News Avatar Experience coming to Disneyland Resort

[Ghost93]

The California part, though…

I know the initial concept was a theme park celebrating the culture of "California." But since that idea was a total flop with visitors, it's now called Disney's California Adventure because the park is set in California.

The shift in approach makes sense. A lot of Californians don't need to see a Disneyfied version of California. THEY LIVE IN CALIFORNIA! They know what California is like!

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Sad that DCA has returned to being that park. It all went downhill when they destroyed Tower of Terror.

Shoot i like DCA and think it's gotten better and better. It's a solid sister park to DL now imo

It’s kind of both of these simultaneously, from a rides perspective I don’t think it’s ever been better but from a theming perspective the last few years have been horrible for DCA.

I still prefer the charm of Paradise Pier over the garish look of Pixar Pier, I prefer the look of ToT over the look of Guardians (although I prefer the guardians ride), and the current San Frantokyo changes look like they’ll also take a formerly charming area and make it cartoonish. A decade ago they spent a billion dollars making DCA cohesive and beautiful and now they’re spending a lot of money making it look bad again. Makes no sense.

As for Avatar my guess is an exhibit inside the Carousel of a progress building in Tomorrowland. They just redid the Nemo area so I think that’s safe and there’s no other space large enough for Pandora except the DL forward expansion. My guess is we won’t see a ride, just a new exhibit and maybe meet and greet to replace the old Star Wars exhibit and meet and greet, which is a huge improvement over the empty building we have now.

 

[Ghost93]

They got back stories for that

Tiana and her fellow members of the Tiana's Foods co-op used the revenue from their business to purchase a large plot of land in Anaheim, California. In an effort to expand their outreach, they reserved a portion of the land for alien visitors and put up a sign saying "all are welcome here." Na'vi Travelers subsequently came to earth and planted some of their own plants on Tiana's property. However, the invasive species of Pandoran plants ended up taking over the entire land. Because the land now resembled Pandora than Anaheim, California, the land was renamed "Pandora: The World of Avatar."

 

[Parteecia]

Bob Iger Confirms 'A Version' of Pandora - The World of Avatar Coming to Disneyland Resort - WDW News Today

During the Q1 2023 earnings call, Bob Iger hinted at before confirming that "a version" of Pandora - The World of Avatar was coming to Disneyland!

dlnewstoday.com

Sounds like he may have provided a little more detail in the QnA after his original comment.

From the article:
"It was also heavily implied that this addition will be made without a loss in capacity to other attractions, as that was the core focus of the discussion at the time."

I was hoping for some mention of DCA's birthday at the park yesterday but nothing.

 

[mickEblu]

From the article:
"It was also heavily implied that this addition will be made without a loss in capacity to other attractions, as that was the core focus of the discussion at the time."

I was hoping for some mention of DCA's birthday at the park yesterday but nothing,

Missed that part.

 

[FerretAfros]

He was speaking of how Pandora positively impacted Animal Kingdom.

He reiterated that a version of Avatar is coming to Disneyland.

The way he said that so matter-of-factly really caught me off guard. He seems to think that Pandora was successful because of it being based on Avatar, while the general consensus seems to be that it was successful in spite of its source material.

Pandora at DAK was a success for many reasons, almost none of which have anything to do with Avatar itself:

• It added a new headliner attraction to the resort (with thrills mild enough to still be accessible to the overwhelming majority of Disney's core demographics), at a park that was heavy on C- and D-ticket experiences (by WDW standards, at least) but lacked the variety of E-tickets that can be found at other parks
• It added a significant amount of indoor space (and time-consuming indoor space) in a park that is almost entirely outdoors. With Orlando's brutal summers and frequent rainstorms, the park simply needed space for guests to shelter from the elements, and Pandora provides that better than the rest of the park
• Although Navi River Journey is strained by its low capacity (and FOP's low capacity next door) and is a couple minutes too short, it's a return to the classic dark ride style that really set Disney parks apart from the competition; it fits right in alongside Pirates and the old Future World attractions
• It focused on a moody, atmospheric, experiential placemaking and attractions, rather than a linear story-driven approach. (With the exception of the awful FOP preshows) this makes it approachable to everybody, whether they actually saw the movie or not, and creates a more repeatable experience where the guest can connect the dots themselves rather than being spoonfed a set narrative
• It looks great in easily-marketable photos, but is actually even more impressive in person. Unlike so many recent additions, it wasn't designed to only look great from one angle, but rather works on many levels as you move around and explore the space
• In conjunction with a new nighttime spectacular and new parkwide evening entertainment (nearly all of which has since been removed), new signature dining restaurant, and overhauled safari, it finally gave guests a reason to stay in the park after 3pm

