AVATAR land coming to Disney's Animal Kingdom

S.E.A.

Member
Sez you.

Pandora poses the question of future conservation, and whether the balance of nature is a moral good to be pursued even after mankind has left our home planet and is no longer immediately threatened with repercussions to our own environment. The movie is a parable (a really, really obvious parable, actually) of the advancement and encroachment of technology, human needs, and arguably western culture on an ever-widening horizon of conquest and manifest destiny.

The more I think about it, the more I see just how well it's going to mesh with the overarching theme of Animal Kingdom in general.
All we need is to bring back the poachers into the safari ride.

I think you're reading way too into it. You can say that it's a question of future conservation, and whether the balance of nature is a moral good to be pursued even after mankind has left our home planet and is no longer immediately threatened with repercussions to our own environment.

But most people will just see robots and aliens and monsters.
 

Scuttle

Well-Known Member
Whether you like idea of Avatar at AK or not why announce it on a random Tuesday, Sept 20th. Why not announce this at 40th celebration Day of Oct 1 or wait three weeks after D23 Parks Event. Yes i know Oct 1st is Mk Anniversary, but it was also the kick off to WDW and this could have been folded into that. Just seems random to me. Unless it was about to leak.
Thoughts?

I'm sure it was days if not hours from being leaked, so they probably just decided to drop the bomb before insiders leaked it out. I'll tell you what it was sure a lot more shocking then when they announced the Mine Train lol.
 

janoimagine

Well-Known Member
How do we GET to a new planet after walking out of Africa? There is no imagineering portal capable of accomplishing that well.

How do you go from a storybook fairtale based land to the world of tomorrow, or from a frontier town to an oasis, or from a turn of the century main street to any of the above?!?

Your joking right??? :D ... it's called imagination ... man people are way to literal sometimes. :lol:
 

S.E.A.

Member
How do you go from a storybook fairtale based land to the world of tomorrow, or from a frontier town to an oasis, or from a turn of the century main street to any of the above?!?

Your joking right??? :D ... it's called imagination ... man people are way to literal sometimes. :lol:

the difference is all the lands in MK are different so they fit because they're all different. In Animal Kingdom all the lands follows a distinct theme devoted to animals, so having one land be entirely different could come out as random.
 

Bairstow

Well-Known Member
Which we've be lectured to about a thousand times in countless other movies...

Oh I agree.
But every attraction at Animal Kingdom is already super-preachy about this kind of thing.
"Oh no! The poachers shot, I mean captured Little Red's mother!"
"Oh no! The humans gassed the bugs!"
"Oh no! The loggers burned down the Tigers' habitat!"
"Oh no! The tourists rode up the forbidden mountain!"
"Oh no! God... or something blew up the iguanodons!"
It's a good fit is what I'm saying, and re-contextualizes the idea of conservation in an interesting way.
 

zooey

Well-Known Member
from a purely business point of view, you have the highest grossing movie of all time, taking up an entire land in a park that seriously needs big draw attractions. It's a no brainer, from a pencil-pushing perspective.

I'm just honestly surprised that so many of you feel this way, based on its ticket sales. Ticket sales mean a bunch of people were curious to witness something that had massive hype. That doesn't mean everyone loved what they saw when they walked out of the theater.

I work in the costume industry and watching IPs and social trends is part of my job. I can tell that from what I saw, Avatar did not sell well at all in merchandising and fell off incredibly quick.

The best you can do is say we have to wait and see until the other two movies come out and see how it sits with audiences. It would be premature to say that it has lasting appeal, because it certainly hasn't proven that. It would also be premature for me to say that it will definitely fail, because I can't know that, fair enough. But as a franchise, this thing is a baby compared to a proven one like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. I think that is what is most troubling. They're putting so much money on something that fans haven't proven worthwhile over years and years.
 

wickedsoccer22

Active Member
I can't wait to hear the BGM this land will have. For those who don't like the movie's plot; you can't say that the musical score wasn't good. It was fantastic.
 

