spider man ride avengers campus
Who hasn't at some point in their life wanted to sling webs like Spidey? This ride lets you do just that.
Richard Harbaugh/Disneyland Resort
  • Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure is Disney Parks' first attraction featuring the Marvel hero.
  • Located in Disney California Adventure, the ride lets you shoot webs like Spidey.
  • It's a great interactive video game ride with no height restrictions so the whole family can enjoy.
  • Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

ANAHEIM, California – Disney's first Spider-Man attraction opens at Disneyland Resort on Friday at Disney California Adventure (DCA). It's an incredibly fun and immersive game ride that you'll immediately want to go on again once you get the hang of how it works.

It's also quite a workout on your arms, if you're trying to land a high score.

I was able to try out Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure four times in a two-hour span during a preview visit to Avengers Campus with a small group of press. It was the first time I stepped on a theme park attraction in over a year. After my initial ride through, I jumped right back on the attraction without going through the queue. That's how much I enjoyed it.

Why?

The ride gives you the ability to shoot webs just like Spider-Man by simply aiming and extending your arm forward with a flick like the web-slinger in any direction. You don't have to wear any type of equipment. For about three minutes, it feels like you're Spider-Man as you're firing away at interactive environments on digital screens.

Keep reading for my full breakdown of what to expect on the ride, tips on where to sit and how to get a higher score. Also, Easter eggs and hints at the future of the MCU you should keep an eye out for while waiting in the extremely detailed queue, and how to land a reservation to ride the new attraction.

What the ride's about: You're aiding Spider-Man as you try and save Avengers Campus from a bunch of tiny spider-bots.

webslingers avengers campus
The entrance to Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure.
Kirsten Acuna/Insider

When you enter Web Slingers, you'll make your way through an outdoor queue. Once inside, you'll enter the WEB (Worldwide Engineering Brigade) lobby.

WEB is a workshop area Tony Stark built to bring together bright young minds from across the MCU, including Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Cassie Lang (Ant-Man's daughter), Harley Keen (the young inventor Tony meets in "Iron Man 3"), and some new faces who will enter the MCU soon, including America Chavez/Miss America and Riri Williams/Ironheart (more on them in a bit). There, the engineers work on developing new technologies.

web slinger web entry
After snaking through an outdoor queue you finally enter the WEB, or Worldwide Engineering Brigade.
Kirsten Acuna/Insider

After a short waiting period, you're ushered into one of two rooms on the left or right. Once everyone is inside, you're welcomed by none other than Parker (a delightful Tom Holland reprises his role for the attraction). He's supposed to take us on an open house tour of WEB to show off some of the tech they're working on, including a pretty cute Spider-Bot, which has the ability to self-replicate.

Here's the pre-show:

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Naturally, things go awry. A spider-bot escapes, starts self-replicating, and destroys Parker's lab. When the bots get loose into Avengers Campus, it's our job to help Parker and his friends round up the bots before Stark can find out you're destroying his very expensive land.

From there, you make your way into a third, larger room where you snake around a queue until you reach the boarding area to get in your very own Web Slinger vehicle, another invention of the WEB kids, which allows you to shoot webs like Spidey to stop the bots, break boxes, and more.

avengers campus web slingers hallway queue
This is the final room you need to go through before the ride.
Kirsten Acuna/Insider

The ride queue: Keep an eye out for Easter eggs, a tribute to a former Disney Imagineer, and hints at the MCU's future.

Starting outside the WEB building, there are numerous nods to Spidey, the MCU, and more inside and out of the attraction to keep your eyes peeled for. An art mural outside of WEB is created by another Spider-Man, Miles Morales. Not far from him is a parking spot for Howard Stark and his servant, Jarvis.

jarvis stark parking spot avengers campus web slingers
There are so many Easter eggs to find, you'll want to return to the attraction a second time to catch everything you may miss.
Kirsten Acuna/Insider

Inside the pre-show room, you can spot "Star Wars" references and the Lego Death Star Ned and Peter were working on in the Spidey films. Depending on which pre-show room you enter you'll either spot Groot in a crane machine alongside Baymax and a "Toy Story" alien (The Claw!) or Captain Marvel.

crane machine web slingers avengers campus
Here's a Web Slinger vehicle as it reenters the boarding area after the ride ends.
Kirsten Acuna/Insider

There are also two whiteboards filled with equations and inside jokes. There's no way you can see and read everything on one visit.

web slingers white boards avengers campus
These are the white boards you see in the preshow room.
Kirsten Acuna/Insider

If you wind up entering the left pre-show room instead of the right, you'll miss some very important hints at the future of the MCU. When you exit the room on the right, a wall of lockers shows off 17 names in addition to Peter Parker.

avengers campus web slingers lockers
Lockers tease some characters we may see down the line in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Kirsten Acuna/Insider

A Disney employee pointed out one locker in the center of the top row. It honors a former Disney Imagineer, Grisol Ramirez, who had died and previously worked on the attraction.

avengers campus web slingers imagineer locker
The locker that serves as a tribute to Grisol Ramirez.
Kirsten Acuna/Insider

The other 16 names belong to current or future MCU characters or characters who, currently, only exist in Marvel comics, animated series, or other forms of entertainment.

