to later learn that you're moving at 60 mph because you feel the speed on this coaster as you go through three inversions.

Overall, I'd liken the experience to Disneyland Paris' Hyperspace Mountain, but you should be prepared to get knocked around a bit more.

Both Disneyland Paris president Natacha Rafalski and Imagineering art director Beth Clapperton recommended sitting in the middle and I didn't understand why until I rode in both seats in the front row and took a spin in the last two rows. It's nearly impossible to avoid hitting your head against the sides of the seat (and they're not soft).

The only place where I wasn't knocked around as much? Right in the center of the coaster.

If you're wearing large earrings or any ear cuffs, I'd recommend taking them off before riding on this attraction.

Iron Man appears in a briefing room to prepare guests for their adventure on Flight Force. Marvel Studios' vice president of franchise creative and marketing, Dave Bushore, confirmed during the WDI panel that this Iron Man is wearing new armor.

Björn Heerwagen, director of show design and production at Disneyland Paris, told press during the same conversation that it was "a challenge" to create the park's first fully electric figure.

"It's got 33 functions," said Heerwagen, who explained that the development of the figure took a while to perfect.

"We tried to go down different paths and ideas of existing figures, but ended up starting from scratch to make something so fluid and real with regards to visitors," he added.

You can see a bit of Iron Man in action here.

By the way, if you're wondering how Tony can be alive here when he died in "Avengers: Endgame," there's a simple Disney response to that question.

Keith Rector, an art director at Walt Disney Imagineering, told Insider and international press during a separate roundtable discussion that Iron Man's alive because of "the multiverse," meaning Avengers Campus lives outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline.

When I pressed about which Earth Avengers Campus takes place on, Rector told me he wasn't sure.

Pay close attention as you make your way to the room with the giant monitor. Marvel fans will want to do a close watch and listen to the nine-minute video that plays on repeat as part of the attraction's pre-show.

It appears this ride takes place concurrently with all of the other Avengers Campus tie-ins in the world because Tony calls Rocket Raccoon as he's busy on the Guardians of the Galaxy — Mission: Breakout! attraction in California, Sam Wilson/Captain America as he's entangled on a mission with Ms. Marvel on the newly-launched Disney Wish cruise, and Ant-Man for help. (The latter appears to be a reference to the Ant-Man and the Wasp attraction in Hong Kong Disneyland.)

That's not all.

As the video plays, keep your eyes peeled to references of other Marvel characters as Stark tries to figure out who to call. I made an audible gasp when I saw Wade Wilson's name (aka Deadpool) appear on screen. Yes, Avengers Campus acknowledges Deadpool! You can watch his cameo here.

As you may guess, none of these other characters aid in the mission. Tony turns to the parkgoers — and Captain Marvel — to help save Earth.

"She's only at Disneyland Paris and she's the first artificial intelligence that we've had at our site," Rafalski told me. "She's going to be welcoming our recruits and announcing when Avengers and other super figures are coming on campus or leaving campus."

F.R.I.D.A.Y. is uploaded onto the facade of the Flight Force building through an integrated lighting and sound system which utilizes parametric 3D modeling, a first for Disney Parks.

Described as "the beating heart of the campus" by Reardon, F.R.I.D.A.Y. alerts parkgoers when a show may begin, which, honestly, I think is rather helpful for families so they know to prepare to get a good spot for a show.

She doesn't speak specifically to individual parkgoers; she more or less functions as the land's announcer.

Heerwagen described the technical process to bring F.R.I.D.A.Y. to life as "extremely challenging."

"It's a huge, huge collaboration with a lot of different people within the team, outside of the team. We had to bring in specialized programmers to program each individual light fixture," Heerwagen said of the character's display on the exterior of the Flight Force headquarters.

"We have huge servers that drive behind it in order to program it and make it come alive," he added.

"We wanted to set this up so that it didn't matter where you walked into the land, you had an iconic visual anchor that would bring you in and down through the land," said Scot Drake, the portfolio creative executive who designed the ship, during the WDI Avengers Campus presentation.

When designing the space, Drake said he didn't realize the platform with the Quinjet would also lend itself as a great space for announcements.

Throughout the day, heroes ranging from Iron Man to Doctor Strange appear on the Quinjet platform waving at passersby.

Not every hero stays up there. We saw plenty of the heroes on the ground. Loki and Thor were walking together through the park.

The car isn't just for show. It actually drives around the campus, shuttling characters in and out of the land.

