AVATAR land coming to Disney's Animal Kingdom

[menamechris]

I am pretty sure we will end up getting Avatar on the cheap - with promises to expand - which will probably never happen. Just sayin' and bein for real. Disney is clearly not that hyped about this project. We have heard very little since the initial announcement (almost a year ago). Concept art isn't floating around - and there are barely any rumors. We have been promised something is coming, but I am not feeling a passionate, feverish tone from Disney on this. No teasers, no discussion, nothing. I have to set my bar low. I have a feeling we will be getting a fraction of what we deserve.

 

[bubbles1812]

I am pretty sure we will end up getting Avatar on the cheap - with promises to expand - which will probably never happen. Just sayin' and bein for real. Disney is clearly not that hyped about this project. We have heard very little since the initial announcement (almost a year ago). Concept art isn't floating around - and there are barely any rumors. We have been promised something is coming, but I am not feeling a passionate, feverish tone from Disney on this. No teasers, no discussion, nothing. I have to set my bar low. I have a feeling we will be getting a fraction of what we deserve.

Agree. Sadly.

 

[Taylor]

But merchandise?!?! I have talked to industry folks and they all see that aspect as a tremendous challenge for Disney, to be kind. No one wants or buys anything Avatar related. There is pretty much no market. So, Disney will have to create one. Vastly different from Potter or Cars ... or, hell, even Transformers!

Harry Potter isn't exactly a merchandising juggarnaut but how UNI pulled off potter land people wanted to buy a wand or shirt to remember the experience. If Disney does Builds an extremely impressive pandora it is going to have the same effect

 

[Patricia Melton]

I think a stars wars land would be a good fit for DHS, I'd love a Lucas area that included dr jones but a star wars land would do. I just think that Disney is trying to find this potter swatter so to speak and it's right under their noses.

You are really correct.

Star Wars would beat Potter in the end, if Star Wars was given a massive land. There is so much that could be done. I'd personally love to see an EPCOT like approach to Star Wars at DHS...where each planet of Star Wars would have a little area like the countries have at EPCOT. Tatooine, Naboo, Coruscant, Dagobah, Hoth, Mon Calamari (water planet not seen in movies). Star Tours could be like a Galactic Travel agency. Each area could have a different ride/attraction/restaurant.

Tatooine = Mos Isley Cantina restaurant

Naboo = water ride

Coruscant = alien zoo dark ride or motion simulator flight through the skyscrapers

Dagobah = something fun to do in a swamp (insert ideas here)

Hoth = ride making use of scary ice monster Wampa

So much potential sitting right in front of Disney.

There must be some legal reason they never went forward with something like this. It would be a galactic Potter Swatter.

 

[invader]

What I hate about the whole Avatar-themed land is the people who hate on it. The same people that and moan about it will be the people who will result in it being watered down. The same people will and moan about it being watered down and the cycle will start again. Just watch, it will happen.

 

[menamechris]

Star Tours could be like a Galactic Travel agency. Each area could have a different ride/attraction/restaurant.

Tatooine = Mos Isley Cantina restaurant

Naboo = water ride

Coruscant = alien zoo dark ride or motion simulator flight through the skyscrapers

Dagobah = something fun to do in a swamp (insert ideas here)

Hoth = ride making use of scary ice monster Wampa

So much potential sitting right in front of Disney.

The way Disney builds these days - this would be an entire theme park - not a land in one. That's 4 rides - around the same count as Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom....

 

[Patricia Melton]

Harry Potter isn't exactly a merchandising juggarnaut but how UNI pulled off potter land people wanted to buy a wand or shirt to remember the experience. If Disney does Builds an extremely impressive pandora it is going to have the same effect

Do you know what the most popular thing was that we brought back from "Potterland"?

The boxes from Honeydukes.

We bought a bunch of candies and we ended up saving the boxes because we liked the Honeydukes logo. They are just cheap white cardboard boxes with a pink and green Honeydukes label on them...but when friends came over they all wanted to take the boxes home to show their own kids/grands. They were a giant hit.

Next time we go we're going to try to get our hands on pumpkin juice and butter beer labels.

I wonder what people would want to take home from Pandora? There's no Honeydukes equivalent in Avatar. There are no wand equivalents. There are weird creatures like in Harry Potter but I don't know how even the Potter creatures lend themselves to merchandising (as in, are people buying stuffed owls and other Potter animals and bringing them home?).

Besides Avatar tee shirts and action figures for little boys, what could they sell that you'd bring home and people would shout "I HAVE TO HAVE THAT!".

I can't think of anything from Avatar that would prompt that reaction.

