AVATAR land - the specifics

[ms7479a]

Just out of curiosity, how does the supposed 12 acres for Avatar land compare with the size of the Fantasyland expansion and Carsland?

 

[SidneyLawter]

I found the whole "expansion to the east" to be the odd part of that post.

Connect to future resorts? On the east side? Never heard of such plans. How would it even be accessed? Between EE and the Nemo theatre?

All very suspect...

The imagineer painted an interesting picture that included the proposed location of the 5th gate (north of CSR) and several resorts plus a new entertainment village. I know she really meant 'to the east' because she mentioned Western Way as the access to the (proposed) resorts. Note that she didn't say the fifth gate or any other additions WILL be part of the actual expansion, just that the AK expansion plays into these future plans. She was very excited about the location being 'fireworks friendly'. Take this with a grain of salt if you must, I am just reporting what she told us.
Sid

 

[SidneyLawter]

When you go to dine with an Imagineer, one of the first things they tell you ia they cannot discuss future projects or projects currently under development... :veryconfu

Well, we pelted her with questions anyway. I looked at Google maps and see what she was referring to - the space for another resort area. And I also remember reading about how someday Epcot Center Drive would connect to Western Way, providing the access to the (proposed) fifth gate. Again, this is as close as I have ever come to meeting an insider and it has me excited about what they can do with this area.
Sid

 

[devoy1701]

The imagineer painted an interesting picture that included the proposed location of the 5th gate (north of CSR) and several resorts plus a new entertainment village. I know she really meant 'to the east' because she mentioned Western Way as the access to the (proposed) resorts. Note that she didn't say the fifth gate or any other additions WILL be part of the actual expansion, just that the AK expansion plays into these future plans. She was very excited about the location being 'fireworks friendly'. Take this with a grain of salt if you must, I am just reporting what she told us.
Sid

If there ever was a 5th gate...The open space just north of Coronado is exactly where I would expect it to go, so this does make sense. It would tie the whole resort together. But I thought that the area in question was protected.

Not sure why the Imagineer would bring that up in relation to questions about Pandora though, or why should would bring up those Extremely Blue Sky plans at a Dine with an Imagineer dinner. Keep in mind to this would be many...many years away.

 

[Tom]

As for a new mode of transportation to the Animal Kingdom - If anything is coming I would expect boats to and from Animal Kingdom Lodge.

This would be a good opportunity to pull this off, since they'll likely be getting into waterways with this expansion. AKL is the only Deluxe that doesn't currently offer an alternate mode of transportation, isn't it?

 

[Master Yoda]

This would be a good opportunity to pull this off, since they'll likely be getting into waterways with this expansion. AKL is the only Deluxe that doesn't currently offer an alternate mode of transportation, isn't it?

Pretty much.

 

[Scuttle]

This would be a good opportunity to pull this off, since they'll likely be getting into waterways with this expansion. AKL is the only Deluxe that doesn't currently offer an alternate mode of transportation, isn't it?

Yes and that's one of the reasons why we haven't stayed there yet.

 

[BigRedDad]

My personal feeling is that Avatar will require the park to be open later. Because of this, it has to be established away from the animals. This eliminates the N of Asia plot. Thus, leaving this where CMM is. FotLK can easily be moved almost anywhere. Relatively speaking, it is a small foot print.

Avatar opens so many possibilities of creating the next most innovative attractions and something WDW sorely needs: true thrill rides. Here are some ideas I have thought of that mimic what others have said.

1. A new Soarin ride: Very similar to the existing Soarin ride. Utilize newer technology to simulate riding the flying ikran or toruk. I prefer the toruk. Use the Ratheon technology or something more advanced like WWoHP and Sum of All Thrills. Incorporate it into a Soarin' type simulator and you are set to fly across Pandora.

2. A night time walk through attraction. They can utilize live plants intermixed with electroluminescent technology for the lighting. The possibilities and technology exist already and will only get better.

3. Interactive area which allows you to integrate your persona into Pandora. Use the technology from IBM in Innoventions, morph it with James Cameron's technology, and voila, YOU are in Pandora.

4. Definitely need a hypercoaster. It should be a dueling coaster of the Na'vi vs the humans. One coaster is the ikran and the other like the battle ships. It needs to be an inverted induction coaster with the latest in loops, corkscrews, and free falls.

 

[BigRedDad]

No joke, this addition to AK gives us a very slight hope that they might think about a monorail expansion. I just wish there weren't so many issues with the system right now or they might actually consider it if AL turns out to be a huge hit.

A monorail expansion is extremely unlikely. The cost of it is too prohibitive. An estimate I have heard for the monorail is about $1M per yard of track (materials, labor, time, etc.). Someone with more knowledge of this could give more details. 1 Mile of monorail track would be $1.8B. Even if it was only $100k per yard, this is $180M for 1 mile of track. It would easily be 2-3 times that. I doubt it is something they are even considering. A 3 minute bus ride for $0 vs $M's for something else is not going to be something the Execs dwell on. AKL already has something going for it other Deluxe resorts don't: Savannahs.