At one point, I spotted Iron Man making a departure when I got off of Flight Force.

During the WDI presentation, it was mentioned that Drake's passion for vehicle design links the vehicle to the Quinjet, which he designed, so it feels like both are part of the same family.

In comparison, California's Marvel land has one main quick service restaurant, two carts, and a small dessert cart.

I was surprised by how massive and beautifully decorated the Pym Kitchen is on the inside.

From the carpets to a domed ceiling with a honeycomb design, everything has thoughtful nods to the "Ant-Man" universe inside the space, which seats up to 408 people.

I recommend walking through the entire space to view Ant-Man and the Wasp in various scenarios as they helped with preparation for the restaurant.

Ant-Man and his ants can be seen flying with strawberries (likely a nod to one of the restaurant's best desserts), lifting up a massive carrot, and playfully building asparagus into the shape of the Eiffel Tower.

In another image, the Wasp tries to get a situation with a giant chicken under control.

My favorite must-see portrait is one of Ant-Man (as Giant-Man) rushing to save a giant bottle of wine from falling off a truck.

You can watch a tour inside the space here.

Pym technology gives Ant-Man the ability to shrink down in size or become supremely large.

At Disney's California Adventure, fans can find some playful spins on the Pym Particles with tiny meatballs and a giant chicken sandwich on a tiny bun.

Avengers Campus in Disneyland Paris takes that to the next step by serving up a giant cheeseburger next to smaller ones and a massive hot dog alongside bite-sized dogs.

An oversized crumbled Oreo awaits fans at the buffet's dessert section.

In particular, I enjoyed the cheeseburger, mini corn dogs, Chili con carne, and jambalaya.

The only sandwich that let me down a bit was the giant pastrami, offered in smaller slices.

I have favorite delis to order pastrami sandwiches from in New Jersey and California and this didn't meet my expectations. A typical pastrami sandwich is piled up with several slices of the deli meat and that wasn't the case here.

But there were plenty of other things I enjoyed.

My favorite dessert options here are the Infinity Pecan Pie, the Gigantic Strawberry Dessert, the Pear Crumble, and a pair of strawberry-flavored and forest-fruit-flavored blue jellies that come in small glass beakers (seen above).

Clapperton shared that fans will want to take an extra look at the test tube the restaurant's red wine, a Brouilly, is served in: "The molecule on it is the wine molecule. That was a really fantastic fun experience of collaboration."

While fans may want to order the red wine to receive the particle test tube as a keepsake to bring home, I'd recommend one of the other two alcoholic offerings inside Pym's. (And that's coming from someone who loves red wine.)

My favorite wine of the three offered was the Orange Gold white wine, but it's the restaurant's signature alcoholic drink, the Blue Chardonnay, which captured my attention.

The coolest tidbit I learned was about the mesmerizingly vibrant electric-blue coloring of the chardonnay. You may think it's a blue food coloring, but a cast member confirmed to me that's not the case. It's through a natural process.

Spanish statup Gik Live! previously told Insider it created its naturally neon-blue wine by extracting a pigment from the skin of a red grape called anthocyanin. That pigment gives the beverage its unique, vibrant hue.

The blue wine trend became popular in France in 2018.

I also noticed that the drink menu contained a photo of a familiar beer flight on a ruler, which you can purchase at the US parks.

At first, I thought it was a little nod to Avengers Campus in California, but my server Duncan shared that a beer flight served on a ruler will be offered in the future. It just wasn't available to try during my stay.

You can view Pym Kitchen's drink menu here.

"It doesn't look like the typical quick service restaurant. There is a big window looking into the kitchen where we make pizza dough from scratch every single day," director of food product and sourcing Jean-Marie Clement told Insider and international press during a round table discussion.

It's estimated that between 550 and 600 pounds of pizza dough are made every day in the Stark Factory.

The moment you enter the space, you're greeted by the massive statue, which was built during the pandemic using Zoom sessions and drones.

Nearly every time I walked into Stark Factory, where up to 336 people can dine at once, someone had stopped to pose for a photo.

For years, the Stark Factory was home to manufacturing advanced weapons and military technology before manufacturing armor worn by Iron Man and War Machine, so it makes sense to see the Hulkbuster armor here.

Go inside Stark Factory here.

My jaw dropped when I walked into this space. In California, the British military officer (and Captain America's eventual wife) is briefly referenced on a parking space.

Here, Carter is given her due with a complete office that doubles as a photo-op space.

