AVATAR land coming to Disney's Animal Kingdom

[WDWFREAK53]

When I was in the theater watching this...I said to my wife that I wanted to go to that planet. It looked beautiful (and can pretty much guarantee that DAK will be open at night because that is when Pandora comes alive).

These are the creatures that never were! So many possibilities now...ENDLESS!

This is the answer we've been debating...Australia? No...BK? No...South America? No. PANDORA!

 

[durangojim]

So people are upset because it's not Beastly Kingdom which is based on fictional creatures created by the imaginations of human beings but are not actually real-life animals? How is this different except that the storyteller happens to be contemporary?

 

[juniorthomas]

Yeah the movie makes sense as an addition to EPCOT, not Animal Kingdom. It's just thematically wrong. Don't give me that nature respect thing tying into the land, no, Animal Kingdom is a tribute to Animals, creatures that have been an important part of the fabric of our collective minds and culture. You don't see kids running around pretending to be Na'vi. There's no big sub culture of Avatar fans, That movie is nowhere near culturally important enough to devote a land in Animal Kingdom for.

They could have easily made a Finding Nemo great barrier reef land and it would still fit in a billion times better than Avatar ever could.

Even visually, Pandora is just full of trees. That's it. Unless you build the whole land indoors where it's always nighttime and the fluorescent plants are glowing all the time, it will not be any visually different to Discovery Island. Plus its weenie is probably most definitely gonna be the Tree of Souls or something, we don't need another big Tree icon for the park.

I think DAK is a weird fit for it too. But hey, I'll take it.

 

[Brian Noble]

Well people hate it because it isn't Disney. Lots want anything in the park to be purebred.

That ship sailed a LOOONG time ago---practically with the creation of Disneyland. (Unless you are prepared to tell me that Disney invented the Western film genre.)

 

[kap91]

I'm not a big fan of Star Wars, but I like Star Tours. I've seen a few Twilght Zone episodes, but that doesn't diminish my enjoyment of Tower of Terror. Muppetvision is always fun.

This exactly. What matters when Disney decides to use a franchise is what can be made out of it and the overall feel and immersion it can create. Sure I'd like Disney to do something original but in many ways doing something original could feel like copying something else.I feel that Avatar is much more in line with the kind of story that belongs in a Disney park, much more than Harry Potter or marvel.

I don't know if its just me but if Harry Potter would've gone to Disney instead of Universal I would have found it horribly out of place, the same with marvel. But Avatar seems much more like the Star wars and Indiana Jones universes and just gels better in my opinion. The kind of story it tells fits.

Regardless I'm extremely excited for this, and I don't think many people will be disappointed. If this just gets half the budget and attention that Car's land has gotten it'll be hard to screw up.

 

[steel_phantom]

Well people hate it because it isn't Disney. Lots want anything in the park to be purebred.

Filthy Mudbloods! Wait... Wrong series.

 

[wdwmagic]

I wonder how much of DAK will be consumed because of this announcement? We all know from other park expansions and announcements that when new lands come around designs usually include retheming existing attractions or removing existing lands to make way for the new land.

Let's speculate...What land or attractions will be redone? I'd love to see an entire new land added to DAK, but I'm sure the financials of a totally new land with 2 or 3 new attractions is not feasible. I'm holding out judement until I see what is sacrificed to make way for this concept.

It is either going to be in the Camp Minnie-Mickey area or in the expansion area north of Asia.

 

[grunter]

I've said it before. Disney made a huge, huge mistake passing on "Harry Potter." Here, we see them scrambling to correct that extremely costly "pass."

"Avatar" is completely the wrong counter-move, as the film already feels dated and stale. Plus, you absolutely KNOW that this new "land" will just be the mothballed concepts for "Beastly Kingdom" draped in Na'vi blue. Some "imagineer" clearly sold Iger on how cheap it would be just to trade Dueling Dragons for dueling orange, striped teradactyls.

The better and more on-point counter-move to Potter would have been a Middle Earth-themed expansion -- especially with the 2 new "Hobbit" films on deck.

 

[juniorthomas]

Conservation Station was borne of Disney

So is Chester and Hester's Sideshow.

and so were the boats to nowhere, which were my introduction to the new park back in 1999.

I'll take Avatar, please. Even if all future sequels bomb (which they won't), the one is better than all three of those.

Um. Not following that top part, but you seem to get the idea towards the bottom.

 

[marni1971]

I'm really interesting in hearing what the budget is for this. No doubt to do this properly it is going to require big money. Any guesses?

I've heard some silly (for TDO) figures mentioned.

 

[stitchcastle]

How many will go to WDW that normally wouldn't just because Pandora is there?

Not a lot. Avatar ain't no Harry Potter. You don't see kids running around pretending to be Na'Vi. You don't see whole websites and message boards devoted to the world of Pandora, I bet you you can't even find 5 people who know the names of the main characters.

Disney could've easily exploited their other big property by building a Star Wars land somewhere as their answer to Potter.

 

[invader]

Well that absolultly caught me off guard! Can't wait to see some artwork, I have a feeling waiting for an expansion to DAK is going to pay off! :sohappy:

 

[artbell2]

"Likely opening around 2017"?? I feel like that's the 3rd different year I've read.

I guess my question is how many years of advance notice did we know about the development of AK?

Construction begins in 2013. Time to bust out the AK maps/satellite maps to figure out where this sucker is going to be built. Where is Martin when you need him?

Mike

 

[wdwmagic]

This is the answer we've been debating...Australia? No...BK? No...South America? No. PANDORA!

This is so often the way things go. Everest started out as Reign of Fire.

 

[juniorthomas]

That ship sailed a LOOONG time ago---practically with the creation of Disneyland. (Unless you are prepared to tell me that Disney invented the Western film genre.)

Just take a look around - people freak out whenever something non-Disney gets added into the fold. A lot of people aren't pleased with the acquisition of Marvel.

The way I see it, the more Disney has to work with, the more fun we get out of it in the end.

 

[durangojim]

I don't have beef with it at all, I have never seen the movie and I don't plan on seeing it. :shrug: Never said I had beef with it.

Would you see it if it was on tv? I guess when someone says they don't plan on seeing something I take it to mean that that person is avoiding it purposely, but I could have taken your statement the wrong way.

 

[Master Yoda]

taaaddaaaa

Thread win!

 

[DocMcHulk]

I've heard some silly (for TDO) figures mentioned.

Oh come on now, no teasing...

 

[wdwfan4ver]

I didn't expect this, but this is good news for AK. While I like AK better than DHS, AK is a half day park right now. AK and DHS are the two park that need the most help right now in WDW. AK has a theme that fits the whole park, but the amount of things to do including attractions is lacking to some people.

While I don't like of the movie, Avatar has a lot of potential as a new land for AK. This could be great from a theme standpoint and from an attraction standpoint if done correctly.

 

[captainkidd]

Avatar was an OK movie, and certainly successful, but I hope they're not thinking this has the long term reliability of Harry Potter.

Seems like an odd fit at Animal Kingdom. Would be better suited at DHS.