 

[bubbles1812]

What I hate about the whole Avatar-themed land is the people who hate on it. The same people that and moan about it will be the people who will result in it being watered down. The same people will and moan about it being watered down and the cycle will start again. Just watch, it will happen.

How would that be possible? The only people that will decide whether it is watered down or not is TDO/WDI/Burbank. Yes, people complain about it, but at the end of the day, they don't care that much about what people say on these boards or on any other boards think. And most of the average park goers aren't probably even aware that Avatar is coming or if they are, they are probably more neutral than anything. I'm actually for Avatar but I see where the people who don't like it are coming from.

 

[Taylor]

Do you know what the most popular thing was that we brought back from "Potterland"?

The boxes from Honeydukes.

We bought a bunch of candies and we ended up saving the boxes because we liked the Honeydukes logo. They are just cheap white cardboard boxes with a pink and green Honeydukes label on them...but when friends came over they all wanted to take the boxes home to show their own kids/grands. They were a giant hit.

Next time we go we're going to try to get our hands on pumpkin juice and butter beer labels.

I wonder what people would want to take home from Pandora? There's no Honeydukes equivalent in Avatar. There are no wand equivalents. There are weird creatures like in Harry Potter but I don't know how even the Potter creatures lend themselves to merchandising (as in, are people buying stuffed owls and other Potter animals and bringing them home?).

Besides Avatar tee shirts and action figures for little boys, what could they sell that you'd bring home and people would shout "I HAVE TO HAVE THAT!".

I can't think of anything from Avatar that would prompt that reaction.

That's where they are going to have to get really creative the simplest things connected to a great attraction will sell. Like those luigi tire hats at cars land

 

[invader]

How would that be possible? The only people that will decide whether it is watered down or not is TDO/WDI/Burbank. Yes, people complain about it, but at the end of the day, they don't care that much about what people say on these boards or on any other boards think. And most of the average park goers aren't probably even aware that Avatar is coming or if they are, they are probably more neutral than anything. I'm actually for Avatar but I see where the people who don't like it are coming from.

As do I, but what I'm saying is that I think the fans have a huge impact on how Disney decides to go forward with the project. Did you see the Facebook comments of the status that announced the project? They were far from appealing to Disney. I just don't see Disney putting as much of an effort into something that they already know probably won't end up as stellar and as popular as other ventures they could potentially sink more money into the future, which will likely never happen (see Dino-land). Thus, resulting in something not as exciting as it should be - causing more complaining.

 

[Patricia Melton]

How would that be possible? The only people that will decide whether it is watered down or not is TDO/WDI/Burbank. Yes, people complain about it, but at the end of the day, they don't care that much about what people say on these boards or on any other boards think. And most of the average park goers aren't probably even aware that Avatar is coming or if they are, they are probably more neutral than anything. I'm actually for Avatar but I see where the people who don't like it are coming from.

This is always important to remember.

99% of the public does not follow Disney news or ever read about or talk about Disney online.

The parks and attractions are built for the 99% of the public, not for the super fans.

I am proud to be a Disney super fan and I just love following development news, but I always remember that most people do not think about Disney as much as I do. My friends, for instance, have no clue about an Avatar land or about even the Fantasyland Expansion. And they really don't care either. Even the ones with kids just expect there to be fun things to do at Disney whatever year they visit...and they aren't planning visits around the opening of any particular attraction.

I know I am a super fan because I am already planning on when I'm going to eat at Be Our Guest for the first time and then when I'm going to have to come back to ride the Seven Dwarves Mine Coater and then come back again to be able to take my niece to the Princess Hall meet and greet when that opens in 2 years. So I plan my trips around new attractions opening while 99% of the public just plans a vacation at Disney every few years (or maybe once during a kid's childhood) and accepts whatever is offered at the time that they go.

 

[Patricia Melton]

As do I, but what I'm saying is that I think the fans have a huge impact on how Disney decides to go forward with the project. Did you see the Facebook comments of the status that announced the projects? They were far from appealing to Disney. I just don't see Disney putting as much of an effort into something that they already know probably won't end up as stellar and as popular as other ventures they could potentially sink more money into the future, which will likely never happen (see Dino-land). Thus, resulting in something not as exciting as it should be - causing more complaining.

I really do wonder how much attention Disney pays to the complaints online from fans.

I have a good friend who is a writer. I've known her since high school. She writes mystery books. She makes it a point to never, ever read what her "super fans" say about her work because for a while when the Internet was first revving up she became obsessed with reading their opinions. And it crippled her as a writer because for a while she became obsessed with not doing anything to upset these people. But it turned out these people were mostly malcontents who only wanted to complain. These people claimed to love her writing, but they would viciously rip her to shreds at every opportunity. They constantly claimed her latest book was not as good as the last one or the one before that. And they would take delight in finding any inconsistency in anything she did. These people were just nuts! She finally had to stop cold turkey reading anything they wrote about her. She has a few friends who let her know what people are saying from time to time but if she wants to keep writing she had to tune these people out completely.

