Avatar boat ride cancelled?

[doctornick]

@WDW1974 on his most recent thread mentioned that cancelling the boat ride might actually be on the table (but stated he couldn't confirm that). If so, then the entire idea of Pandora becomes IMHO pretty worthless -- DAK desperately needs more rides and losing the family friendly boat ride would be a huge blow to the value of the land. I'm still skeptical that Cameron would agree to that happening though.

 

[unkadug]

@WDW1974 on his most recent thread mentioned that cancelling the boat ride might actually be on the table (but stated he couldn't confirm that). If so, then the entire idea of Pandora becomes IMHO pretty worthless -- DAK desperately needs more rides and losing the family friendly boat ride would be a huge blow to the value of the land. I'm still skeptical that Cameron would agree to that happening though.

Unless Cameron is footing the bill then he may very well have no choice in the matter.

 

[Next Big Thing]

Spirit did mention that the ride may be simply put on hold until "they can do it right" ...whatever that means.

I'd normally take something like that as meaning we'll never see it, but since this is Cameron's property they are working with and the agreement signed most likely stated that there would be 2 rides, I feel like this actually has a chance of happening over time.

Knowing how Disney likes to extend things out as long as possible, could it be that they are just holding back the boat ride until after the "land" opens so that they will be able to have a new attraction for DAK shortly afterwards?

That's nothing but a theory i've drummed up, but all based on how I know that TDO likes to operate. I wouldn't put it past them.

 

[TP2000]

Cut and pasted, this is what Spirit said on Tuesday night in his new thread elsewhere on the board...

"I have strong rumours that Pandora's C-Ticket boat ride has been axed and that Cameron was told that Disney will add it later when they can ''do it right'' ... but that hasn't been confirmed."

Uh-oh.

Looks like Miceage might have been right all along, even though it's a juicy Miceage scoop that no one else had and that angers the Superfans. Again.

 

[disney4life2008]

Cut and pasted, this is what Spirit said on Tuesday night in his new thread elsewhere on the board...

"I have strong rumours that Pandora's C-Ticket boat ride has been axed and that Cameron was told that Disney will add it later when they can ''do it right'' ... but that hasn't been confirmed."

Uh-oh.

Looks like Miceage might have been right all along, even though it's a juicy Miceage scoop that no one else had and that angers the Superfans. Again.

Avatarland is a disaster! Just axe the entire land and start over. In the time frame this crap has been on the table an entire city has been built lol

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

If the boat ride is canceled (and by "postponed" then yes i'd consider that a canning comparable to all the "Phase II" projects out there), i'll have lost pretty much any interest I had in the land. I was less negative towards this land than many others on this forum (to a limited extent), but cutting the boat ride is an absolute fail as far as i'm concerned. If they do that then i'll throw my hat in with the crowd who are opposed to this project. It was the only major reason I was actually interested in the expansion.

 

[Kman101]

Agreed. I see the potential in the land itself, not tied to the movie's plotline, but if they cut the boat ride, I'll be severely disappointed. I was looking forward to that the most.

And some people still want to wonder why there are complaints against Disney. Hello! Budget cuts at it's finest, right here.

I assume they'll make it a walk-through, scaled down of course. So combine the walk-through (if there still would be one of those) and boat ride and voila.

Sigh. Really disappointed in this if it holds true.

 

[NoChesterHester]

@WDW1974 on his most recent thread mentioned that cancelling the boat ride might actually be on the table (but stated he couldn't confirm that). If so, then the entire idea of Pandora becomes IMHO pretty worthless -- DAK desperately needs more rides and losing the family friendly boat ride would be a huge blow to the value of the land. I'm still skeptical that Cameron would agree to that happening though.

Boy this would be bad news.

I still have hope, but Star Wars will now be going head to head with Avatar 2. That matters because no matter what the Star Wars machine will suck viewers from Avatar lessening the power of the brand and lowering Cameron's bargaining power. I care not other than the fact that if Avatar is going into AK then I want it to be fully immersive. One ride and a restaurant does not accomplish this.

 

[GoofGoof]

Boy this would be bad news.

