AVATAR land coming to Disney's Animal Kingdom

[jaxonp]

I think CarsLand is a different option though considering you can walk between DL and DCA so you might be more likely to walk over and see it.

Let me be clear I'm not trying to crap on Pandora as I think it will be amazing and the rides will be great but being someone who lives minutes from WDW and having visited AK on those nights when they started staying open late with all their new offerings the place was a ghost town every time I went. Some can say that jungle book was awful and contributed to that but we're not hearing stellar reviews for ROL either with what's been shown. So the only difference at this point to try and get people to stay late in the park is going to be Pandora at night, and I don't see guests giving up their precious vacation time just to wander around and look at the pretty lights when they could be at another park riding attractions. People will do this at DCA because it's made up of pass holders who don't need to rush to every ride. AK needs more attractions so that you have no choice but to be there all day to get them all in.

With Pandora and ROL coming online, AK will have the 2nd most attractions after MK.

There are 19 Rides, Shows & Attractions at Animal Kingdom by the time Pandora Opens.
There are 15 Rides, Shows & Attractions at Hollywood Studios now. (They have 5 rides compared to 9 at AK, Star Wars and TSL will add 4 and bring the total to 9 rides in both Parks)

AK Rides:
Dinosaur
Primeval Whirl
Tricera Top Spin
Everest
Kali River
Kilimanjaro Safari
Tough to be a Bug
Soarin over Pandora
Boatin through Pandora

AK Shows and Walkthroughs:
Tree of Life
ROL
Finding Nemo
Festival Lion King
Flights of Wonder
Pangani Trail
Maharajah Jungle Trek
Discovery Island Trail
Rafiki Planet Watch
Boneyard

DHS Rides:
Tower of Terror
RnRc
Toy Story
Star Wars
Great Movie Ride
Muppets

DHS Shows:
Beauty and Beast
Indiana Jones
Little Mermaid
Disney Jr
Fantasmic
Star Wars Jedi Training
Star Wars Nighttime Spectacular
Star Wars Launch Bay
Frozen Singalong

 

[Little Green Men]

With Pandora and ROL coming online, AK will have the 2nd most attractions after MK.

There are 19 Rides, Shows & Attractions at Animal Kingdom by the time Pandora Opens.
There are 15 Rides, Shows & Attractions at Hollywood Studios now. (They have 5 rides compared to 9 at AK, Star Wars and TSL will add 4 and bring the total to 9 rides in both Parks)

AK Rides:
Dinosaur
Primeval Whirl
Tricera Top Spin
Everest
Kali River
Kilimanjaro Safari
Tough to be a Bug
Soarin over Pandora
Boatin through Pandora

AK Shows and Walkthroughs:
Tree of Life
ROL
Finding Nemo
Festival Lion King
Flights of Wonder
Pangani Trail
Maharajah Jungle Trek
Discovery Island Trail
Rafiki Planet Watch
Boneyard

DHS Rides:
Tower of Terror
RnRc
Toy Story
Star Wars
Great Movie Ride
Muppets

DHS Shows:
Beauty and Beast
Indiana Jones
Little Mermaid
Disney Jr
Fantasmic
Star Wars Jedi Training
Star Wars Nighttime Spectacular
Star Wars Launch Bay
Frozen Singalong

Epcot will still have more. There are 29 Rides, Shows & Attractions at Epcot:

Epcot Rides:
Spaceship Earth
Universe of Energy
Mission: SPACE
Test Track
Journey into Imagination with Figment
Living with the Land
Soarin' Around the World
The Seas with New & Friends
Gran Fiesta Tour
Frozen Ever After

Shows:
Pixar 3D Show
Circle of Life
Turtle Talk with Crush
Wonders of China
O' Canada
Impressions de France
The American Adventure

Exhibits:
Project Tomorrow
Colortopia
M:S post show
After Market at TT
Imageworks
Sea Base aquarium
Mexico
Norway
China
USA
Japan
Morocco

 

[TWSITT]

I don't think we'll see any difference in the parks at all. I'm fully expecting people to just knock out these two new rides in an hour and leave the park like they normally do. I truly don't see people staying in this park late because of some fancy lighting and effects. Obviously ROL has for the most part been a bust so unless they make some drastic changes to the show I don't think that will keep people either. What I truly found interesting was that the night safari has been so empty when I go in the evenings. This park will still need another land with at least two more attractions to give people enough to stick around for a day.

An hour!? I will be spending at least an hour just taking pictures of this beautiful land.

 

[HauntedMansionFLA]

Epcot will still have more. There are 29 Rides, Shows & Attractions at Epcot:

Epcot Rides:
Spaceship Earth
Universe of Energy
Mission: SPACE
Test Track
Journey into Imagination with Figment
Living with the Land
Soarin' Around the World
The Seas with New & Friends
Gran Fiesta Tour
Frozen Ever After

Shows:
Pixar 3D Show
Circle of Life
Turtle Talk with Crush
Wonders of China
O' Canada
Impressions de France
The American Adventure

Exhibits:
Project Tomorrow
Colortopia
M:S post show
After Market at TT
Imageworks
Sea Base aquarium
Mexico
Norway
China
USA
Japan
Morocco

Most of it on this list are badly outdated attractions

 

[Cesar R M]

With Pandora and ROL coming online, AK will have the 2nd most attractions after MK.