 

[jt04]

My personal feeling is that Avatar will require the park to be open later. Because of this, it has to be established away from the animals. This eliminates the N of Asia plot. Thus, leaving this where CMM is. FotLK can easily be moved almost anywhere. Relatively speaking, it is a small foot print.

Avatar opens so many possibilities of creating the next most innovative attractions and something WDW sorely needs: true thrill rides. Here are some ideas I have thought of that mimic what others have said.

1. A new Soarin ride: Very similar to the existing Soarin ride. Utilize newer technology to simulate riding the flying ikran or toruk. I prefer the toruk. Use the Ratheon technology or something more advanced like WWoHP and Sum of All Thrills. Incorporate it into a Soarin' type simulator and you are set to fly across Pandora.

2. A night time walk through attraction. They can utilize live plants intermixed with electroluminescent technology for the lighting. The possibilities and technology exist already and will only get better.

3. Interactive area which allows you to integrate your persona into Pandora. Use the technology from IBM in Innoventions, morph it with James Cameron's technology, and voila, YOU are in Pandora.

4. Definitely need a hypercoaster. It should be a dueling coaster of the Na'vi vs the humans. One coaster is the ikran and the other like the battle ships. It needs to be an inverted induction coaster with the latest in loops, corkscrews, and free falls.

You will never see a hyper-coaster or a soarin building on the CMM pad. Never going to happen. There are pads to the east that are farther away from the animal habitats than parts of CMM. Just sayin. And Avatar land will almost certainly be a largely inddor land to create the environment of pandora so disturbing the animals is a non-issue if it is placed over there.

I think you are more engaged in wishful thinking and armchair imagineering that sound unbiased reasoning. Nothing wrong with that but I think we need to keep this thread to reasoning out the real world possibilities and not individual fan boy wishlists.

 

[Atomicmickey]

I think we need to keep this thread to reasoning out the real world possibilities and not individual fan boy wishlists.

Really? Really? C'mon, jt.

 

[jt04]

Really? Really? C'mon, jt.

What? I think that is the purpose of this thread. To try it figure out what they will do and mine for legitimate rumors. The other thread is better suited for what we might want or hope to see.

And the Imagineering section is for fleshing out those ideas.

IMO of course.

 

[_Scar]

What? I think that is the purpose of this thread. To try it figure out what they will do and mine for legitimate rumors. The other thread is better suited for what we might want or hope to see.

And the Imagineering section is for fleshing out those ideas.

IMO of course.

Get your pick axes! Let's just barrage the insiders with "who what where when how" and maybe we'll get something.

Actually, this thread is meant to speculate with what we're given- and most of these guesses aren't far off from what probably will happen. Hundreds of millions can go a long way.

 

[Kamikaze]

I think we need to keep this thread to reasoning out the real world possibilities and not individual fan boy wishlists.

Why I agree that wishing for a hypercoaster is borderline insanity, there has never been a better example of a pot calling the kettle black than the quoted statement.

 

[DocMcHulk]

Just out of curiosity, how does the supposed 12 acres for Avatar land compare with the size of the Fantasyland expansion and Carsland?

The Fantasyland expansion (not including the circus) is about 6-7 acres.
Fantasyland expansion + circus is about 10 acres.

 

[jt04]

Get your pick axes! Let's just barrage the insiders with "who what where when how" and maybe we'll get something.

Actually, this thread is meant to speculate with what we're given- and most of these guesses aren't far off from what probably will happen. Hundreds of millions can go a long way.

Especially in this economy. The sooner they put stuff out for bid the better.

 

[DocMcHulk]

From other "insider"and accounts this deal was announced as the ink was drying. I would be shocked if any of your claims have actually been decided on. There just hasn't been any time yet to design anything.

I'm not saying you might eventually be right, but if concept art existed they would have busted it out during the announcement.

I disagree. I think to "seal the deal" with Cameron, they probably had some pretty solid ideas and concept art to present, including the location. If Cameron says 12 acres, then he knows something about where it will go.

 

[DocMcHulk]

Last time I mentioned something I had very little information about (the Tron ride), it took on a life (and a thread) all it's own despite my protests that it was very vague and may never happen.

Hey, but the Tron ride did have some legs, even if they were weak. I didnt have a "solid" relationship with my source at the time, but the fact that they even acknowledged it shows me it was talked about.

 

[NoChesterHester]

I disagree. I think to "seal the deal" with Cameron, they probably had some pretty solid ideas and concept art to present, including the location. If Cameron says 12 acres, then he knows something about where it will go.

Probably right, considering Lee's post that the project is further along then he expected.

 

[ChrisM]

As for a new mode of transportation to the Animal Kingdom - If anything is coming I would expect boats to and from Animal Kingdom Lodge.

I am really surprised that they did not build a highly themed "regular" train loop to and from AKL and AK - sort of the Conservation Station train writ large.