Iger Says Avatar Most Likely 2015, Hints at Marvel, More Pirates and Cars

Magenta Panther

Magenta Panther

Well-Known Member
devoy1701 said:
If this is true, what happens when they release the "perfect" sketches and some aspects are met with the same reaction that the original FLE renderings did????



Disney's Property library stretches 80 years of movies and stories... they have PLENTY that they could make into thrills and adventures. All of the Jules Verne and other stories that they have the rights to? Wasn't there a remake of 20,000 Leagues rumored not too long ago? And as you mention, they have to focus on movie tie-ins anyway! WDI is more than capable of coming up with Stand alone attractions and lands that can not only offer technological breakthroughs and the latest innovation in theme park entertainment, but also stand the test of time. They just need to be given the chance.

I say save the money on the licensing costs and let WDI spend the money on the actual plan.
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Amen! :sohappy:

But unfortunately, Iger is focused on "brands", and he doesn't seem to particularly care where they come from. Neither do most of the stockholders. No wonder Walt always hated attending stockholder meetings...
 
Captain Chaos

Captain Chaos

Well-Known Member
devoy1701 said:
And 2015...c'mon. I've been hung up on this since page 1 of this thread! It was the very first thing I caught. Those bulldozers better get to work! (Maybe they're using the heavy machinary like in the movie to help clear the land!)
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Wizarding World was build in 2 and a half years... Demolition began early 2008 and the land opened June 2010... If Disney were to begin construction by the end of this year, beginning of 2013, and work at the pace Uni did, 2015 isn't out of the question...

I'm not saying this is proof the plans are still alive or Iger was not just blowing off the question (he came across as really annoyed over the question, like it hit a sore spot), but there is no reason 2015 can't be reachable if they start by the end of this year...
 
jt04

jt04

Well-Known Member
Well since they already announced AvatarLand will break ground late this year it makes 2015 very reasonable. I expect it will be on a similar scale to Carsland and this fits the same timeframe.


I am suprised he did not mention they are selling of chunks of WDW to the highest bidders. :lookaroun


:lol:
 
Captain Chaos

Captain Chaos

Well-Known Member
jt04 said:
Well since they already announced AvatarLand will break ground late this year it makes 2015 very reasonable. I expect it will be on a similar scale to Carsland and this fits the same timeframe.


I am suprised he did not mention they are selling of chunks of WDW to the highest bidders. :lookaroun


:lol:
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Holy crapola... Did I just agree with JT??? :eek:
 
wickedfan07

wickedfan07

Member
In this whole avatarland mess, I am more concerned about disney’s motivation for choosing avatar and starting and announcing the expansion proves when they did.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was announced on May 31, 2007 (as per Wikipedia) and opened on June 18, 2010. Avatarland at DAK was announced on September 21, 2011. There were FOUR years between the WWoHP announcement and the Avatar announcement. There was a little over one year between Potter’s opening (and immediate success) and the Avatar announcement. If Disney were honestly interested in directly combating Harry Potter (and they HAD to know it would be a hit), they would have put their heads together and announced and designed something to open in 2010 alongside Potter. We should already be riding the “Potter Swatter, ” not waiting until 2015/26 to ride it. By then it will no longer be a response to Potterland.

Before someone says it, I know Avatar was only released in 2009 and therefore could not have been the subject of an expansion announced in 2007. However, there were and still are plenty of Disney and non-Disney properties (and an unlimited amount of original ideas!) that could have been developed into the fabled “Potter-swatter.”

Avatarland is not the Disney answer to Potter, at least not directly. Avatarland is more like the manifestation of Disney’s regret to both passing up on Potter and failing to identify an equally engaging competitor in a timely manner. The only reason we saw an announcement for Avatar in 2011 over anything else is because it made the money it did. If Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle had been the highest-grossing film of all time, we’d probably have had an announcement based on that film instead! Avatarland’s conception is more out of desperation to get in on a “proven money-making franchise” like Universal did.

Now, all of that has nothing to do with whether or not Avatar will prove to be good source material for DAK. It does have an effect on the end product though. If Disney doesn’t have a good reason for building Avatarland, it’s not going to pan out well or at all. Corporate jealousy and executive regret and ego are not good reasons to drop millions of dollars on a single project like this. If that’s what’s driving this whole project, then I hope it gets shelved because the corporate mess is going to get in the way of it truly being great.

