AVATAR land construction progress

djkidkaz

djkidkaz

Well-Known Member
Mr_Incredible said:
Huge wrestling fan, so I get this. However, don't we want UNI to be mid 90s WCW? That's when wrestling was at its greatest, when WWF had to bring a ppv quality RAW every Monday. Now, they're the only game in town, and WWE has crap quality, and every once in a while amazing product.

I honestly like using Wrestling and this example when thinking of uni/Disney....except in reverse.

Disney has always been 1999 WWF. Now, Uni is bringing the heat and Disney needs to bring it to Attitude era levels of quality to compete.

Its good for all of us.
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Yeah I always think about this Disney /Uni war as it's so similar. You have the champion, the top dog of the industry in Disney whose competitor starts to breath down their neck when they get a financier ( Comcast ) with money to spend. But that company is just in it for the quick money, it's not part of who they are. The theme parks are a huge part of the Disney brand, it's their history. Comcast is a cable tv company with excessive cash to burn right now and is putting some into Uni to get a return on their investment, but the parks are not part of some lineage of Comcast. Mark my words, Comcast will eventually start to struggle in the coming years as more and more people realize that a $140 monthly cable / internet bill is ridiculous and switch over to streaming services. They will start cutting spending at the parks and you won't see these yearly additions. So enjoy your screen based attractions while you can!
 
Matt_Black

Matt_Black

Well-Known Member
djkidkaz said:
Yeah I always think about this Disney /Uni war as it's so similar. You have the champion, the top dog of the industry in Disney whose competitor starts to breath down their neck when they get a financier ( Comcast ) with money to spend. But that company is just in it for the quick money, it's not part of who they are. The theme parks are a huge part of the Disney brand, it's their history. Comcast is a cable tv company with excessive cash to burn right now and is putting some into Uni to get a return on their investment, but the parks are not part of some lineage of Comcast. Mark my words, Comcast will eventually start to struggle in the coming years as more and more people realize that a $140 monthly cable / internet bill is ridiculous and switch over to streaming services. They will start cutting spending at the parks and you won't see these yearly additions. So enjoy your screen based attractions while you can!
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Here's a thought- is the Dreamworks buy analogous to bringing in Hall & Nash to form the NWO with Hogan?
 
Mike S

Mike S

Well-Known Member
djkidkaz said:
Yeah I always think about this Disney /Uni war as it's so similar. You have the champion, the top dog of the industry in Disney whose competitor starts to breath down their neck when they get a financier ( Comcast ) with money to spend. But that company is just in it for the quick money, it's not part of who they are. The theme parks are a huge part of the Disney brand, it's their history. Comcast is a cable tv company with excessive cash to burn right now and is putting some into Uni to get a return on their investment, but the parks are not part of some lineage of Comcast. Mark my words, Comcast will eventually start to struggle in the coming years as more and more people realize that a $140 monthly cable / internet bill is ridiculous and switch over to streaming services. They will start cutting spending at the parks and you won't see these yearly additions. So enjoy your screen based attractions while you can!
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Well one can argue that's why they're pumping money in the parks to get a return on their investment. So that they have another big money maker should cable start to struggle.
 
RSoxNo1

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
mandstaft said:
Just curious everyone. How would you respond if you were Disney to the questions and comments about WWOHP? I would think they really didn't have much choice than what was said.
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If I was Bruce Vaughn I would have thought about contributing something to earn my title (at the time) of head imagineering. But the proper response is similar to what Iger and Rasulo have said, a rising tide lifts all boats.
 
RSoxNo1

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
1023 said:
To be fair, Bruce was "pushed" to push for the mediocre. Then he was fired for it. There were also some internal politics at work.

*1023*
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As far as I can find he was responsible for the living character initiative (Lucky and maybe the Muppet Mobile Lab) and the SSE redo. I can't find much else that he contributed to. He was swinging for an opposite field single instead of for the fences. Yes, I understand that management wasn't exactly pushing for new attractions either, but look at New Fantasyland. While I believe that was Chris Beatty's project, as head of Imagineering Vaughn also had some weight to throw around. The project had a huge budget and looks great. But as people have said, "there's not enough 'there' there".

Vaughn, Staggs, and Rasulo deserved to be let go, but unfortunately the current management is continuing some of the same poor decisions. It doesn't mean all decisions are bad, but they're certainly not all good.
 
Cesar R M

Cesar R M

Well-Known Member
RSoxNo1 said:
As far as I can find he was responsible for the living character initiative (Lucky and maybe the Muppet Mobile Lab) and the SSE redo. I can't find much else that he contributed to. He was swinging for an opposite field single instead of for the fences. Yes, I understand that management wasn't exactly pushing for new attractions either, but look at New Fantasyland. While I believe that was Chris Beatty's project, as head of Imagineering Vaughn also had some weight to throw around. The project had a huge budget and looks great. But as people have said, "there's not enough 'there' there".

