AVATAR land coming to Disney's Animal Kingdom

[Magenta Panther]

Can't say I'm excited to hear this. I didn't enjoy the film at all and found it to be ridiculously over hyped. I'd much rather see them develop in-house properties, though I suppose this must make business sense at some level.

It makes sense to Iger. It makes no sense to me at all.

Avatar was high-tech special effects married to a lousy preachy story IMO. As a concept, it has yet to prove itself as a franchise. So why the HECK is Iger ignoring jungle-themed Disney movies like The Jungle Book and the Lion King as possible rides/lands for AK and instead sticking in a "land" based on a movie by another studio?

I swear, Iger has little to no regard for Disney at all. For its legacy, for its properties, for Walt, for ANYTHING.

Well, everyone here knows how I feel about outside properties being stuck into the parks. I HATE it. And it's just STUPID. Avatar is a only one movie. How the heck does it rate for an entire "land"?

Iger is a fool. JMHO.

 

[HMF]

It makes sense to Iger. It makes no sense to me at all.

Avatar was high-tech special effects married to a lousy preachy story IMO. As a concept, it has yet to prove itself as a franchise. So why the HECK is Iger ignoring jungle-themed Disney movies like The Jungle Book and the Lion King as possible rides/lands for AK and instead sticking in a "land" based on a movie by another studio?

I swear, Iger has little to no regard for Disney at all. For its legacy, for its properties, for Walt, for ANYTHING.

Well, everyone here knows how I feel about outside properties being stuck into the parks. I HATE it. And it's just STUPID. Avatar is a only one movie. How the heck does it rate for an entire "land"?

Iger is a fool. JMHO.

Iger is just a normal businessman. He does not care about the Disney Legacy or that Avatar makes no sense in Animal Kingdom all he sees is $$$$$$$$$$!

 

[Magenta Panther]

I'm talking about myths that are a part of a country or region's culture (since animal kingdom is broken for the most part into countries and regions). How does avatar fit into the park's theme. It doesnt at all.

Not in the least. The whole concept of sticking Avatar in AK is bizarre. Thematically, that is. It totally works from a greedy uninspired CEO's point of view, I suppose...

 

[disney fan 13]

i can't wait to see this

 

[danpam1024]

That will be awesome to see Avatar in Disney's Animal Kingdom in 2016!

i thought they said construction begins 2013 and will take 5 years

:shrug:

 

[Pioneer Hall]

i thought they said construction begins 2013 and will take 5 years

:shrug:

No...timetable from now until opening is about 5 years. Looking at a 2016 opening date.

 

[Prototype82]

It's not that they "prefer" or get any sort of pleasure out of hurting people. It's called Capitalism. You do what you can to survive & thrive. Sometimes it isn't pretty...but it has to be done. Nothing wrong with exceeding in the business world.

It's to be embraced. Believe me, I'm an Ayn Rand fan. xD

 

[RSoxNo1]

Some are claiming parts II and III might bomb?

They might not bomb (that would be great if they did though), but I'm betting they won't make anywhere near as much as the first.

Why would you want them to bomb?

Do you really think people will pay money, that they wouldnt have otherwise, to see the Avatar land? I will agree that the haters (myself included) will all go to the land to see what its about...but I don't think people who werent normally going to go to WDW or AK would buy a ticket JUST to see that. HP has tons and tons and tons of hardcore fans. People (myself included! haha) flew on a plane and made a whole vacation JUST to go to that one little part of Universal! I don't think the fan base is there for Avatar..

I read all the Harry Potter books and watched all the movies so that I wouldn't be lost going to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Harry Potter had it's legion of fans that all showed up on opening day, and I assume the # of fans of Avatar isn't as strong. It was the highest grossing film of all time because it was viewed as going to see a theatrical event as opposed to simply going to the movies.

After the initial wave of Potter fan boys flocked to The Wizarding World the news of how great it was spread like wildfire. People that were planning Disney vacations took that as their opportunity to visit The Wizarding World, and some who had been skeptical at first planned trips just to visit potter.

It's simple - If this land is as monumental a theme park addition as Avatar was a monumental movie it will be a ridiculous attendance boost to the Disney World resort. That's quite a high standard to set, but this land will be held to a higher standard than The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. This is Disney's chance to do what it does best.

Thats actually a really good idea.

This was the Disney XD show idea. One of the things that helps to drive Carsland are the toons on the Disney Channel. More kids have seen those than saw Cars in theaters and the #s aren't even close.

 

[HMF]

Why would you want them to bomb?

Because the movie was just a blue-skinned re-hash of Dances with Wolves and Pocahontas.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Then isn't it a good thing that Disney is adding a new property and their reasoning might not just be to increase merchandise sales?

With Cars, the whole sequel seemed to be a cash grab and an opportunity to sell more toys, let alone Carsland. If Pandora is being done even though it's not a top merchandise franchise (princesses, pirates, cars, etc), isn't that a step forward?