WDWGoof07

Well-Known Member
Here's a thought, how are they going to theme an entire land to Pandora that you can walk around in when the oxygen in Pandora is poisonous?
Ok, I'm not even sure if Avatar-land is a good idea, but this is not a valid argument against it. At some point, you have to be willing to suspend disbelief, or maybe WDI will even find a way to explain it.
 

Skipper Dan

Active Member
Really did you even read a single world I posted, or did you just hit the quote button, without even thinking of a response.

Ugh.

This is what makes Disney, disney.

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This is what makes Six Flags, Six Flags

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Need I post more? When Disney wants to go ALL FREAKIN out on there theming, then they basically create hollywood replicas.

You, my good sir, just made Post Of The Year! AND won my heart! :sohappy: :ROFLOL:
 

S.E.A.

Member
I'm just honestly surprised that so many of you feel this way, based on its ticket sales. Ticket sales mean a bunch of people were curious to witness something that had massive hype. That doesn't mean everyone loved what they saw when they walked out of the theater.

I work in the costume industry and watching IPs and social trends is part of my job. I can tell that from what I saw, Avatar did not sell well at all in merchandising and fell off incredibly quick.

The best you can do is say we have to wait and see until the other two movies come out and see how it sits with audiences. It would be premature to say that it has lasting appeal, because it certainly hasn't proven that. It would also be premature for me to say that it will definitely fail, because I can't know that, fair enough. But as a franchise, this thing is a baby compared to a proven one like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. I think that is what is most troubling. They're putting so much money on something that fans haven't proven worthwhile over years and years.

that's the big gamble with the Avatar acquisition, however I do believe that if the attractions stand out as great experiences on their own then the relevance of the franchise wouldn't matter (like Song of the South or any existing ride with an original story)

my only wish is that they'd move it to a more appropriate park.
 

janoimagine

Well-Known Member
the difference is all the lands in MK are different so they fit because they're all different. In Animal Kingdom all the lands follows a distinct theme devoted to animals, so having one land be entirely different could come out as random.

Ok ... But AK has his space called Dino Land, which is a throwback land ... and we all know that initially beastly kingdom was planned to be the '4th Land' within AK ... is a mythical land based on a people who are very much like our own American Indians really that much of a stretch, and really that different form the initial concept? Pandora is a land where the people and animals have a symbiotic relationship ... I don't think it is random at all.
 

zooey

Well-Known Member
How do you go from a storybook fairtale based land to the world of tomorrow, or from a frontier town to an oasis, or from a turn of the century main street to any of the above?!?

Your joking right??? :D ... it's called imagination ... man people are way to literal sometimes. :lol:

Those transitions are extremely well done and very deliberate (well, Tomorrowland to Fantasyland's isn't, but that's also a very fanciful view of the future). Do you remember the sea cabs at the Living Seas? Do you know why they did those? Because thematically it made little sense and was very jarring (as it is now) to simply walk in a large building and suddenly be in an underwater station. The story had to lead you in. With Pandora, you're talking about traveling light years or whatever away to an entire new PLANET. I'm saying that these are theme and story issues. Now, if they just don't address it at all, then they've pretty much failed on making that cohesive. John Hench called it reassurance.
I'm also not saying that they CAN'T do it right, but I don't see how it can be without some kind of transition experience.
 

KingdomofDreams

Well-Known Member
Fascinating! And most unexpected! There is huge potential all over this. IF it is done right, it will be a beautiful land, richly detailed and quite literally like stepping into another time and place. The night scenes from the movie were absolutely breathtaking and that was the first thing I thought of.

As a movie, it was definitely weak in the storyline and script, but the one thing I heard from everyone who saw the movie was how visually stunning it was. It really captured the viewer's imagination. And who says it can't be for young kids? In an entire land, there will surely be experiences for the youngest guests.

Wasn't the original vision for Animal Kingdom to include the mythological? This may not be the mythology you are familiar with and expecting, but it fits the bill and it's not something you will find anywhere else.
 

