AVATAR land coming to Disney's Animal Kingdom

[Did Knee]

Looking at the Avatar concept art, and how fanciful it all is . . .

hypothetical question, what if Disney had lavished this much attention and detail to:

-Burton's Alice in Wonderland
-Raimi's Return to Oz
-A 'Tim Burton land" designed and influenced by him and all his films with their distinctive aesthetic.

If you squint at the Avatar renderings you could almost swap in any
of those properties and they would work.

However, none of those have any relation to conservation. Which, despite everyone
going on and on about the other themes of the film, is a central part of the Avatar story . ..

Just stirrin' the pot. . .

I think the real argument here is financial. I'm willing to bet that ticket and DVD sales of Oz and Wonderland combined are only a fraction of what Avatar sold. Money talks.

 

[Bairstow]

Looking at the Avatar concept art, and how fanciful it all is . . .

hypothetical question, what if Disney had lavished this much attention and detail to:

-Burton's Alice in Wonderland
-Raimi's Return to Oz
-A 'Tim Burton land" designed and influenced by him and all his films with their distinctive aesthetic.

If you squint at the Avatar renderings you could almost swap in any
of those properties and they would work.

However, none of those have any relation to conservation. Which, despite everyone
going on and on about the other themes of the film, is a central part of the Avatar story . ..

Just stirrin' the pot. . .

Exactly. None of those would fit with the Animal Kingdom theme.
After going princess-heavy on the Magic Kingdom expansion, I think Disney is going to try to aim for something with more appeal to young boys.
Also, both of those movies are terrible.

 

[FigmentJedi]

Exactly. None of those would fit with the Animal Kingdom theme.
After going princess-heavy on the Magic Kingdom expansion, I think Disney is going to try to aim for something with more appeal to young boys.
Also, both of those movies are terrible.

I thought Oz was okay. At least it doesn't look like a commercial for Hot Topic and it doesn't have anything nearly as offensive as the Mad Hatter breakdancing.

 

[JenniferS]

If you try hard enough, one can find reasons to complain about just about anything.

Some people here TRY VERY HARD.

 

[Captain Chaos]

@fractal It doesn't pay trying to argue with the thick headed. We'll just wave to them when we are using FP+ and they are using Stand By to experience the new Avatar attractions. And don' t kid yourself, they WILL line up to experience it.

 

[Atomicmickey]

I think the real argument here is financial. I'm willing to bet that ticket and DVD sales of Oz and Wonderland combined are only a fraction of what Avatar sold. Money talks.

Not to mention the next three movies . . . . even if they are only "pretty good"
they will keep Avatar very present in the public consciousness for many, many
years.

Though, having thought of it, I think that Tim Burton deserves his own
area after so many years of Disney. Think Sweeney Todd Basement Blood Slide.

 

[doctornick]

Though, having thought of it, I think that Tim Burton deserves his own
area after so many years of Disney. Think Sweeney Todd Basement Blood Slide.

I'm a fan of the "Tim Burton's Halloween" concept that been thalked about as a more mature hard ticket for DHS. I think that combined with an "Unleash the Villains" concept would be great.

 

[danlb_2000]

I think the real argument here is financial. I'm willing to bet that ticket and DVD sales of Oz and Wonderland combined are only a fraction of what Avatar sold. Money talks.

I also think James Cameron is very bankable name. They can use him in the marketing saying, "come see what happens when visionary film maker James Cameron teams up with the Disney"

 

[FigmentJedi]

I also think James Cameron is very bankable name. They can use him in the marketing saying, "come see what happens when visionary film maker James Cameron teams up with the Disney"

Wouldn't it be great though if they teamed up to create a new concept instead of a movie tie-in land? Not Animal Kingdom, but just imagine a James Cameron headed reboot of the Living Seas going back to Sea Base Alpha.

 

[Bairstow]

Wouldn't it be great though if they teamed up to create a new concept instead of a movie tie-in land? Not Animal Kingdom, but just imagine a James Cameron headed reboot of the Living Seas going back to Sea Base Alpha.

You really think Cameron could fix The Living Seas?

 

[dupac]

So say we put aside the argument that besides a general message of conservation, Avatar doesn't belong in AK. I still think it's weird to have a whole land dedicated to one franchise in a park where there are no dominating franchises at the moment.

 

[Bairstow]

So say we put aside the argument that besides a general message of conservation, Avatar doesn't belong in AK. I still think it's weird to have a whole land dedicated to one franchise in a park where there are no dominating franchises at the moment.

There may not be an entire land dedicated to franchises in the park right now, but Camp Minni Mickey is a land dedicated to Disney cartoon characters whose only real attraction is a Lion King show. The park's icon is a gigantic theater showing a Bug's Life show and over in Dinoland, of all places, is an even larger Finding Nemo stage show. That's not to mention that the entire lagoon is patrolled by Wilderness Explorer outposts from Up!. The presence of IP-based content at Animal Kingdom is already massive, so apart from the attraction/show/land distinction I don't think this changes much.

