AVATAR land construction progress

[ChrisM]

Artist license. No giant gas planet.

On the contrary, each day one very special guest will be recognized as the giant gas planet of the day.

 

[Hula Popper]

Thanks.
Yes, I've wondered about it - and my sons and I have questioned it.
Wondering why it's a themed tree in a part of the park that the public doesn't have access to.

http://www.wired.com/2013/03/dillon-marsh-invasive-species/

http://twistedsifter.com/2012/08/examples-of-cell-phone-tower-disguises/

 

[twebber55]

blog mickey with some new shots today

 

[RayTheFirefly]

blog mickey with some new shots today

That was a lot of progress in a short period of time!

 

[DisneyRoy]

blog mickey with some new shots today

Wow. It seems Iike they are flying now in some areas!

 

[Tom]

im curious why they would cover/tarp that area?
construction gurus

Without a better look, my best guess is it's a screen to prevent overspray onto the work site while they're spraying paint or something else on the other side of it.

This

I appears to be covering the vines, so it might be to protect them while they spray the concrete onto the rockwork mesh.

And/or this.

Also, protecting work completed from weather. Especially plaster.

Thanks.
Yes, I've wondered about it - and my sons and I have questioned it.
Wondering why it's a themed tree in a part of the park that the public doesn't have access to.

Because a cell tower in guest view isn't magical.

 

[Rteetz]

Is this a new crane onsite?

https://twitter.com/mickeymutineers/status/669556939479642112

 

[ABQ]

Is this a new crane onsite?

https://twitter.com/mickeymutineers/status/669556939479642112

I don't recall seeing it in any of the recent helicopter images. That's a big one for sure.

 

[ABQ]

Is this the start of the crane's assembly? Excuse the fuzzy screen capture from that helicopter video.

 

[danlb_2000]

Is this a new crane onsite?

https://twitter.com/mickeymutineers/status/669556939479642112

Interesting, I wonder why they are just bringing a tower crane on site now? Maybe this is going to be to install floating mountain elements on top of the show bulding. With the hight and size of the building it might be to had to reach any other way.

 

[danlb_2000]

View attachment 120787

Is this the start of the crane's assembly? Excuse the fuzzy screen capture from that helicopter video.

Yeah, here is a clearer picture...

 

[ABQ]

Yeah, here is a clearer picture...

View attachment 120788

Actually, that's a second crane base, it appears. Looking at my fuzzy pic, that clear one you found is in the top left of the fuzzy image.

 

[danlb_2000]

Actually, that's a second crane base, it appears. Looking at my fuzzy pic, that clear one you found is in the top left of the fuzzy image.

You are right, there are two of them.

 

[Incomudro]

That was a lot of progress in a short period of time!

For sure!

 

[TyTrap]

So where is the main entrance for flight of passage? Are they making the queue for that go through the mountain wall it'll look like you're scaling the pandoran mountain range?

 

[toolsnspools]

You are right, there are two of them.

View attachment 120790

Hmmm. Two VERY large cranes. One at either end of the floating mountains.... Could that be for stabilizing the mountains while they add all the concrete? In a world of very advanced engineering, it would make sense to "hold up" the mountains to weight the concrete as they add it, so they don't overdo things.

 

[cjkeating]

That crane looks HUGE! Interesting to see what its purpose is...

 

[Disney Analyst]

That's it, they are installing the Gas Giant.

Also lord knows I hope there is never an EarthQuake. I am sure they are built with all natural disasters in mind.... But gosh, they are mind blowing how they just hover there... I know it's essentially a giant arch, but still....

 

[roj2323]

It's amazing to me that they waited this long to install tower cranes. I would have thought they would have installed them over a year ago when they were first erecting the steel skeleton of the ride building. I'm thinking something changed or disney finally relented and gave the ok after some higher up got annoyed by the slow progress.

 

[EdC]

It's amazing to me that they waited this long to install tower cranes.

Tower cranes are fairly fixed in how far they can reach with loads. They also prevent other large and mobile cranes from working in close vicinity and would be difficult to use when affixing all the different sized pieces that make up the non-uniform mountain shapes. Combining both approaches actually is more effective and reduces final completion time.

It'll be interesting how they choose to work on the upper areas of the rockwork. Shotcrete is an obvious choice, but there may be limits in how high the equipment can service. They may be forced to use the tower cranes to lift material to the higher levels and have the material manually applied.