The New Ambassadors and Avatar

[bubbles1812]

Believe it or not, some friends and I met with some Imagineers earlier this week. When one of my friend mentioned the speculation about Avatar being dead, one of the Imagineers gave her a weird look and said "don't believe everything you read on Disney blogs." Then he laughed and said that at this point, they almost have to finish Avatarland just to meet all the contractual obligations they were under.

He may have been wrong/lying but I'm just putting it out there.

Interesting comment. Though do their contractual obligations commit them to a specific time frame in which things are to be built? I wasn't aware there were any, but I obviously don't know the ins and outs of the contract Cameron and Disney made. There are ways to kill a project even while technically fulfilling the terms of a contract. You put into that special place called development hell and then let it wallow for years and years until someone finally picks it back up and dusts it off. Tangled is a good example of that. Movie was in development for years and years before it finally came to screens.

 

[M.rudolf]

Interesting comment. Though do their contractual obligations commit them to a specific time frame in which things are to be built? I wasn't aware there were any, but I obviously don't know the ins and outs of the contract Cameron and Disney made. There are ways to kill a project even while technically fulfilling the terms of a contract. You put into that special place called development hell and then let it wallow for years and years until someone finally picks it back up and dusts it off. Tangled is a good example of that. Movie was in development for years and years before it finally came to screens.

Avatar as of right now is dead, nothing will be done till Cameron gets his films finished, if anyone here thinks avatar will even begin construction before 2017/18 if at all, I've got a bridgeand a bunch of coastline property here in LA to sell you

 

[jmuboy]

I'm fine with an Avatar ride in the studios parks in Paris or Orlando. Or maybe Shanghai Adventureland. Just not DAK. I'd rather have Beastly Kingdom. Or have Disney World focus their expansion money on a DCA style fix up of DHS until better ideas are ready for DAK.

 

[FWE1982]

Clearly everyone here would know more than Meg Crofton. I mean, she's only the president of The Walt Disney World Resort. So, if the 'insiders' here say Avatar is dead, even though Meg says otherwise, it must be true!

 

[The MaD Hatter]

I think they want to do the major clearing and relocating regardless of what is going on with Avatar. No matter what comes - Avatar or something else 10 years from now - that will most likely be the spot it will go. I would bet they have been looking for an excuse to close off that area...

So essentially we have another PI on our hands -- close it all down now just in case we decide to do something there in the future.

 

[danlb_2000]

Clearly everyone here would know more than Meg Crofton. I mean, she's only the president of The Walt Disney World Resort. So, if the 'insiders' here say Avatar is dead, even though Meg says otherwise, it must be true!

What "Meg knows" is totally different from what Meg, or any executive for that matter, is going to say in public. The insiders are providing honest, unfiltered information, the executives on the other hand are spinning things to get the effect they want.

 

[danlb_2000]

Interesting comment. Though do their contractual obligations commit them to a specific time frame in which things are to be built? I wasn't aware there were any, but I obviously don't know the ins and outs of the contract Cameron and Disney made. There are ways to kill a project even while technically fulfilling the terms of a contract. You put into that special place called development hell and then let it wallow for years and years until someone finally picks it back up and dusts it off. Tangled is a good example of that. Movie was in development for years and years before it finally came to screens.

I would think a contract like this would give Disney a certain amount of time to act before Cameron had the right to go elsewhere. This is how the Marvel/Universal contract worked. Universal was committed to opening Islands of Adventure by a certain date, or they risked loosing the exclusive rights to Marvel content.

 

[bubbles1812]

Clearly everyone here would know more than Meg Crofton. I mean, she's only the president of The Walt Disney World Resort. So, if the 'insiders' here say Avatar is dead, even though Meg says otherwise, it must be true!

Do you really think execs (of any corporation) tell the truth all the time when it comes to public announcements and press releases? If you really believe that's true, that is just about the most naive thing I've read on this site. As rudolf said, what Meg knows and what Meg says in the public sphere are two totally different things. They aren't going to just announce that their relationship with Cameron has soured and that the huge project they hyped up a year ago is dead...you don't put out something that negative out to the rabid for anything media

 

[PatNSCT]

Do you really think execs (of any corporation) tell the truth all the time when it comes to public announcements and press releases? If you really believe that's true, that is just about the most naive thing I've read on this site. As rudolf said, what Meg knows and what Meg says in the public sphere are two totally different things. They aren't going to just announce that their relationship with Cameron has soured and that the huge project they hyped up a year ago is dead...you don't put out something that negative out to the rabid for anything media

Maybe the thought was more, if Avatar is dead, why would Meg even bring it up? There has to be other things happening during their time as Ambassadors, and if not, wouldn't just leaving it as Fantasyland have been enough? Obviously, nobody would stand in front of the press and say that a relationship with a corporate alliance has gone sour. But why mention it at all then?

 

[M.rudolf]

Maybe the thought was more, if Avatar is dead, why would Meg even bring it up? There has to be other things happening during their time as Ambassadors, and if not, wouldn't just leaving it as Fantasyland have been enough? Obviously, nobody would stand in front of the press and say that a relationship with a corporate alliance has gone sour. But why mention it at all then?

Let me put it to you this way avatar will not be made until after both films are in the can. Fox has over 750 mil committed to thes films they are first priority. Then the park is probably 3/4 down the list of priorities. Could Disney still be working on avatar sure, but 90% of what they work on never gets made. Everything has to approved by Cameron and no concept has been approved other than the one that Disney said no too much money. Avatar won't begin shooting for a while, after there is post on 2 films. So the parks are probably about a min of 5 years before anything remotely happens on the project. Then what the films bomb, do up think they'll move forward then. Also as I said before the outlines for the stories don't show humans or human nature in a good light so that may also be a factor. Meg can say they are working on a lot of things. Just remember what Obi told Luke in Star Wars.

 

[jdmdisney99]

I actually am excited for this project. If Disney can step up the detail in Pandora like they did in New Fantasyland, this will be amazing. Imagine walking right in and through the floating Hallelujah Mountains. If they could pull some effect off with that, people would be stunned. Add some amazing rides (E-tickets for you Mermaid haters out there) and this is one of the best lands in WDW.

 

[Alektronic]

Avatar is not dead as WDI is concerned, they are still working on it, they are researching IMAX screens because they are installing a Soarin' attraction in Shanghai and also an IMAX attraction for Pandora.

 

[CaptainShortty]

What are WDW ambassadors?

Walt Disney World ambassadors are just that, they are ambassadors of the Walt Disney organization throughout the country and the globe. They spread the history, tradition and knowledge of WDW around to both guests and CMs working in a sort of PR role for the company. It is a role that Walt Disney created himself and continues on today as one of the most highly coveted and difficult to obtain roles in all of WDW. The acceptance process is I believe 5 rounds of grueling questions on anything and everything Disney including knowledge of everything Disney represents both figuratively and literally (ABC, ESPN, Marvel...everything). CMs must have been a statused CM for at least a year to apply. Amongst presiding over "fun Disney events" such as new attraction, resort and park openings, anniversaries, etc. they work in Community Relations and spread the Disney way to the community, especially those in need and do talks to spread Disney knowledge and heritage to CMs and the public.