News Avatar Experience coming to Disneyland Resort

[Disney Irish]

If they don’t hurry up and build whatever they re going to build in the backlot this thing is going to turn into a Bluey ride. I’m telling you right now.

Other than order of operation, ie the EGW/Harbor Entrance hub being done first, how much faster do you think they need to go? We already know that the backlot isn't going to get much movement in 2026, so I wouldn't expect anything in the way of "building" until 2027/28.

Also while this is a joke, I wouldn't be surprised to see a future Bluey ride or land being put into a Disney Park in the next decade or so.

 

[mickEblu]

Other than order of operation, ie the EGW/Harbor Entrance hub being done first, how much faster do you think they need to go? We already know that the backlot isn't going to get much movement in 2026, so I wouldn't expect anything in the way of "building" until 2027/28.

Also while this is a joke, I wouldn't be surprised to see a future Bluey ride or land being put into a Disney Park in the next decade or so.

lol so if you know it’s a joke why the first paragraph?

 

[Disney Irish]

lol so if you know it’s a joke why the first paragraph?

Because there are over 9000 people on this site right now (only 85 of which are members) who might not know you or your humor, so was responding basically for them.

 

[mickEblu]

Because there are over 9000 people on this site right now (only 85 of which are members) who might not know you or your humor, so was responding basically for them.

You sir are doing the Lords work.

 

[Disney Irish]

You sir are doing the Lords work.

Well my parents did say I was a gift from the Gods...

 

[mickEblu]

Well my parents did say I was a gift from the Gods...

They were referring to Hades.

 

[Disney Irish]

They were referring to Hades.

That would be Greek, I'm Irish remember, so that would either be Arawn or Donn depending on which side of the Celts you want to go.

 

[Gusey]

Also while this is a joke, I wouldn't be surprised to see a future Bluey ride or land being put into a Disney Park in the next decade or so.

Same already happened at Alton Towers in the UK. Had a Bluey meet and greet/show since 2023/4 (still very popular), then announced a Bluey rollercoaster in 2025 that is opening this weekend, marketed as the world's first Bluey ride. Bluey is one of the few areas the park has got a head start on Disney in introducing

 

[TheDisneyParksfanC8]

I wouldn't be surprised to see a future Bluey ride or land being put into a Disney Park in the next decade or so.

Maybe Disney acquires the IP outright. As for where it would go at DLR, Simba lot. maybe the in second parcel that could hold a mini land.

 

[Mr. Rhino]

As someone who likes the Avatar movies, I have been lurking and following this thread for a couple years, checking in every few months to see if any new Dylan Cole concept art has been shown or ride ideas announced. On the one hand, it is neat that we are getting an Avatar themepark here in California. On the other hand, what I am seeing and what I have heard here in this thread does not inspire confidence.

To me, the primary visual of Avatar that sticks out in my mind is the vast, grandiose fantasy wilderness. In the first movie, there is this impenetrably huge bioluminescent forest to trapeze through. Humongous trees. And then just vast amounts of land to fly over on a weird space dragon, and many floating islands.

So the ginormous scale is a huge part of the aesthetic appeal of the setting. The first themepark at Florida already struggles to encapsulate this feel being on 12 acres. Notably, the concept art for the Florida park portrays a more grandiose park than what was actually delivered:

For the second park, it seems like the artists are still continuing with this idea of the portraying the movie environments. And again, the humongous scale is a key part of that feel that you are in a vast world:

I don't see how this feel can be achieved on 6 acres. Now the concept art seems to have cut down on the scale a bit. But people have pointed out earlier in the thread how dubious it would be to fit this into the speculated location. That little bit of ocean in the far distance underneath the tarp - conveying the idea that the world extends beyond the walls of the park - would not be able to be done.

The big explosive geyser and the waterfalls to get you a little wet, and the alien space otters in the middle might be neat, though.

But it seems that the artists have realized that even the above image is still too big for the given location. So the most recently released concept art appears to have further cut down on the scale:

Now we are at the point where this does not look like a vast fantasy world at all. It looks like a rocky alcove, with little delicate bridges over small streams. That's the draw?

That then leads to the next biggest part of the franchise's visual look: the megafauna and the huge vehicles. Cameron seems to have tight creative control over the parks, and in interviews for the sequel movies he has talked about how he doesn't want the humans or guns to look cool. So no fake tours of aircraft carriers ekranoplanes or dragon gunships.

That just leaves the megafauna. Except the Florida park didn't have any megafauna in the park area, resulting in a conspicuously empty world. There are animatronic Banshees in museum exhibitions, but not at the actual themepark. Notably, Star Wars also has creatures as a major part of its look, but apparently Disney wound up not caring enough to put them in Galaxy's Edge, despite spending billions to acquire the flagship IP and build the park. So optimism is low.