In many way, Avatar is the opposite of a typical Marvel movie: it has great placemaking and world building, but largely forgettable characters. This makes it an especially good source material for a theme park addition, but also one that most people just don’t have a lot of affinity for. Even among the various online fandoms, Avatar just doesn’t seem to have many diehard fans.

The Avatar addition to DAK wasn't popular simply because it was Avatar; it wasn't even because it was a new land that was designed in response to the park’s other weaknesses. It drove massive attendance growth because it filled key voids in the park's roster, while meshing seamlessly with the park's style and philosophy against all odds. While DLR is often better than WDW at tapping into the popular zeitgeist, I'm not sure how Iger thinks that an Avatar addition will help the resort any (particularly since, despite its box office successes, Avatar isn’t really a “hot” property); DLR's needs are different from what Pandora provided to WDW, and regardless, almost none of that had to do with Avatar itself

 

[Californian Elitist]

Lol.

Like somehow even the 5x I went to Disneyland that decade it’s like DCA didn’t even exist 100 feet away. Wish I would have went to DL once for the 50th though.

You didn’t go even once???

 

[mickEblu]

You didn’t go even once???

Not once. I don’t think I even knew it was happening.

 

[Californian Elitist]

Not once. I don’t think I even knew it was happening.

Aw man. It was a great time to be a Disneyland fan. Sorry you missed it.

Hopefully we’ll all be around when the park turns 100. That should be grand.

 

[Disney Irish]

The ride building for FoP is ~44K sq ft (not including all the themeing area around the main building). Best measurement I can find for the are you are referring to is ~36K sq ft (and not in the same dimensions as at DAK). So, if it's a direct port, they could maybe do it there, but it would only include 2 (maybe 3) theaters and there really would be no room for themeing around the ride so it would all have to stay very industrial (which would be fine for Tomorrowland).

Well I did say it was blue sky and wasn't likely to happen.

However with that said the building dimensions don't have to be exactly the same. Also remember that buildings in TL are 2 stories, so its actually much larger than its footprint indicates. Even so, the roughly 8k difference you're talking about could be made up by having less preshow walk-thru area.

But again just throwing out an idea just like everyone else.

 

[mickEblu]

Aw man. It was a great time to be a Disneyland fan. Sorry you missed it.

Hopefully we’ll all be around when the park turns 100. That should be grand.

I’ll be 72 going on 73.

 

[Californian Elitist]

I’ll be 72 going on 73.

I’ll be 63. Hopefully we’ll both still be walking just fine with no knee or back pain lol.

 

[DavidDL]

I know the initial concept was a theme park celebrating the culture of "California." But since that idea was a total flop with visitors, it's now called Disney's California Adventure because the park is set in California.

The shift in approach makes sense. A lot of Californians don't need to see a Disneyfied version of California. THEY LIVE IN CALIFORNIA! They know what California is like!

The context of the park is still a mess and I think the context matters.

Is this California Adventure because it celebrates the richness in diversity, the land or the people of California as the current dedication plaque tells us its supposed to? Hardly. -and that doesn't seem likely to change. Is this a unique Disney "California Adventure" full of experiences unique to this park in CA? It could have been but too many of it's attractions have been cloned elsewhere (Soarin', Mermaid, Midway Mania, etc.).

In absolutely no way does the current mess of a park across from Disneyland work in any thematic context and it's incredibly frustrating because at one point, it seemed like it was going to. Now it's just the, "it doesn't make sense in Disneyland so toss it into the other one", park.

