Pandora: The World of Avatar Announcement, Construction, & Preview Discussion

[Teebin]

Nah, I think it was all in good sport when it comes to Disney. They have dragged some projects out to the point of stupid and so it is fun to make light of it. I believe many of us still think Avatar is somewhat undeserving of so much money, however time will tell. Unlike Potter, I see it as an extreme gamble as it never became a part of world culture... it hasn't become part of world language like Rowling's stories have.

So, that is me being gentle and considered. I do believe the project will be very very impressive and a crowd getter for a time. Beyond that, who knows.

 

[Nick]

Nah, I think it was all in good sport when it comes to Disney. They have dragged some projects out to the point of stupid and so it is fun to make light of it. I believe many of us still think Avatar is somewhat undeserving of so much money, however time will tell. Unlike Potter, I see it as an extreme gamble as it never became a part of world culture... it hasn't become part of world language like Rowling's stories have.

So, that is me being gentle and considered. I do believe the project will be very very impressive and a crowd getter for a time. Beyond that, who knows.

Totally agreed they drag out projects and Avatar is a bit of a gamble. But a great theme park attraction/land speaks for itself.

Plus, I don't think we can truly judge the success of Avatar until we see how Avatar 2 comes out. Obviously it won't ever reach Potter levels, but with three new movies still to come, it has plenty of life left in the franchise.

 

[shiekra38]

Nah, I think it was all in good sport when it comes to Disney. They have dragged some projects out to the point of stupid and so it is fun to make light of it. I believe many of us still think Avatar is somewhat undeserving of so much money, however time will tell. Unlike Potter, I see it as an extreme gamble as it never became a part of world culture... it hasn't become part of world language like Rowling's stories have.

So, that is me being gentle and considered. I do believe the project will be very very impressive and a crowd getter for a time. Beyond that, who knows.

The problem I have is there is no game changer planned...it's just a Sorin over Pandora concept and a Living with Pandora boat ride...Based all on a property that has yet to prove its staying power...like you said, a gamble

What's funny is this is the company that WAS the game changer in regards to theme park technology..that's where the laughing/hatred comes from

 

[Nick]

The problem I have is there is no game changer planned...it's just a Sorin over Pandora concept and a Living with Pandora boat ride...Based all on a property that has yet to prove its staying power...like you said, a gamble

What's funny is this is the company that WAS the game changer in regards to theme park technology..that's where the laughing/hatred comes from

I think the Soarin'-style ride will be a lot better than people are expecting it to be. The ride system will have an incredible range of motion and will also be in 3D. Whether the 3D adds anything to the attraction is to be seen.

Point is, I think comparing Soarin to the new ride in Pandora is like comparing Star Tours to a ride like Spider-Man. Both are motion simulators, but one of theme actually goes somewhere whereas the other you just sort of... sit there.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Oh, you mean as with nearly every construction project? :doh: Even today in the King Kong thread there's a small misinterpretation of design and that thing is further along than Avatar. I was surprised at the overwhelmingly negative attitude toward this project when I first saw this thread but now making completely normal facts that are hardly even worth mentioning out to be negative is just getting a little ridiculous.

Hey, you don't have to believe what I'm saying. Kong has a bow on it, Avatar is very much still being worked on.

 

[Miketheboss]

The problem I have is there is no game changer planned...it's just a Sorin over Pandora concept and a Living with Pandora boat ride...Based all on a property that has yet to prove its staying power...like you said, a gamble

What's funny is this is the company that WAS the game changer in regards to theme park technology..that's where the laughing/hatred comes from

I think the game changer will be the atmosphere. The "floating" mountains and fauna will be like nothing we've ever seen before.

 

[quinnmac000]

The "floating" mountains may be cool to look at but if there isn't enough things for people to actually do whats the point of being amazing looking. So far only two attractions as for bioluminescent plants will be cool as long as they can make it where you can buy them and safe for families.

 

[Nick]

The "floating" mountains may be cool to look at but if there isn't enough things for people to actually do whats the point of being amazing looking. So far only two attractions as for bioluminescent plants will be cool as long as they can make it where you can buy them and safe for families.