 

[bsiev1977]

You really think Cameron could fix The Living Seas?

He certainly could......raise the bar.

 

[dupac]

There may not be an entire land dedicated to franchises in the park right now, but Camp Minni Mickey is a land dedicated to Disney cartoon characters whose only real attraction is a Lion King show. The park's icon is a gigantic theater showing a Bug's Life show and over in Dinoland, of all places, is an even larger Finding Nemo stage show. That's not to mention that the entire lagoon is patrolled by Wilderness Explorer outposts from Up!. The presence of IP-based content at Animal Kingdom is already massive, so apart from the attraction/show/land distinction I don't think this changes much.

I don't think it's quite the same, but after thinking about other parks and IP-based lands (more specifically Cars Land at DCA), I think I could live with it. I was actually getting ready to say I dislike the idea of entire lands built off of one IP in my previous post, but then I thought about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and decided to retract that statement.

 

[Scuttle]

Wouldn't it be great though if they teamed up to create a new concept instead of a movie tie-in land? Not Animal Kingdom, but just imagine a James Cameron headed reboot of the Living Seas going back to Sea Base Alpha.

Abyss style would be awesome.

 

[FrankLapidus]

@fractal It doesn't pay trying to argue with the thick headed. We'll just wave to them when we are using FP+ and they are using Stand By to experience the new Avatar attractions. And don' t kid yourself, they WILL line up to experience it.

Not all of us will. But that can only be a good thing for people who are looking forward to Avatar like yourself because there'll be one less person to get in line behind. And while you're all in line over in Pandora, maybe I'll be able to get on Kilamanjaro Safaris without a long wait time so then we're all winners. And I really do hope that Avatar meets all of your expectations, maybe if Disney are truly back on form it might even exceed those expectations. If that is the case then it can only be a positive thing for all of us going forward in respect to the future of WDW, whether we're fans of Avatar or not.

 

[EPCOT Robot]

Not all of us will. But that can only be a good thing for people who are looking forward to Avatar like yourself because there'll be one less person to get in line behind. And while you're all in line over in Pandora, maybe I'll be able to get on Kilamanjaro Safaris without a long wait time so then we're all winners. And I really do hope that Avatar meets all of your expectations, maybe if Disney are truly back on form it might even exceed those expectations. If that is the case then it can only be a positive thing for all of us going forward in respect to the future of WDW, whether we're fans of Avatar or not.

Pro-Tip. Any person who says they won't visit Avatar Land out of protest is not telling the truth.

 

[FrankLapidus]

Pro-Tip. Any person who says they won't visit Avatar Land out of protest is not telling the truth.

What am I protesting? At this point I could care less about Avatar at AK, the debate over its merits as both a film and theme park attraction have been done to death on this forum. I won't be going to Avatarland or whatever it will be called, not out of protest but because I have no interest in it. I could bore you with the reasons for that by repeating things that have been posted here vociferously by others countless times over the past two years but instead I'll just concentrate on things I am interested in at WDW and elsewhere in Orlando and not needlessly try to rain on the parade of those who are excited for it. You don't have to believe a word I say here but I mean it when I say I won't be journeying to Pandora, not as an utterly pointless protest but because I just don't care enough about it to devote any of my holiday to it. If I really wanted to protest something there are far more pressing matters in this world that I would give my time and attention to than a theme park attraction.

 

[Captain Chaos]

Pro-Tip. Any person who says they won't visit Avatar Land out of protest is not telling the truth.

Of course they are lying... I said it before and I'll say it again: they will line up with the rest of us, and check it all out. They may even like it. But then, they will come on here and continue to play their online character, bashing and hating. In fact, they may even play that character while waiting on line. Will any of us know they were or are in Avatar area? Nope... They hide behind their handle. Believe me, they will all be there when this thing opens.

 

[EPCOT Robot]

What am I protesting? At this point I could care less about Avatar at AK, the debate over its merits as both a film and theme park attraction have been done to death on this forum. I won't be going to Avatarland or whatever it will be called, not out of protest but because I have no interest in it. I could bore you with the reasons for that by repeating things that have been posted here vociferously by others countless times over the past two years but instead I'll just concentrate on things I am interested in at WDW and elsewhere in Orlando and not needlessly try to rain on the parade of those who are excited for it. You don't have to believe a word I say here but I mean it when I say I won't be journeying to Pandora, not as an utterly pointless protest but because I just don't care enough about it to devote any of my holiday to it. If I really wanted to protest something there are far more pressing matters in this world that I would give my time and attention to than a theme park attraction.

Yeah, you'll be exactly like all those Universal Studios die hards that said they wouldn't visit Harry Potter. See you in line for the Pandora boat ride, Frank. It's OK, you can start being more honest about this now though if you want though.

If there are more pressing matters, then you should stop boycotting Avatar Land for one.