AVATAR land coming to Disney's Animal Kingdom

[Master Yoda]

Staggs was very cryptic about this in his answers. I understand the idea if they get rid of Camp Minnie-Mickey, however I hope that they use new space instead. I would rather see the park really expanded as opposed to just replacing.

As do I. I also think the northern parcel is more of a blank canvas than the camp parcel. Plus I really do not want to see Pandora from the parking lot.

 

[wdwmagic]

Do you have any leads on where this will go? While building over Camp Minnie and Mickey is not beyond the realm of possibilities, I just can fathom why they would. We might hate character meet n greets but guests demand them and their current location is well suited for them. About the only plus I could think of to building over the camp is the opportunity to build a bigger and better theater for FotLK but that would need to be done well before any demolition was started.

No nothing yet. It was always the plan though for Camp to be temporary, it was largely built by WDW entertainment, and WDI had their eyes on it for an Eticket land right from day one. It really wouldn't take much to clear it out.

My hope would be that they go for the north plot, so the park actually gets bigger rather than a replace, and as you say, there is a need for the character area. There was talk at one point about heavy modification to Planet Watch, which could see an incorporation of the characters there.

I think really at the moment it is just to early to tell, from what has been said officially, they are still at blue sky. In that mode, anything can happen.

 

[Disneyfanman]

We heard over and over that Disney gave up on negotiations with JK Rowling because they wouldn't spend the cash for her vision. My opinion is that Disney believes that they made a mistake and this is the property that they chose to compete with. I think that they are afraid of Phase 2 HP and the long term affect it may have on guest habits. Star Wars is decades old and Avatar is new. Cameron must have demanded creative input but also some sort of say in budgets and the scope of the project. That's just his personality.....projects are done his way or not done. With the two highest grossing films in history he has the power to get what he wants. This will be big and expensive and Disney had to make concessions on control and budget. It wouldn't have happened with Eisner, but Iger isn't afraid of making huge decisions (Pixar anyone) that involve big money and giving up some control.

Does anyone wonder if part of this will be a personal experience like Discovery Cove?

 

[Master Yoda]

this news actually caught me off guard since I read it on a news site before this one. I'm personally split down the middle with this one. When I heard about this yesterday I thought "Oh cool, they're going to make Beastly Kingdom and make Avatar the main attraction". Insread they're just making an entire land. Now for most that's great, for me I thought the movie was average, my big problem is that it really was just Dances with Wolves in space and it seemed to be all about the visuals. If I spend 15 years making a film the first thing I would do is make sure the script is mind blowing, for ex. Unobtainium? If your going to be that lazy why not call it Icantgetthat. Now I only saw the film on blu ray but to me if I can only experience a film by seeing it in IMAX 3D, then it must not be that amazing of a film. So in the end I'd be happier with just one huge Avatar attraction surrounded by other fantasy based animal attractions rather than a whole land. I mean, it juat seems Universal got more with HP as far as amount of material they can use for attractions, dining, and shopping vs Avatar which is just blue cat people in space.

Given the way new elements are named, Unobtainium is not that improbable. James Cameron did not even invent the word as it has been used by aerospace engineers for more than 50 years.

 

[Gomer]

Unobtainium? If your going to be that lazy why not call it Icantgetthat..

Just for clarity, Unobtanium is an actual scientific term used to represent rare and expensive theoretical materials. Although, not advisable to use it in a dramatic context due to how silly it sounds, I don't believe this was laziness in writing. Just Cameron being a geek.

 

[ryanduggers]

I can't wait to see how they handle the floating islands...

 

[FigmentJedi]

I know the Pocahontas comparison is really common, but there's another, very theme park-able Disney movie Avatar suspiciously resembles.
[YOUTUBE]bc8KlDqwZ2o[/YOUTUBE]

It's a real shame Atlantis flopped...

 

[Alektronic]

Do you have any leads on where this will go? While building over Camp Minnie and Mickey is not beyond the realm of possibilities, I just can fathom why they would. We might hate character meet n greets but guests demand them and their current location is well suited for them. About the only plus I could think of to building over the camp is the opportunity to build a bigger and better theater for FotLK but that would need to be done well before any demolition was started.

I think the CMM/BK plot would be the best fit because of the access. There is one way in or out, you have to cross the bridge over Discovery River. That way the land is totally isolated from the other lands. Then you couldn't just walk from Asia to Pandora.

Also, it would spread out the crowds, instead of everyone heading toward Asia area it would distribute crowds in different areas of the park.

 

[MissMorrow]

So is George Lucas and the Star Tours experience is just ok. Star Wars as a franchise has nearly infinate possibilities AND SPANS GENERATIONS and they gave it an ok ride when it should have had an entire land in DHS.

Exactly. Why aren't they expanding that? I just don't get it!

Why are they building a land based on a film that may or may not stand the test of time? Pixar has more staying power! And to be quite honest, I had already forgotten about Avatar until just now.

I think it's an extremely poor business decision IMO!

 

[WDWFREAK53]

As far as placement is concerned...

Here are a few pros/cons...

Plot of land next to Asia:
Pros:
It draws people to the back of the park.
You don't lose any existing attractions.
Most likely more room for expansion.
It is completely hidden

Cons:
It's close to the animals so having the park open at night may be iffy...and Pandora MUST be seen at night. (Plus, not having it open at night doesn't really leave the door open for a nighttime show).
The flow of the park would be disrupted by having Pandora/Avatar in between Africa and Asia.