Diagon Alley only contains 1 ride within the actual land itself, 2 counting Hogwarts Express. The overall atmosphere is the real draw to DA.

So what I don't understand is how does two rides in Avatarland mean there's "nothing for people to do", when technically, DA proper has less rides, but has a high density amount of things to do? I don't think we can judge if there's enough content or not until the land actually opens.

 

[quinnmac000]

Diagon Alley only contains 1 ride within the actual land itself, 2 counting Hogwarts Express. The overall atmosphere is the real draw to DA.

So what I don't understand is how is two rides in Avatarland mean there's "nothing for people to do", when technically, DA proper has less rides, but has a high density amount of things to do? I don't think we can judge if there's enough content or not until the land actually opens.

What else are you going to do with the Naavi...connect braids with them lol. There is a major difference between a urban area sprawling with shops which are attractions themselves as choosing a wand is a big thing, getting money exchange with an interactive goblin is a big thing, getting ice cream is a big thing. While Pandora which is mainly forest with no stores etc unless they decide to add the military base.

A fake petting zoo of AA animals? What are they going to do when that breaks as they still haven't fixed the 7 year frozen yeti.

 

[NJBrandon]

Exactly.

The unwarranted negativity towards this project is getting old. Yes, Disney F'd up by announcing the land so early. Yes, Disney and Cameron had a bit of a hard time agreeing on things during the development process.

By announcing it so early, it makes it seem like it's taking much longer than it really is, which, as I said, is where they screwed up. R&D normally takes at the very least a few years, and less than two years of R&D for a project is warp speed for Disney. There was pretty much nothing done in terms of R&D when this was announced.

Construction started early on this year, so if it opens in 2017, that will be 3-3.5 years for an entire immersive land. Compare that to the construction timeline of SDMT, which took 33 months to build, or just under 3 years. Comparatively, we are getting much more here for just about the same amount of build time.

I don't know if daddy worked on the project or something, but who cares if someone else is negative about the project? How does that affect your life at all?

 

[Jon84]

I don't know if daddy worked on the project or something, but who cares if someone else is negative about the project? How does that affect your life at all?

It's all pathetic, and in a public area of the site where any Google search could pick up this thread, people could be put off signing up.

My readership of the site has reduced with people constantly bitching at each other over projects. It's almost like its something to do in between big announcements and construction updates.

Nit-picking and Disney bashing, which is funny the first few times, 'yeah but it's quicker than X Disney project' for example has now become the norm, and people who came to this site full of enthusiasm for all parks now follow like sheep.

It's sad. Lots of keyboard warriors, probably people who wouldn't talk to others like that in real life because they'd be too scared of confrontation.

 

[darkridelover]

Lol. It's an internet forum. You're taking things much too seriously. Calm down. Calm down. Calm down. Have you been on a Disney fourm? They bash Universal (sometimes rightly) for it's short comings. It's all in good fun. The thing with this thread is that there's no info and no good pics of what's actually going on. So there's a lot of downtime. It happens. But when you start criticizing all the members on this forum it makes you look like a tool.

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Now back to the Topic!!!!

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Avatar is the Highest Grossing movie of all time! That being said, it's hard to find a single person that can name three Characters by name without looking it up. If you ask for three Characters from Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, or Harry Potter people can fire them off. Avatar is the biggest movie of all time that no one remembers except for it had Blue People.

 

[twebber55]

What else are you going to do with the Naavi...connect braids with them lol. There is a major difference between a urban area sprawling with shops which are attractions themselves as choosing a wand is a big thing, getting money exchange with an interactive goblin is a big thing, getting ice cream is a big thing. While Pandora which is mainly forest with no stores etc unless they decide to add the military base.

A fake petting zoo of AA animals? What are they going to do when that breaks as they still haven't fixed the 7 year frozen yeti.

doesn't Disney get ripped universally for just being concerned about making money and only building shops and restaurants...now we re saying they re only building two rides so there wont be anything to do...we cant have it both ways...sounds like the game changer will be the interactivity of the land and how it changes at night... im sure both rides will be well done...im looking forward to this total expansion and as far as the success of this will just have to wait but im pretty confident it will do well...I personally think the success of the land has zero to do with the next movie which im also pretty sure it will do well

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Lol. It's an internet forum. You're taking things much too seriously. Calm down. Calm down. Calm down. Have you been on a Disney fourm? They bash Universal (sometimes rightly) for it's short comings. It's all in good fun. The thing with this thread is that there's no info and no good pics of what's actually going on. So there's a lot of downtime. It happens. But when you start criticizing all the members on this forum it makes you look like a tool.

