AVATAR land construction progress

[Daveeeeed]

They sort of have to... They should have been where they currently are when you saw it.

The current pace is no different than what it has taken from groundbreaking for pretty much anything Disney has done this century, so there's no reason to not just enjoy the progress.

 

[bhg469]

The current pace is no different than what it has taken from groundbreaking for pretty much anything Disney has done this century, so there's no reason to not just enjoy the progress.

This century? Are you a drama major kid? because that is good drama.

 

[Daveeeeed]

This century? Are you a drama major kid? because that is good drama.

What 1st class attraction has Disney done this century much faster?
Expedition Everest? no. New Fantasyland? no. Cars Land? no. Ratatouille took over 2 years. Avatar is going to break 3, but it is an entire land with rockwork. I'm not saying they couldn't build it faster, but it should be no surprise that something Disney makes takes between 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 years from groundbreaking. Not to mention all the technical stuff the land will have. And the announcement time is pretty much irrelevant because they can tell us the day that construction begins instead of in the planning stage.

 

[bhg469]

What 1st class attraction has Disney done much faster? Expedition Everest? no. New Fantasyland? no.

Well you would have to mention a first class attraction before I would agree with you but neither of those are close to that description. Avatar seems to fit the description buy from the announcement to the ground breaking ceremony was an exceedingly long time. I would like to say that when they take their time, we reap the benefits but in the case of Mine train? It took far too long and that is with the ride cut virtually in half.

 

[Daveeeeed]

Well you would have to mention a first class attraction before I would agree with you but neither of those are close to that description. Avatar seems to fit the description buy from the announcement to the ground breaking ceremony was an exceedingly long time. I would like to say that when they take their time, we reap the benefits but in the case of Mine train? It took far too long and that is with the ride cut virtually in half.

Mine Train was built after The Little Mermaid so it finished later, but it still took a while. I wasn't including announcement. Disney could've announced it the day of groundbreaking if they wanted to, what matters is actual groundbreaking to completion time. Expedition Everest is an incredible attraction. Have you even ridden it? from the immense detail in the line, to the epic scale of the mountain, and originally the functioning Yeti.

 

[GoofGoof]

Well you would have to mention a first class attraction before I would agree with you but neither of those are close to that description. Avatar seems to fit the description buy from the announcement to the ground breaking ceremony was an exceedingly long time. I would like to say that when they take their time, we reap the benefits but in the case of Mine train? It took far too long and that is with the ride cut virtually in half.

From groundbreaking to finish (assuming it's done in 2017) it will be roughly the same timeframe as Carsland which most people think of as first class. The long time between the announcement that Disney bought the rights to Avatar and groundbreaking was largely due to the contract being entered into with a 3rd party that was also likely required to be disclosed because Disney is a public company. The Avatar Land process is not unlike how they are handling Star Wars. Lots of design and initial planning always happens before ground breaking but in the case of Avatar because it's a 3rd party IP they had an official announcement much earlier in the process.

 

[bhg469]

Mine Train was built after The Little Mermaid so it finished later, but it still took a while. I wasn't including announcement. Disney could've announced it the day of groundbreaking if they wanted to, what matters is actual groundbreaking to completion time. Expedition Everest is an incredible attraction. Have you even ridden it? from the immense detail in the line, to the epic scale of the mountain, and originally the functioning Yeti.

I have ridden it. The yeti was broken and the rest was simply not that good. The projection scene was a very disappointing part of that ride as it looks too sharp and not at all representative of their best efforts. New harambe is probably their best addition in the past decade.

 

[Daveeeeed]

I have ridden it. The yeti was broken and the rest was simply not that good. The projection scene was a very disappointing part of that ride as it looks too sharp and not at all representative of their best efforts. New harambe is probably their best addition in the past decade.

To begin with though, the Yeti is a part of why it took that much time, no matter how it looks today it was one of the best rides on Earth, and is still a very good one.

 

[Daveeeeed]

From groundbreaking to finish (assuming it's done in 2017) it will be roughly the same timeframe as Carsland which most people think of as first class. The long time between the announcement that Disney bought the rights to Avatar and groundbreaking was largely due to the contract being entered into with a 3rd party that was also likely required to be disclosed because Disney is a public company. The Avatar Land process is not unlike how they are handling Star Wars. Lots of design and initial planning always happens before ground breaking but in the case of Avatar because it's a 3rd party IP they had an official announcement much earlier in the process.

 

[sedati]

I believe this project required a lot more ground preparation work for the site to handle the weights that were going to be placed upon it.

 

[Daveeeeed]

I believe this project required a lot more ground preparation work for the site to handle the weights that were going to be placed upon it.

I think they've made great progress.