Once you scratch off the huge world, scratch off the creatures and the vehicles... I don't know what else is left. I guess there is the water clan village, and maybe a tour of the airship. I'd imagine that this set could fit into the space, sans the Na'vi. So it might also look rather unpopulated like Galaxy's Edge.

Railings would obviously have to be added, the walkways thrice as large, etc. I am not sure if Disney is going to want mom's to be pushing their strollers onto a tensile floor, so would it be solid? Would it even be allowed to be off the ground over the water at all?

Just not really seeing much hope for the actual park area given the size constraints and what Disney has done previously.

===========

Then we have the rides. Last I checked, the only thing that has been teased/announced thus far is a riverboat ride.

The first themepark also had a riverboat ride with similar concept art depicting a much larger scale than what was delivered, with walls three feet away on either side:

Not optimistic. At least with those viperwolves up top, it might be faster paced. Maybe some rapids to splash some water on people?


There surely has to be one more ride. Maybe they could do a screenride and put you in one of those fast submarine pods and have you pretend to be darting under the reefs and past the Tulkun.

Or maybe they will just clone Flight of Passage with your riding a dragon and render a new video with the new locations. Maybe a flyby past the airships.

 

[TheDisneyParksfanC8]

As someone who likes the Avatar movies, I have been lurking and following this thread for a couple years, checking in every few months to see if any new Dylan Cole concept art has been shown or ride ideas announced. On the one hand, it is neat that we are getting an Avatar themepark here in California. On the other hand, what I am seeing and what I have heard here in this thread does not inspire confidence.

To me, the primary visual of Avatar that sticks out in my mind is the vast, grandiose fantasy wilderness. In the first movie, there is this impenetrably huge bioluminescent forest to trapeze through. Humongous trees. And then just vast amounts of land to fly over on a weird space dragon, and many floating islands.

So the ginormous scale is a huge part of the aesthetic appeal of the setting. The first themepark at Florida already struggles to encapsulate this feel being on 12 acres. Notably, the concept art for the Florida park portrays a more grandiose park than what was actually delivered:

For the second park, it seems like the artists are still continuing with this idea of the portraying the movie environments. And again, the humongous scale is a key part of that feel that you are in a vast world:

I don't see how this feel can be achieved on 6 acres. Now the concept art seems to have cut down on the scale a bit. But people have pointed out earlier in the thread how dubious it would be to fit this into the speculated location. That little bit of ocean in the far distance underneath the tarp - conveying the idea that the world extends beyond the walls of the park - would not be able to be done.

The big explosive geyser and the waterfalls to get you a little wet, and the alien space otters in the middle might be neat, though.

But it seems that the artists have realized that even the above image is still too big for the given location. So the most recently released concept art appears to have further cut down on the scale:

Now we are at the point where this does not look like a vast fantasy world at all. It looks like a rocky alcove, with little delicate bridges over small streams. That's the draw?

That then leads to the next biggest part of the franchise's visual look: the megafauna and the huge vehicles. Cameron seems to have tight creative control over the parks, and in interviews for the sequel movies he has talked about how he doesn't want the humans or guns to look cool. So no fake tours of aircraft carriers ekranoplanes or dragon gunships.

That just leaves the megafauna. Except the Florida park didn't have any megafauna in the park area, resulting in a conspicuously empty world. There are animatronic Banshees in museum exhibitions, but not at the actual themepark. Notably, Star Wars also has creatures as a major part of its look, but apparently Disney wound up not caring enough to put them in Galaxy's Edge, despite spending billions to acquire the flagship IP and build the park. So optimism is low.

Once you scratch off the huge world, scratch off the creatures and the vehicles... I don't know what else is left. I guess there is the water clan village, and maybe a tour of the airship. I'd imagine that this set could fit into the space, sans the Na'vi. So it might also look rather unpopulated like Galaxy's Edge.

Railings would obviously have to be added, the walkways thrice as large, etc. I am not sure if Disney is going to want mom's to be pushing their strollers onto a tensile floor, so would it be solid? Would it even be allowed to be off the ground over the water at all?

Just not really seeing much hope for the actual park area given the size constraints and what Disney has done previously.

===========

Then we have the rides. Last I checked, the only thing that has been teased/announced thus far is a riverboat ride.

The first themepark also had a riverboat ride with similar concept art depicting a much larger scale than what was delivered, with walls three feet away on either side:

Not optimistic. At least with those viperwolves up top, it might be faster paced. Maybe some rapids to splash some water on people?