Fans can pose at Carter's desk and take photos or peek behind the desk for many Easter eggs and nods to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including Peggy's hat, Captain America's first shield, and mentions of the other Avengers Campus locations.

For the lands that are already opened, there are case filings that read "Agent Info Los Angeles" or "Agent Info Paris."

For areas to come, they read: "Active Missions: Hong Kong" and "Active Missions: Shanghai." That last one stuck out to me since there's currently a Marvel Universe in Shanghai Disneyland, but it's not referred to as Avengers Campus.

Make sure to take a good look at the filing cabinets labeled with references to characters like Dr. Abraham Erskine (who created the original super-soldier serum), Arnim Zola, the Winter Soldier, Hydra, Valkyrie, Red Skull.

There are also mentions of the red room from "Black Widow," Tesseract studies, and more.

Unsurprisingly, a familiar photo from the movies of Steve Rogers, her sweetheart and the former Captain America, hangs on the wall.

Take a tour of Peggy Carter's office here.

Stark Factory serves one of three different kinds of pizza that are all made with mozzarella cheese:

• Italian dry-cured ham pizza that's topped with ham and rocket salad
• Stracciatella pizza which is topped with olives and stracciatella
• 4 Seasons pizza which is topped with half-dried cherry tomatoes, artichokes, and red and yellow peppers.

My recommendation from here is the Italian dry-cured ham pizza. Tip: I learned that the French way to eat the pizza would not be to pick it up, so I grabbed a fork and knife and sliced it up into small squares to enjoy.

The restaurant also offers three pasta dishes. I was impressed that one of the three, a Neapolitan penne topped with a piece of basil, is vegan. The other two offerings include a traditional pasta dish with trivelli and bolognese sauce and a fancy spin on mac and cheese made with parmesan and cream sauce.

The quick-service eatery's signature dessert is a small Thunder Cake treat, topped with a beautifully designed bolt of lightning. It's basically a small cake filled with caramel milk chocolate.

I really enjoyed the food at this noodle truck which offers a choice between shrimp, chicken, and tofu cups of noodles submerged in a tasty garlic, ginger, and lemongrass broth, with mushrooms.

I was initially a little skeptical of, what's basically, the equivalent of a Disney ramen bowl, but was surprised by how flavorful and moist the chicken was. I actually wanted to take a bowl to go, but I knew I had to save room to sample more.

I enjoyed it so much, that I walked around the park a little with my ramen cup and sipped the broth as if it was a drink.

This truck also has one of my favorite desserts in Avengers Campus: the Atomic Coco Balls, which are described as coconut and egg yolk balls. Don't let the description detract you. It doesn't taste eggy at all. It has a light coconut flavor which I found so delicious that I went back for seconds.

The other main dessert option is a mango cup. (I learned that Disneyland Paris is big on selling cups of items like fries.) The WEB truck also has four ice cream options. You can see the menu here.

There are three hot dog options you can get at the truck, including a vegan option:

• Cap's All American Hot Dog with ketchup and mustard
• The Incredible Hot Dog (a spin on the Incredible Hulk) comes with melted cheddar cheese, crispy bacon and onions, ketchup, and mustard
• The Crispy Veggie is made with a plant-based sausage, crispy onions, plant-based grated Nurishh cheese, and vegan mustard sauce

Desserts include treats and four ice cream offerings:

• Street pop cheesecake
• A vegan cookie
• A fruit bag
• Spider-Man 3D Ice Strawberry
• Magnum Almond
• A vanilla Cornetto cone
• A Ben & Jerry's cookie dough ice cream cup

You can view the menu here.

"The producer of Avengers Campus thought it would be fun if I pose as the fictional owner of that food truck," Clapperton told me during an interview inside the land.

"I am an Avengers fan and I have gone around the world and I have taken selfies of myself in certain Avengers iconic spots," Clapperton added.

On the truck, you can find eight different photos of Clapperton along the side and back of the truck. She and her beloved food truck have visited California's Avengers Campus, the Stark tower, Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, and New Asgard (which appears in "Thor: Love and Thunder").

Look closely and you'll notice there's also a photo of Clapperton at Hong Kong's Avengers Campus, which isn't open yet.

A Spider-Man backpack, a pillow of Captain America's shield, and an assortment of Pop Funkos (Rocket, Groot, Cling, Captain America, Captain Marvel, and Thanos) line the driver's seat and dashboard.

Look closely and you'll see Groot hanging from where a rearview mirror would be. The steering wheel has a special Spider-Man covering.