Here's the full list: Anya Corazon/Spider-Girl, Amadeus Cho/Brawn, Harley Keener ("Iron Man 3"), Onome, Cassie Lang ("Ant-Man"), Miles Morales/Spider-Man, Dante Pertuz/Inferno, Shaun L., Bruno Carrelli (super smart friend of Ms. Marvel), Doreen Green/Squirrel Girl, Lunella Lafayette/Moon Girl, America Chavez/Miss America, Riri Williams/Ironheart, Gwen Stacey/Spider-Woman, Takeshi Matsuya/Wiz Kid, and Rick Jones (friend of the Hulk, who becomes A-Bomb and then Subject B).

Before you shrug this off and say it's just for the attraction, I was told last March during an Avengers Campus preview the land will continue to evolve and grow in conjunction with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Things in the films and shows could influence the land and the reverse could also be true. Things from the land could appear in the MCU.

With that in mind, there are two main takeaways. Marvel is likely setting up a "Young Avengers" group (something I've considered at length for years based on Marvel's Disney Plus lineup along with Avengers Campus teases last year). The other is that Marvel and Sony may be planning a live-action Spider-Verse movie with Peter Parker meeting multiple versions of other Spider-Men - something that's been discussed online a lot for December's upcoming Spidey sequel.

Know before you go: There are no height restrictions. The ride vehicle seats four guests per row and eight per car. Practice your web-slinging as you wait in line.

web slinger boarding area
Here's how the Web Slinger vehicle looks.
Kirsten Acuna/Insider

Web Slingers was made with all ages in mind. There's no height requirement so even the youngest Marvel fans can ride the attraction.

If you're looking for the best seat on the attraction, there really isn't a bad one from what I could tell. Personally, I preferred either of the two center seats because it put you right at the center of the web-slinging action to have easier access to try and hit anything on the screen.

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I recommend using your time in line to familiarize yourself with how to sling a web. Granted, it's not difficult, but if you're competitive, there are a few advanced moves to master to get the most out of the ride. Signs inside the attraction show advanced techniques that include gesturing down to "pull webbed objects in different directions." Another tip notes that webs can push buttons and pull levers.

avengers campus web slinger instructions
Signs around the Web Slinger queue show you how to best sling webs on the ride.
Kirsten Acuna/Insider

The ride allows you to shoot webs like Spider-Man. How does it work? Disney Imagineers invented a gesture recognition system.

Infrared cameras are attached to each vehicle to track and analyze guests 60 times a second to track a guest's eye position, shoulders, elbows and wrists so when anyone moves their arms the attraction can map out the geometry of their web sling, creating a 3D web that appears on the screen as you play.

All you have to do is extend and launch out your arm and a colored web flies out. The result is extremely seamless and may leave you stunned the first few seconds of the attraction trying to figure out how Disney pulled this off.

The actual ride: It's 3 minutes of non-stop exhilarating fun.

avengers campus web slinger vehicle
Here's a Web Slinger vehicle as it's reentering the boarding area after the ride's over.
Kirsten Acuna/Insider

Once you're in a Web Slinger vehicle, you're assigned one of four colors depending on where you're seated: blue, red, yellow, or purple. The color you're assigned will be the color of the web that "shoots out" from your wrist during gameplay.

Similar to Toy Story Midway Mania!, the attraction takes you to four different "rooms" (aka giant screens) where you're given a certain amount of time to try and capture as many spider-bots as possible. The more you capture, the higher your score.

You start off in a hanger before moving to the Pym Test Kitchen (a restaurant located in Avengers Campus). Afterwards, you head to The Collector's fortress to denote the Guardians of the Galaxy ride. Finally, you face off against a giant spider-bot near Avengers headquarters, located in the center of Avengers Campus. The attraction goes by incredibly fast so it's easy to miss something that flies by as the screen pans forward or down to move you through an environment.

In three of the rooms, you have an objective to try and complete: Fight giant bot, rescue Spider-Man, and destroy giant bot. You're awarded points for each task.

avengers campus web slinger score
Kirsten Acuna/Insider

I'm extremely competitive, so I wanted to try and get the highest score possible. Unfortunately, for me, that also meant I was shooting both of my arms outward at a rapid-fire pace to sling as many webs as possible each round. Though I had scores of over 325,000 by myself the first two times riding, this was not a great strategy.