There surely has to be one more ride. Maybe they could do a screenride and put you in one of those fast submarine pods and have you pretend to be darting under the reefs and past the Tulkun.

Or maybe they will just clone Flight of Passage with your riding a dragon and render a new video with the new locations. Maybe a flyby past the airships.

The Tulkan ride concept could be compact enough to take over the former MV3D theater.

 

[BrianLo]

As someone who likes the Avatar movies, I have been lurking and following this thread for a couple years, checking in every few months to see if any new Dylan Cole concept art has been shown or ride ideas announced. On the one hand, it is neat that we are getting an Avatar themepark here in California. On the other hand, what I am seeing and what I have heard here in this thread does not inspire confidence.

To me, the primary visual of Avatar that sticks out in my mind is the vast, grandiose fantasy wilderness. In the first movie, there is this impenetrably huge bioluminescent forest to trapeze through. Humongous trees. And then just vast amounts of land to fly over on a weird space dragon, and many floating islands.

So the ginormous scale is a huge part of the aesthetic appeal of the setting. The first themepark at Florida already struggles to encapsulate this feel being on 12 acres. Notably, the concept art for the Florida park portrays a more grandiose park than what was actually delivered:

For the second park, it seems like the artists are still continuing with this idea of the portraying the movie environments. And again, the humongous scale is a key part of that feel that you are in a vast world:

I don't see how this feel can be achieved on 6 acres. Now the concept art seems to have cut down on the scale a bit. But people have pointed out earlier in the thread how dubious it would be to fit this into the speculated location. That little bit of ocean in the far distance underneath the tarp - conveying the idea that the world extends beyond the walls of the park - would not be able to be done.

The big explosive geyser and the waterfalls to get you a little wet, and the alien space otters in the middle might be neat, though.

But it seems that the artists have realized that even the above image is still too big for the given location. So the most recently released concept art appears to have further cut down on the scale:

Now we are at the point where this does not look like a vast fantasy world at all. It looks like a rocky alcove, with little delicate bridges over small streams. That's the draw?

That then leads to the next biggest part of the franchise's visual look: the megafauna and the huge vehicles. Cameron seems to have tight creative control over the parks, and in interviews for the sequel movies he has talked about how he doesn't want the humans or guns to look cool. So no fake tours of aircraft carriers ekranoplanes or dragon gunships.

That just leaves the megafauna. Except the Florida park didn't have any megafauna in the park area, resulting in a conspicuously empty world. There are animatronic Banshees in museum exhibitions, but not at the actual themepark. Notably, Star Wars also has creatures as a major part of its look, but apparently Disney wound up not caring enough to put them in Galaxy's Edge, despite spending billions to acquire the flagship IP and build the park. So optimism is low.

Once you scratch off the huge world, scratch off the creatures and the vehicles... I don't know what else is left. I guess there is the water clan village, and maybe a tour of the airship. I'd imagine that this set could fit into the space, sans the Na'vi. So it might also look rather unpopulated like Galaxy's Edge.

Railings would obviously have to be added, the walkways thrice as large, etc. I am not sure if Disney is going to want mom's to be pushing their strollers onto a tensile floor, so would it be solid? Would it even be allowed to be off the ground over the water at all?

Just not really seeing much hope for the actual park area given the size constraints and what Disney has done previously.

===========

Then we have the rides. Last I checked, the only thing that has been teased/announced thus far is a riverboat ride.

The first themepark also had a riverboat ride with similar concept art depicting a much larger scale than what was delivered, with walls three feet away on either side:

Not optimistic. At least with those viperwolves up top, it might be faster paced. Maybe some rapids to splash some water on people?


There surely has to be one more ride. Maybe they could do a screenride and put you in one of those fast submarine pods and have you pretend to be darting under the reefs and past the Tulkun.

Or maybe they will just clone Flight of Passage with your riding a dragon and render a new video with the new locations. Maybe a flyby past the airships.

A few things. The difference between those two pieces of land art are the perspective of the camera. The camera is about half way into the land in the newer one and showing the ride facade closer up. The ride vehicles are in the lagoon behind the perspective.

The second is that the ride system they are using is a known quantity. The 40 person vehicles imply SDL's pirates and that remains to date the biggest attraction show building worldwide.

Which gets to your later point. No I don't think the land is going to be grandiose. It will be pretty, but small. However, because of the proposed ride and because the vehicle leaves the show building into the land proper, I think the effect that there is a wide world and ocean just beyond the facade is going to be quite well communicated to the average guest that goes on the attraction.

It is a small land, but it is serving potentially a very big attraction.

