If it has quality then it will impress people regardless of whether it's a movie tie in or not. But there's already a lot to fear that the substance is going to be lacking. An already clearly massively value engineered version of the expansion is in effect, with the main E ticket coaster having been cut out per what insiders have stated here. So we're left with a Soarin-inspired simulator along with a (potentially drop-less) boat ride described as a "C ticket".
Of the two, the boat is the only one i'm really interested in at this point. Tired of simulators entirely, not an acceptable substitute (as a headliner attraction) in my book for a real ride travelling through a show building with actual physical sets and animatronics (don't care if they're labeling it as an E ticket). So the boat ride is the only real thing in this expansion i've even got my eye on. But it's extremely concerning that the imagineers have so little faith in it that internally they've classified it as merely a C ticket in quality. Little Mermaid after all was described as an "E ticket lite" during construction, and the Mine Train is only considered a D ticket internally. That doesn't give much hope that the boat ride will be better than an already disappointing New Fantasyland.
The only possible good news is the involvement of Rohde and Cameron, but there's only so much that can be done with a project if crippling budget mutilation ends up occurring (which is likely at this point due the failed money pit of nextgen). There also isn't anyone with real power involved with the creative process who will be willing to conduct political leverage in order to keep the bean counters from ruining things (like Lasseter was able to do with Cars Land when bean counters attempted to ruin that project). Like Fantasyland, I expect this to be a pretty new area to look at (again especially with who is overseeing the project), but I have my expectations for actual ride substance and quality set extremely low.
It is absolutely impossible to make the assumption that Pandora will be good at this point. We've only got a couple of models and concept art to go off and no substantial work has even started yet. We know too little to assume the best from this.
(Patty melt anyone?)