I'll offer two "Armchair Imagineering" solutions to Disney:

1) Replace Grizzly Peak with Pandora (Soarin -> Flight of Passage, GRR -> Thrill ride version of Navi River Journey), then rename the park for a 3rd time to Disney's Hollywood Studios. Grizzly Peak is my favorite land over there but just rip my heart out and get it over with Disney because I know you're going to. At least in this context, park two starts to make some sense. It already shares an entrance with DHS and now each land within feels more at home (Buena Vista, Hollywoodland, MARVEL, Avatar, Pixar, etc.)

or, 2) Remove the dedication plaque and rename the park, "Disney Copyright Adventure".

Either way, just please stop pretending this park is something it isn't, Disney.

 

[Californian Elitist]

But since that idea was a total flop with visitors, it's now called Disney's California Adventure because the park is set in California.

This isn’t true.

 

[Consumer]

I know the initial concept was a theme park celebrating the culture of "California." But since that idea was a total flop with visitors, it's now called Disney's California Adventure because the park is set in California.

The shift in approach makes sense. A lot of Californians don't need to see a Disneyfied version of California. THEY LIVE IN CALIFORNIA! They know what California is like!

Mama told me when you're ignorant on something, best not to speak about it. A friendly tip.

 

[J4546]

I think DCA is still very themed in Cali. I like it and the fact that almost everything in the park is exclusive to that park is amazing. CarsLand is one of the best full lands Disney has ever built and it's only in DCA, Grizzly River Rapids is a great River rapids and that whole area with soarin and the trails is wonderfull imo. Pixar Pier could go back to paradise pier and I'd be happy but I'm also not upset at the new overlay theming.

Avengers Campus is the only not directly cali themed area but it's a campus so it could go anywhere I suppose.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

I think DCA is still very themed in Cali. I like it and the fact that almost everything in the park is exclusive to that park is amazing. CarsLand is one of the best full lands Disney has ever built and it's only in DCA, Grizzly River Rapids is a great River rapids and that whole area with soarin and the trails is wonderfull imo. Pixar Pier could go back to paradise pier and I'd be happy but I'm also not upset at the new overlay theming.

Avengers Campus is the only not directly cali themed area but it's a campus so it could go anywhere I suppose.

The cohesive theme is getting harder and harder to see though, when someone said Paradise Pier represented a CA seaside park it was easy to see how that represented CA, less so now with cartoony Pixar Pier, when people said Pacific Wharf represented a CA waterfront it was easy to see, now it’s becoming a fantasy city and will be harder to envision as representing CA, Carsland has always been a stretch, RT66 exists in CA but the land has always been clearly based on AZs landscape, Paradise Gardens is pretty but I’ve never thought it was uniquely CA just by looking at it, not sure how the generic Avengers campus represents CA either… of the 7 lands only Grizzly rapids, Hollywoodland, and Buena vista still represent CA (well), the rest are just generic lands that could be set anywhere.

 

[DavidDL]

... Carsland has always been a stretch, RT66 exists in CA but the land has always been clearly based on AZs landscape, ...

I think their reasoning originally was to play into that whole RT66/Car culture/road trip vibe since they were planning a "Car land" and potential "Goofy about Driving" or something-type attraction before going all in on Cars.

It absolutely is a stretch with Cars (the franchise), like you said. But for what it's worth, Lightning McQueen did discover Radiator Springs on a trip to California (his original destination for the big race in the film). In a way, Radiator Springs sorta ended up being his California Adventure.

At least, that's what I told myself to sleep at night.

 

[Californian Elitist]

I give Cars Land a small pass, given that there are places in California that look similarly enough like Radiator Springs. But, yes, DCA is severely lacking in cohesiveness.

 

[Too Many Hats]

I’m all for this. I’ve given up on thematic integrity at DCA; let’s just bolster the park’s attraction roster. Avatar > Marvel.

Obviously it shouldn’t go into Disneyland, but I’m not worried; I can’t imagine where they’d find the real estate (especially if, as suggested, this will add capacity).