AVATAR land construction progress

[toolsnspools]

The lamps were little up when we left AK the other night. Don't think I've seen a picture of them here yet. Hopefully the picture quality is OK. It was tough to tell on my phone.

 

[msteel]

Just a heads up, starting May 21st there is a 7 day media event at WDW. Pandora media preview?

Do these events typically affect normal guests at all either positively or negatively? I'm thinking shortened park hours, attractions closed, or opportunities see special events from a distance (e.g. dragon flyover from FLE event). If current plans hold I will be in the parks the week in question.

 

[Rteetz]

Do these events typically affect normal guests at all either positively or negatively? I'm thinking shortened park hours, attractions closed, or opportunities see special events from a distance (e.g. dragon flyover from FLE event). If current plans hold I will be in the parks the week in question.

Not usually. You might see a large group of media walking about or a small section closed off somewhere for a presentation but the parks should be fine like any other day.

 

[JBIRDTO]

Had an incredible very vivid dream last night on Pandora opening night. Joe was there, all beat up from working on the project lol. Entering the land was an ominous sight. The mountains that dwarfed the visitors were all shrouded in fine fog and mist. The only thing that threw off the dream was the kiddie spinner and the cable car. I actually woke up super excited about this land.

 

[kinghenry]

More projection mapping testing on the floating mountains.

When it rains at night you'll see the projections on the rain, same when there's fog....

 

[HauntedMansionFLA]

FWIW I just heard Disney is pulling imagineers from other projects to get Pandora finished on time.

Take that Shanghai!!!!!

 

[Prince Thomas]

so they are using projection mapping to light up the mountains at night? is that what I'm getting from this?

 

[Bob Harlem]

That "push to get it done" mentality would mesh with the fact that we've seen them testing the projection mapping, during park operating hours, the past few nights in a row now.

Volcano Bay or Avatar, which opens first?

 

[P_Radden]

Volcano Bay or Avatar, which opens first?

VB grand opening is May 25, so I'm guessing it will be open before Avatar.

 

[brb1006]

Looks beautiful with the mapping, but still hope thats not the only way they will get the mountains to light up... I never feel like projections make things look real enough. Things usually look different on a pictureView attachment 186252View attachment 186253

What about The Tree Of Life

 

[Slowjack]

so they are using projection mapping to light up the mountains at night? is that what I'm getting from this?

I don't think we know for sure what the projections are for. But my best guess is that they are being used to light up the foliage, not the mountains per se. Remember that the plants in Pandora-land are supposed to be bioluminescent, so the idea may be to use the projection maps so just the leaves are lit, and maybe vary the color in subtle ways over time.

 

[Prince Thomas]

I don't think we know for sure what the projections are for. But my best guess is that they are being used to light up the foliage, not the mountains per se. Remember that the plants in Pandora-land are supposed to be bioluminescent, so the idea may be to use the projection maps so just the leaves are lit, and maybe vary the color in subtle ways over time.

Thanks!

 

[A foolish mortal]

What about The Tree Of Life

Same thing with Tree of life... And thats actually one of the reasons why I'm worried... What I do like about Tree of Life is the lighting "inside" the leaves/in between the branches.. if that makes sense. You can tell that the light comes from the actual tree. The thing about projections is that the closer you get, the worse the illusion gets. You will see that its just projected on an uneven surface, making weird shadows and it ruins the illusion and its sometimes hard to make out what the images are. If they combine it with light sources on the actual mountains id be very happy! Like if the projections were ever to malfunction, they would still have plants on the mountains light up a bit

 

[twebber55]

Same thing with Tree of life... And thats actually one of the reasons why I'm worried... What I do like about Tree of Life is the lighting "inside" the leaves/in between the branches.. if that makes sense. You can tell that the light comes from the actual tree. The thing about projections is that the closer you get, the worse the illusion gets. You will see that its just projected on an uneven surface, making weird shadows and it ruins the illusion and its sometimes hard to make out what the images are. If they combine it with light sources on the actual mountains id be very happy! Like if the projections were ever to malfunction, they would still have plants on the mountains light up a bit

you can see the projectors on the buildings from the aerials
so im sure thats how they will project on the floating mtns, however thats not how they will illuminate the rest of the land

 

[Coaster Lover]

I don't think we know for sure what the projections are for. But my best guess is that they are being used to light up the foliage, not the mountains per se. Remember that the plants in Pandora-land are supposed to be bioluminescent, so the idea may be to use the projection maps so just the leaves are lit, and maybe vary the color in subtle ways over time.

Could be neat to see the shadow of a banshee pass over the mountains every so often...

 

[Coaster Lover]

Well, what would an extra imagineer be doing? I imagine them (pun intended) to be more in the creating models part of production and showing up to tell the constructors, "Yeah, that looks great" rather than putting a hand to bolting down rides or sculpting fake rock or hanging moss.

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Disney has a team of Imageneers who do most of the finishing work for projects like these (such as "thematic" painting [to make things look older/dirtier], the fine details in the rockwork, placing small thematic elements, etc). I believe only a small portion of the group Disney calls "Imageneers" are actually doing the blue sky/initial concept/model work.

 

[JoeCamel]

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Disney has a team of Imageneers who do most of the finishing work for projects like these (such as "thematic" painting [to make things look older/dirtier], the fine details in the rockwork, placing small thematic elements, etc). I believe only a small portion of the group Disney calls "Imageneers" are actually doing the blue sky/initial concept/model work.

Right, same at UC. For the Kong entrance it was roughed in by the contractor and then UC was out there with rock hammers putting the detail on the eyes etc.

 

[WDWtraveler]

Photo update as of Thursday, Jan 26. First large trees being installed on the new berm across from the Disney bus transportation terminal.

With the installation of some fast growing bamboo and other plants, this will fill in as well as the original berm.

Note the sight line while standing in line for the busses. The trees (and future plants) will obscure the top of the building and floating mountains. You will still be able to see the floating mountains from the parking lot, but probably not much will be seen from the bus terminals.

 

[Horizons '83]

Thanks for the updates!

 

[HouseHacker97]

So Memorial Day Weekend is loooking really likely now?

that seems really early to me. I still feel like it will easily get delayed to later summer. With such a (seemingly) simple project like ROL getting delayed by a about a year, I wouldn't count on it being on Memorial Day.