Honestly, this is perhaps the most encouraging thing about the entire project.
For the first time in a long time it looks like the horse is in front of the cart again and Disney Parks is getting priority over merch. You can't build a vacation dynasty by selling die-cast cars (or plastic wands, for that matter) you build it by selling lasting memories.

Yeah, when I said this I didn't mean it as a bad thing. Don't get me wrong, they'll sell merchandise for Avatar but there aren't as many items that are glaringly obvious merchandise money grabs like the toys in cars or the candy, wands, brooms, robes in Potterland. I'm sure you'll get things like wigs, tails, masks,etc

Patience. It's coming. Along with some goodies for USF.

And the fans that are now claiming Avatar will put Universal out of business or that Uni should be scared are almost as hilarious as the fans saying Harry Potter was going to threaten massive amounts of Disney's attendance.

If you think either or these resorts want the other out of business, you're crazy.

Was there a leak recently about Transformers coming to USF?

 

[RSoxNo1]

Because the movie was just a blue-skinned re-hash of Dances with Wolves and Pocahontas.

You forgot The Air Up There. The story in Avatar was formulaic, but so are 95% of the stories in Hollywood movies. The people that liked Avatar liked the visuals in the movie, and even most detractors will agree that it looks amazing. The same is true of the Animal Kingdom, most of its detractors will at least acknowledge that the park looks amazing.

If we get word that the main attraction is an interactive game where guests have to become accepted by the N'Avi, then yes there's justification behind complaining about the generic storyline and it's place in a theme park. However if they can replicate Pandora then I don't understand why that's a bad thing. I just don't get why people would argue that they should put in Mysterious Island instead. That too is a highly immersive creative environment and would certainly be a welcome addition, but in my opinion if the environment created is well done I really don't care too much about the source material.

 

[John]

All I want to know is if they are going to rebuild the Advetures Club there.....LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL Sorry ....couldnt resist.

 

[MKCP 1985]

At the 40 posts per page setting, this thread is on page 41, with two pages worth of deleted posts already. Wow!

The Avatar at Animal Kingdom Park idea must really be big! :king:

 

[ChrisFL]

You forgot The Air Up There. The story in Avatar was formulaic, but so are 95% of the stories in Hollywood movies. The people that liked Avatar liked the visuals in the movie, and even most detractors will agree that it looks amazing. The same is true of the Animal Kingdom, most of its detractors will at least acknowledge that the park looks amazing.

Ah, thats why it fits...all style and no substance (first negative post I've had about the project!)

 

[FigmentJedi]

It makes sense to Iger. It makes no sense to me at all.

Avatar was high-tech special effects married to a lousy preachy story IMO. As a concept, it has yet to prove itself as a franchise. So why the HECK is Iger ignoring jungle-themed Disney movies like The Jungle Book and the Lion King as possible rides/lands for AK and instead sticking in a "land" based on a movie by another studio?

I swear, Iger has little to no regard for Disney at all. For its legacy, for its properties, for Walt, for ANYTHING.

Well, everyone here knows how I feel about outside properties being stuck into the parks. I HATE it. And it's just STUPID. Avatar is a only one movie. How the heck does it rate for an entire "land"?

Iger is a fool. JMHO.

While Iger's got a lot of issues, he's not entirely at fault here. Doing Avatar was Tom Staggs' idea after all.

 

[jt04]

At the 40 posts per page setting, this thread is on page 41, with two pages worth of deleted posts already. Wow!

The Avatar at Animal Kingdom Park idea must really be big! :king:

I first saw this story on a news site and raced over to WDWMagic to be the first to post. The thread was already over 10 pages.:lol:

Biggest news since the site started,

And I think confirmation the pendulum is swinging back towards WDW.

 

[Fable McCloud]

That's funny. I thought 20th Century Fox owned Ferngully.

Too true!

I'm not sure how I feel about this...I sorta liked AK how it was...

 

[Crockett]

I'm not sure how I feel about this...I sorta liked AK how it was...

Not much of the "as it was" stuff is going anywhere. Most of what you love about the park today is staying put. Avatar land will be an expansion, not a replacement of a current land like how WWOHP gutted most of Lost Continent.

These folks who are unhappy about the announcement can still experience the same AK they've always known without going to Avatar land when it opens.

Let the rest of us enjoy this.

 

[IlikeDW]

Actually, If you check out that inflation thing I posted its #14

This is my point though... everyone keeps saying "not everyone thinks the way you do!" ... but not everyone thinks the way YOU do either! :animwink:

Your inflation thing ignores the fact that 70% of Avatars gross was from outside the U.S. vs 50% or less for the star wars films.

 

[mp2bill]

Wow! One day and over 100 pages of discussion. Crazy!