Marvel Live
Take a journey with me to see all the awesome Marvel attractions around the world!
Marvel Expo Center (Shanghai)
The Marvel Expo in Shanghai was an incredible experience! From the moment I walked in, I was transported into the world of my favorite superheroes. The exhibits were beautifully designed and interactive, and the staff was friendly and knowledgeable. I highly recommend this expo to any Marvel fan out there! The exhibits were not only beautifully designed but also interactive, which made the experience even more engaging and enjoyable. I will say this, it was tucked away in the cut of Disney, so make sure you head to the back, and before you get to Tomorrowland, you should spot it. My two favorite things about this expo were the Iron Man armor (very similar to the setup at their hotel in Paris) and the gift shop that lets you own all of your favorite memorabilia. Although I didn't have time, I would suggest staying for the Iron man presentation as the kids looked like they enjoy it. I would highly recommend this expo to any Marvel fan out there, as it left me with unforgettable memories.
Iron Man Experience/Ant-Man & The Wasp (Hong Kong)
So a few years back I promised myself and my readers that I was going to visit as many Avengers attractions around the world that God will permit me and these rides were no exception! Disney Hong Kong has 2 Marvel rides that were absolutely amazing and I'll start with the Iron Man Expo (experience). They modeled the ride after the Stark Expo and all of the set and design pieces feels like you were personally invited by Tony himself to walk through the expo. Lot's of cool nods to the films and elaborate set pieces it was so mesmerizing. The actual ride was super cool and modeled the 'Transformers' ride at Universal Florida that makes you feel like you're in a vehicle helping Tony fight crime around the streets of NYC & Asia. Very interactive and fun and lots of kids just adored it. Walking across the pavilion over to Ant-Man and the Wasp I will say this set production took it up like 100 notches and made you feel like you were in Hank Pym's lab; at first. The actual ride was better than Iron Man (sorry metal head) in terms of the set and having to actually put some work in for the ride. I would compare this ride to Toy Story in the sense that you had to stay alert and shoot areas for points but more-so the set gets like a 200 out of 100. The colors were gorgeous and I ADORED the way MODOK was constructed for this ride. Overall both rides need to come to the States but Ant-Man and the Wasp was by far the winner for this race not just by this parks standards but by global rides standards.
Avengers Station (Las Vegas)
The very first time I went to Avengers Station was when it premiered in Times Square, New York. This was when the first Avenger's came out and when Live interaction attractions were really just starting. Similar to how much I love Universal's Halloween Horror Nights because it brings my beloved horror films to life, this was the Marvel/Avengers equivalent to that experience. The creators have done a spectacular job creating a world of hero's in this small exhibit and it makes you feel like these characters are really out there somewhere! All the set pieces and props were included in this stroll down comic book lane and it was really awesome how they challenged kids with the interactive content they put together. Fast forward a few mega-successful years later and Avengers Station ended up touring around the world with pop- up exhibit's and yet again became a huge success. Finding a permanent home in Las Vegas' Treasure Island only excited me more that my favorite team landed in my favorite city. This exhibit however expanded a bit from the original (as expected) and added new characters and new interactions along with the classic parts that I was familiar with. If you find yourself in the city of sin and you accidentally bring your kids along (or you yourself are an adult child like myself) you are going to love this exhibit and all it has to offer to fans of The Avengers franchise.
Avengers Campus (California)
The first experience I want to talk about is the Marvel Campus in California! I remember first hearing about Marvel building 3 experiences for fans around the world back in 2014/2015. I was waiting for the train after work in NYC and thought oh cool so it's just another trip to Orlando and I'm good....NOT! After full investigation I learned that if you wanted to get the full experience, you'd have to journey to the ends of the earth (something I was fully ready to experience). Disneyland California is part 1 and due to copyright issues with Universal Studios and some marvel characters in Orlando's Islands of Adventure, this experience is not allowed to happen at Disney World. Regardless, Disney California's "Avengers World" if you will is every marvel fans dream, more targeted for the kiddos but do us marvel adult fans ever care about that? Pym's test kitchen was one of my favorite experiences as you could order menu items that were huge and small and the construction of the building had PYM labs written all over it. Adult beverages could be ordered at the outside bar and I suggest ordering through the app first because every adult wanted the beaker cup filled with liquor. From there I strolled over to Doctor Strange's Sanctum where an adorable show was conducted (with the help of my pym juice). Sadly Spider-man and the actual Avengers ride was not ready when I went but I'll be sure to report back when it is available for the public. Lastly I did the Guardians of the Galaxy ride about 2 years prior and it was the Tower of Terror on steroids. The entire design was mesmerizing and really felt like you were on the set of Guardians of the Galaxy which is one of my favorite things about the whole experience.
Marvel Hotel & Disneyland Paris
After experiencing what Disney California had to offer there was no doubt that I had to take a trip to Europe and experience part 2 of Marvel Live! Now due to Covid-19 there was a lot of delayed construction and sadly Avengers Campus was not even built yet.....WHICH SUCKED. 80% of me went all the way to Europe to experience this and it wasn't even finished construction, however the Marvel Hotel made up for a small percentage of that pain. Aside from it being a Marvel Comic fans dream hotel the biggest thing that truly captivated me was the hotel itself and this is outside of the childish theatrics. The layout and setup of my actual room was fabulous (sleek and modern design, I walked right out the door and Disney was about a 30 second walk). There were all kinds of activities for kids but I was mainly evaluating 3 things (which are the main 3 things I typically look for in any hotel): The Decor, The overall feeling and the food! I think I covered the decor (a lot of all black tones which to me if it's not the bright white and cream colors of the Wynn in Vegas the next best scheme is all black....it just looks so elegant to me). Modern hotel needs like an espresso maker, custom spider-man key card, proper automation for phone charging etc but also the most bad ass mirror/glass interactive tv I've seen on the planet. The food at the Manhattan restaurant was to die for (super classy) and though I did not get to eat at the main restaurant it looked just as fabulous. They had a cafe/bar type of location that mimicked Doctor Strange's sanctum and the most mesmerizing gift shop that caused me to pick up a few amazing pieces (including The Eye of Agamoto you see photographed below). The only take away I would say was the pool as it kind of reminded me of a high school gym pool and my thought was "everything about this hotel is so up-scale and modern and this pool looks like shit" (there I said it). Lastly the armor and eye candy in the lobby was so cool to see and overall I can only pray that this experience comes to California....I feel like Paris may be the test market.