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Now back to the Topic!!!!

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Avatar is the Highest Grossing movie of all time! That being said, it's hard to find a single person that can name three Characters by name without looking it up. If you ask for three Characters from Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, or Harry Potter people can fire them off. Avatar is the biggest movie of all time that no one remembers except for it had Blue People.

I personally disagree that people don't remember this movie however im sure even if people don't remember the characters they undoubtedly remember the Pandora environment

 

[darkridelover]

Take a poll of your friends today. Ask everyone to name 3 characters from Avatar. You won't find anyone. Call a friend right now and see what I mean. Most people won't be able to even tell you what the blue people were called or what planet it was set on. It's the most forgettable movie I've ever seen.

 

[twebber55]

Take a poll of your friends today. Ask everyone to name 3 characters from Avatar. You won't find anyone. Call a friend right now and see what I mean. Most people won't be able to even tell you what the blue people were called or what planet it was set on. It's the most forgettable movie I've ever seen.

I teach and coach so I m with hundreds of kids 14-18 years old and I have taken pop culture polls
in fact every year when I talk about the huang shun mtns (Camerons inspiration for the floating mtns) I ask what do these mtns remind you of and every year tons of kids say avatar...keep in mind some of these kids were 9 years old when it was out.... but I ask what does that matter to how good of a ride/land it will be
if popularity of an IP meant everything Tower of Terror wouldn't be much better/popular than star tours
and splash mtn would be a walk on or cars land wouldn't be nearly as good as toy story play land

 

[darkridelover]

Oh don't get me wrong. I'm excited for Avatar Land. I'm one of the few people that think the conservation themes (pocahontas ripoff) fit right in with Animal Kingdom. It will be beautiful and will live up to it's 1 sole purpose to keep guests in the park into the night. But it's fascinating that a film so big has no memorable characters in it. People remember flying mountains, glowing plants, and blue people. That's about it. It will still be great but it's not going to add attendance to WDW as a whole. It will just move more guests away from Hollywood Studios, which will be one massive construction wall by the time this opens, and give them a reason to visit Animal Kingdom instead.

 

[twebber55]

Oh don't get me wrong. I'm excited for Avatar Land. I'm one of the few people that think the conservation themes (pocahontas ripoff) fit right in with Animal Kingdom. It will be beautiful and will live up to it's 1 sole purpose to keep guests in the park into the night. But it's fascinating that a film so big has no memorable characters in it. People remember flying mountains, glowing plants, and blue people. That's about it. It will still be great but it's not going to add attendance to WDW as a whole. It will just move more guests away from Hollywood Studios, which will be one massive construction wall by the time this opens, and give them a reason to visit Animal Kingdom instead.

yeah I think at worst it helps take people from MK at night which is ridiculous at this point and while DHS gets its redo

 

[Nick]

I don't know if daddy worked on the project or something, but who cares if someone else is negative about the project? How does that affect your life at all?

Nope, I don't know a single person high up within Disney. If you must know, DAK is one of my favorite parks and it's always been criminally underdeveloped. That is why I care. It's finally receiving some needed attention and all people want to do is crap all over the project. I mean, for all I know it could suck, but give it a chance at least.

I know this is a Uni site, but the bias can be ridiculous at times. If this was a Uni project, I feel like the conversation would likely be much different.

 

[Andy]

Your going to have bias on every site, every television station, every newspaper, and so on. It's just the way it is...

With that being said I think the land will be one of the greatest Disney has ever created, while the rides will be playing second fiddle to the atmosphere of the land.

 

[Disneyhead]

Na'vi represent the animal kingdom about as well as the country of Arendelle represents the country of Norway.

The current crop of Imagineers have the intellectual depth of a kiddie pool.