 

[coffeefan]

As someone who likes the Avatar movies, I have been lurking and following this thread for a couple years, checking in every few months to see if any new Dylan Cole concept art has been shown or ride ideas announced. On the one hand, it is neat that we are getting an Avatar themepark here in California. On the other hand, what I am seeing and what I have heard here in this thread does not inspire confidence.

To me, the primary visual of Avatar that sticks out in my mind is the vast, grandiose fantasy wilderness. In the first movie, there is this impenetrably huge bioluminescent forest to trapeze through. Humongous trees. And then just vast amounts of land to fly over on a weird space dragon, and many floating islands.

So the ginormous scale is a huge part of the aesthetic appeal of the setting. The first themepark at Florida already struggles to encapsulate this feel being on 12 acres. Notably, the concept art for the Florida park portrays a more grandiose park than what was actually delivered:

For the second park, it seems like the artists are still continuing with this idea of the portraying the movie environments. And again, the humongous scale is a key part of that feel that you are in a vast world:

I don't see how this feel can be achieved on 6 acres. Now the concept art seems to have cut down on the scale a bit. But people have pointed out earlier in the thread how dubious it would be to fit this into the speculated location. That little bit of ocean in the far distance underneath the tarp - conveying the idea that the world extends beyond the walls of the park - would not be able to be done.

The big explosive geyser and the waterfalls to get you a little wet, and the alien space otters in the middle might be neat, though.

But it seems that the artists have realized that even the above image is still too big for the given location. So the most recently released concept art appears to have further cut down on the scale:

Now we are at the point where this does not look like a vast fantasy world at all. It looks like a rocky alcove, with little delicate bridges over small streams. That's the draw?

That then leads to the next biggest part of the franchise's visual look: the megafauna and the huge vehicles. Cameron seems to have tight creative control over the parks, and in interviews for the sequel movies he has talked about how he doesn't want the humans or guns to look cool. So no fake tours of aircraft carriers ekranoplanes or dragon gunships.

That just leaves the megafauna. Except the Florida park didn't have any megafauna in the park area, resulting in a conspicuously empty world. There are animatronic Banshees in museum exhibitions, but not at the actual themepark. Notably, Star Wars also has creatures as a major part of its look, but apparently Disney wound up not caring enough to put them in Galaxy's Edge, despite spending billions to acquire the flagship IP and build the park. So optimism is low.

Once you scratch off the huge world, scratch off the creatures and the vehicles... I don't know what else is left. I guess there is the water clan village, and maybe a tour of the airship. I'd imagine that this set could fit into the space, sans the Na'vi. So it might also look rather unpopulated like Galaxy's Edge.

Railings would obviously have to be added, the walkways thrice as large, etc. I am not sure if Disney is going to want mom's to be pushing their strollers onto a tensile floor, so would it be solid? Would it even be allowed to be off the ground over the water at all?

Just not really seeing much hope for the actual park area given the size constraints and what Disney has done previously.

===========

Then we have the rides. Last I checked, the only thing that has been teased/announced thus far is a riverboat ride.

The first themepark also had a riverboat ride with similar concept art depicting a much larger scale than what was delivered, with walls three feet away on either side:

Not optimistic. At least with those viperwolves up top, it might be faster paced. Maybe some rapids to splash some water on people?


There surely has to be one more ride. Maybe they could do a screenride and put you in one of those fast submarine pods and have you pretend to be darting under the reefs and past the Tulkun.

Or maybe they will just clone Flight of Passage with your riding a dragon and render a new video with the new locations. Maybe a flyby past the airships.

The land will be small but highly atmospheric and with a killer attraction. In a previous post I compared it to Dark Universe for that reason. Hopefully, if the land turns out to be a huge success for the park, Disney will consider expanding it though.

 

[GravityFalls]

That little bit of ocean in the far distance underneath the tarp - conveying the idea that the world extends beyond the walls of the park - would not be able to be done.

It looks like they are still attempting to give the land the "the world extends beyond the walls" effect in the second piece of concept art. My guess would be some sort of LED screen. It'll probably look good from a distance

That just leaves the megafauna. Except the Florida park didn't have any megafauna in the park area, resulting in a conspicuously empty world. There are animatronic Banshees in museum exhibitions, but not at the actual themepark. Notably, Star Wars also has creatures as a major part of its look, but apparently Disney wound up not caring enough to put them in Galaxy's Edge, despite spending billions to acquire the flagship IP and build the park. So optimism is low.

We do have the recent Spider-man stuntronic, so all hope is not lost. Similar to Spider-man the new aquatic animatronics are confined to a space (body of water) that avoids the guest contact issue that you run into with roaming droids.