S.E.A.

Member
Ok ... But AK has his space called Dino Land, which is a throwback land ... and we all know that initially beastly kingdom was planned to be the '4th Land' within AK ... is a mythical land based on a people who are very much like our own American Indians really that much of a stretch, and really that different form the initial concept? Pandora is a land where the people and animals have a symbiotic relationship ... I don't think it is random at all.

it's a stretch when you think about explaining that we're traveling to a distant planet. Why would we have to travel to a different planet to explore and learn from something similar to our own American Indian cultures? Why can't we just go to America?
 

DonaldDoleWhip

Well-Known Member
I think you're reading way too into it. You can say that it's a question of future conservation, and whether the balance of nature is a moral good to be pursued even after mankind has left our home planet and is no longer immediately threatened with repercussions to our own environment.

But most people will just see robots and aliens and monsters.
Most people probably don't recognize all the awesome Twilight Zone references in Tower of Terror, or know that many imagineers watched all Twilight Zone episodes at least twice for inspiration. That shouldn't take away from the creative intent.

Similarly, most guests who ride Everest just see a fast-paced thrill ride with a barely visible giant monkey at the end. There are still underlying themes of conservation and respecting nature in the attraction.

Finally, most guests in Dinoland wouldn't understand how the roadside carnival relates to dig sights out west. Many think the area looks cheap and tacky. Others think it's fun and a cute diversion. Still, as far as Disney (and other posters here) seem to think, it belongs in AK. If Dinoland fits, then I see no reason why Pandora won't work. If anything, Pandora could feature the lush environments and meaningful messages like the current Asia land does.

"Most people" leads to a very slippery slope, and it shouldn't take away from the fact that Avatar has valid ideas and messages that make sense in Animal Kingdom (and I haven't seen the movie, so this isn't coming from a diehard fan).

And p.s. This wouldn't have been my first choice for AK, as I would've loved to see Australia or South America added. But I can appreciate the strategy behind this decision, and furthermore, I'm looking forward to see the immersive themed result that makes AK a park that deserves more of my time. For the first time in a while, I don't feel like complaining about a Disney news announcement, and it feels good. :D

I find the original themeing to dinoland before the carnival moved in to be quite wonderful actually, it's a tribute to Paleontology as a culture with long camp outs in deserts for their digs, which transitions nicely to the Dino Institute, where you finally have time travel to see actual live dinosaurs. it's all very sicency.

I also always found the nemo show to be separate from Dinoland.
The thing is, Dino-Rama has been the centerpiece of Dinoland for most of the park's history. It was added around 2001 or 2002, and it's likely here to stay. The intention might have been good, but execution was horrible. At least with Pandora, there's decent intent in the land's placement and (most likely) some incredible execution.

Theater in the Wild isn't considered part of Dinoland. Flawed as Dino-Rama is, the idea behind it basically goes with the various roadside attractions one would find nearby some major fossil sites out west, though in a very over the top fashion. There's definitely better ways to expand Dinoland that could easily involve replacing Chester and Hester's though.
I agree that Theater in the Wild shouldn't be part of Dinoland, but according to any park map, it is.

Even if Dino-Rama somehow makes sense in the park (I still think it conflicts sharply with the cohesive message of the other lands), it still represents a cheap, garish effort. I'd much rather have a Pandora than a Dino-Rama, simply because I expect the quality of the end result will be extraordinary in comparison.
 

zooey

Well-Known Member
it's a stretch when you think about explaining that we're traveling to a distant planet. Why would we have to travel to a different planet to explore and learn from something similar to our own American Indian cultures? Why can't we just go to America?

Why? Because they've officially decided that anything resembling reality doesn't sell.
 

Xethos

Member
kids younger than 6 walk around DHS with toy Guns that their parents proudly put into their little hands, its merch disney sells because of indy, so the whole Avatar isn't disney friendly should die very soon

Isnt this part of the discussion thats already going on in the Avatar thread? I dont think we need another one already.
 

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