By the time I got to the fourth room every time, my arms were exhausted (and a bit sore the next day). It was a repeated comment I heard throughout the day from Disney employees and other media who tried the attraction. It's not a bad thing, but I wasn't expecting a workout from a Disney ride.

Tips on getting a higher score: Aim at gold spiders, access a magical book, and make a game plan if you're riding with multiple guests.

Want to impress your friends by getting a higher score than them on your first go-around? Don't waste your time hitting any old bot. Aim for the gold spiders. Each one gives you 6,000 points.

gold spider bots avengers campus
Here's the point value for the different spider bots you can capture on Web Slingers.
Kirsten Acuna/Insider

Instead of knocking out one spider at a time, look for items to hit or pull down that will eliminate more spiders at once. In the first room, I was told to hit open a box to reveal a tractor you should then target. In room two, I was advised to hit the turbine until it gets going. In room three (the Collector's fortress), look for a glass box housing a magical book, which looks like it belongs to Doctor Strange. Break that open and you'll unlock what I'm referring to as a small hero moment. (Strange doesn't appear on screen, but you see a bright orange magic symbol).

If you've been on Toy Story Midway Mania!, completing certain tasks or hitting certain items unlocks or enables bonuses. The same rule applies here. Look for levers to pull, doors to open, and lasers (in the fourth room) to activate.

Pro-tip: If I had four people in my party, I would divide up the screen and give every person a different section of the screen to work on - left, right, bottom, and top. Maybe have someone focus on the center.

My only gripe: You shouldn't need to purchase add-ons in order to get the highest score of the day and it's a little tough to play with a mask on.

After my first two run-throughs of the ride, my highest solo score was over 344,000. I saw the highest score of the morning at that point was over 700,000. A Disney employee working at the attraction told me that in order to get a higher score, you would need one of the three devices sold outside of the attraction.

Steps away from Web Slingers, DCA sells three items: a Web tech power band ($29.99), a web-shooter ($24.99), and Iron Man's (or Pepper Potts) repulsor ($24.99) at either a supply cart or a store called Web Suppliers.

avengers campus web tech
Here are the three add-ons you can purchase to use on Web Slingers. They come in a few styles.
Kirsten Acuna/Insider

Each device gives you special power-ups on the attraction to help you destroy more spider-bots at once and, effectively, gain a higher score.

I don't really want to spend at least $25 to get the most out of an attraction at a park. Disneyland Resort already canceled its popular (and rather inexpensive) annual pass holder program in January. Anyone attending Disneyland Resort right now is paying full price (a one-day adult ticket to Disneyland or DCA starts at $104) every time they want to step into the park. If you have a family with multiple children, the last thing you want to do after shelling out a lot for a Disney trip is needing to purchase something in order to experience an attraction to its fullest extent.

The other issue I had, which others may run into, was that my 3D glasses kept fogging up because of the mask I had on during the ride affecting my ability to see and aim. This may not be an issue for everyone, but it wasn't ideal for me.

The bottom line: Get to the park early if you want to try and get on this attraction. Acquire a power band if you want a shot at getting on the scoreboard for bragging rights.

avengers campus web slinger entrance
The entrance to Web Slingers.
Kirsten Acuna/Insider

DCA has something special here. After riding I immediately thought that if Disney wanted to make Web Slingers a VR experience for people to purchase and play at home, people would buy it. After all, Sony's excellent Spider-Man game is one of the best-selling PlayStation 4 games of all time.

This ride is such a blast that it's a shame that you'll probably only get to ride it once a day right now when you visit. The first time you ride, you'll probably be so in awe of the technology and then focused on mastering your technique to shoot a web that you won't fully notice and activate all of the little bonuses in each round. But that's the point. The attraction is designed for you to return.

Like Galaxy Edge's Rise of the Resistance in Disneyland, I predict it will be tough to get on the actual attraction. Disney's made a virtual queue for the attraction. You can't just walk right up to it and get in line. According to press materials I received, reservations for the ride will be made available each day at 7 a.m. and noon. With Rise, you needed to be at the park at a certain time to wait to press a button in the Disneyland app in order to hope you pressed it fast enough to acquire a boarding pass for some time that day. (You can read more on that process here.)

One last piece of advice: Maybe stretch out your arms before riding. If you're extremely competitive, your arms may be a little sore afterwards.

Grade: A

Want to know more about Avengers Campus? Take a look at our food guide and take a tour of what to expect in the rest of the land here.

Read the original article on Insider