There are 19 Rides, Shows & Attractions at Animal Kingdom by the time Pandora Opens.
There are 15 Rides, Shows & Attractions at Hollywood Studios now. (They have 5 rides compared to 9 at AK, Star Wars and TSL will add 4 and bring the total to 9 rides in both Parks)

AK Rides:
Dinosaur
Primeval Whirl
Tricera Top Spin
Everest
Kali River
Kilimanjaro Safari
Tough to be a Bug
Soarin over Pandora
Boatin through Pandora

AK Shows and Walkthroughs:
Tree of Life
ROL
Finding Nemo
Festival Lion King
Flights of Wonder
Pangani Trail
Maharajah Jungle Trek
Discovery Island Trail
Rafiki Planet Watch
Boneyard

DHS Rides:
Tower of Terror
RnRc
Toy Story
Star Wars
Great Movie Ride
Muppets

DHS Shows:
Beauty and Beast
Indiana Jones
Little Mermaid
Disney Jr
Fantasmic
Star Wars Jedi Training
Star Wars Nighttime Spectacular
Star Wars Launch Bay
Frozen Singalong

are you really counting Launch bay? really? o_o

 

[Bandini]

I'm sure attendance will increase at DAK with Pandora. But will this be a "one and done" experience? I hope not.

 

[Goofyque']

I'm sure attendance will increase at DAK with Pandora. But will this be a "one and done" experience? I hope not.

I'm sure for some it will be. But the beauty and immersion alone will attract many time and time again. We ride everything in every park every trip. Most multiple times. Can't see how this wonderful land will be any different.

 

[Ripken10]

Pandora will have an affect on all park attendance, it is just a question of how much. Some 5 day trips who use their park hopper to hit the Magic Kingdom 3 or 4 times will see that number reduce to 2 or 3, which will have an impact on attendance (actual attendance you see in the park) but may not in the actual numbers (due to the way they count them). You will also have individuals who will plan a second day at AK, spending a day there and a night there. Some people instead of hitting the Magic Kingdom on two nights for the entertainment will instead choose RoL in place of the second night at the Animal Kingdom. For the locals, they may go just for AK, when they normally would have gone just for MK. So you will see a change, it is just a question of how much.

 

[GoofGoof]

On a realistic note I have to ask is this going to draw the crowds desperately away from MK or just make two days of your vacation crowd central?

There should be a bit of a softening of crowds at MK at night. People will be less inclined to go to AK during the day and then hop to MK for nighttime entertainment. They canceled the light parade at MK and are going to offer a more extensive night time experience at AK so I could see some shifting there.

I don't think we'll see any difference in the parks at all. I'm fully expecting people to just knock out these two new rides in an hour and leave the park like they normally do. I truly don't see people staying in this park late because of some fancy lighting and effects. Obviously ROL has for the most part been a bust so unless they make some drastic changes to the show I don't think that will keep people either. What I truly found interesting was that the night safari has been so empty when I go in the evenings. This park will still need another land with at least two more attractions to give people enough to stick around for a day.

I don't think they made a great attempt to roll out the nighttime stuff at AK. It really never made sense to me why they wanted a phased opening approach in the first place with the night Safari, ROL and other entertainment opening a year or more before Pandora. It makes more sense to have it all start around the same time transforming the park into a full day experience. I think Pandora will be a must-see nighttime area.

I don't think it's going to make any visible difference to the other parks which is what the other poster was suggesting. You're not going to be in MK come June or July and be like "wow, look how empty it is".

I agree with this, however It's hard to write off the night offerings completely given that the ROL show and Avatar Land haven't opened. The crowds have been light so far, but there isn't much new right now at night other than the Safari and lights on the tree. We need to see the whole nighttime package before writing it all off as a failure.

 

[flyerjab]

Found this SUPER interesting.

Love that shot of the floating mountains. That land will be gorgeous at night.

 

[Mike S]

Found this SUPER interesting.

Remember when I was the first to post pictures of the lighting tests when I was there? Those were good times

 

[PorterRedkey]

Fox Sports just had a brief interview with Jon Landau at the Super Bowl and they show some Pandora pictures. One pic looked new to me. The pic was some sort of large Navi "dreamcatcher". Maybe? Most pics looked like they had been previously released.

Did anyone else see this?

 

[twebber55]

Fox Sports just had a brief interview with Jon Landau at the Super Bowl and they show some Pandora pictures. One pic looked new to me. The pic was some sort of large Navi "dreamcatcher". Maybe? Most pics looked like they had been previously released.

Did anyone else see this?

raises hand

 

[twebber55]

Fox Sports just had a brief interview with Jon Landau at the Super Bowl and they show some Pandora pictures. One pic looked new to me. The pic was some sort of large Navi "dreamcatcher". Maybe? Most pics looked like they had been previously released.

Did anyone else see this?

biggest thing i took from this was a couple new pics and that the mtns are 156 ft tall

 

[PorterRedkey]

biggest thing i took from this was a couple new pics and that the mtns are 156 ft tall

Yeah, there was that "blue feathery-flower thing" (official term) too. I wasn't sure if that pic had been released.

 

[Clamman73]

Fox Sports just had a brief interview with Jon Landau at the Super Bowl and they show some Pandora pictures. One pic looked new to me. The pic was some sort of large Navi "dreamcatcher". Maybe? Most pics looked like they had been previously released.

Did anyone else see this?

Was that actual video of one of the waterfalls we haven't seen yet?

 

[danlb_2000]

biggest thing i took from this was a couple new pics and that the mtns are 156 ft tall

I guess they got taller. Landau has said 143 in the past.

 

[PorterRedkey]

Was that actual video of one of the waterfalls we haven't seen yet?

I think that was computer magic, but I would like to be wrong.

 

[Clamman73]

I think that was computer magic, but I would like to be wrong.

I don't know...looks pretty real on the video. Not 100% sure though.

 

[PorterRedkey]

Here is the video from BlogMickey:

Edit: Beat me too it

See above video ^.