I wonder if Disney feels this way.

 

[menamechris]

Disney doesn't care what we think. If that were the case, a whole lot of things would be going differently around WDW...

 

[HenryMystic]

Harry Potter isn't exactly a merchandising juggarnaut but how UNI pulled off potter land people wanted to buy a wand or shirt to remember the experience. If Disney does Builds an extremely impressive pandora it is going to have the same effect

But it was begging to be merchandised. Things existed in canon that didn't yet exist in the real world. Universal was able to look to the source material and mine it for everything they created merchandise-wise. JKR/WB made them do it right and it's paying off in spades for all 3 parties.

The only thing they are missing is Fire Whiskey.

 

[bubbles1812]

But it was begging to be merchandised. Things existed in canon that didn't yet exist in the real world. Universal was able to look to the source material and mine it for everything they created merchandise-wise. JKR/WB made them do it right and it's paying off in spades for all 3 parties.

The only thing they are missing is Fire Whiskey.

Yeah...even right down to the beverages. Didn't anyone read up all the time and thought they put into making Butterbeer and Pumpkin Juice? I sort of laughed when I read the articles about it but now you can see it was totally worth the time they spent. All the unique merchandise is so cool honestly. You would think Disney would pick up on that. When they had the more specific resort merchandise, ect, it made money but now most of what they sell is generic. You could have found it in the parks 5 years ago. And they wonder why they have trouble getting people to buy things sometimes.

 

[tirian]

Right now, when we go to Orlando it's totally a Disney trip. We went to WWoHP last summer but we didn't go when we were down in Orlando in June of this year because we'd done all the Potter stuff. Potter is a once every other year or so thing for my family. We spent the majority of our time in the park at Potter attractions and only briefly went over to checkout Jurassic Park because my son loved that book/movie. We were VERY disappointed on how junky a lot of Islands of Adventure looks...especially how Hogwarts can be seen from the Jurassic Park area. For those who complain about Disney, I'd like them to walk around Universal and see how junky things can really be and how bad things can really look when a lot of stuff is made on the cheap. Junky, junky, junky!

That's exactly how I felt in late May when I visited with friends and had to pay to enter. You can find my review buried in the "NYT" thread; our sentiments match. Potter is phenomenal, except that it's clearly within a theme park that lands somewhere between Disney and Knott's or Six Flags. (Granted, it's much better than Six Flags.)

Nevertheless, Forbidden Journey is an incredible ride.

 

[WDW1974]

Disney doesn't care what we think. If that were the case, a whole lot of things would be going differently around WDW...

I would disagree ... as a matter of fact, I can't help but think of a giant Social Media experiment/thread that took place somewhere else last year, that I was sorta/kinda/most definitely behind, at this very time as I wade through here.

It almost feels like there are many people 'here' who aren't ... yet, they are. Yes, I suppose I am talking in Spiritual mysteries, but my Spidey sense is tingling and I don't think it's lumbago, either.

 

[Taylor]

I would disagree ... as a matter of fact, I can't help but think of a giant Social Media experiment/thread that took place somewhere else last year, that I was sorta/kinda/most definitely behind, at this very time as I wade through here.

It almost feels like there are many people 'here' who aren't ... yet, they are. Yes, I suppose I am talking in Spiritual mysteries, but my Spidey sense is tingling and I don't think it's lumbago, either.

Are you back on the pixie dust

 

[HenryMystic]

I would disagree ... as a matter of fact, I can't help but think of a giant Social Media experiment/thread that took place somewhere else last year, that I was sorta/kinda/most definitely behind, at this very time as I wade through here.

It almost feels like there are many people 'here' who aren't ... yet, they are. Yes, I suppose I am talking in Spiritual mysteries, but my Spidey sense is tingling and I don't think it's lumbago, either.

Twas a great thread sir. Many good points were made.

 

[menamechris]

I would disagree ... as a matter of fact, I can't help but think of a giant Social Media experiment/thread that took place somewhere else last year, that I was sorta/kinda/most definitely behind, at this very time as I wade through here.

It almost feels like there are many people 'here' who aren't ... yet, they are. Yes, I suppose I am talking in Spiritual mysteries, but my Spidey sense is tingling and I don't think it's lumbago, either.

So what's your take then on the fanbase and it's impact on decisions and/or future plans? Or do you think we are just being spied on...