Vaughn, Staggs, and Rasulo deserved to be let go, but unfortunately the current management is continuing some of the same poor decisions. It doesn't mean all decisions are bad, but they're certainly not all good.
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Which makes you wonder if Vaughn Staggs and Rasulo were just puppets who were FORCED to play Iger's forced "recipe" of "slow, cheap and with IPs" development on the theme park business.
 
WDWtraveler

WDWtraveler

Well-Known Member
Photo update as of Monday, October 31. Since a photo posted here can't be 3-dimentional, take my word for this. The berm between the Disney bus terminal at Animal Kingdom and Avatar land is being re-constructed about 40 feet behind the original berm. Earth moving equipment was moving dirt from the foreground to the background and smoothing the top of the new berm. This will probably connect to the existing berm at either end, where the vegetation is still in place.

IMG_8573.JPG
 
WDWtraveler

WDWtraveler

Well-Known Member
Photo update as of Monday, October 31. New lights can be seen attached to the "tree branch" lamp posts along the bridge to Avatar land. Each one is a slightly different shape. They all appear to be "organic" in that they seem to be created by some sort of insect or creature (just my opinion). At the least, they are "works of art."

IMG_8574.JPG


IMG_8575.JPG


IMG_8577.JPG
 
1023

1023

Provocateur, Rancanteur, Plaisanter, du Jour
RSoxNo1 said:
As far as I can find he was responsible for the living character initiative (Lucky and maybe the Muppet Mobile Lab) and the SSE redo. I can't find much else that he contributed to. He was swinging for an opposite field single instead of for the fences. Yes, I understand that management wasn't exactly pushing for new attractions either, but look at New Fantasyland. While I believe that was Chris Beatty's project, as head of Imagineering Vaughn also had some weight to throw around. The project had a huge budget and looks great. But as people have said, "there's not enough 'there' there".

Vaughn, Staggs, and Rasulo deserved to be let go, but unfortunately the current management is continuing some of the same poor decisions. It doesn't mean all decisions are bad, but they're certainly not all good.
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Well, there were several "other swings" at things that fell flat. Bruce and Craig missed entirely on one of the most "significant projects" in a very long time. There are some very hot seats still in imagineering. Some other exits are on the horizon.

*1023*
 
PorterRedkey

PorterRedkey

Well-Known Member
1023 said:
Well, there were several "other swings" at things that fell flat. Bruce and Craig missed entirely on one of the most "significant projects" in a very long time. There are some very hot seats still in imagineering. Some other exits are on the horizon.

*1023*
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Do you feel this is a good thing that will help imagineering or is it as I fear, they are firing the old-school people just to be able to push the ideas of lazy, value-engineered and IP-driven projects?

I hope Rhode can survive and that he is assigned a project that is more suitable to his talents than Marvel.
 
Prototype82

Prototype82

Well-Known Member
Musicman20 said:
I'm hoping Star Wars is Disney's answer to WWOHP. Only problem is the wait!
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Given the timing of the original 2011(?) press release, the partnership with Cameron, the surprising choice of IP, I am certain that Avatarland was Disney's response to Wizarding World. Like HP as a project, Avatar is going to be the ultimate challenge of making the impossible possible...I think it's going to blow the not-yet-built Star Wars land out of the water...
 
Disneyhead'71

Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
Prototype82 said:
Given the timing of the original 2011(?) press release, the partnership with Cameron, the surprising choice of IP, I am certain that Avatarland was Disney's response to Wizarding World. Like HP as a project, Avatar is going to be the ultimate challenge of making the impossible possible...I think it's going to blow the not-yet-built Star Wars land out of the water...
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I, too, believe Pandora will be more impressive than TSWE (The Star Wars Experience).
 
JediMasterMatt

JediMasterMatt

Well-Known Member
Disneyhead'71 said:
I, too, believe Pandora will be more impressive than TSWE (The Star Wars Experience).
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From a scenic vista and grandeur scale, Pandora's only competition will be Ornament Valley and the Cadillac Range here in the States. SW is more Diagon Alley than it is to Cars Land. Overwhelming in the sense of detail and much more about tight vertical spaces than the panoramic vistas that Pandora will offer. You won't be able to get far enough back from SW to take it all in since it's designed for DL's confines.

Now, on an attraction basis... it is going to be no competition.

Can't wait for Pandora to open though. It's going to be a great experience.
 

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