Current Camp Minnie-Mickey Plot:
Pros:
Far from the animals so Disney would be more apt to leave the park open at night. (Much like DinoLand USA).
It would leave the larger, more expandable plot of land next to Asia open for a future land.
Keeps "Pandora" away from the "Earth Continents" and doesn't put it smack dab between Africa and Asia.

Cons:
You lose a very popular attraction (but it could be moved to the better themed "Africa" section)
It's pretty landlocked.
Anything built higher than the treeline will be seen from the parking lot.
Crowds the walkway at ropedrop going in that direction causing traffic for those going directly to the Safari.

 

[WDWFREAK53]

Exactly. Why aren't they expanding that? I just don't get it!

Why are they building a land based on a film that may or may not stand the test of time? Pixar has more staying power! And to be quite honest, I had already forgotten about Avatar until just now.

I think it's an extremely poor business decision IMO!

How do we know that this isn't in the works?
Nobody knew that Avatar was on the table two days ago.

This news is huge and shows that Disney wasn't just resting on their laurels.
Big changes are happening right now. We should all be happy that things are actually moving!

Look at how long MK stayed stagnant...and now we're getting a pretty decent expansion.
Animal Kingdom, which most say is a half-day park, is getting a major expansion.
The next logical step is DHS...and Lucas is already on board so Star Wars/Indy may already be in the works.

EDIT: Sorry MissMorrow...I wanted to quote the person you quoted with this.

 

[WDWmazprty]

How do we know that this isn't in the works?
Nobody knew that Avatar was on the table two days ago.

This news is huge and shows that Disney wasn't just resting on their laurels.
Big changes are happening right now. We should all be happy that things are actually moving!

Look at how long MK stayed stagnant...and now we're getting a pretty decent expansion.
Animal Kingdom, which most say is a half-day park, is getting a major expansion.
The next logical step is DHS...and Lucas is already on board so Star Wars/Indy may already be in the works.

Right, and the way Lucas likes to update and change things around all the time (i.e. all the little changes he just did on the movies), I wouldn't rule out a further expansion of the Star Wars universe at DHS.

 

[Spike-in-Berlin]

Avatar is a giant brand, and Disney is betting that it's on the same level as their investments in Star Wars and Indiana Jones. There is a huge built in following that represents immediate money making potential. For this reason, it is a significantly better play for Disney than coming out with Beastly Kingdom. Get over it already, if they can take advantage of existing marketing and fan base, they should, and good on them.

I don't think that they EVER really invested a lot in Star Wars, I mean all there is is Star Tours, a gift shop and the Jedi Academy. If you take into consideration that Star Wars is the most profitable movies series ever, that's quite underwhelming.
But with Avatar-land coming (I haven't seen it yet) I believe chances for Star Wars expansion at DHS are dwindeling..

 

[WDWFREAK53]

I don't think that they EVER really invested a lot in Star Wars, I mean all there is is Star Tours, a gift shop and the Jedi Academy. If you take into consideration that Star Wars is the most profitable movies series ever, that's quite underwhelming.
But with Avatar-land coming (I haven't seen it yet) I believe chances for Star Wars expansion at DHS are dwindeling..

Well, they do have an entire month dedicated to Star Wars...

 

[MrMorrowTom]

I don't think that they EVER really invested a lot in Star Wars, I mean all there is is Star Tours, a gift shop and the Jedi Academy. If you take into consideration that Star Wars is the most profitable movies series ever, that's quite underwhelming.
But with Avatar-land coming (I haven't seen it yet) I believe chances for Star Wars expansion at DHS are dwindeling..

Harry potter is the number one highest grossing movie series of all time.
Then it is James Bond, followed by Star Wars.

But I do agree with you.

 

[wdwmagic]

We now have a single page resource for all the info, press releases, images etc so far http://www.wdwmagic.com/Attractions/avatar.htm

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Well, they do have an entire month dedicated to Star Wars...

weekend event designed around flogging memorabilia from Far East sweat shopsto the foil hat crowd is hardly the same thing

 

[Master Yoda]

Harry potter is the number one highest grossing movie series of all time.
Then it is James Bond, followed by Star Wars.

But I do agree with you.

It depends on what factors you use. When you include merchandising Star Wars becomes insanely profitable.

 

[WDWFREAK53]

Harry potter is the number one highest grossing movie series of all time.
Then it is James Bond, followed by Star Wars.

But I do agree with you.

I'm sure PotC is up there on that list too...as well as LotR.

(I'm not saying that you're wrong with your #1, #2, and #3...just saying that those two franchises are high on the list too.)

Avatar could be up there...we only have one film to go by...it's not a "series" yet.

 

[NMBC1993]

Just for clarity, Unobtanium is an actual scientific term used to represent rare and expensive theoretical materials. Although, not advisable to use it in a dramatic context due to how silly it sounds, I don't believe this was laziness in writing. Just Cameron being a geek.

Ah, thanks for clearing that up. Glad to know that's a real name, it just seems like a strange one to me...anyway, I noticed some of the videos posted compairing Avatar with another film, figured I'd put up the video I created on this very topic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_XV7TSMOIY&feature=youtube_gdata_player