 

[articos]

I believe this project required a lot more ground preparation work for the site to handle the weights that were going to be placed upon it.

Not to handle weight, but because there's a great deal of infrastructure beneath Pandora and there were a lot of elevation changes.

 

[danlb_2000]

Not to handle weight, but because there's a great deal of infrastructure beneath Pandora and there were a lot of elevation changes.

I believe there were weight issues also, there appeared to be ground stabilization work going on during site prep.

 

[danlb_2000]

The current pace is no different than what it has taken from groundbreaking for pretty much anything Disney has done this century, so there's no reason to not just enjoy the progress.

Of all the recent attractions built at WDW, Avatar is on track to have taken the second longest, and may the longest. Yes, Fantasyland took longer overall, but I believe if they had not decided to substitute the Mine Ride late in the game it all would have been done in under 40 months.

Avatar 1/10/2014 4/1/2017(?) 40
Frozen Ride 10/5/2014 6/1/2016(?) 20
Toy Story Third Track 9/25/2014 5/24/2016 20
BatB/Little Mermaid Section of FLE 2/10/2010 12/6/2012 34
Storybook Circus 2/11/2011 9/30/2012 19
Mine Ride 9/1/2011 4/30/2014 31
Tangled Restrooms 5/10/2011 3/8/2013 22
Expedition Everest 6/1/2003 4/7/2006 34
Mission:Space 3/29/2000 10/10/2003 43
Test Track 1/2/1996 3/17/1999 38
Test Track Presented by Chevrolet 4/15/2012 12/6/2012 8
Toy Story Mania 11/18/2006 5/31/2008 18

 

[Mawg]

Tangled Restrooms 5/10/2011 3/8/2013 22

This one is the funniest.

 

[Daveeeeed]

Of all the recent attractions built at WDW, Avatar is on track to have taken the second longest, and may the longest. Yes, Fantasyland took longer overall, but I believe if they had not decided to substitute the Mine Ride late in the game it all would have been done in under 40 months.

Avatar 1/10/2014 4/1/2017(?) 40
Frozen Ride 10/5/2014 6/1/2016(?) 20
Toy Story Third Track 9/25/2014 5/24/2016 20
BatB/Little Mermaid Section of FLE 2/10/2010 12/6/2012 34
Storybook Circus 2/11/2011 9/30/2012 19
Mine Ride 9/1/2011 4/30/2014 31
Tangled Restrooms 5/10/2011 3/8/2013 22
Expedition Everest 6/1/2003 4/7/2006 34
Mission:Space 3/29/2000 10/10/2003 43
Test Track 1/2/1996 3/17/1999 38
Test Track Presented by Chevrolet 4/15/2012 12/6/2012 8
Toy Story Mania 11/18/2006 5/31/2008 18

And if an entire land takes just a few months more than a ride I think it is worth it. You can't compare storybook circus btw, that would be like comparing Toy Story playland to Ratatouille. Cars Land is a good comparison, it took about the same amount of time of Avatar. I'm not trying to justify Disney for taking their time I just think that it would have been way more expensive to do it faster, so I see why they do what they do, and two rides, plus a massive amount of rockwork, and all the bioluminescence is going to take a while anyway. Impaired to Toy Story Midway Mania that used an existing building. I don't think pandora has had delays due to technical issues like Rivers of Light or Test Track, so the latter isn't the ideal comparison either.

 

[OvertheHorizon]

Epcot was built in three years.

 

[Mike S]

Of all the recent attractions built at WDW, Avatar is on track to have taken the second longest, and may the longest. Yes, Fantasyland took longer overall, but I believe if they had not decided to substitute the Mine Ride late in the game it all would have been done in under 40 months.

Avatar 1/10/2014 4/1/2017(?) 40
Frozen Ride 10/5/2014 6/1/2016(?) 20
Toy Story Third Track 9/25/2014 5/24/2016 20
BatB/Little Mermaid Section of FLE 2/10/2010 12/6/2012 34
Storybook Circus 2/11/2011 9/30/2012 19
Mine Ride 9/1/2011 4/30/2014 31
Tangled Restrooms 5/10/2011 3/8/2013 22
Expedition Everest 6/1/2003 4/7/2006 34
Mission:Space 3/29/2000 10/10/2003 43
Test Track 1/2/1996 3/17/1999 38
Test Track Presented by Chevrolet 4/15/2012 12/6/2012 8
Toy Story Mania 11/18/2006 5/31/2008 18

Frozen actually opened on the 21st and SDMT opened on May 28th. Other than that you're good

I'm still dumbfounded by how long that third track took

 

[KingOfEpicocity]

Epcot was built in three years.

But that was 1981. And that was Epcot.

 

[rioriz]

Epcot was built in three years.

And now Epcot is Dead.