Avatarland is kind of to DAK what the original DCA was to Disneyland. “We have to build something and fast. What’s going to be the easiest and/or most-profitable thing to do?” Except it’s going to be easier to kill and hide an expansion at DAK than the entire second theme park for DL would have been. They just spent over a billion dollars to fix DCA.

When money is your only motivation, bad things start happening. And when you pour concrete (and thus money) into that money-driven project, it quickly becomes a really big scar that will take a long time and a lot more money to fade.
 
RSoxNo1

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
PeoplemoverTTA said:
The Habit Heroes "issue" has blown up national media, and caused enough of a stir to warrant a complete overhaul of the attraction....a low-level "attraction" inside the low-traffic Innoventions. Pretty fair scandal to me.

I'm not really following your argument, but I respect it. It's just that with insider scoop from people like WDW1974 and Martin, it's hard to accept that Iger was doing anything but glossing it over and grumpily moving on.

And I can't help but disagree with your statement regarding keeping newer projects close to the vest until they're ready. The Carsland expansion, Little Mermaid attraction and FLE have been heavily documented at all stages of development on the Disney Parks blog, and on their social media sites. The Avatar announcement itself has been trumpeted across their blog and social media sites several times (until the past month or two...which says volumes). The theory that they're just biding their time simply doesn't hold muster.
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I couldn't find the article that he referenced, but on this week's episode of Inside the Magic, Ricky Brigante cited one of the complaint articles that referred to Habit Heroes as a ride in Epcot. I guarantee that many of the people fueling this campaign never saw the attraction first hand.
 
menamechris

menamechris

Well-Known Member
dxer07002 said:
Nope.. And no mention of the Test Track refurbishment that was announced with no concept art either... So, maybe the Test Track refurb is on life support too...
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Well, in all fairness, Disney isn't footing the bill on that - so it doesn't really concern shareholders as far as capital investment. If the refurbishment wasn't sponsored, we wouldn't be getting that either...
 
Captain Chaos

Captain Chaos

Well-Known Member
menamechris said:
Well, in all fairness, Disney isn't footing the bill on that - so it doesn't really concern shareholders as far as capital investment. If the refurbishment wasn't sponsored, we wouldn't be getting that either...
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Thing is, this refurb is only a month away and we have no set in stone dates, no concept art... so, since Disney hasn't released concept art, we must put this on life support.. that is the thinking these days, isn't it?? I mean, two threads are going on about another project that is a least a year away from happening, and people are saying no concept art = dead project, no mention at shareholders meeting = project dead.... So, I guess we have to include TT in there too...

Yes, this is sarcasm... But, it doesn't stop the fact that people are calling a project dead because there is no concept art for a project that is a least a year away from beginning construction.. Meanwhile, we have seen no concept art for any refurbishment of TT which is supposed to start next month, and not one person is crying IT IS DEAD...

I really think the whole AVATAR IS ON LIFE SUPPORT is some wishful thinking from haters of the movie and is being brandied by people inside the company who want to see this project die and are USING people to try to spread that fire.... Jim Hill is accused of getting used by some in Disney to temper the flames, so why can't someone else be used to try to get those flames roaring???
 
Lord Pheonix

Lord Pheonix

Active Member
WorldKey said:
I'm gonna show may lack of knowledge here but does anyone know if there would be enough space at the current Tomorrowland Speedway site to convert it to Radiator Springs Racers? I know the kids love the speedway as I did when I was very young but as I got older I've just felt that it is one of the least imaginative things in the park. Even a clone of that new Cars attraction in California Adventure would be a huge step up...just a thought. Of course because of possible height requirements for RSR it may be taking away an attraction for the very young (I think it uses the Test Track vehicle type).
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if they do build a cars land, thats exactly where they'd put it. i just want one of the existing cars, id have the coolest gocart around
 
ctxak98

ctxak98

Well-Known Member
devoy1701 said:
If this is true, what happens when they release the "perfect" sketches and some aspects are met with the same reaction that the original FLE renderings did????