Go around to the front and you'll spot Tony Stark's license plate from "The Avengers" and a hat featuring Rocket Raccoon. The last one is a bit tough to make out unless you're standing at the right angle.

Everyone I spoke with recommended the Reuben sandwich.

Rafalski, who was born in Canada and later studied at UCLA in Los Angeles, California, told me she feels like she's returning to the states when she enters the space.

"It's literally a counter with stools and booths," Rafalski told Insider of the diner's design. "We serve a Reuben sandwich there, so I'm gonna be there next week."

As a born and bred Jersey girl who hails from the diner capital of the world (Bon Appétit and the BBC's words, not mine), I was amped to enter this space and try the apparently magical sandwich, even though I'm admittedly not a huge Reuben fan. (Give me some diner grub: A pork roll, egg, and cheese.)

Unfortunately, this was not open for me to try the two days I was there. I was a bit bummed out because, from the outside, it's serving up perfect diner vibes.

You can view the Super Diner's menu here.

This was one of the busiest spots in Avengers Campus during my time there. You need a reservation to enter this space so make sure to make it as far out in advance as possible.

It was even tough for me to get in here on the press days because so many people wanted to check it out. I recommend reserving a meet-and-greet photo session through the Disneyland Paris mobile app.

When it's your time to visit, you'll head inside and sit in a waiting room until you're called to enter one of two different spaces for your appointment.

"Our Disney photo cast team created a video sequence in a couple of the rooms where there's 27 cameras and so you're going to be able to take a whole new kind of photograph with superheroes inside the hero training center," Rafalski told me.

I had to experience this for myself to know what exactly was being done with 27 cameras to make this photo experience different from any other one.

I met up with Iron Man and the cameras were instantly noticeable across one side of the room. After some friendly chit chat, we got ready to strike a pose.

You should be aware that the room becomes really bright for a moment as the cameras go off so that you don't blink. (If you've ever been on a studio stage, that's what this felt like.)

What did the end process look like? I received a 20-second long video of my experience with Iron Man as the video moved from one side of the room to the other.

In other words, I received a fancy GIF with Tony Stark. You can watch it here to see what it will look like.

At the time, I didn't realize that I could've tried to rocket off of the ground like Iron Man, which sounds like it would've looked cooler, but you live and you learn. So make sure to ask about that photo opp.

If you're in the center of the park whenever the Wakandan drums start up, you can't resist but watch the commanding performance of the Dora Milaje warriors. I've watched this show a handful of times at both Disney's California Adventure and, now, Disneyland Paris and it's always a crowd pleaser.

You can get a taste of what to expect from the Disneyland Paris version of the show here.

Singular to Disneyland Paris' Avengers Campus is a Guardians of the Galaxy dance party, which debuted at Disneyland Paris in 2018.

I loved the interactive aspect of this show where guests participate in a dance challenge and Peter Quill/Star-Lord picks a few of the best to go up against.

Just like when Avengers Campus debuted in California, Black Widow and Black Panther team up to take down the Taskmaster, a villain from 2021's "Black Widow" film who can mimic the moves of any person they come in contact with, and their agents.

I partially wished there was an updated version of the show to reflect the current Marvel Cinematic Universe film releases, but this was still enjoyable. I also thought the choreography of the fight sequence was better than that of the one in California.

As soon as I walked into the Mission Equipment store, there were at least three pieces of clothing and an Iron Man coffee mug I wanted. I didn't get that feeling at all when I went to the Avengers Campus in California.

The Avengers Campus shirt and spirit jerseys have better designs than the ones available in the US parks. The store also connects to the exit of the Spider-Man attraction so it's also filled with a bunch of Spidey clothes and merch.

The 60th anniversary Spidey sweats seen above caught my eye. At first, I wasn't sure if they were just for men and hesitated to make a purchase, but during a round table discussion I attended, I learned that Disneyland Paris' Avengers Campus has a more forward and accessible approach to fashion.

They don't focus on gender.

"We don't necessarily say boy's T-shirt, girl's T-shirt. It's a T-shirt and it doesn't matter. If you like it, you can buy it," Jean-David Marque, the park's director of merchandise and retail, told Insider and international press.

Needless to say, I went back and bought the sweatpants afterward. They're one of the comfiest pairs of sweats I own.

You can take a peek inside the Mission Equipment store here.

You can view a full walk-through tour of the land here to familiarize yourself with the layout before you visit.