Are the Disney Suits viewing Pandora as a success?

sedati

Well-Known Member
Curious - what were the night time effects that seemed to not be working at this time. There have been several reports about it. The mapping on the floating mountains?
The week after the hurricane, I could only notice a tiny section with the mapping effects at night. Went back a few days later and there was more, but seemed incomplete. Plants seemed to have fared well, but I noticed a patch or two that was dark.
 

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
Curious - what were the night time effects that seemed to not be working at this time. There have been several reports about it. The mapping on the floating mountains?

The projections on the mountains are working as planned: soft, slowly shifting waves of blue color. It was presumed that there was going to be some sort of 'show', but that was never really in the works.

The pathways glowing when you stepped on them was in original artist concepts, but never came about. I don't think it was attempted when they were putting the paths a few months before opening. So, obviously cut. Don't know why... couldn't get it to work? Too expensive?

All the plants that glow should have been independently accessible points of light that could interact with guests through proximity or touch. Additionally, they were supposed to put on a lite light show with undulating patterns of shifting lights or lighting effects coordinated with the beast sounds in the underbrush. But, that all never happened.
 

sedati

Well-Known Member
The projections on the mountains are working as planned: soft, slowly shifting waves of blue color. It was presumed that there was going to be some sort of 'show', but that was never really in the works.
The backdrop of the valley especially around the big waterfall is lit up in blues. The floating mountains do have projection effects mapped onto them- greens with red accents were what I saw. The lower supporting vines have plants and fungi that light up, but it seemed some of the higher ones had mapping effects on them as well.
 

Clopin Trouillefou

Well-Known Member
To answer the original question, it depends on who you ask, and their definition of success. TDO is quite pleased with how things panned out. Burbank, not so much.

TDO didn't want the project and it was forced on them by Burbank. The fact that it isn't driving up the resorts numbers tickles TDO. And they are pleased that it is drawing some of the crowds away from DHS. So TDO is happy.

Burbank, even though they saw the writing on the wall as the IP faded during the lengthy process of getting this thing built, were hoping the "Disney Base" would at least show up for it. Instead, it is a "We'll see it when we go next" type of thing. The Disney fans are excited about it, but not enough to plan an extra trip. I bet the Mickey ride actually drives more traffic to the resort than Pandora did.

I'm apprehensive about the Disney co.'s seeming assumption that a new land in Animal Kingdom would drive more attendance, as opposed to assuming that it was more or less a necessity for a park that had become branded as a half-day thing. And that's coming from someone that loved Pandora and even thought it fit great in the park.

If that didn't make sense, I'm trying to say that Pandora was a long-overdue component for the park. not some special gift to guests from Burbank when they'd only had Everest added from opening-now.
 

sedati

Well-Known Member
It looks great and seems to be popular, but I'd guess it's not the gate buster the suits expected.
Having been in mid-September to the gate at opening, it seemed as close to busting as I could ever imagine. The area is inundated well into the afternoon with wait times for FOP reaching times of up to four hours. I know there's been lots of talk about capacity, but I can say that the standby line moved at a surprisingly steady pace (too fast actually if you're trying to take pictures.)
Be interested if the numbers do eventually come in. Perhaps the gates at Animal Kingdom are not as important as the gates over at Orlando International Airport. I still think world of mouth will have a positive but delayed effect on that front. At the very least this land succeeds in letting people know Disney's still got it, and implies great things for the future of the resort.
 

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
Here's a thought:

If Pandora brought in the extra huge numbers that Potterlands did... where would the people go? FoP regularly has 2-3 hour waits and NRJ 1-2 hours.

Where would the extra tens of thousands of people do? Create a six hour queue just to enter Pandora?

The current crowd level seems absolutely ideal for a new, big hit.
 

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