Disney's Property library stretches 80 years of movies and stories... they have PLENTY that they could make into thrills and adventures. All of the Jules Verne and other stories that they have the rights to? Wasn't there a remake of 20,000 Leagues rumored not too long ago? And as you mention, they have to focus on movie tie-ins anyway! WDI is more than capable of coming up with Stand alone attractions and lands that can not only offer technological breakthroughs and the latest innovation in theme park entertainment, but also stand the test of time. They just need to be given the chance.

I say save the money on the licensing costs and let WDI spend the money on the actual plan.
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I didnt say I was right....I was just stating my opinion so I think we need to relax. However I just think Non-disney movies creat thrills and disney movies dont have enough power in theme to steal some potter thunder! I didnt say Disney can't create Beautiful Lands and awesome attractions based on the Disney frnahcise and believe me I know they have a ton of stuff to work with. I just dont understand why everyone has to get fussy over Avatar which clearly could be a great addition to disney. Its and outside source but disney barely uses them so I dont see a big problem with it. :)
 
menamechris

menamechris

Well-Known Member
dxer07002 said:
Thing is, this refurb is only a month away and we have no set in stone dates, no concept art... so, since Disney hasn't released concept art, we must put this on life support.. that is the thinking these days, isn't it?? I mean, two threads are going on about another project that is a least a year away from happening, and people are saying no concept art = dead project, no mention at shareholders meeting = project dead.... So, I guess we have to include TT in there too...

Yes, this is sarcasm... But, it doesn't stop the fact that people are calling a project dead because there is no concept art for a project that is a least a year away from beginning construction.. Meanwhile, we have seen no concept art for any refurbishment of TT which is supposed to start next month, and not one person is crying IT IS DEAD...

I really think the whole AVATAR IS ON LIFE SUPPORT is some wishful thinking from haters of the movie and is being brandied by people inside the company who want to see this project die and are USING people to try to spread that fire.... Jim Hill is accused of getting used by some in Disney to temper the flames, so why can't someone else be used to try to get those flames roaring???
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I don't think the project has to be "dead". I personally think it is being revised and watered down. We haven't heard about Downtown Disney in months either - and Tom Staggs reported last year that an announcement would be weeks or months away. Well, so far nothing. Is it dead? No. Are the MBA's looking at the plans and cutting every corner possible? Most likely. I am sure the same is happening with this project.
 
NoChesterHester

NoChesterHester

Well-Known Member
So an honest question. Ignore the reality.

Say the rumors are true that Avatarland isn't going to happen, but instead WDW gets an Avatar E-Ticket level attraction. No land, just attraction.

What is your reaction?
 
invader

invader

Well-Known Member
NoChesterHester said:
So an honest question. Ignore the reality.

Say the rumors are true that Avatarland isn't going to happen, but instead WDW gets an Avatar E-Ticket level attraction. No land, just attraction.

What is your reaction?
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If at Studios and it's something original, AWESOME! Otherwise, meh.
 
wickedfan07

wickedfan07

Member
NoChesterHester said:
So an honest question. Ignore the reality.

Say the rumors are true that Avatarland isn't going to happen, but instead WDW gets an Avatar E-Ticket level attraction. No land, just attraction.

What is your reaction?
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In Animal Kingdom specifically? Or could this go anywhere, say, DHS? (Where could they put that in DHS anyway? Hmm...)

I would say that, in the long run, it's probably safer for Disney to build a single Avaar attraction than an entire land. This has been said ad nauseum, but avatar hasn't proven it has tremedous staying power. It proved it could make lots of money, but not that it can be popular and have broad appeal 10 years from now, 20 years from, etc. To devote an entire land to it seems, like I said in an earlier post, desperate at the corporate level. It's as though it hit them too late that Potter would have made them a ton of money, and now they're trying to find the next best thing.

If we're talking one Avatar attraction here...where would it go? It doesn't really fit into any existing land in AK at all. If you wanted to scale it back a little further, a nifty and new 3D experience could replace It's Tough to Be a Bug! in the Tree of Life. It's not really an expansion in that case though, but it is replacing an older attraction with avatar in a medium where it's already proven to be quite successful. That would definitely be the easy way out. Short of that, though, I don't know where you would put it.
 

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