I still have hope, but Star Wars will now be going head to head with Avatar 2. That matters because no matter what the Star Wars machine will suck viewers from Avatar lessening the power of the brand and lowering Cameron's bargaining power. I care not other than the fact that if Avatar is going into AK then I want it to be fully immersive. One ride and a restaurant does not accomplish this.

If this rumor is true, it's really, really bad news. It would almost make StarWars Land irrelevant too IMHO. The budget for Avland was approved all the way up to the board level. Dollars were set aside and budgeted for future spend. Real dollars, not fanboi rumors. If Iger and crew are pulling back now and they have no desire to spend money already approved it signals to me that they are not interested in investing in anything significant for WDW anytime soon. If they eventually do anything Star Wars at WDW it would likely be on a shoe string budget so probably just the indoor training academy and maybe a restaurant.

I really thought there was at least some high level interest in seriously investing something in WDW. Between what they spent on FLE and the rumored budget of Avland and DAK nighttime entertainment I was hoping for a big budget for Star Wars Land next. If they have given up on Avland already before real construction even started it doesn't bode well for anything else significant this decade.

I'm not usually a glass half empty, negative person, but if this rumor is true there is no way to spin it in any positive way. Avland with one ride is a failure no matter how good the ride is.

That being said, I'm still very skeptical. Spirit was careful to say he had no new info on Avatar but heard strong rumors that the boat ride may be cut. He said it had not been confirmed. He was a lot more certain about the Frozen overlay for Maelstrom.

 

[Next Big Thing]

I posted this on another site, figured i'd post it here...

Considering Spirit was originally saying something along the lines of "shelved until they can do it right", is this possibly a situation where Disney wanted to cut the budget on the ride and Cameron didn't want to approve that, so the best alternative to "do it right" is to push it to phase two?

Obviously I have no sources, but that's how it sounds to me.

Based on everything i've pieced together, that's what I think the situation sounds like. I could be totally wrong and we never see the ride at all, but it sounds like a situation where Disney doesn't want to pony up for the ride and Cameron isn't having it.

 

[englanddg]

I posted this on another site, figured i'd post it here...

Considering Spirit was originally saying something along the lines of "shelved until they can do it right", is this possibly a situation where Disney wanted to cut the budget on the ride and Cameron didn't want to approve that, so the best alternative to "do it right" is to push it to phase two?

Obviously I have no sources, but that's how it sounds to me.

Based on everything i've pieced together, that's what I think the situation sounds like. I could be totally wrong and we never see the ride at all, but it sounds like a situation where Disney doesn't want to pony up for the ride and Cameron isn't having it.

It wouldn't surprise me. I'm not a huge fan of the land, but I've said all along that the one redeeming grace that may keep it from being a massive disappointment is Cameron, his ego about his IP, and the weight that carries.

If it is indeed the case, good going Cameron!

 

[TP2000]

So, apparently folks are realizing the Miceage Update might have been on to something a month ago when they said...

"Avatarland for Disney’s Animal Kingdom, it appears, has now been scaled back to one flying simulator ride, a handful of shops, and a restaurant." - Miceage Update, April 29th, 2014

 

[croboy82]

Well if that turns out to be true then they shoudl not be allowed to even call it a land with ONE ride alone lmao.

 

[twebber55]

well lets keep in mind Jim Cameron said this in april as well.....
"Well, Disney are doing a first-rate job designing it. It's going to be completely spectacular. It will be like being on Pandora. You will see real floating mountains. It's going to be a very magical experience just to be there and walk around. And the two rides will be absolute state of the art. But I don't how much they want to say about what those rides specifically will be, so I probably shouldn't say anymore than that. But from what I've seen so far, it will be amazing. I will be sad it's in Florida, because I won't be able to go a lot to it."
who knows whats going on but all things are fluid in theme parks

edit:
just read on a different board that Jon Landau said on May 16th the floating mountains would be 143' tall and specifically mentioned the boat ride.... hey @danlb_2000 how tall did you predict/guess the mountains would be?

 

[GoofGoof]

I posted this on another site, figured i'd post it here...

Considering Spirit was originally saying something along the lines of "shelved until they can do it right", is this possibly a situation where Disney wanted to cut the budget on the ride and Cameron didn't want to approve that, so the best alternative to "do it right" is to push it to phase two?

Obviously I have no sources, but that's how it sounds to me.

Based on everything i've pieced together, that's what I think the situation sounds like. I could be totally wrong and we never see the ride at all, but it sounds like a situation where Disney doesn't want to pony up for the ride and Cameron isn't having it.

This is unlikely. Cameron was still talking about 2 rides when the MiceAge rumor came out. If its true (still not buying it) then Cameron had no idea it was canceled. According to @twebber55 nobody told John Landau either.

We all know what happens to phase 2 of projects. If Avatarland opens with no boat ride it will never have one. The hardest part of moving a project forward is getting the BOD to approve the funding. If Iger is willing to walk away from approved money it's not likely to get approved again.

 

[Next Big Thing]

This is unlikely. Cameron was still talking about 2 rides when the MiceAge rumor came out. If its true (still not buying it) then Cameron had no idea it was canceled. According to @twebber55 nobody told John Landau either.

We all know what happens to phase 2 of projects. If Avatarland opens with no boat ride it will never have one. The hardest part of moving a project forward is getting the BOD to approve the funding. If Iger is willing to walk away from approved money it's not likely to get approved again.

My point is that i'm not sure if Disney CAN cancel the boat ride outright (at least without replacing it with another ride). Cameron and Disney had to have agreed on the basics of what would be built when everything was being agreed upon. By that I mean very general things like amount of shops, counter service, table service and rides. When basic terms have been agreed to, you can't just go back without talking to the other side.

Disney can't just turn around and say "Oh hey James, looks like that boat ride isn't happening after all. Sorry!".

 

[GoofGoof]

My point is that i'm not sure if Disney CAN cancel the boat ride outright (at least without replacing it with another ride). Cameron and Disney had to have agreed on the basics of what would be built when everything was being agreed upon. By that I mean very general things like amount of shops, counter service, table service and rides. When basic terms have been agreed to, you can't just go back without talking to the other side.

Disney can't just turn around and say "Oh hey James, looks like that boat ride isn't happening after all. Sorry!".

Could be true. I've never heard any of the specifics around the contract and it could be written that way. If it is then there are no worries.

I assumed the contract was more like an option where Disney pays Cameron $X for exclusive worldwide theme park rights for say 10 years. If Disney doesn't build anything Cameron walks with his upfront money. If they build stuff the rights get extended indefinitely and he gets extra cash plus maybe a percentage of merchandise sales. They also agreed to bring Cameron's group in to consult which is another revenue stream for him whether they build or not.

I'm sure there are details around keeping certain minimum quality standards so that's where they may have a clause requiring a minimum number of rides.

 

[danlb_2000]

well lets keep in mind Jim Cameron said this in april as well.....
"Well, Disney are doing a first-rate job designing it. It's going to be completely spectacular. It will be like being on Pandora. You will see real floating mountains. It's going to be a very magical experience just to be there and walk around. And the two rides will be absolute state of the art. But I don't how much they want to say about what those rides specifically will be, so I probably shouldn't say anymore than that. But from what I've seen so far, it will be amazing. I will be sad it's in Florida, because I won't be able to go a lot to it."
who knows whats going on but all things are fluid in theme parks

edit:
just read on a different board that Jon Landau said on May 16th the floating mountains would be 143' tall and specifically mentioned the boat ride.... hey @danlb_2000 how tall did you predict/guess the mountains would be?

144', can't believe I missed it by 1 foot!

 

[twebber55]

144', can't believe I missed it by 1 foot!

if you re on the price is right you lose, you re over lol


wow great call!

 

[doctornick]

just read on a different board that Jon Landau said on May 16th the floating mountains would be 143' tall and specifically mentioned the boat ride.... hey @danlb_2000 how tall did you predict/guess the mountains would be?

Was the interview on May 16? Or was it taped from earlier?